Tofer

so long story short(er) i was on my way home from work, and an older man (late 60s, early 70s) pulled out in front of me, i had no where to go, and i ended up hitting his rear drivers side door. the first words out of his mouth were, "lets not go through insurance, just tell me how much its going to cost to fix" there was a bunch of paint transfer on his Kia Sportage and a pretty good dent. since he hit me on the passenger front wheel and 1/4 panel, my alignment is off, and it pulls pretty hard to the right, and the 1/4 panel is dented right near the door, preventing the front passenger door to open all the way (it will open about 1/2 way). the door it self is fine, it just hits the 1/4 panel. i got 2 estiments so far and one wants 1170 someting and the other one 1220. but thats just for what they see, repalcing the 1/4 panel, and make sure the color matches and redo the pin stripeing. the guy at the body shop said that its totally possible that they will get in there, only to open a can of worms and find alot more stuff wrong. i was playing around with it this afternoon and with a puddy knife and a long screw driver, i was able to bend it back so the door can open and with a little bit more time and energy, i can gain access through the fender well and pund it out. so, now heres my delema, do i do it right and pay for the auto body place to do it right, do i pocket the 1200 bucks and help pay off my $3000 credit card and just pay 60 for an alignment job (which i am going to have to get anyways after i install my ball joint spacers.) tell the guy, look i think i can do most of it myself so pay me 1/2 of what the body shop wants, or do i say its fine, what goes around comes around have a great day. the only problem with doing it myself is *IF* there is something else wrong, ie i bent something major in the front end, i am up a creek w/o a paddle.

DudeBud

hand it over i'll fix it lol. if you think you can do it go for it

jimbo74

Pocket the money, pay off the credit cards, and do it myself.

DrBeau

Did you hit him or did he hit you? It's unclear. If you're 51% at fault, you coudl get quite screwed.

Tofer

he pulled out in front of me... i had the green light in the fast lane of a 5 lane road (2 in each direction, plus center turn), and he turned right on red from a side street, but came all the way over into my lane. i had no were to go. i forgot to say, that there is no wobble or vibration in the front end, exept for the pull to the right which i am hoping will go away with an alignment job.

i'll get pics up after i resize and upload them

Tofer

thats what it looks like

stevrock

I'd say let a pro fix it, you never know what else could be broke in there, what if the alignment is off from a twisted frame? hello, you ain't fixing that in your back yard....

DudeBud

easy fix......... i mean easy money

Tofer

see thats the problem... it "should" be an easy fix, so i will feel bad about taking 1200 bucks from an old man. i did notice a DOD sticker on his windsheild so he is probabaly retired miltary (we have an army, AF, and Navy near by).... Morally i dont know what to do, i hate having a conscience life would be so much easier if i didnt (lol j/k ).... actually i hate being in debt even more, if i didnt have a credit card balance hanging over my head, there wouldnt be an issue. is the 1200 bucks off my credit card worth the risk of something else going wrong as a result of this accident.

94x4

"You are what you do when it counts."

If you think that it counts this time, then do the right thing.

The old guy knew that he was wrong from the beginning and may be trying to influence you to see it his way with an "old man routine"... remember, they've been around longer than we have and have a bit more experience with these things from mere length of existence alone, so they would know how to work a pretty good con (been there).

Additionally, that's more likely than not more than an alignment issue, you've got something bent somewhere, not just a loose nut or adjuster and just how important is your ride to you ?!

Get some more estimates from "collision centers", not just "body shops" and follow your conscious from there.

AxleIke

I dissagree, it looks like from the pics that he hit the guy with his tire and side. You can knock the truck out of allgnment by hitting a curb too hard trying to do a U turn. My truck is out of alignment right now just from sliding sideways trying to climb a rock last weekend. Unless there is damage up front that we can't see, i don't see how his frame could be bent.

However, I think you should see a pro if you want the truck to look good. Hands down. It is very difficult to do body work, esp. with a bent panel. If you do do it your self, i'd go to a junk yard and try and find a replacement fender. Dont try to bend it out, if you want it to look okay, it won't. Find a paint shop, one that specializes in Auto body paint, and have them get you paint by using the paint color code under the hood. Paint the fender while its off the truck, and try to match it as best as possible to the truck. Good luck though, its pretty hard.

Use the insurance if you got a police report, if you didn't, then take the money because insurance won't give you the time of day w/out a report. I'm not sure why the guy doesn't want to involve insurance, it's really better for him that way, as it protects him from a scam of some sort. But that's your call.

2ToyGuy

I would definately notify my insurance company asap, and see if he notified his. I had a kid (16, had his license for about 3 months) rear end me one night while I was stopped waiting to turn left. Yes, my signal was on and my lights all functioned perfectly. Bent the bumper up a ways, and tweaked the bed a little. The body shop wanted $1200.00, but since the truck's KBB is only about $650.00, the insurance folks were goining to total it and just pay off the value. I said "No thanks", and kept my truck (it's almost a member of the family by now anyway!). Took a torch, heated the bumper mounts till they were nice and pretty red, and beat the (&U$# out of the bumper with an 8 lb sledge till it was back in place. When we contaced HIS insurance company for the medical payments (my wife had a sore neck. Got a nice ride in an ambulance, just to be on the safe side) it turned out he hadn't bothered to tell tehm. Actually, his idiot parents hadn't, because their innocent little baby couldn't possibly have been at fault, etc, etc, ad nauseam. His insurance payed up for the medical bills, raised their rates (snicker), and payed me $500.00 for the work I did on it. My insurance rates stayed teh same. His fault totally, after all.

Point being, let your insurance company know asap, or they get real pissy about it later on...

Tofer

the paint isnt TOO important to me i mean it is but at the same time i have PLENTY of "Northwest Custom Pin-Striping" and there are already a few small dents as a result of 4wheelin. i do take this truck wheeling at least a couple times a month, so body damage is bound to happen. also how long can i drive before i need an alignment job. like i said i should be installing my BJ spacers (if all goes as planed) in 2 weeks. but i have a 6 hr round trip drive up north to get my sliders installed and and 5 hr round trip to my dads house to get the bj spacers/LC Coils installed, plus my ~30 mile commute M-F. should i get the alignment done twice, or just wait and do it once. i need these tires to last as long as possible.

kryptik

I think I would just pay to have ti fixed and fixed right.

Lance

Keep the money, girls love body damge.
Get the alignment, you will lose $60 in tire life with that much travel. Justification for keeping the money is that your truck has been devalued much more the the repair cost for being involved in an accident. How you spend the compensation is up to you.

The only concern is liability of an accident with no police report.

Sbrut95

Chris-
Get the allignment now, see if that fixes the problem with the pull. Take the guys money because it was his fault and he needs to make right, you know what Im saying. Maybe he doesnt want to file a report with the police or through insurance becuase this has happened to him in the past and he may get dropped or lose his license, who knows bro. DOnt feel bad about getting the money.
Think of it this way... Take the money, pay your credit cards off with the intent of fixing your car when you get the bills paid. The damage doesnt look bad so... Thats what I would do.

ArticulatedYota

ok man heres what i would do:

get a hair dryer pull the pin striping, call around to some junk yards find a 4runner same color get the fender going to be 40-60 $ pull your fender inspect behind make sure there isnt any struckural damage. if not throw on the new fender. take the truck to schwabs and have an alienment done should be 45$ if they dont find anything wrong with your suspention your good. honestly there is nothing wrong with doing it your self and pocketing some money he hit you, it was his fault.

also paint matching red is a bitch it maybe close but give it about a year and the paint will not fade evenly only down side to having a bosy shop do it but honestly they are just going to do the same thing put a new fender on which probably will just be a cheap 20$ replacement one and paint it get the oem pin striping from toyota, and send it down for an allienment.

where as if you were to find a 4runner your same color it is an oem toyota fender (it will fit right perfect) you may get lucky and find one with the same pin striping but if not just pull them its pretty easy just a little time consuming.

Tofer

i pulled the dent out again and i dont think it going to be too hard to pound out the now small dent. it just pisees me off that my body damage cherrry was popped by an old man not a Gnarly rock

2ToyGuy

Hey, don't underestimate the destructive power of old people. I had a 73 year old lady (and I use the term "lady" loosely) try and murder me on my bike one afternoon. Pulled right out in front of me. Up and over I went, landed on one arm and my face (thank goodness for a full face helmet!), bounced once, landed on the same arm again...Wound up with my elbow dislocated, and the lower bones (the radius and ulna) shattered into many little pieces, plus a broken foot, and looootttssss of road rash. Many "Ouchies" and lots and lots of "*%#^&%!!!!" They told me later that if I hadn't been wearing good boots, I would have left one of my feet in her fenderwell...Totaled the bike too, pushed the front end up under the engine, etc.
Do NOT underestimate the destructive power of the Geezer. They will get you every time. At least the Gnarly Rock isn't blind, slow, and malicious...

Sbrut95

thats a crazy story! holy crap. Atleast thats not what happened Chris... Any new ideas on what youre gonna do?