While I was at the bank, the rear of my evo was lightly kissed..Upon first inspection I noticed no damage but after a closer look I noticed a very small indentation on the rear bumper..There is no scratch or paint damage..I got the owners info and I was wondering if it would be in my best intrest to go through insurance or try to settle privately or just let it go. I don't want my insurance to go up but it would be nice to be able to get $$ for the slight amount of damage..Anyone have experience with this or opinions??TIA

 

HIS insurance should pay for it, and it shouldn't affect yours at all.

 

honestly, some companys will look at a the hit and still see it and give you a headach. I would goto a good body shop and ask them how much it is to fix the bumper as im sure the little dent is your only damage.. Call the owner and say well this is how much the bumper is going to cost to fix, do you want me to let insurance get in this or do you want to cover it yourself.

 

Honestly I'd rather leave it go then to have my bumper painted, but I will take a factory painted replacement.. I'd most likely put the $$ into other parts of the car..I don't want to wait too long to call the ins. company though either..

 

Need more info.

Were you in/at your car when it was hit? Or did you come out of the bank to see the damage and the person that hit you was long gone? If the person was there, you file it against their insurance and they will pay for the entire thing. Your insurance company doesn't need to hear the first thing about what happened unless the other person's insurance company tries to deny your claim. Did the police come? Did they write up an accident report? Without an accident report assigning fault to the other driver, you will have a tough time pinning full blame on the person that hit you unless they blatantly admit fault to their claims adjuster.

 

just ask for a sum of cash up front if the damage isnt bad. good for a bit of fun hehe

 

Datapoint- I know gruppe-s was selling factory prepainted JDM Evo 9 bumpers for around $700.. if your repair is at or near that point you may want to consider a bumper swap.

 

just ask for $500 and call it even

 

Very good questions..No I was not in the car, but I watched it happen..I walked over and driver admitted to hitting it but no damage, I looked closer and snapped a few pics and he saw the slight damage..I did not file a police report yet, should I do that bafore I call their ins co.?

 

dont call insurance and take it to a body shop for a qoute. call the guy with that number and see what he wants to do. by the way i dont think youre insurance can be effected by this, since its not your fault at all.

 

1) get 2 estimates. Call person, fax him both. Or 1 from the shop you want to use. ask if he wants to pay or use insurance.

2) watch how many days pass. There may be a time limit to when you can file a police report. 10-30 days?? call police information and find out.

3) if he wants to pay, tell him he has 4 days (or whatever you feel comfy with) to send a cashier's check else you file the police report and make a claim. Don't be too nice with this, else you can get screwed over.

I've had this happen before and you have to be firm.

Your rates wont go up, but i believe if you have more than 3 or so accidents in a year, then you are considered 'accident prone' even if they're not your fault. That number likely depends on the state. I used to work as a contractor at a large insurance co.

 

do i smell the evo 9 rear end cooking???? take the $500.00 and put that towards the new bumper...

 

If you are going to go through his/her insurance company, yes, call the police first before you file the claim. The police may not be very helpful at this point though, for one you were on private property which is not their domain, and for two, you have no real way to prove to them that the damage came from where you say it did since you are no longer at the scene of the accident with the culprit.

As a tip for everyone out there, if you are involved in any sort of accident whatsoever, and it was not your fault, CALL THE POLICE IMMEDIATELY. Even if it was just a little tiny nothing in a parking lot, if the police come out, they will write a report and assign fault for the accident, which makes the insurance process go a million times faster and easier. Without a police report, claims adjusters have to determine fault percentages simply by talking to the people involved. If the person that hit you decides they feel like lying to the claims adjuster, you have no way to prove them wrong without a police report or a witness.

 

True!!! There are many jackholes out there that will lie about the accident so their insurance won't have to pay. Since there was no police and no witness, its your word against his/her. It pissis me off so much when these jackholes not only will not admit it is their fault when it is but will in turn say it is your fault instead. That really pisses me off a lot!!!!

 

$430 pays for a factory painted rear bumper. Ask if the guy will pay that without insurance. He may go for it depending on his deductible.