fender bender question
 

Last week my wife was in a very minor colision when a woman rear-ended her. The damage was only some small imprints from her license plate screws and our rear bumper is shifted slightly, barely noticeable, maybe 1/8 of an inch off. They exchanged information and went on their own ways.

The bumper already had some scratches on it, so when we told the woman that the estimate for repair was $560, she offered to pay 75% because she didn't think it was fair that we got our previous damage fixed on her dime. Now if we went through her insurance, I'm pretty sure they would pay the whole thing (correct me if I'm wrong), but I can see her point, but I also feel like... she shouldn't have hit us.

What do you guys think we should do?

what car was your wife driving? was she driving your s2000? did the other driver already report the accident to their insurance company? what was the damage to the other driver's car? Sometimes people (the other drivers) say things at the time of the accident, then later you are getting a call from your insurance company and it snowballs from there. Hope it all works out for you.

it was our '02 civic si. it was clearly the other woman's fault, she just kept rolling when my wife was stopped in front of her. She's admitting fault and wanted us to give her the option of giving us cash instead of going through insurance, which is what we did, but we didn't really expect her to make a counter-offer. Though taking the check for 75% of the cost would be way easier than bothering with insurance.

To my knowledge there was no damage to her car.

Nonsense. Tell the at-fault driver that she is either paying the full repair cost or you will file a claim with her insurer for the full repair cost.

Andrew

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file a claim on her insurances. let them deal with it

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with it. I'm going to tell her that we want the whole amount or we'll file a claim. Whether we had scratches on the bumper before or not isn't any of her business.

Don't speak to her anymore, just have your insurance contact hers. Your insurance company will take care of everything, it really shouldn't be a hassle at all. All you have to do is set up and appointment at the body shop. Everything will be covered by the other lady's insurance in terms of damage.

What kind of repair is going to be done? The fact that there were scratches on it before doesn't add to the cost of repainting the whole bumper, so she should have to pay for fixing what she did. It's not like it matters though because she has to pay for repairing the damages she caused anyway.

That seems to be everyone's answer. The only reason I even ask the question is because what she did is just barely worse than what was already there. It could've easily been done by somebody who wasn't careful parallel parking.. very minor.

It basically just amounts to some sanding, maybe a tiny bit of filling with putty and then repainting.

If you want to be nice and allow her to pay for it without her insurance finding out then tell her up front that you want the whole cost of fixing it. If she refuses then let her know her insurance company will be notified. At least then you'll have given her the chance to keep the blemish from her record. I'm sure her increased rates will make up for the 25% of the cost she is trying to save.

she really should be smart enough to pay in full.....i don't think she wants a 25% increase in premium for 3 years......