Good day gone bad, then good, then bad again...

[Darth Boss]

Well, was looking forward to my first cars and coffee in Austin...Good...and woke up to rain...Was super bummed...Bad...We decided to go to brunch instead and the storms burned off and the sun came out, so we decided to go and check it out...Had a great time, met a couple of fellow Boss owners...Good...



Then we went to run some errands and enjoy our afternoon, driving in the left lane on a 4-lane road with no median or turn lanes...white sedan in front of me by 2-3 lengths slams on his breaks to a complete stop...I either cut in to oncoming traffic, rear end him, or swerve to the right lane...

I tried to stop and knew I couldn't in time so I swerved to the right hoping for the best...Bad...



A Mazda Miata tried to squeeze between me and the curb and scraped his whole left side of his car along the passenger fender and bumper of my baby

The white car realized what he had done, I looked right at the person and instead of turning left into the driveway or business like they wanted to, the flipped a u-turn and took off the other way before I could make the plate.



His car way worse than mine. My damage is localized to front bumper, spoiler, headlight fender, wheel and a scuff on the hood.

Luckily enough nobody was hurt, but I am sad. I never felt right with my 2008 Shelby after getting hit by a guy who ran a red light. Much more severe damage then. But I was super excited to get out of a car with an accident into a clean new Boss.

How much blending do you think the body shop will have to do?

How much do you think this will affect the value of my car?

 

[Grant 302]

Sorry to hear...glad nobody was hurt though. Sucks that the white car got away.

I don't think it should hurt the value of your car that much...I'd try to document the extent of the work so somebody could see how little needed to be done.

That said, I'd probably replace the front fender and bumper with a full repaint on those parts instead of trying to blend anything. If the bumper beam didn't bend, the rest of the parts that may need to be replaced shouldn't be a big deal.

Good luck with the repair and let us know how it goes...

 

[steveespo]

Doesn't look horrible, don't insurance it and it won't show up on a car fax. The fender is repairable and the bumper cover is probably $250 from Ford, try Tousley or Levittown for the best prices. Grabber is a solid color so a good paint man can match and blend the fender into the hood a little to make it perfect. Good luck with it.
Steve

 

[Darth Boss]

Sorry to hear...glad nobody was hurt though. Sucks that the white car got away.

I don't think it should hurt the value of your car that much...I'd try to document the extent of the work so somebody could see how little needed to be done.

That said, I'd probably replace the front fender and bumper with a full repaint on those parts instead of trying to blend anything. If the bumper beam didn't bend, the rest of the parts that may need to be replaced shouldn't be a big deal.

Good luck with the repair and let us know how it goes...

Thanks...will do.

 

[Darth Boss]

Doesn't look horrible, don't insurance it and it won't show up on a car fax. The fender is repairable and the bumper cover is probably $250 from Ford, try Tousley or Levittown for the best prices. Grabber is a solid color so a good paint man can match and blend the fender into the hood a little to make it perfect. Good luck with it.
Steve

Yeah...wish I could do that. Chances are they will find me at fault since the white car fled the scene. Need the insurance to pay for the damage to the Miata. Pretty extensive there. There's a slim chance it can be ruled as no fault. Depends on how honest the guy I hit was with reporting the claim.

If I repair my own car and let the claim repair the Miata, will it still hit the Carfax?

 

[Darth Boss]

Good luck with your repairs too...you had it worse than me

 

[steveespo]

Yeah...wish I could do that. Chances are they will find me at fault since the white car fled the scene. Need the insurance to pay for the damage to the Miata. Pretty extensive there. There's a slim chance it can be ruled as no fault. Depends on how honest the guy I hit was with reporting the claim.

If I repair my own car and let the claim repair the Miata, will it still hit the Carfax?

I don't know for sure. If your deductible is over $500 I would still tell your company you don't want to write the claim to repair your car, that's less than $1000 in damage even if you bought a new bumper cover and a new fender and stripes. I just bought the fenders for my car from Levittown for $136 each, front bumper was $208, fender stripes are probably $150. $500 for paint work and you got it. If you are close I'd help you strip it down, maybe fly me in in November near the F1 race ;D. Good luck and don't sweat it the car will be good as new.
Steve

 

[VoodooBoss]

Wow that sucks, there's been a rash of this lately. Be careful out there. The good news is nobody was hurt. Cars are much easier to repair than humans. Good luck with the repairs.

 

[Darth Boss]

I don't know for sure. If your deductible is over $500 I would still tell your company you don't want to write the claim to repair your car, that's less than $1000 in damage even if you bought a new bumper cover and a new fender and stripes. I just bought the fenders for my car from Levittown for $136 each, front bumper was $208, fender stripes are probably $150. $500 for paint work and you got it. If you are close I'd help you strip it down, maybe fly me in in November near the F1 race ;D. Good luck and don't sweat it the car will be good as new.
Steve

Thanks for the info Steve. My deductible is $500. Will see what the agent says and how much damage there really is. May look into a different front bumper cover too to personalize her a bit. Definitely gives me an excuse to get the CDC grille.

Where you located BTW? I do need to check out the F1 race this year

 

[steveespo]

I'm in NY, won't be able to make it down to Austin this year. Hear it is a very nice friendly place, will try next fall.
Steve

 

[Darth Boss]

It's a great place to visit. SXSW is really cool, obviously the new F1 race. You've got Mustangfest that cruises by San Antonio and ends up at Mustang Island.

I love NY. Used to get to go there every other year for work, but the Javits center has been remodeling for years it seems so our major industry show has been in Philly the last couple times.

 

[ForceofWill]

That sucks man. You shouldn't have to worry about blending if you have a good insurance company. I have Allstate and when I bumped my Explorer into my blue GT in my driveway (ya I know, lol) the adjuster tried to say they were just going to blend it and "spot paint" the bumpers since it was just a scrape on each. Obviously that wasn't going to fly so I talked to the body shop and they repainted both and got the money from the insurance company.

Whatever the adjuster gives you just talk to a good body shop. Mine was run by a Ford dealer.


Edit: Looking at the pictures it shouldn't matter anyway they'll be replacing both the parts with new ones and have to paint them anyway.

 

[jneary]

Good Lord!

You guys are making me think twice about driving mine anymore!!! It really frosts me when people do stupid $&@! and then stick someone else with the bill. What was this guy thinking? Did they miss an offramp and panic? There has been an awful lot of that going on in my neck of the world with people jetting across three lanes so that they don't have to go out of their way, meanwhile, they nearly cause a wreck behind them with everyone slamming their brakes to avoid them...

That damage is nothing compared to what I unearthed when i stripped my 1970 down! It is an MLM Boss and had an entire quarter from a blue donor car and a hack job done on the tail light panel!!! They actually overlapped the two together and there was a jagged raw seam inside the trunk!

Honestly, if you have the repair done by a high quality shop, it wont hurt the value of the car and the next owner will be greatful that they didn't find out after the fact. Break the chain of dishonesty started by the guy that caused this all. Anyway, you will never sell it right?!

John

 

[pufferfish]

Hate to say it, but you should have stayed in the lane and rear ended the white car. At least they couldnt flee the scene. Probably would have still been your fault unfortunately. I would definitely tell insurance there is no damage you want repaired to your car to keep the carfax clean. Just have them take care of the miata. Good luck. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[Darth Boss]

Good Lord!

You guys are making me think twice about driving mine anymore!!! It really frosts me when people do stupid $&@! and then stick someone else with the bill. What was this guy thinking? Did they miss an offramp and panic? There has been an awful lot of that going on in my neck of the world with people jetting across three lanes so that they don't have to go out of their way, meanwhile, they nearly cause a wreck behind them with everyone slamming their brakes to avoid them...

That damage is nothing compared to what I unearthed when i stripped my 1970 down! It is an MLM Boss and had an entire quarter from a blue donor car and a hack job done on the tail light panel!!! They actually overlapped the two together and there was a jagged raw seam inside the trunk!

Honestly, if you have the repair done by a high quality shop, it wont hurt the value of the car and the next owner will be greatful that they didn't find out after the fact. Break the chain of dishonesty started by the guy that caused this all. Anyway, you will never sell it right?!

John

Was just one of those weird areas in Austin where a residential area was basically turned into a bunch of shops. Guy was looking for a shop and realized oh crap, there it is and slammed on their brakes.

I tell myself I won't, but you never can say never...life happens

 

[Darth Boss]

Hate to say it, but you should have stayed in the lane and rear ended the white car. At least they couldnt flee the scene. Probably would have still been your fault unfortunately. I would definitely tell insurance there is no damage you want repaired to your car to keep the carfax clean. Just have them take care of the miata. Good luck. Hope it all works out for you.

Funny thing is, it happened so fast, but all that went through my mind as I was reacting. By the looks of the car in front of me, he probably didn't have insurance. I knew I was ahead of the traffic in the right lane so I was hoping they would have time to react.

Mind and body and instincts just reacts. I'd rather have the damage I have vs what would've happened if I rear ended the guy. Although I have a total loss clause in the first year of owning a car in my policy that would have replaced the car at a much lower value than total loss value. Might have hit that number if I would have stayed in my lane.

 

[askjeffro]

Sorry about your car, I think you can fix it pretty easily. As said, avoid insurance and it won't show up on the the car's record if that is important to you.

If the driver was in front of you, wouldn't you still have been found at fault regardless? Or does Texas have some special laws in that area? Everywhere I've lived the driver behind bears the legal responsibility in all cases.

 

[ApexCars]

I work in the insurance industry. Technically if you notify your insurance company of a claim, even if you don't end up having them pay anything, it still shows up as a claim on your record. Many times an agent will give you advice about a claim without actually turning it in to the company but that depends on your agent and what all you tell him.

I wouldn't worry about the Miata, he broke the law when he fled the scene. It's going to be hard to come back later and say that you were at fault. If he thought you were at fault why would he take off. You should be able to make a claim on your uninsured/underinsured coverage assuming you carry that coverage. It only has a $250 deductible and doesn't count against you as an at fault accident so it won't increase your premium.

 

[max5ive0]

I work in the insurance industry. Technically if you notify your insurance company of a claim, even if you don't end up having them pay anything, it still shows up as a claim on your record. Many times an agent will give you advice about a claim without actually turning it in to the company but that depends on your agent and what all you tell him.

I wouldn't worry about the Miata, he broke the law when he fled the scene. It's going to be hard to come back later and say that you were at fault. If he thought you were at fault why would he take off. You should be able to make a claim on your uninsured/underinsured coverage assuming you carry that coverage. It only has a $250 deductible and doesn't count against you as an at fault accident so it won't increase your premium.

Miata wasn't the one who flee'd the scene.


Honestly, Gentlemen, I am a little saddened by everyone's advice to keep the damage unreported. It is disheartening to think that this would be done in order to deceive the next potential buyer of a great car. Look, I say document it honestly, because either way, the OP knows the damage that has been done, and that heartache may go away in time, or it wont. But if it eats away at you to the point you feel you have to sell it to move on, the next buyer should have the information, right? As long as they know it was just superficial, then a prospective buyer probably won't be that concerned about it, except in the long term collectability of it, as if there will be any :-\ My advice is don't misrepresent anything when selling. Anyway, glad you are OK and I hope it is cheap repairs!

 

[Darth Boss]

Yeah, the guy who fled the scene was the guy in front of me who slammed on his brakes. The Miata and I were the unfortunate ones. Will see how it plays out.

And yes everything will be reported and fully documented. If and when I sell the car I will have photos showing the minor cosmetic damage and the repair.

Got an estimate from my friend who owns a body shop and has been fixing cars for 25 years. Let the debate begin based on the photo of the damage. The estimate came out to $6000+.

Single head lamp assembly = $940
RT fender stripe = $370
Wheel $610
Fender = $206
Hood Stripes = $1600
Front spoiler assembly = $700

Crazy eh? These are the prices in the system. Obviously not prices that dealers like Tousley can get, but what everyday body shops have to pay.