Body Shop Pros look in please--Update--Holy Crap!!

[Arcadiac]

I had a minor fender bender yesterday, I'm gonna pay for the other guy's repairs out of pocket.

[Stingray]

I hate to guess from pictures, but judging from what I can see, it's probably a $200 job, maybe a little more if there are any parts that need to be replaced that aren't evident in the pic.

-S

[Arcadiac]

That's about what the guy estimated, he has a buddy who will fix it.  I just figured it would be stupid to turn it in to the ins. co. rates are high enough as is.
Remember the good old days when you could kiss bumpers at less than 5mph and no damage would happen?  Damn plastic cars!

ARCADIAC!

[ChadTower]

$200 is probably less than your deductible anyway.

[Stingray]

The picture of your car wasn't showing for me when I viewed this thread the first time.

The bumper is actually below the plastic bumper cover, which is what tore on your car. Bumper covers can be pretty high to replace. There's a "plastic welder" that you can use to repair a spot like that, though they're expensive too unless you know someone who has one. Stay away from plasic fillers, in a spot like that, it would just crack out again. Although, I'm guessing that since you labled the second picture "after" you may not even intend to do any repair beyond just popping it out. Not a problem if you can live with the way it looks. The actual bumper is almost certainly completely unharmed, so there isn't likely to be any structural damage there at all.

-S

[ChadTower]

Bondo?

[Stingray]

Bondo won't adhere to polyurethane, which is what "plastic" bumpers are actually made of. It also doesn't have any flex, so even if it did adhere it would break back off the first time the bumper flexed. There is a two part catylized filler that you can use to fill small holes in that type of bumper, but in my experience, it really only works well on punctures. Tears tend to just crack back out again in a few weeks.


-S

[Arcadiac]

I'm not too concerned about mine, although the van was in damn fine sahpe before the accident for a 1997 model.

[Stingray]

Getting into a wreck always sucks no matter how minor it was. At least the other person was cool enough to just let you pay for it so it stays off your record and won't jack up you insurance rates.

-S

[hyiu]

when you pay him, make sure you also prepare a note saying
that he will not claim you for insurance....

He could be a nice guy, but you never know....

worst case is you pay him, and then he turns on your back and claims insurance...

[edit]
in the note, just state that noone gets hurt,
and you paid him $XXX bucks, and by this, both side agree to give up all rights to claim any further damages.

something like that....

and then both sign it... prepare 2 copies, one for you, one for him... and then you can be sure noone will do any backstabbing....

[/edit]

[ChadTower]

That is great advice.  I have had two deals like this... one in which I had two, signed copies... one in which I got no documents.

Guess which time I got screwed.

[DrewKaree]

Maybe there's more than the pictures aren't showing, but I so seriously doubt it, I'm replying as if I'm 100% correct in that statement.

That's a grade A jagenheimer.  If that were me, I'd be testing my light hookup, and if everything worked fine, you'd never hear from me.  I know that doesn't do anything but make you feel worse, and others here prolly will think me an idiot and "you get it fixed...it wasnt' your fault", but crap like that to me is just being petty

It's my experience that people will change their habits for a while until the incident passes from memory, usually a few days to a few weeks.  WATCH IT NOW so that this doesn't happen again.  Next time, it could be worse.  It could be someone looking to buy their lottery ticket and see what numbers your insurance company pulls from the hopper.

[Arcadiac]

Yeah Drew, if I got smacked that lightly I would do the same thing, check it out and let it go.  Unfortunately most people don't think that way, really too bad.

And I won't get into my rant about soccer moms driving those monstrosities, thankfully I have a good friend who has already had their ear burned off today with that point of view. 

Those of you who got some documentation, could you please send me some good examples?  I too have been taken before by someone who took my money and then turned it in to the insurance co.  I don't know if it can really be prevented but documentation can't hurt.  At the very least I'll need a receipt.

Although the other guy doesn't have my ins info, they do have my driver's licence number and here the DMV definitely has my ins info, gotta give proof to get your plates here in KY.

I'm not gonna pursue this guy, he has my info, I'm gonna give him some time to contact me. 
Who knows, maybe the guys buddy will tell him it's so minor that it won't be a problem to fix anyway. 

I still try to give the benefit of the doubt to most people, just have to try to find the balance in that so I don't get screwed behind being the good guy.

This is all a pain in the ass for sure.
Thanks all, Ron

ARCADIAC!

[Arcadiac]

Got a bit of sticker shock today.  The guy called me about the wreck and said the estimate was $530.  He said that the guy who is repairing it said that he would have to remove the bumper in order to paint it as it has back-up sensors (the little black circles on the bumpers) and paint overspray would ruin them.  The guy is not being a ---tallywhacker--- and still said that he could work with me on this but Damn!!
I am at a loss here, turning this in to the ins co. will raise my rates but paying out of pocket would empty my emergeny funds.  I am at a loss, sure was a lousy way to end my birthday.  I'm gonna take a hi-res pic around to a couple of places tomorrow and see if I can get a guesstimate and find out for sure that what he said about the sensors and overspray is true.  Any thoughts?

Thanks, ARCADIAC!

[psik0tik]

They could just tape up the sensors or pull them out...If im correct its just a screw. There should be no reason to pulll it off.

[shmokes]

It sucks to drain your emergency fund, but at least you have one for an emergency....such as this.

If you can afford it, pay.  Or at least call and find out what your rate increase would look like.  If your rates go up by even $50 a month, just suck it up and drain that emergency fund.

[Stingray]

Some of those bumper covers are very labor intesive to remove. It's like the car was designed with no provision for having to take the thing back off again after assembly. I don't have any experience with back up sensors, but there's probably a reason why they can't be pulled. Probably the bumper has to come off first. Yes, modern cars really are engineered that stupidly.

-S

[ChadTower]

I would bet it has more to do with standard insurance repair compliance procedures than with actual need to pull the bumper off.  When you're doing auto repair work for an insurance company, you have to follow their rules.

[daywane]

Never Fear... Dave is Hear!
Ha, Just been waiting to say that 
sent you a pm. I think I want your van 

[Zakk]

It sucks to drain your emergency fund, but at least you have one for an emergency....such as this.

If you can afford it, pay.

[DrewKaree]

It sucks to drain your emergency fund, but at least you have one for an emergency....such as this.

If you can afford it, pay.  Or at least call and find out what your rate increase would look like.  If your rates go up by even $50 a month, just suck it up and drain that emergency fund.

I talked to an insurance buddy of mine today, and he had an interesting revelation.  They 'feel' they are justified in raising your rates even if you just call and ask them "how much your rates would go up for such-and-such an accident".  He felt that you would be calling because of an accident, and in their eyes you are now a higher risk driver.  I'm not making this up.  Basically they don't even want you to call them, ever.  You pay them your premiums then go away nicely please.  His catch phrase is: "we're not in the business of paying claims, we're in teh business of making money, just like any other business".
 

Did he ever think about going into landscaping?  I hear there's realtors in his area with no clue what they're doing

[Zakk]

Did he ever think about going into landscaping?