That'll buff right out after a simple paintless dent repair. /JK
Glad it wasn't more serious... IMO, body-only damage isn't as worrisome for selling a used car when you are done with it.
Someone earlier said "document the hell out of it"... I'd agree with that... If I'm selling that to someone, I'd show them the photos and give them the story. If they object, there's plenty of buyers for a well maintained truck that had a simple body repair done professionally.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776
Does any company make a car mirror tough enough to dent a body panel anymore? Based on the length of the scrape, they were either oblivious or driving too fast in a rather crowded area. Seeing who washes the cars at the dealership I'm amazed that I get an intact car back.Originally Posted by rob_s
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
The whole story goes that the tech took the truck out to diagnose an issue, in a torrential downpour. Coming out of the dealership and turning right he fishtailed and slid into another vehicle. I don't doubt that a mirror alone would cause that but if it collapsed and the truck actually hit the mount for the mirror I could see it.
Either way, I don't see much benefit to them lying to me about the details, as it doesn't really matter how it happened at this point. They say they plan to fix it, they put me in a loaner at no cost to me, and it remains to be seen how the repair looks when done and any other compensation I can get.
I know that alot of people say they want to raise hell on stuff like this at the beginning, and some people may actually even behave that way, but I'm more of a "wait and see" at this point in my life having exhausted all that indignation and "I'M GONNA.....! AND YOU BETTER...!" at a young age.
From where I sit, if the repair looks, feels, and sounds good when it's done, I'll likely be happy. As someone else mentioned if it was any sort of serious body, or especially frame, damage we would probably be having a different conversation.
Yeah. I had an incident where a ladder fell over and scratched the door of my Corvette while it was in the shop for brakes. The owner had the door repainted, and that was good enough for me. Poo happens. If it was a '63 split window or a Concours restoration then I'd worry about numbers matching, factory paint, etc. Mine wasn't collectible, and neither is this truck. Numbers matching is overthinking it.
Give them a chance to make it right. I don't get escalating it before giving them a choice.
I agree on the “trust but verify” path forward. Service department backed my wife’s van into a pole one time, fairly minor hickey on the bumper, and they offered to fix it or comp my work that day (which was >$400 that day), I took the free work because there was already some damage on the other side of the bumper they wouldn’t have fixed anyway. A bit later (prior to getting in to fix it) she got rear ended at a stop light and the whole bumper got replaced anyway...
--Josh
“Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.
The tire shop drove my wife's van out of one bay, after tire balance/rotation to another bay for a front end alignment, and the kid driving dragged the left side of the van across the bumper of a 1980's era pickup truck. Had to replace pretty much the entire left side of the vehicle, driver's door, sliding rear door, and driver's side rear quarter panel. These weren't scratches, it was about a 4"-6" wide by about 3"-4" deep gouge the length of the left side of the vehicle.
Just now getting to you're pictures. My gouge was longer - as I said the length of the vehicle - and deeper. The tire guys eventually covered everything. The problem I initially had was with my insurance who was going to put it on my insurance since I had given them the right to drive my vehicle. It didn't take a whole lot of convincing to point out the business did this to my vehicle and they upfront admitted fault and volunteered to pay, though it took a little effort to get my deductable back.
Everything looked perfect on our van after the repair. However, as I mentioned it was my wife's car, and I practically never drive it. A year or two after the repair, I was driving it and went to put down the window on the driver's side sliding door that had been replaced, only to find out the window wouldn't go down. I suspect they didn't put in a power window in the new door. It was so long since the repair, and realistically a feature we practically never use, but it was an annoyance. I suppose if we turned over cars every few years, that would have been a hit on trade in, but we still have the van, kid #2 has it at college for her last semester, and it is now entering year 12 of ownership.
Make 'em replace that side of the bed. Not fix it.
My dad took his Audi A-8 to a repair shop for something or other. (By the time he finally wrecked it he’d paid more in repairs than he had for the car...but that’s another sorry story).
They managed to break the drivers side window. Didn’t fix it, just vacuumed up the glass, rolled the rest of the windows down and called to tell him the problem he’d brought the car in for was fixed. I’m still not sure how they thought he wouldn’t see it immediately, in Houston, in the summer.
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Last edited by TR675; 10-19-2017 at 09:15 PM.
Mirror my ass!!! A car will sit lower. The driver probably hit a semi trailer, think flatbed or turned into something. They should now own it. Don't take possession of it. Call your insurance company. They get paid to make people pay. Tell the insurance company they took it and did it. It is theirs.
Last edited by Arbninftry; 10-19-2017 at 09:26 PM.
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