What to do with this unfortunate incident?

Working in my garage this weekend I managed to damage my 360.

I have standing cabinets (not on wheels) in my garage for tool storage and such. I needed to rearrange things in order to do some drywall hanging. Cold wet and rainy outside so I didn't want to move the 360 out in the rain. Using a two wheel dolly I tried to lift a cabinet with drawers. While moving it I lost balance and the cabinet tipped towards the car. I caught the top two drawers but the third drawer slid out and put a nice gouge in the otherwise perfect front bumper. The irony is that I just installed a Venture shield clear bra in August. Well I just ruined that!

So as I have a realistic $2000 damage claim with paint and reinstalling the bra. Car has a $500 deductible. Do I turn this in? Will it be a big red flag on Car Fax in the future?


Thanks
Steve

 

i wouldnt report it your gonna end up worse in the long run. i say just eat the 2k and enjoy your car. my buddy backed my car into a jeep and put a hole in the back bumper and i was thinking of reporting it but i knew it woulda turned out bad if i tried to sell it so i made him cough up the dough

 

UGHHH!!!!! So sorry buddy. It happens to all of us eventually. I've done my share of damage to my cars while moving guitars and amps through. I put a nice gouge in the wall just last month bringing a 75 lb Fender Amp down the stairs.

As far as how it will affect your resale or carfax or whatever, I don't know. If I were buying your car and it was repaired perfectly it certainly wouldn't steer me away from your car.

Best,
Ape

 

Steve, I am sorry to hear that. Regarding the red-flag with CarFax - in my opinion, it all depends on who it is. Some people are paranoid while others are reasonable and will believe an honest story with the proper proof. I am wondering if there is a way to write in the CarFax the type of damage or that it was not a car accident?

 

Sorry to hear about your "garage-ident" (have had several myself on various cars), but the first thing you should do is increase your insurance deductible to at least $1K if you don't really need to only be $500 out-of-pocket for any accident.

 

I'd say get it fixed on your own. Trying to explain any bodywork down the line will be tough.
And remember these cars don't melt in the rain!

 

If you use the insurance, you will get diminished value for the car. That should exceed the cost of this repair. You may need to hire an independent appraiser but it will be worth it. If the car is worth less after the repair, the insurance has to reimburse you for that as part of making you whole after the accident. Your car is definitely worth at least a couple thousand less at this point with the damage history.

Nothing wrong with it so don't feel bad, these things happen to all of us.

Best of luck.

 

They don't???? Oh sure, now you tell me!!!

 

I have heard that you can't get diminished value for your own at-fault accidents, only when someone else is at-fault. Any confirmation on this?

 

There is the problem, right there.

 

Take relevant pictures. This will alleviate concerns from potential buyers regarding repair/paint.

 

Steve......

1-Take pics for future disclosure.
2-Get it fixed locally for $750 +/-.....a "gouge" as you put it in a polyurethane bumper cover should not cost more if your car is non-metallic. What you need is a "blow in" performed using body shop terminology. There is no reason to remove the bumper cover unless the location of the mark requires it.
3-Reapply 3M when completed.

FWIW there will be no diminished value to anyone who has a working brain at resale time........it's is a superficial mark on a bumper cover. Manufacturer's importers (FNA, PCNA, etc) routinely repaint these, as well as rocker panels, et al, prior to delivery if damaged in shipping, or due to poor quality work that was missed at the final inspection and DO NOT disclose it to the first owner.

 

You might find a good dent repair guy can fix that for not too much. Just eat it yourself. Good luck.

BTW, those 360 bumpers are a painted solid fiberglass material and not a polyurethane.

 

Thanks guys for all the feedback. Looks like about $2000 to fix it properly. A big part of it being the repair of the clear-bra. As I don't have an installer locally, I would have to pay $250 just to get the guy here and then roughly $650 to redo the bra on the bumper. The rest is the painting of the bumper.

It's extra frustrating because I just did all this in July. There was a fair share of small stone chips so I had it repsprayed and then installed the clear-bra. The nose of the car was essentially perfect.

I have a higher mileage Euro car and I'm thinking that the buyer for my car won't be as finicky as the buyer of a 10k miles or less car. I'm thinking I'll most likely follow the advice of some here and document all the repair to explain to any future buyer why there is an incident. That's if it even shows up in a car fax.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Don't forget to subtract deductable. After that it's a $1500 loss on your part. My wife and I paid for a 15K roof on our house because the loss of discounts and time frame to get them back wasn't worth what the insurance company would pay for.

Make this decision strictly finanancially from your perspective. Don't hide anything if you chose to sell. A prior poster said take pictures,.....definately. You have nothing to hide, fix the car, love the car, and if you have to sell it you have a legitimate history with pictures to back it up. Is it a spyder? I may be in line in a couple years...

 

Didn't know 'dat.......never scratched my 360 though so I didn't get to find out......

 

I did say have the re-work done on your own.. Ain't no good/need to bring in the insurance in on this.
And yes, it has happened to me as well... Several times & strangely around the same area as the previous indentation/scrap...:-Q

 

WOW thats expensive.

 

I think the remove/paint/install part is pretty close, if on the high side. Where he's getting ripped is the clear bra, which I think should be much less to cover a bumper with plastic.

 

Even if you reported this I do not believe Carfax will ever have this in their record. They do not report accidents unless they are totals or salvage tittles. The only thing they post is milage. They only report motor vehicle information like inspections , milage and change of ownership. Worthless info.

 

Steve,

YOU DAMAGE MI CAR ! Darn ! Please be careful . Document everything with photos. Don't worry about the bra right because you won't be driving for quite a while. Next year plan a reason to go to the guy or tell me to call you when he is in the area doing other cars.

most car with higher miles have had paint work so it is not a big deal. Reporting it will have it possibly come out on car fax then a buyer could try and make a bigger deal than what's needed

 

I was wondering about this. When you look at the Carfax sample report they show that they report accident reports from 50 states, but I know that in NY the accident report form does not even have a space for a VIN and is handwritten, making me wonder if it ever goes into any kind of database.

If there is an accident report, but no insurance claim, and nothing reported by a body shop because the person paid for it out of pocket, will that come up on a carfax report? Trying to understand what I get with a carfax report.

 

Sell it and get a Diablo!! ;-)

(Inside joke)