Got Bumped by Another Car - Scuffs and Nothing Under Plastic That's Damaged?

[Dturano547]

Also forgot to add....... They may not have any bumpers to spare with the current reservations . So changing it now may not be an immediate option.

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[Area51BS]

Last night, someone reversing bumped into my Maverick. Small SUV.

I watched it happen from a short distance, so was able to exchange info.

Taking a closer look at it today, it seems to be confined to the plastic cladding and purely cosmetic and quite minimal. They were going pretty slow.

Any recommendations to confirm it's simply the scuffs and nothing under the plastic that's damaged?

Tough to compare to the underside, as that's hidden behind the cubby plastic on the passenger side.

Parking sensor was close, but appears to be working fine.

Always get a police report even if other party leaves scene. They can now easily claim you backed into them.

 

[EMD_Driver]

Always get a police report even if other party leaves scene. They can now easily claim you backed into them.

Seen this happen too many times.. May be months down the road. They could claim injury, PTSD, or anything they want. Never underestimate people's greed.

As much as I like my Maverick, I would be livid if someone damaged it. Mostly because I now know how long they take to be replaced!

 

[JASmith]

Filing a claim will show up on the vehicles history and lower the vehicles value.

It may show up, it may not. We filed a claim and yet carfax was clean. We also asked (well, demanded) not just the cost of repair but the vehicle depreciation from now having an accident history and they agreed and increased the payout.

We went to the most expensive place in town that we knew of for the estimate, and the check is made out to yourself, so how you fix it is then up to you.

 

[notfast]

As much as I like my Maverick, I would be livid if someone damaged it. Mostly because I now know how long they take to be replaced!

As much as I sometimes don't want to, I miss out on being an early adopter for just such reasons. I bought a car on release year a couple years ago. Getting parts for the car was quite the wait.

Luckily the car didn't have many problems and I'm pretty tolerant of malfunctions that are mostly comfort-related (my HVAC being stuck on full cold for 4 months being one). The dealer at one point cannibalized new unsold cars on the lot for parts to fix other customers' cars.

but the vehicle depreciation from now having an accident history and they agreed and increased the payout

Was that in Texas? When I got nerfed in California, my insurance company told me I'd have to sue the other person in order to get a diminished value claim. Fortunately for me, a close friend of mine is a lawyer. A couple letters and a yearlong wait later and I got a check for the entire policy (look up "policy limit demand").

Granted the other party had barely above state minimums. I gave my lawyer friend his cut, we went out for a nice steak dinner, and donated the rest to various charities.

 

[JASmith]

Always get a police report even if other party leaves scene. They can now easily claim you backed into them.

This is virtually impossible in Houston. HPD won't show up if no one is injured, and even if they do, they will refuse to do a police report if they estimate damages under I think $1000. Which they will always guess it is less because they don't want to do paperwork. HPD are notorious at avoiding paperwork at all costs.

If you don't have a dashcam with park mode, you might be able to ask security if they can let you record a playback with your phone but chances are they won't and say its "park at your own risk". Since you were there though, the second you see it instantly start recording with your phone.

Another trick I do is I pretend to stop recording as if I'm pushing a button to stop and just hold the phone by my side while talking, but its still recording the conversation. Often the people that hit you will admit more or less while at the scene, and only have a change of heart later. This way you have a continuous recording, and I had to share this along with my dashcam footage to settle a really obvious claim that should have been open-shut case but their insurance was giving me the run-around saying stories didn't match so their hands were tied and their claimant had a witness.

 

[OXHB619]

This, it would be a real pain if a year or two down the road you discovered some damage that you did not see. Get it checked out. Cars and trucks nowadays even minimal damage can rack up a big bill.

Many years ago, in my still current vehicle, I was taking a girl out to a NFL game. Got rear-ended when I was stopped ( in front of a cop directing traffic). It was a teenage girl, immediate water works. I only had a few scuffs, (and of course wanting to be a gentleman on my date) so I told her not to worry about it and went about my day. Found out later she had hit my exhaust and bent the whole cat back under my car. Couldn't tell till it was on a lift. Wish I had gotten the officer to write a report and gotten it looked at as it caused some headaches down the road.

 

[Arukoru]

ugg. That’s annoying. I once saw two women with crossovers that were new enough to have backup cameras back into each other in a Kohl’s parking lot.

More vehicles need the beeping backup sensors and not just cameras.

This plus cross traffic alerts are probably the most important features for the day-to-day tedium.

 

[Randy H.]

An old school DIY repair method for dented plastic bumpers (like this) is to use a heat gun to heat up the plastic around the dent just until it becomes flexible enough to push back into form from the back side. When it cools it will become rigid again and remain in the proper position.
This is basically the same method to remove small dents from metal panels. Difference with metal panels is to use painters tape to apply aluminum foil over the dent, use the heat gun to heat up the area (while not applying heat directly to the paint), when the area is hot immediately spay compressed air over the aluminum foil to rapidly cool the area and the dent will pop back out on its own.

 

[Randy H.]

An old school DIY repair method for dented plastic bumpers (like this) is to use a heat gun to heat up the plastic around the dent just until it becomes flexible enough to push back into form from the back side. When it cools it will become rigid again and remain in the proper position.
This is basically the same method to remove small dents from metal panels. Difference with metal panels is to use painters tape to apply aluminum foil over the dent, use the heat gun to heat up the area (while not applying heat directly to the paint), when the area is hot immediately spay compressed air over the aluminum foil to rapidly cool the area and the dent will pop back out on its own.

One more thing... For the bumper, after popping out the dent use a moist Magic Eraser to buff out any scuffs and/or paint residue from the other vehicle.. Works amazing..

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