Freaking lady hit my car....

[caliber60]

If its all cosmetic, I would say $1,000. No big deal. Red color matching will be kind of challenage for a 20 year old car.

[mrizvi66]

I'm not gonna take advantage of the situation. My paint is faded and after 24 years is badly in need of a full respray. I'll get an honest estimate for the damage she caused and will chip in for the rest myself. Parts so far are coming out to be around $420 with shipping from our host. So I'll see what she wants to do. If she would like to pay herself or go thru the insurance.

Oh yeah she was driving a Toyota Highlander thats why the hood is all scratched up.

[Hetmann]

I had something similar happen to me. Lady in a big 4x4 backed into me. I had a little scratch on my bumper, torn smile and some marks on my hood. Insurance gave me a thousand with no dickering. You have much more damage than I did. Settle with them the best you can and get what they offer without mentioning your sources or prices. You may be surprised at how much they will offer. Then take the money and fix the best way you can. I'd be looking for used parts, a headlight upgrade and pop for the difference for a complete respray myself. I agree with the others that mismatched paint will ruin your enjoyment of the car and eventual resale.

[slakjaw]

Personally I think its cool, that you kept you cool with her. People always get so mad and yell and scream over something that WILL get fixed.

Hope everything works out for you.

Kyle
71` 911

[yelcab1]

1. I had the exact same damage on my 84 carrera cab by the same lady I think. She backed into me with her 4x4 SUV because she decided to turn right instead of left. Anyway, her insurance company paid for all of it, and my shop did a complete nose repaint and get the paint matched perfectly.
2. In my BMW M3, an old lady knocked me from behind, left 2 divets on the painted bumper (where her license plate screws hit), refused to accept responsibility until I showed her the paint on her license plate, and then i let her go. It was not worth worrying about, and the 2 small divets are not going to kill me.
3. On the same M3, a hispanic guy drifted off into his own dream at the light, bumped my car from behind, left a faint line where his license plate hit. Since I already got the 2 divets, another line was not going kill me. I let him go after telling him to do the same for someone else one of these days.

I figure my good karma will come back to me some day. In the mean time, a good buffing and a good wax job will hide any thing. I have not had any headache since.

[rds356]

Let me guess,

She was driving a SUV while talking on her cell phone and trying to drink her "vanilla skim latte" while she backed into you.
Then she was pissed because you caused her to miss her nail appointment.
Happens all the time in suburbia.

Hose her if you can.!

[kbrown]

I agree to get what you deserve, as opposed to hosing someone. Before the lady backed into you, you had a nice car with paint that matched all around. If it takes a total repaint to get it back like that, then I think that's fair. I will say, in my case, I have a 17 year old car with very good original paint. Even if I get a $10K paint job, my car would be worth less, just because everyone wants original paint, plus a dirty carfax....Now, I really don't think that is fair, but I guess that's the price you pay for driving the car.

[Aussie]

Well it's your asset that’s being depreciated a lot by having obvious panel repairs done, with poorly matching paint.

Your car will now be much harder to sell, and now worth a lot less.

The car won’t be returned to you in the condition you had it.

Why should you be the one to wear the cost?

It wasn't your fault.

[bell]

i went through this last june...........report this to your insurance company too........if her insurance company trys to stiff you then pay your deductable (which you'll get back "after the battle" if you win) and let your insurance company step in and help....that's why you pay them, i did this and everything worked out ok.....but this is ohio....and my opinion from my experience.



end result....

[pjv911]

Is this car that got hit by the old lady a 1980 sc ? I could swear that its got a turbo flared fender on it . Btw why hasnt that thing been compounded and polished in the past 20 years ? It looks like knowone cares anyway . The insurance adjuster will see it that way too .

Kurt Williams

[araine901]

As a recovering insurance adjuster I can tell you the hurdle you will have is depreciation. They will depreciate it based on age and condition. If the paint looks cherry the adjuster will cut you a break on deprecation. If it looks like ass you can bet he is going to depo the crap out of it. All I can say is if the paint looks like does in the pictures wax it up quick before the adjuster sees it. The better it looks the better your argument against deprecation is. Hold your line firm and be as unreasonable as you need to be to get what you want (we are used to it) However if she is insured by Mercury your are screwed. One of their humanoid adjusters will only work from the programming (brainwashing) that he has been programmed with.

If you get the run around from her company, as previously suggested turn it over to yours. They will fix it and if thier subrogation is sucessful you may get your ded back.

[mrizvi66]

Depreciation is not a factor to me because I will NEVER sell the car. All I want is the damage repaired and some money to kick in to the full respray. It was an honest mistake I don't think that she hit me intentionally.

Anyway her insurance adjuster will be here on Thursday to check it out.

[ed bates]

Get 3 estimates and go with the highest, because its your right to choose where ever you want to get the car fixed at. Tell the insurance company to cut you the check directly. Once you get the check in hand, bring it to the lowest estimate to get fixed and kick in a couple of duckets and you have a full paint for 1/4 of the cost................

Never tried this at home and I don't know who you are if they come looking......

[araine901]

Indemnity is all they are required, which means they put you back in the same position as before your claim. So do not expect new parts or a complete paint job. This is what I meant by deprecation. If your quotes are for new parts he is likely to depreciate the settlement amount unless like kind (good used) parts are not available and he is forced to use the new ones. It sounds like you already understand this so it shouldn’t be a problem. Good luck.

Based on the pictures I would imagine labor will be the greatest expense on the repair bill so you don’t have too much to worry about.

[Nathan]

Hey Bell did they repair the rear quarter on your car or welded in a new quarter.
I was involve in accident when I tried to change lanes to avoid rear ending a police car because the road was slippery and my front wheels wanted to lock up on my Chevy Blazer. Hit a 80's Volvo and damage the turn signal. The lady I guess understood and said she has a son about my age at the time and knew how I felt . We exchange info, and about 4 days later called me to tell me that she has friend who can repair it with no cost to me. Then about 3 months later a lady rear ended me when I was at the stop sign. Her Honda van didn't cause my blazer much damage just a dent in trim on bumper. However made a small impression on her front bumper and I told her I was worry about it anyways. She get her honda fixed and I'll get mine.

[bell]

new (used) fender/door, they welded in a new rear door jamb, and repaired the rear quarter.

[yelcab1]

Originally posted by Nathan

... 4 days later called me to tell me that she has friend who can repair it with no cost to me. Then about 3 months later a lady rear ended me when I was at the stop sign. Her Honda van didn't cause my blazer much damage just a dent in trim on bumper. However made a small impression on her front bumper and I told her I was worry about it anyways. She get her honda fixed and I'll get mine.

Good karma goes around and comes back around.

[Superman]

I am not a big supporter of the insurance industry. I'm not going to go into those details here, but you can all assume that I have roughly the same amount of compassion for the insurance companies that they have for me. 'Nuff said.

But it's not true that I don't "support" that industry in the sense of supporting it financially. I am approaching the mid-century mark in terms of my age, and it looks like the ratio of dollars I pay in premiums compared to dollars paid out in claims against my policies, is somewhere around 100:1. So, if I ever need to make a claim, I am not going to be amused at the first sight of game-playing. In fact, at the first sight of that, I'm likely to hire an attorney to deal with the insurance company or companies.

In this case, there is little chance that the insurance company can restore this car to its pre-accident condition. If they just repair and spray a few spots, the paint will not match and the insurance company will owe the owner for the ongoing visible damage/repair that would not be there had the accident not happened. I know we're not talking about a '58 300 SL wiht original paint, but if we were, the damage would be hard to calculate since a full professional restoration/respray would devalue the car. And the insurance company here is not going to spring for a full respray which, in this case, would probably increase the car's value if done properly. So, this motorist is between a rock and a hard place, which is where the insurance company likes you to be. Any and all settlement dollars he can get is fair, IMO. And unfortunately, the insurance companies will make him struggle mightily in order to reach a fair settlement.

I'd say insurance companies and their behavior and agenda is a caricature of what's wrong in this country. But then, I promised not go go into that here.

[Neilk]

If the imsurance company b*tches at settling the claim to your satisfaction, get an independent appraisor and file a diminished value claim. The BS will quickly stop and they will handle you properly.

That's what I did after someone backed into. Had the insurance just agreed with the estimate I presented them from the body shop of my choice, they would have saved several thousand Dollars over what they ended up settling for.

[techweenie]

I got hit on Pacific Coast highway in my 928 convertible (rare, handmade). Some young guy on a sportbike was trying to get around me in stop-and-go-traffic, miscalculated traffic flow & hit his brake with the wheel turned. Wham.

He was astonished that the first thing I said when I got out of my car was 'are you alright'?

I had some plastic from his bike transfer to my paint and a bumperette got gouged.

I sent him a bill for $50 for a good used bumperette and he sent me a check for $150 to cover that plus a detailing. Some people just expect Porsche drivers to be pricks, and are astonished when you turn out to be a human being.