So my MY2008 s2000 (<5600 miles!!) was involved in a minor bender today!!

I am parked at a red light today, about half a car length behind the white line. The girl in front of me pulls too far into the intersection and the light turns red. She begins backing up. I honk (I honk my horn pretty freely, better to temporarily hurt someone's feelings than to have your car scuffed). She keeps backing up and runs her truck (Ford Escape, no trailer hitch THANK GOD) onto my front end. Claims she didn't see me (WTF?!? ) The damage seems to be pretty minor: the bumper is scratched (fairly deeply) but the hood seems untouched. The bumper is still firmly attached and the body lines do not seem to be off at all.

I had a police claim issued because I was the "behind" car in the accident, so the default is that it is my fault. By issuing a report, it is officially in the books that I was not at fault. Now if the girl tries to switch up the story when she gets the repair bill, I will have some documentation to back me up.

Where should I go from now? Do I take my car to a dealership and have them pull off the bumper to check for any hidden damage? I know that there is most likely no damage, but I am kinda freaking out that there was a f@**ing truck parked on my car for a few seconds. Do dealerships even deal with this or should I go to a body shop? Do you guys have any suggestions for body shops in STL (I live in U.City/Clayton).

And if the damage does in fact end up being minor, should I just settle out of pocket or is insurance my best bet? I am nervous that my premium will go up even though I am at ZERO fault. Also, will this affect my title in anyway? Does minor damage cause your status to change from clean to rebuilt?

Thanks for the advice and sry for the long read. Be careful out there because people really do not know how to drive.

 

Call the girl's insurance company and tell them what happened. They will have you take it to their shop of choice or send out an adjustor to look at it. If she wants to settle out of pocket, it will mean she doesn't want it to affect her insurance. In that case, go to a shop and get an estimate and tell her you want such and such amount to take care of damages. Your premium will not go up unless you make the claim on your own insurance company, which is not smart because the other party was at fault. You call THEIR insurance to take care of the damages. Rebuilt title only happens when your car is totalled out and the insurance takes the car from you. It will no longer be yours at that point... that's when it becomes salvage. If you buy back, the title will still be clean as the insurance never took ownership.

 

I second that, go through her insurance company. Going "out of pocket" is never a good idea, IMHO. There are just too many bad stories out there of people not paying etc. etc. etc.
I've always done well with Schaeffer Autobody...they guarantee their work in case something happens in the future and their work is exceptional...