by tono » Wed Sep 01, 2010 04:53 am
Hello,
I live in California.
Last week, I accidentally made a scratch on the front bumper of other person's car with a shopping cart.
(I thought that the shopping cart stopped, but it suddenly started to move and hit a car)
The owner of the car went to his auto insurance company and got an estimate to repair the car, it is $600.
Was it reasonable ? It's just a scratch and I brought the picture to the local repair shop and the shop offered me to repair it with $300.
I search the internet and it seems that to repaint the front bumper is around $300. (The car is 1995 honda acord)
Since I don't want to involve my insurance company, I need to talk to the auto insurance company by myself, but they told me that I have no choice. Is it true ?
Any comment will be very appreciated. I'm looking for any way to reduce the repair cost if it's not resonable.
Thanks,
I live in California.
Last week, I accidentally made a scratch on the front bumper of other person's car with a shopping cart.
(I thought that the shopping cart stopped, but it suddenly started to move and hit a car)
The owner of the car went to his auto insurance company and got an estimate to repair the car, it is $600.
Was it reasonable ? It's just a scratch and I brought the picture to the local repair shop and the shop offered me to repair it with $300.
I search the internet and it seems that to repaint the front bumper is around $300. (The car is 1995 honda acord)
Since I don't want to involve my insurance company, I need to talk to the auto insurance company by myself, but they told me that I have no choice. Is it true ?
Any comment will be very appreciated. I'm looking for any way to reduce the repair cost if it's not resonable.
Thanks,
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 11:43 am Post Subject:
.
.
If a Claimant handed you an estimate of $600.oo to repair a scratch on a bumper cover on an 16 year old car....
..[/quote:01a30e0819]Would you....
(1) cut a check for $600.oo
OR
(2) tell them you know of at least 3 local shops that will repair it for $300.oo, so that is all you are required to pay and all you will pay.
..[quote:01a30e0819] I know you asked Todd, but I just had to answer too Fred, I'd do neither, I'd look at the car and write what I thought it needed, give him a copy of my estimate, pay him from that, tell him to go to the shop of his choice, give them my estimate, and tell them to call me if they had any questions, or after they tore it down if they found anything else..
Lori,
Your kind-of doing number 2, using a different approach & Dollar amount. Your refusing to pay the _Claimed_ amount unless the shop proves your offer is insufficient.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 03:32 pm Post Subject:
not sure the auto would extend anyway
Can't be certain about other states, but this would never be covered under a California PAP . . . shopping cart vs. auto. On the other hand, auto vs. shopping cart would (as in, "I was driving in a parking lot and I ran into a shopping cart . . . ").
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 06:55 pm Post Subject:
Hi all,
Thanks a lot for the replies.
I'm kind in a give up mode according to the replies.
I thought that paying $600 is too much only because a shopping cart just made a scratch on the pretty old car's bumper.
The cart was empty and not so big . I attached two pictures of the scratch for your reference.
(The 1st one (green paint) is what I'm sure I did. The 2nd one I don't know if I really did it)
Thanks a lot.
tono
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 08:58 pm Post Subject:
OMG.
no repair time, that will come out when they prep the bumper for paint. dont even have to take off the bumper cover... loosen the bumper cover and tape off, spot paint (they wont paint the whole bumper, just spot paint and blend, maybe an hour of paint labor), clear coat the bumper. thats it. maybe a couple hundred bucks. it MAY buff out, i'd try it first, but doubtful, looks like a solid scuff.
the other damage looks like they pushed up against something else or scrubbed something, looks like prior damage to me. however it will get taken care of when they paint anyway.
show me the appraisal if you get it. i
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 08:58 pm Post Subject:
OMG.
no repair time, that will come out when they prep the bumper for paint. dont even have to take off the bumper cover... loosen the bumper cover and tape off, spot paint (they wont paint the whole bumper, just spot paint and blend, maybe an hour of paint labor), clear coat the bumper. thats it. maybe a couple hundred bucks. it MAY buff out, i'd try it first, but doubtful, looks like a solid scuff.
the other damage looks like they pushed up against something else or scrubbed something, looks like prior damage to me. however it will get taken care of when they paint anyway.
show me the appraisal if you get it.
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 09:15 pm Post Subject:
I uploaded the estimate from the insurance company.
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 02:41 am Post Subject:
well, crap.
its a good estimate. the only thing i could possibly question would be 2 hr overhaul and a full hour on that scratch, but since he didnt pay to r&I or even loosed the cover, he is probably including it the O/H (the time would be about the same) splitting hairs really...i like the fact he even cut the paint time to spot paint as i mentioned in my earlier post. im sorry, but that looks right. the labor and paint rates in your area may be higher than here. I didnt see the rates that on the estimate....sry friend, i was hoping to see something really stand out.
my next question would be to ask the owner if they plan to fix the damage and if not, see if they would settle for cash at a reduced amount ($300). If they insist on repairs, write the check to them and the bodyshop of their choice so they have to make the repairs. its a shot anyway.
keep us posted.
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:48 pm Post Subject:
I agree with mbyork. . . crap
I thought to myself "self, maybe its a textured bumper and they need to replace it"
No dice
I disagree on the tint time. Any good shop knows they should spray a few cards for color match before they get into the tinting. Plastic parts usually take on a different hue when painted the exact same paint mix as the metal body panels (look at a few cars on the road today and tell me if the bumpers always exactly match the body color).
The overhaul time is straight out of Mitchells and standard. And yes, it is inclusive of the R&I time.
Quite a few shops won't touch repair times for anything starting at .5 hours, so 1 hour repair is about right.
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 01:58 am Post Subject:
yeah, there's a few things to debate if you look closely enough (there always are), but it's really splitting hairs, depending on the shop and your area. over all, its a fair estimate. the shop is the one doing the work, if it were me i would talk to the shop and see what they could do it for.
good points moman...on a bumper scuff, do you typically pay to R&I and O/H, or just loosen the cover and tape, spot paint (blend within panel) and clear? my money is the scuff would come off when they prep the bumper for paint, probably wouldnt need any labor time at all, so the shop is coming out ok on this one.
we used to have a guy that came around doing scratch and ding repair, could repair this for less that $100. Dent Doctor, Ding King, etc...these guys do a lot of this kind of work and do a great job.
re: plastic parts.. lol...toyota camrys are a great example of this...bumpers never match adjacent panels...especially the gold and silver ones...always made sure to point out the difference in color on the bumpers prior to going in for repairs...most of the time the customer commented "i never noticed that before"...lol...but ALWAYS would notice after repairs.
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 10:49 am Post Subject:
Usually, I would pay to loosen the cover if we were painting an adjacent panel and not getting into the bumper.
The shop should get the R&I (or OH) time because if this is the only damaged panel, we would pay at least a partial refinish with full clear coat. It should be refinished OFF the car and on a stand for quality.
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