Freaking lady hit my car....

[mrizvi66]

She didn't even look back before she started to reverse. Here is the damage.

What do guys think the damages will come out to be. The hood and bumper are majorly scratched up. The bumper shocks are bent out of shape. the passenger headlight will need to be replaced and both turn signals reflector as well. Also the right fender paint is cracked now.

Man it took all I had not to blow up on the lady.

[Victor]

Dude,

take the () out of the filenames and they should appear.

Sounds like the damage I have on mine. A month later I still have no car and it came to AU$15,000 although it only looked like $3,000.

[mrizvi66]

Here are the pictures (they were taken by my camera phone).

[Victor]

Doesn't look too bad. Look on the bright side, you get all your stone chips fixed for free.

Provided she/you have insurance.

[Aussie]

Try and sting her for a full respray or put towards the cost of one, as I think it will be very hard for the pannel beater to match the colours as the paint looks very faded.

[Rot 911]

I'm guessing the phone camera just doesn't have much depth of color and that explains why the paint looks so faded.

[RoninLB]

I bet that color will be a ***** to blend and match

[targa80]

Originally posted by Aussie
Try and sting her for a full respray or put towards the cost of one, as I think it will be very hard for the pannel beater to match the colours as the paint looks very faded.

This is what is wrong in the world today. I'm sure her insurace will try to pay the minimum to repair the car. Unfortunately they are not going to respray the whole vehicle for some front end damage. Matching up 34 year old paint will be tough. When my car was hit I wanted a total respray. My insurace company said no way so I took the money and decided to do the car myself. By the way the other guys insurance lost in arbitration and payed the total cost my insurance payed me.

[RoninLB]

the damage award could be used for a new 5hp comp., guns, lines, mask, materials, and beer.

[yelcab1]

Originally posted by Aussie
Try and sting her for a full respray or put towards the cost of one, as I think it will be very hard for the pannel beater to match the colours as the paint looks very faded.

Try and "sting" her? Wow, no wonder my insurance is high.

The insurance company (or the lady for that matter) is liable to return the hit car to the state it previously is in right before the accident, no more and no less.

That means, 20 years old faded paint, 20 years old rusted fender, 20 years old rubber strip and all. OK, so they will use new parts to repair the car, and maybe pay a bit more for loss of use and loss of value (hard to justify when your car is already faded), but "try to sting her for a full respray" ???

[geof33]

Easy 2000.00. Especially, given the damage to the fender and bumper.

I had the same thing happen, but it was an SUV, chinked up the top of the bumper and a good scrape on the hood and one head light trim ring... repair, repaint, hood and light rings, and bumper.

(no damage to shocks or bumper itself) 1200.00... Could have had them repaint the front sill for an extra 500.00.

The high cost is due to the significant time involved in prep of these items, removal etc.

If your paint is really as bad as it looks, there is very little chance they will be able to match it. Any good shop will tell you the reality. Then you take the $$$ and put it toward a full paint job as another suggested.

If you do what Ronin suggests, it could a fun project, and short of labor, you might just come out ahead of the game.

You could easily repaint the whole car on your own buying all your own gear (or renting) for 1000.00-1200.00

BTW the insurance companies have repair estimate systems in place that make it virtually impossible to "sting" them for a full paint job, unless you do a Macco, or Earl Sheib (ouch) with the amount you get from them.

[911mike]

I had an old couple in a Dodge Ram 4x4 deisel pick 'em up back into me at a stop sign! They had one of those plastic propellers stuck on the trailer hitch which dug into the bumper and just missed the hood. Exchanged info for insurance reasons, took it home, 1/2 block away from incident, sanded, filled, sanded, primed, and painted. Can't tell anything happened and the paint matched great. Can you do your own bodywork and pocket the $$$?


p.s. I never went after them for any damages and was happy with the way the car came out.

[DavidI]

Originally posted by yelcab1
Try and "sting" her? Wow, no wonder my insurance is high.

The insurance company (or the lady for that matter) is liable to return the hit car to the state it previously is in right before the accident, no more and no less.

That means, 20 years old faded paint, 20 years old rusted fender, 20 years old rubber strip and all. OK, so they will use new parts to repair the car, and maybe pay a bit more for loss of use and loss of value (hard to justify when your car is already faded), but "try to sting her for a full respray" ???

yelcab1, it is people like you who restore my faith in humanity. The honest thing to do is to file and honest claim.

[Zeke]

What's wrong with you people? When your car gets hit, you don't want it returned to you half done so folks that walk by say, "Oh, I see your car was hit and recently repaired." You want it done right. So, if that requires a complete respray, then that's what it requires. That's not "stinging an old lady."

It's not like this is worker's comp fraud. Get all you can. I had a Targa that was redone on the front due to some stone damage from a truck. It didn't match. When I went to sell it, I got about $4000 less than it was worth, the major and most frequent complaint being the paint. I should have waited and had it resprayed for half that.

What I really should have done was made the people pay to have it done right. Lesson learned. You better not hit my car, because I'm taking you to the mat from now on.

[wilke3169]

No wonder we pay outrageous fees for insurance. If one of you backed into a 20 year old Cherolet would you be willing to take money out of your pocket to give the guy for a total respray? I doubt it. This money is coming out of each of our pockets. A total respray for stone damge? I love my car as much as the next guy but, expecting to end up with more than you started with? Seems a bit out of line to me.

[markwemple]

I guess my main advice is to remember that they, the insurance co., are required (in most states) to go with factory materials. So that means glassurit, factory hood at $1k+, fender, at about the same, etc. I'd hate to see the whole bill, but I would guess somewhere north of 5k.

Kurt, did you get my check?

[911ctS]

Originally posted by Aussie
Try and sting her for a full respray or put towards the cost of one, as I think it will be very hard for the pannel beater to match the colours as the paint looks very faded.

I agree, get what you can out of her insurance co. Hell, she shouldn't have hit you in the first place. You've had to drive around with a damaged car for while now, plus take your own time to go out of your way and get quotes. Pain in the arse if you ask me. Maybe your losing valuble time with your kids too. Some kind of compensation is in order.
Its not like insurance co.'s are going to lower their rates, so get out of them what they owe you.


O ya... if someone runs into me, they're in trouble!!

[Zeke]

Originally posted by wilke3169
No wonder we pay outrageous fees for insurance. If one of you backed into a 20 year old Cherolet would you be willing to take money out of your pocket to give the guy for a total respray? I doubt it. This money is coming out of each of our pockets. A total respray for stone damge? I love my car as much as the next guy but, expecting to end up with more than you started with? Seems a bit out of line to me.

So, you'd rather take the $4000 hit? I didn't say anything about the condition of the car. The paint was very shiney with few flaws, abiet somewhat faded as it was Gaurds Red. Red does that. The car had an Andial rebuild in it and was a very good car. After 2 months of trying, I finally accepted $6500 for it in '96. It was the paint that killed it's value. Yet, it was just a mismatch of a little proportion.

It has been said that US space exploartion costs the American public pennys a week. In this context, how much can a demanding car afficionado cost the insurance paying drivers? Most people just take their lumps and go on with life. That leaves just a few of us that won't accept mediocrity or being had by the system.

Last year, a girl totalled my '89 Chev pickup while it was parked. It is now a salvaged vehicle due to the cost of fixing an older truck. In this case, the damage was $4000-5000. I fixed it with the settlement after I bought it back for $600. It's a good truck and serves me daily, but it's worth nothing. Think about it. I started out that day with about $6000-7000 in equity. I used thier money it was pretty much gone by the time the vehicle was fixed properly. But now I have a few hundred in equity. Who suffered here? It's not even a write off tax wise.

No, I stand by my statements, even though they were harshly writtten. No compunction for insurance companies who are some of the wealthiest corporations on the planet. Sure, they keep a lot in reserve foth the "big one'" and that adds to the balance sheet. But I have no sympathy for an insurance company or a driver at fault.

I refuse to be a namby pamby when it comes to this. I've paid my dues and my insurance bills. I'm not going to approach financial loss any more with social consciousness. When it comes to cars and insurance companies, I'm angry and mean.

You take the $4000 loss, it'll save some money for me.

[MotoSook]

I'm with Zeke on this one.

Insurance is a BS industry to begin with. I really don't think claims such as this (and that is the whole respray) is what drives our insurance cost up. It's the Insurance companies looking for a larger profit report! There are billions of dollars dumped into those companies, so do your own research and don't believe every statistical report produced by the Insurance companies.

I'm not advocating false claims, but we pay billions to make a lot of Insurance execs rich, and they fu(k us everytime they can. If the insurance companies really were out to do right, they wouldn't jack up the rates across the board for all their excuses. The offenders would all see a higher rates (much higher), and folks that have nice clean records would pay nothing! Eventually all the really bad drivers would be off the road because they couldn't afford to drive! Take the bus...then the Mini- and SUV-mom's can talk all they want on their cell phone or try to read a freaking map...w/o being a hazard on the roads.

Just think, it would make traffic less dense, make public transportation profitable for the municipals and states. Thin the lines of social divisions,...oh I could go on and on...but don't let the Insurance companies screw you.

Get your car fixed right. It's your car, so get it fixed so you can live happily with it.

[vash]

i once backed into a car lightly while trying to parallel park. well, trying to unparrallel park, i was leaving a space. the bastard behind me, parked really close, and my hitch tapped his car. like and idiot, i left a note. the bastard hosed me for $1700 dollars worth of damage. it was a chinese dudes car that he tried to make into some tuner replica. he got his buddies at a body shop to list everything wrong. my insurance rolled over, despite all my photos, and paid the mothereffer. i have never been so pissed off in all my life. i almost "Brakefluided" his new paint job. (the bastard got all new ground affects, and new stickers all over his car because i put a two inch square impression on his front header panel.) but i thought better of it. get what you deserve, nothing more. i hate people that look at a situation like this as a business opportunity.