[nosbocaj]

Despite my being extremely careful and always parking away from others, I was hit the other day. I was positioning to back in, when the car in front of me started to back up. She was in an older car without sensors or a camera and was of course "in a hurry and not paying attention". I immediately parked and traded insurance. After she left I assessed the car and couldn't find any structural or paint damage (XPEL FTW). All that remains is this extremely faint indent.

What can I do in this situation? I figured an insurance claim was pointless. It's one of those things where only I can even tell it's there (my wife looked at it for a few minutes before I pointed it out and she couldn't find it), but I can't help but notice it every time. It's plastic, so my only thought it's having a body shop try to massage it out with heat. Or do I just live with it like any other chip or scratch?

[josephx66]

If it was me I would file a claim and seek a new bumper. Same happened to me in a previous car and I got a new bumper. I know it’s trivial damage, but still unfair you have to live with the consequences of some other idiots actions.

[Mike02z]

Personally, I would not worry about it. Yes, you can turn it into your insurance but then you have to pay the deductible. I’d then worry that the paint used to spray a new bumper won’t match especially with a metallic color. You’ll also have to have the XPEL on the bumper redone. If you drive it shit’s gonna happen. That said if it’s going to bother your OCD, put a claim in.

No matter what you decide I’d call my insurance company to tell them what occurred. Tell them you just wanted to report it and will decide to file a claim later. That way if the other driver calls their insurance company and claims you hit them, your covered.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by josephx66@gmail.com

If it was me I would file a claim and seek a new bumper. Same happened to me in a previous car and I got a new bumper. I know it’s trivial damage, but still unfair you have to live with the consequences of some other idiots actions.

Agreed. This isn't OP's fault and insurance should not go up all that much due to this kind of claim.

[TopJimmy]

Do not file a claim for that. It would appear as a reported accident on the carfax and hurt your resale value. Either deal with it or get an estimate and get cash from the responsible party.

My story: I got rear ended on the turnpike by an idiot in a genesis doing NASCAR through traffic. I filed a claim and wound up eating $1K deductible out of a $2K claim. Then my car value went down $5-10K because the accident showed on Carfax. I took a big hit on the trade in. A year plus down the road and I’m still fighting insurance companies, subrogation, arbitration…it never ends and I still don’t have my deductible back.

[nosbocaj]

Originally Posted by Mike02z

Personally, I would not worry about it. Yes, you can turn it into your insurance but then you have to pay the deductible. I’d then worry that the paint used to spray a new bumper won’t match especially with a metallic color. You’ll also have to have the XPEL on the bumper redone. If you drive it shit’s gonna happen. That said if it’s going to bother your OCD, put a claim in.

No matter what you decide I’d call my insurance company to tell them what occurred. Tell them you just wanted to report it and will decide to file a claim later. That way if the other driver calls their insurance company and claims you hit them, your covered.

Yeah I'm leaning towards just moving on. I was hoping it could be massaged out somehow, like PDR, but that's probably not the case.

Good call on the insurance, though I doubt she file a claim. Her car was literally untouched, probably thanks to the fact that I have XPEL. I'd love to see proof of damage I "caused" if she were to claim.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by TopJimmy

Do not file a claim for that. It would appear as a reported accident on the carfax and hurt your resale value. Either deal with it or get an estimate and get cash from the responsible party.

My story: I got rear ended on the turnpike by an idiot in a genesis doing NASCAR through traffic. I filed a claim and wound up eating $1K deductible out of a $2K claim. Then my car value went down $5-10K because the accident showed on Carfax. I took a big hit on the trade in. A year plus down the road and I’m still fighting insurance companies, subrogation, arbitration…it never ends and I still don’t have my deductible back.

Originally Posted by Exar Kun

Yeah I'm leaning towards just moving on. I was hoping it could be massaged out somehow, like PDR, but that's probably not the case.

Good call on the insurance, though I doubt she file a claim. Her car was literally untouched, probably thanks to the fact that I have XPEL. I'd love to see proof of damage I "caused" if she were to claim.

IMO either way you're going to lose out on the trade/sale. Either the value goes down because of the report, or the dealer sees it during the appraisal and devalues the car upon sight.

Up to you but I'd rather get a new bumper out of it and drive a perfect condition car around rather than someone care about it in 3 years that can be easily explained away and pictures shown.

[r0wr]

Originally Posted by Berzerker

IMO either way you're going to lose out on the trade/sale. Either the value goes down because of the report, or the dealer sees it during the appraisal and devalues the car upon sight.

Up to you but I'd rather get a new bumper out of it and drive a perfect condition car around rather than someone care about it in 3 years that can be easily explained away and pictures shown.

I disagree with this. PDR will cost $200 and get this to a place where a dealer buying it would not notice. And even if they did, the ding wouldn’t nearly be as bad as an accident on a carfax for resale value.

[josephx66]

Originally Posted by r0wr

I disagree with this. PDR will cost $200 and get this to a place where a dealer buying it would not notice. And even if they did, the ding wouldn’t nearly be as bad as an accident on a carfax for resale value.

There’s no such thing as pdr on a plastic bumper. They’ll have to bondo and paint if they don’t want to replace the bumper.

[r0wr]

Originally Posted by josephx66@gmail.com

There’s no such thing as pdr on a plastic bumper. They’ll have to bondo and paint if they don’t want to replace the bumper.

Fair point. Even in the case, paying out of pocket for a new bumper seems like less of a hit than an accident on a carfax.

[nosbocaj]

Originally Posted by r0wr

I disagree with this. PDR will cost $200 and get this to a place where a dealer buying it would not notice. And even if they did, the ding wouldn’t nearly be as bad as an accident on a carfax for resale value.

Yeah I mean this is the ideal scenario.

Originally Posted by josephx66@gmail.com

There’s no such thing as pdr on a plastic bumper. They’ll have to bondo and paint if they don’t want to replace the bumper.

It sounds like it can be done (based on a quick google search), but only if there is no paint damage, cracks, or punctures, which is certainly the case here. I've used PDR a bunch before and it always works great for metal. Guess it's worth asking a local shop at least.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by r0wr

Fair point. Even in the case, paying out of pocket for a new bumper seems like less of a hit than an accident on a carfax.

OOP bumper replacement would be like $5k+ plus painting lol. Claim would be well worth it in that case.

Best scenario is to pay a few hundred $ to try and get it repaired.

[nosbocaj]

Originally Posted by Berzerker

OOP bumper replacement would be like $5k+ plus painting lol. Claim would be well worth it in that case.

Best scenario is to pay a few hundred $ to try and get it repaired.

Yeah I'm going to see what the local PDR shop says. Also going to put a third party claim in with her insurance just in case. If PDR can repair it, I can always pull the claim later.

Yet another case of park your car as far away from others as you can .

[Forzanerazzurri]

Thats an easy bondo job for a shop. I would definitely fix that and get her to pay for it.

[TopJimmy]

Originally Posted by Exar Kun

Yeah I'm going to see what the local PDR shop says. Also going to put a third party claim in with her insurance just in case. If PDR can repair it, I can always pull the claim later.

Yet another case of park your car as far away from others as you can .

Like her insurance company won’t tell CarFax soon as they see your VIN…

[vbb]

That would not be worth the "accident reported" hit your car would take on Carfax/Autocheck. I'd move on. I'd be angry, but I'd move on.

[JDUNITNOW]

If you are going to replace bumper, why not remove it and get some really hot water and pour over it and see if it will pop back out or beating with a heat gun and see if it will reform. All you will lose is to ha e it redone with ppf. If it works, it's a win if not, you will have to fix anyway.

[bily]

Remove heat and reshape.

[Forzanerazzurri]

You guys are so scared of using insurance because of Carfax. What is the point of it then if you can't use it. Maybe keep your cars longer than 3 months and you wouldn't care so much about resale.

[BryanCO]

Because the actual damage is minimal, I would try to get a cash agreement with the other driver and not fix it (except for trying to reform the plastic). But the other driver may just them turn it over to their insurance, which unless they were cited, may result in a mutual fault situation as well as the Carfax ding.

[TopJimmy]

Originally Posted by Forzanerazzurri

You guys are so scared of using insurance because of Carfax. What is the point of it then if you can't use it. Maybe keep your cars longer than 3 months and you wouldn't care so much about resale.

You try going through the hassle I did and then say that again…

[nosbocaj]

Originally Posted by bily

Remove heat and reshape.

Yeah this is what I was thinking, but I've never done any body work. I'd also be worried about the parking sensor.

I've filed a claim with the woman's insurance company. I think at this point, I'd like to see what an adjuster says. If it looks like it's going to be some massive, drawn out saga, I'll probably just pull the claim, take the L and move on.