Author Topic: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!  (Read 4369 times)

jpvt128

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Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« on: April 05, 2017, 07:40:19 PM »
Well I made a mistake ladies and gents. My girlfriend's father was helping me with a home improvement project and we needed to move his truck. I of course offered to move the vehicle. In my haste, I bumped the edge of my house and left some very nice sub-surface scratches on his truck. Not being an expert on auto-body repair, I assumed it would be a relatively easy and inexpensive fix- man was I wrong! The quote from the auto-body shop was over $1000! This seems absolutely insane to me- I did not notice any dents, just the sub-surface scratches. Maybe there was damage I was unaware of, but the vehicle was going approximately 2 MPH and the range of the scratches, which are near the wheel-well, is less than a foot. Does this seem like an outrageous price?

Now I am left trying to determine my next move. Of course since it's not my vehicle, I assume I cannot make a claim on my own vehicle insurance. There is no damage to my home, so I don't know that there is anything that can be done with my homeowners insurance. I also don't think it is fair for him to have to make a claim on his own insurance which would raise his premiums down the road. Am I stuck shelling out $1000 for this relatively tiny mistake? I realize I can get a second opinion on the amount of the repair, but I am wondering if there are any other solutions out there that I am not thinking of. I don't expect that he would be excited for me to take a stab at doing the repair myself since I have no auto-body experience. This definitely feels like this might be a small setback that I am stuck with. Anyone have any better ideas to save some stache cash?
« Last Edit: April 05, 2017, 07:44:50 PM by jpvt128 »

AlmstRtrd

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2017, 07:57:53 PM »
Darn, that is bad luck. I'm no expert but our car got hit in NYC a couple of months back and there was $3000 worth of damage. What looks like few scratches can easily be $1000. When I say that it was $3000 worth of damage, it wasn't just the opinion of the body shop. State Farm agreed with that amount.

Just one possibility to think about... If you offer to pay for it, your GF's dad will likely not feel totally comfortable with that scenario and may offer to split the cost with you. You may also want to factor in how much you like your girlfriend!

Good luck.

researcher1

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2017, 08:04:19 PM »
Your ONLY option is to write your girlfriend's father a check for $1000.  And do it tomorrow.  You don't want to be a schmuck for dragging your feet.

Tester

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2017, 09:24:53 PM »
Don't offer to pay for it.
Write a check and give it to you father in law.
This is the only option to keep things straight between you.
He can be a good father and refuse it.

OthalaFehu

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2017, 09:42:08 PM »
Making an insurance claim is never worth it for anything under $1,500.

That $ amount quoted is probably correct, I think you need to just straight up pay it.

Not Official Father-n-law right? Just father of girl you are dating. How good looking is she?
« Last Edit: April 05, 2017, 09:46:21 PM by OthalaFehu »

WildJager

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2017, 09:43:02 PM »
Don't offer to pay for it.
Write a check and give it to you father in law.
This is the only option to keep things straight between you.
He can be a good father and refuse it.

Yup.  Pay up.  Sucks, but that's what emergency funds are for.

chris316

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2017, 10:05:51 PM »
Not Official Father-n-law right? Just father of girl you are dating. How good looking is she?

Yea, how committed are you to the relationship?

Some insurance companies will still make you pay even if you get hit and run. why? because it was your fault you put your car in a situation where it could get hit. technically your GF dad let you drive his vehicle... if he's a good guy, he will know that the responsibility is mostly on him but really shared with him  because he allowed you to drive his vehicle...

I put a small dent in a new Volkswagen that you could not tell was there unless you were standing in the right light... $4500!!! F*ck that highway robbery sh*t!!!...

But mostly what others said on here. don't drag you feet and pay up. He might understand the situation and split with you...

This is a great example why Big Expensive vehicles Suck massive balls.

gooki

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2017, 01:56:06 AM »
Reprinting should cost about $300 a panel. If you damaged the non removable body section of the vehicle the the cost will significantly higher.

jade

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2017, 02:15:07 AM »
Sorry to hear that. Another angle is does it have to be repaired... Obviously taking into consideration how your girlfriends father feels about it? We had a few scratches done to our car over the past few years and some we decided to live with, as it's 11 years old and wasn't worth claiming on or the fixing costs overall. I would suggest still offering to pay but suss out what he'd be happy with depending on the vehicle age and condition vs 1k repair costs. He might be as shocked as you! if it's quite old and he wanted to leave it too (and it was safe/legal), maybe half of that 1k (or cheaper if you shop around) would suffice for depreciation as a result of the damage?
« Last Edit: April 06, 2017, 05:06:27 AM by jade »

SnackDog

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2017, 02:31:05 AM »
You can definitely claim it on your liability insurance since you damaged someone else's vehicle. Depends on deductible and chance of your rates increasing.

Ask around for a cheaper body shop to spot-paint rather than whole body panel. I had a guy who could perfectly spot fix anything for dirt cheap.

Be extra careful driving someone else's vehicle.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2017, 04:20:54 AM »
Write the check today. Even if you could save $150 some other way, just do the right thing and put it behind you.

Axecleaver

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2017, 01:35:21 PM »
Body shops are accustomed to quoting repair work that someone else is paying for - typically the other guy's insurance. Tell them what happened and that you're paying out of pocket. Watch the price drop. You should be able to find someone to buff out the scratches and spot paint it for a couple hundred.

the_fixer

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2017, 08:18:10 PM »
Not worth claiming on your insurance

As someone else said go to a body shop and let them know what happened and you are paying out of pocket and you will likely save some money 1/4 - 1/2 would be my guess.

Talk to the father and let him know that you will pay to make it right you made a mistake and $hit happens.


Aggie1999

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #13 on: April 06, 2017, 09:10:58 PM »
Since it is just scratches on the paint if the father is nice and smart he won't ask you for money and will not get it "fixed". IMO it is never a good idea to get paint fixed when it is just scratches. The paint applied by the body shop rarely last as long as the original. Spot painting rarely get's a match where you can't tell the spot that was painted. You have to paint the whole panel, etc. You should probably offer the father the check (get a non-insurance estimate) and hopefully he will decline and just break out the polish and buffer.

stashgrower

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Re: Foolish Mistake- What to do now?!?!
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2017, 02:44:19 AM »
'fess up. Then write the check if it's needed.