I was sitting at a stop sign, waiting to turn left onto a state highway, when a guy turning right off of the highway onto the road I was on understeered and hit me. I had that “this SOB’s gonna hit me” / “what the hell” split second thought, then wham. I filed a police report and all that biz. Started to just beat the tar outta the guy, but I didn’t. I’ve softened in my old age. 10 years ago he would’ve been calling the police instead of me. Anyhoo, I wonder how it’ll look when they fix this? I’m thinking 13 year old black might be hard to match. Bodywork should be easy.
A body shop will most likely replace the panel. The black shop be easy to match.
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Agree with Purebred, panel replacement, and a good body/paint shop can match the color.
A good detail shop could polish up the oxidized clear coat and make the rest of the truck closer to the new paint. Cheaper than spraying whole truck and something insurance likely to find acceptable if new stands out too much. Something to consider asking for…
Yeah that’s no small dent. These days they take a computer scan of the existing paint and let the computer adjust the mix from the original formula. So for a decent shop, it’ll be a perfect match. I’ve had black painted and gray painted and very very hard to tell, especially black. Accidents happen. I had a lady back into me at a drive-up window. Figure that out but it was $3000 from her insurance company before all was said and done.
Thanks 
You’re younger than me by a few years . . .
They can easily match the color but a bit more difficult to get that scuffed up, oxidized clear look with new paint. 
I’ll ask the body shop what they recommend. Maybe they (or a detail shop) can spruce up the rest of the paint.
Kind of my concern. I’d rather just have a straight body with matching paint / clear, than one panel in pristine paint with the rest noticeably older. Maybe they can make the old paint look comparable to the newly painted panel.
I’ve learned to control my temper…or I’m better about it anyway. Hacked me off, though. Accidents happen, it could’ve been worse, etc, etc. But damn, crossing into the opposite (outside) lane when making a turn should be pretty friggin avoidable.
I got out to look at the damage and the guy immediately walks up on me. Like right beside me. I said, back the hell off me. I don’t know you, don’t know if you’re high, and you just ran into my truck, so back the F off a minute 
. “I need a moment to process this and a little personal space” would’ve sounded better. Heat of the moment and all.
We’ll see how this plays out. He had insurance (or at least insurance papers) but no DL. I have liability, but I don’t carry full coverage (except on my wife’s car). I’ve only been in 3 accidents. Flipped a Mustang GT when I was 19. I had $5800 in it and a $5,000 estimate to repair it. No collision, so sold it for the drivetrain. I got rear ended in a Tacoma with 287k miles that I had $330 in. I told the guy don’t worry about it. Not worth fixing the rear bumper he tore off (I made my own ). So I’m not versed in how this goes. I guess I’ll get the police report tomorrow (if I can get off work and get by the SO). Then I’ll call my insurance and see what the next step is. I assume they’ll contact his insurance company. If he’s not current, I guess I’m just screwed unless I want to sue. Which I don’t.
No idea how that’ll be fixed, but I expect it won’t be that big of a deal mechanically. $$-wise it might be a big deal. But should be fixable no problem. Good on you for controlling your temper, just a fender bender is all.
Reminds me of a similar story. One time I was stopped, and readying to turn left from a side road onto a 3-lane in each direction major road. Stoplight controlled intersection. I noticed directly across the major road a guy in a small and well-used decrepit looking pickup truck was intending to turn right (and go in the same direction as I intended to go) onto the major road. When the light turns we both start our turns, me left, he right. I’m thinking he’ll turn into the right lane and me into the left most lane, so no conflict.
I notice he’s understeering a little, turning wide, and into the middle lane. No problem, he’s still one lane over. Oh oh, now he’s turning even wider, and directly at me; so I brake hard and let him go past me on my right into the left most lane. But even that’s not good enough for him, he continues his extra wide turn onto the median strip of the road, which is a landscaped median, so he’s running over the flowers and the bushes … lol … that must have woke him up b/c he looked a little alarmed, then waved his hand as if to say he’s sorry he almost ran into me. Gotta be careful out there, lots of crazy drivers.
Correct, money is the issue. I guess if his insurance (if current) doesn’t pay, I’ll whack the dent out with a 2 X 4 and a sledge hammer, come a long, or whatever other redneck method I can devise. Then just live with it. No since pouring a ton of money into a 13 year old 150k mike truck, I suppose.
This is why we can’t have nice things!!
I’d use that as an opportunity to by one of those relatively inexpensive Harbor Freight “stud welders”, used to pull out dents. I’m not really sure what they do, or how they do it, but it seems like a cool tool to have on hand.
When they did my black Olds, they kept it an extra day so they could polish it to match. If you haven’t been doing it once or twice a year, a little machine polishing, glaze and wax and it’ll shine like new.
Maybe it’ll shine up, thanks. I haven’t had it long. I think I got it around March. I don’t think it got waxed much (or washed) by the previous owner who used it for a contracting business.
Got a sweet deal on it, cleaned it up nice, did some maintenance, now bam, it looks like every other old POS truck on the road! Thanks a lot, buddy! Haha. I’m venting in jest. Sort of.
Let’s nor forget that the body shop needs to do an alignment check as well to make sure the rear end is still square.
Yes, that’s why I mentioned it. Setting expectations up front is better than being disappointed when you show up and then they start their song and dance. This way, they can set expectations with insurance as well (assuming the guy wasn’t a total weasel and had valid and current insurance).
Well, so far I’ve got a near $2500 repair estimate on a vehicle I paid $5k to purchase. And the body shop guy said I’d have to double that repair cost to total it. So either I got a good deal when I bought it, or the body shop guy is wrong.
Corporate (I assume) level insurance people say I need to wait for an adjuster. Local insurance people tell me to forward them the estimate (which I did). Local insurance people gave me a case number. Corporate people say I have no case number. This will be interesting. So far, there seem to be too many people involved who don’t actually accomplish anything tangible. Which seems par for the course of most business models these days. “Let’s have a meeting rather than actually do something” seems to be how most operate, in my opinion. But I’m on a tangent and I digress!
Don’t talk to corporate people and the local agents. Just talk to one. The corporate group needs a little time to catch up with the local staff. If you are supposed to deal with a corporate adjuster, just do that.