- Location
- Harrisburg, NC
Ok, so this morning I was involved in a very MINOR fender bender. I had pulled into the local biscuit place to pick up some breakfast before school, and there were no normal parking spots left. The only other option was to parallel park in this one little strip of the lot thats perfectly legal to parallel park in (even the owners of the restaurant park there). So i go inside, get my food, come back out, and go to get in the jeep, when an older guy approaches me and says "that was me". I look at him with that "what in the hell are you talkin about?" look and he pulls his business card with a short message on it from underneath my wiper that said "minor fender bender, hit front bumper, please call, sorry".
The way I was parallel parked, It was straight shot from the restaurant to my door, so I didn't walk across the front and notice the damage. So after reading the card i thought "oh great, i don't have a bumper anymore". So we walk around and much to my surprise, my bumper is still completely in tact. I have the "sport" model XJ, which means plastic front bumper on the corners. The exact corner of the passenger side front bumper is dented in, and my right front fender flare is scratched up (down to the plastic). Figure, OK this could be ALOT worse. Also, since the damage is minor enough, and the guy was nice enough to leave his card and everything, and talk to me face to face and in his words "pay for any damages", no need to get insurance involved.
So now here's where the questions come up. I went and got one estimate today (i've got several other places to go to tomorrow), and that was for $265. The reason being the entire right corner of the bumper shifted when he hit it, meaning it's bent at the brackets, so it's gotta be replaced (plus the bumper would be discolored, then the fender flare has to be sanded down, primed, repainted, and all that other fun stuff, and then theres labor. Now since i'm not paying for the damages, i'm not concerned about price, but more about quality.
The questions are (didn't I already say that???), can I get a rental car out of him for the time my jeep is in the shop being fixed? The one estimate I got said about 2 days, and I still have school I gotta get to, as well as work. I wouldn't go for a caddy or anything, just a basic econo box to get around in untill I get my jeep back. My mom's gotta have her jeep to get back and forth to work, so I can't share hers. Also, as with any other late model Sport or SE with the plastic trim, they're extremely faded. However, right now they look good because I put a protectant/restorer on them on a regular basis to bring the color back and keep it there for a while. When I do get it fixed, I'm going to go with an OEM bumper, meaning it will be new, and not faded, which would make it not match with the other corner of my front bumper. Would be it fair to ask for the other one to be replaced also, regardless of the fact that it wasn't touched?
Most people i've talked to today are wondering why i'm even getting it fixed. I look at it as, I work too damn hard to pay for somebody elses mistake. Had I done similar damages out on a trail or something, I would live with it, and probably have a good memory to tell about it.
BTW, not that it matters, but it was a GMC Yukon that hit me (Suburban dressed up).
The way I was parallel parked, It was straight shot from the restaurant to my door, so I didn't walk across the front and notice the damage. So after reading the card i thought "oh great, i don't have a bumper anymore". So we walk around and much to my surprise, my bumper is still completely in tact. I have the "sport" model XJ, which means plastic front bumper on the corners. The exact corner of the passenger side front bumper is dented in, and my right front fender flare is scratched up (down to the plastic). Figure, OK this could be ALOT worse. Also, since the damage is minor enough, and the guy was nice enough to leave his card and everything, and talk to me face to face and in his words "pay for any damages", no need to get insurance involved.
So now here's where the questions come up. I went and got one estimate today (i've got several other places to go to tomorrow), and that was for $265. The reason being the entire right corner of the bumper shifted when he hit it, meaning it's bent at the brackets, so it's gotta be replaced (plus the bumper would be discolored, then the fender flare has to be sanded down, primed, repainted, and all that other fun stuff, and then theres labor. Now since i'm not paying for the damages, i'm not concerned about price, but more about quality.
The questions are (didn't I already say that???), can I get a rental car out of him for the time my jeep is in the shop being fixed? The one estimate I got said about 2 days, and I still have school I gotta get to, as well as work. I wouldn't go for a caddy or anything, just a basic econo box to get around in untill I get my jeep back. My mom's gotta have her jeep to get back and forth to work, so I can't share hers. Also, as with any other late model Sport or SE with the plastic trim, they're extremely faded. However, right now they look good because I put a protectant/restorer on them on a regular basis to bring the color back and keep it there for a while. When I do get it fixed, I'm going to go with an OEM bumper, meaning it will be new, and not faded, which would make it not match with the other corner of my front bumper. Would be it fair to ask for the other one to be replaced also, regardless of the fact that it wasn't touched?
Most people i've talked to today are wondering why i'm even getting it fixed. I look at it as, I work too damn hard to pay for somebody elses mistake. Had I done similar damages out on a trail or something, I would live with it, and probably have a good memory to tell about it.
BTW, not that it matters, but it was a GMC Yukon that hit me (Suburban dressed up).
