Wife had a fender bender

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tallbump

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She was at a parkinglot for our daughter's wim lesson. SWell, it's not really a parking lot, but a paved area that the school has designated for parking. No lines or anything. Hope that makes snese.

Anyways, she was pakred North - South, facing North. A DOdge Durnag woas parked Eat-West, facing East. Immediately to the left (North side, driver's side of the Durango was a min van, also parked East West.

I bet you can already imagine where his is going.

Well, they both begin to back out at the same time. As you can imagine, they collided. My wife calls me and I head over as my work isn't too far from where she was.

When I got there, they had already exchanged inof. I was trying ot fiugre out if there was anything else needed. The driver of the Durango claims she saw my wife backing out and stopped, tired to honk but there wasn't time. Basically, saying my wife backed into her and it was her fault.

I noticed no one was there so I mentioned that I assumed there were nno witnesses. Conveniently, the minivan driver (who had already left) was supposedly a witness, but was also the the Durango driver's Sister-in law).

Of course, we didn't have her info. My wife siad that lady never got out of her car. When my wife pulled forward, (she was blocking her in)the lady left.

3
We have talked to our Insurance company. They say they believe it will come down to 50-50, with each party responsible for tier own damages. I am ok with that, I mean, it ws an "accident".

What stinks though is that we have a $500 deductible. I don't have that kind of money. Haven't gotten an estimate yet.

Here's a pic of the damage.

gate.jpg

As you see in the bottom yellow circle, there was some minor damage to the rear bumper cover. Not too bad, but it is creased so I don't know how easy it would be to fix.

The black circle shows a softball sixe dent. Wouldn't be too bad, should pop out. But, the other yellow circle shows another crease.

So, not sure what we are going to do. Will see how things play out with the insurance company, and get an estimate in the mean time.

I am hoping that I can just fix the damage myself, maybe with a little help. The creases are the only things that concern me.

I am also concerned, but not too much, that we will be responsible for the damages to the Durango. Her whole driver's corener of her bumper cover was caved in. Our insurance adjuster siad they won't listen to the witness since it was family of the other driver.

Wish me luck.
 

dietz4ibanez

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Wow. That sucks man! And after all that work you did to clean it too. Keep us posted! I hope everything turns out ok!
 

tallbump

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Oh, it will get a good thorough cleaning again don't worry.

I still need to take a porter cable to it and hopefully a claybar.

I just hope I can get the body work done.

Thanks
 

TheDarkKnightKnox

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Did you contact the other parties insurance company? If you exchanges insurance info. That means the other party is will to offer you their insurance. You shouldn't need to pay a deductible at that point.

No fault can be given on private property anyway.

The rear bumper cover is really easy to pop off, only a few bolt headed screws in the rear wheel wells, two bolts under the rear hatch next to the tail lights they are covered by little round plastic covers you pop out, and they on the underside there are multiple pop clips you will need to remove. The bumper will pop off really easy at that point. I would recommend using slow light heat from a heat gun and gently push out any dents on the bumper cover.

Good luck sorry to hear about the mishap!

Keep us posted!
 

tallbump

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Our insurance company is talking to their insurance company. My adjuster is the one who brought up the deductible in the first place, so I assumed I was stuck with it. Honestly, though, I really don't want to claim it becuase I don't want the rates to go up.

Thanks for the info on the bumper cover, I'll check that out.

Right now we are more worried about the tailgate. Has anyone ever taken off the interiro pane for that? I am thinking I may have to push it out from the inside.
 

prheaume

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very easy to take appart, have disasemble to gain access to the rear wiper motor.Can be done in 5 minutes, a little hard on the shoulder as I've done it tailgate open for more space.
 

Z_Ghost

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Sorry to see that and it does not look like it will be to hard to fix.
 

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