Well Merry Christmas to me! Budget buster

[tikilyn]

thanks to some stupid person who had to park next to my brand new, not even three weeks old, car. While I was at work on Christmas eve some uncaring person slammed there car door in to mine and left a huge scrap and removed some paint off of mine. I wanna cry. They didn't even leave a sorry note.

And sense I was at work I was parked way away from all the other cars. There goes my paychecks. I wonder how much it will cost me to get if fix. Anyone have any idea? The scrape is the size of a quarter and there's a small dent. It's so ugly, I've gotta fix it.

 

[IDoDis]

Awww, that stinks! Sorry that happened to you. Maybe you could call one of those mobile "fix-a-dent" places where they come out and fix it right in your driveway. The dent can probably be pounded out from the inside of the door and then you'd need to have that area repainted. Your insurance would cover it, but then you might not want to file a claim for something so small.

 

[Mrs D]

That sucks. We just got a new car too. Guess where I've been parking, far from everyone else!

 

[tikilyn]

That sucks. We just got a new car too. Guess where I've been parking, far from everyone else!

Ugh I know, I've been doing that too. Now I'm going to start taking up four spaces out in the middle of nowhere! Maybe even park crooked It would be no biggie if they didn't scape the paint off. My car is grayish/silver and the white is showing big time.

I don't plan on using my insurance either unless the repair shop wants to charge me 1500.00! But I'm getting if fixed.

 

[Swimalie]

Ugh I know, I've been doing that too. Now I'm going to start taking up four spaces out in the middle of nowhere! Maybe even park crooked It would be no biggie if they didn't scape the paint off. My car is grayish/silver and the white is showing big time.

I don't plan on using my insurance either unless the repair shop wants to charge me 1500.00! But I'm getting if fixed.

I'm so sorry. I have a 6 month old car and will not park next to anyone, either. My family laughs at me parking at the end spot, next to an island, no where near anyone. I think of it as good fitness walking in. I hope your fix is easy.

 

[mrspaha]

So sorry that happened. I know how that feels; years ago someone scraped our brand new dodge minivan in a parking lot. I wouldn't have been so upset because sooner or later, every car gets little dents from other car doors and shopping carts. But like yours, the paint got scraped -- actually it was a huge gash, and we had to do something so that it wouldn't start rusting. Since we didn't want to file a claim and see our rates go up, my husband bought something to apply over it -- not sure what it was. It seemed to help. We still have the van -- 14 yrs old now, and there is a little bit of rust around it.

 

[Judique]

I'm so sorry. I have a 6 month old car and will not park next to anyone, either. My family laughs at me parking at the end spot, next to an island, no where near anyone. I think of it as good fitness walking in. I hope your fix is easy.

I had a car that was only two weeks old when someone door dented me! I was sitting in it at the time and they denied hitting me when I got out and confronted them. It was an ugly moment.

Since that incident I often park in no man's land just to avoid 'neighbors' and I try to enjoy the long walks!

 

[dawson5]

Look for a dealership or repair shop that deals with waterborne paint system. From what I understand, it's blendable and takes less time to dry. It might not cost as much as you think.

(Hubby is a fixed operations director at a dealership, he runs parts, service and body shop. Also, my son hit a car in February, dented bumper and scraped the paint. I think it was under $500 estimate for the bumper-couldn't push out the dent-and paint.)

 

[ancestry]

Why don't you put it through your insurance? A non-moving accident like this shouldn't raise your premium. We have a very low deductible for non-moving accidents.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I had that happen to me right after I got my new SUV. I never fixed it though since I knew it would just be the first of many and I've got a 500.00 deductible.

And 3 years later, it's got a few. Parking spaces are smaller and people don't care if they bang up your vehicle.

It wouldn't hurt to call your insurance and ask them about it since you want it fixed.

 

[Sandy61]

Most places have video cameras that show the parking lot. If the person's license plate can be read, they or their insurance would pay for it.

This happened to us in a Walmart parking lot on our back bumper. It was so tiny we didn't ask them to review the video nor did we contact the police. Now it keeps flaking off and the spot is huge and ugly!!

 

[splash5]

That happened to me in the parking lot of an outlet mall. When we returned to the car, there was a long scratch along the back door (no note). I took it in for an estimate and they said it would be well over $1,000 to fix ($250 deductible)they were going to pull out the window and do a bunch of extra stuff and we didn't have the extra money at the time, so we didn't fix it.

You could buy some touch up paint to cover the scratch.

 

[POOHsie]

In 1979 I bought my "dream car," a BMW 320i. It was the coolest car, everyone looked at it when it went by. I could barely afford it, but they weren't ridiculously priced like they are now. I felt so special driving around. Three weeks later, my boss backed into it at work and put a very obvious dent in the hood. I was totally crushed. That feeling of having the coolest car in town evaporated and never came back. Less than 2 months later, my boss laid me off just after Xmas because business was bad. So the car didn't get fixed.

A few years went by. Finally I took the car to the dealer to do the work. Weeks went by and nothing was being done. I was going crazy! Meanwhile, the dealership was broken into one night and many of the radios in the BMW 320i's at the lot were stolen! That was a popular car radio to steal in the 1980s. So, broken window, damaged dash, plus the car that was sitting there, not being worked on. Finally after pleading, crying, threats, I got the car back, and the paint looks really bad. What could I do? Leave it there for more weeks, go someplace else and pay all over again? I just didn't have that kind of money. So I kept the car as is, lousy paint job and all.

I met a nice man, got marrried, and he did the maintenance on the car, so it never went in the shop. Thanks to my DH, I owned the car for over 14 years. But the hood always looked terrible. At that point, it didn't matter. I had a nice husband, a wonderful DD, no car repair bills.

But the "dream car" lasted three weeks, just like OP's car. After that, I just bought Dodge Caravans and didn't care what they looked like, they were kinda homely anyways.

 

[tikilyn]

Thanks everyone!

I took my car in to a local dealership(ford). The estimate is 531.00 for the repair. My insurance deductible is 500.00 I believe. I'm just going to have to save up and pay out of pocket for it. I'm going to take it to a few more places for estimates just to be sure that price is right.

 

[marlynnp]

There's a very good chance that it's is NOT your paint that is gone but rather that paint from the other vehicle is on yours. Get some rubbing compound and lightly go over the scrape (do not rub hard), all you'll be left with is a little ding.

 

[teCh0010]

Give you insurance agent a call and ask them about your uninsured motorist coverage. A few years ago someone hit our new car we had for less than 24 hours and did $700 in damage. State Farm said that a parking lot hit and run fell under our UM coverage with $0 deductible and paid for the whole thing plus rental car.