I was rear-ended by a large truck on the 25th and the damage mostly went to the spare tire, which caused the tire to be pressed up against the back end causing a dent and making it concave. Overall the vehicle is fine - you actually can’t see any damage unless you specifically look behind the tire. And I haven’t had any issues and I can open the trunk easily. However I just bought the vehicle, meaning I have a loan through a bank and I honestly don’t know if it will get totaled or not since it is “old.”
I am curious to see if anyone has been in this situation before or have seen similar damages to a Honda before and was wondering what the damages could be that aren’t physically there.
It is a 2005 and the person who rear-ended me has insurance and they will be covering it (it’s through Geico). I have an appointment scheduled on Tuesday to have it looked at; I just kind of want to be prepared on what to expect!
Let the body shop handle this with the insurance company. There may be hidden damage that an expert will see that you and I would miss. They will work out the $$ with the insurance co, you may have to pay your deductible.
Insurance would pay to replace the rear lid with a “reconditioned” (salvage yard) part, I would bet. That’s what they do.
The “new” (used) part would have to be painted and installed.
If that’s all it needs then insurance would probably be willing to cover that, especially if you express interest in it being fixed.
Insurance companies go the cheapest route. If they won’t go quite enough to cover the damage in whole, see if they can get close and reach a settlement where you kick in a few bucks… or…
Get a couple insurance estimates and see if they’ll write you a check to cover it. Then you can “contract” with a reputable body shop to fix I for you (not going through insurance).
A paying customer can offer get a better deal than the deep-pockets insurance companies.
It’s your vehicle. Nobody can take it from you, legally. CSA
that’s all good as long as it is no hidden damage, otherwise it’s gonna be heck lot of effort to get extra paymetn from guilty party
not sure how much would be saved in getting this DIY approach, one-two hundred bucks?
I would not sign any release of liability papers to guilty party until repair is done-done, and that’s easier to do if you make insurance company to pay the shop directly
what I would definitely do is not to accept the bodyshop insurance carrier suggests as it will be the lowest bidder, I would rather ask them to pay to the shop I select.
I had experience where rear-end damage to my car was repaired by such “whatever” shop and I could find some tell-tell signs it was done, while a friend of mine in similar situation, but much worse damage was repaired by “his” shop with “can not find any sign of repair” result
I guess I just can’t imagine that there would be damage that is hidden. My spare tire on the back definitely prevented the truck from hitting anything else.
And even though the insurance said they will claim the fault, there is still a chance they might not pay for all of it? If I am understanding this correctly.
car in the rear pushed into the spare, spare pushed into the back-door, back-door pushed to the hinges, lock and possibly rear pillars ?
it is hard to judge remotely
an example of hidden damage I might imagine from prior experience: one my coworker managed to bend hinge attachment points to the roof pillar on his hatchback rear door by driving with opened back-door to haul some big box and hitting on the breaks too much: no collision, simply inertia made it wobble the roof. Not very visible unless you inspect in reflected light, but enough for the lock to have trouble closing later.
your car might be all good, I’m only saying inspect areas of potential damage closely before making your decision
Don’t be in such a hurry to get it fixed. You yourself say it’s usable right now, and you are OK, so slow down on making deals. You have at least months to get things squared away, maybe even years. It depends on the laws of your state. Take the time to go to a body shop that is recommended by friends or has a good reputation in your community. This is their bread and butter, you are not annoying them. Get an estimate that will do the job right, size up the place yourself and see if it seems legit. Ask the insurance company who’s paying for the rental car you need while yours is in the shop.
You are not being greedy. You had a good car, and now it’s bent. They have to fix it right, and it should cost you nothing at all.
Late to the party but if you have a bank loan, you cannot just take the check but have to have it fixed. likely any check would need to be endorsed by the bank also. The bank has the car as collateral against the loan and you are required to repair any damage or pay the loan off. So just get the estimates, select a shop and have it repaired.
With modern impact-absorbing bumpers, there can indeed be much more damage than is apparent to the naked eye.
Think of it like an iceberg, which has ~85% of its mass submerged, out of view. Just as a ship’s captain would be very foolish to assume that an iceberg consists of only the portion that he can see, a car owner would be very foolish to assume that all bumper damage is visible when glancing at the car while it is parked.
I have 30 plus years of P&C experience. I always recommend that you go through your insurance carrier. The other driver’s carrier may not be very interested in making you happy, just in making you go away.
You have loan, therefore I assume you have collision coverage. You carrier will arrange to have your car fixed at one of their approved shops, probably with a life time guarantee. If you don’t like the shop tell your carrier. You will have to pay the deductible. Your Carrier will bill the other company (they do this every day)
If the other driver is uninsured they will attempt to collect directly from him or her Normally you are reimbursed for your deductible before your carrier gets paid.
Notes on your coverage: Many policies have no collision deductible if you are hit in the rear and the other party is identified…Your policy may have rental car coverage. Your carrier should get you a discounted rate. This is a not at fault accident and should not raise your rates even if you use your carrier, especially if you have had no recent claims. You paid for coverage; use it .
seen it a few times here. accident results in branded title. or damage disclosed title. which may lower value of vehicle. it does not have a clean title now. some posters have gone round and round with this issue. I don’t know if salvage title pops up when vehicle is totaled and ins co buys it and resells it thru 3rd party and new buyer has salvage title or if nothing happens if current owner fixes vehicle and keeps it. each state is different. or not?
If you didn’t contact your insurer yet, do so. You pay to have them represent you and they will make sure you get a fair shake. Like the guy that hit you, I have GEICO auto insurance, and I find them to be a good organization. Still, your insurer should represent your best interests, like getting you a rental at the other driver’s expense while your car is fixed.
my wife’s car was rear-ended ~15 years ago and on outside it did not look that bad, even bumper was only scratched, not split, but once you looked under the trunk floor, metal was badly bent, to the point it pinched a spare tire under floor cover, it could not be removed. if she let it go on what guilty party insurance suggested (“let us pay for your bumper repainted”) and we signed release of liability as they pushed for, we would be in much worse shape. we proceeded with our insurance, they junked the car, minus $500 of deductible, they got it refunded ~3 months down the road as they sued it from the guilty party