Help with rental damage (pictures included)

May 6, 2007 11:19 AM

I just caused some minor body damage to a local rental truck (see photos) caused by grazing a chain link fencepost. I know nothing about body work and would like to get a general idea of what dollar amount of damage I'm in for and whether I should get my insurance involved (or whether it will get involved).

The place I rented from is not a major rental company, rather it's a local used car lot in a small town in Texas. The guy there checked my insurance before renting it to me, and called the company who said that yes, I am insured by them. The thing is I only carry liability and uninsured motorist on my GEICO policy, so I don't know if I'm really protected (maybe under liability, I don't know).

So tomorrow I turn the truck in, and I'm definitely owning up to the damage.

I'm perfectly willing to pay out of pocket if we're only talking several hundred bucks, but beyond that, should I intervene and try to pay out of pocket, or allow my insurance company to pay? I've never filed a claim in 15 years; I pay $180 per vehicle per 6 months so I'd hate to see my premiums skyrocket. I have no idea how this local place deals with damage.

posted by rolypolyman to work & money (18 comments total)

Truck BTW is a 2001 Chevy Silverado.
posted by rolypolyman at 11:28 AM on May 6, 2007

Non-expert but based on experience: there is hardly ever any such thing as "minor damage." Over the years, I don't think I have ever gotten an estimate for under $500 for any type of dent and paint. Sorry, I hope I am wrong. Good luck.
posted by The Deej at 11:28 AM on May 6, 2007

Again no expert but this looks like the equivalent of at least $400 repairs, on the assumption that this can be fixed by a body panel repair.

But I like your approach of owning up and doing the right thing. So for the sake of $400-$500 it sounds like you are doing the right thing by paying it up front rather than taking a hit on your insurance.
posted by pettins at 11:40 AM on May 6, 2007

you're in east texas, probably experienced with the other side of the border. autobody work is muuuuch cheaper down there and just as good. i have a friend (san diego state grad) who's been to the same shop in tijuana with busted cars (including a rental mercedes once) so many times, they say "hola john" when he drives up.
posted by bruce at 12:01 PM on May 6, 2007

If there's creasing in the panel, it's at least going to require some bondo work and a repaint. Not horrible, but not as expensive as panel replacement and I doubt you'll be able to do any sort of paintless dent removal.

As for the insurance, I wouldn't even bother calling them - if you don't have comprehensive, you won't be able to make a claim, and if they took a particularly dim view of you, it could raise your rates.

I'd make a weekend trip south and get bombed on margaritas while someone else fixes the truck. Just make sure your insurance will cover you while you're out-of-country!
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:16 PM on May 6, 2007

you're in east texas, probably experienced with the other side of the border.

You're obviously not from Texas. :) West texas has all the border towns, and getting from east to west in Texas is a long-ass drive.

According to his lat/long, he's at least 400 miles from the Mexico. That's not exactly a short hop.

OP - Good call on 'fessing up. Wish I could tell you how much your insurance will jump, but it's maddening and seems rather arbitrary at times. My best guess is that it won't bump you up much, since it's likely to be a fairly inexpensive repair (compared to say, totalling a car and incurring medical bills to boot). If it's the only accident on your record, I wouldn't be too concerned.
posted by chrisamiller at 12:20 PM on May 6, 2007

My guess is $1000.

$500 for the panel, $300 to paint it, and $200 to install it.
posted by Kwantsar at 12:30 PM on May 6, 2007

Some credit cards have insurance for things like this when you used them to rent a vehicle. You most likely had to use a credit card when you rented and they put a hold on the card. If this was the case for you, you should call that credit card company and see if you have this coverage. I believe both Visa and Mastercard offer this on some of their cards, probably others as well. It's worth checking out.
posted by Yorrick at 12:55 PM on May 6, 2007

(Off-topic, roly, but please humor me: has the redneck trailer set ever been a FPP? That was amazing.)
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:29 PM on May 6, 2007

I'm with Kwanstar: the rental agency is almost certainly not going to be satisfied with a Bondo-and-paint job; they're going to want it restored to the condition they gave it to you in, which did not include a fairly major crease in the rear quarter-panel. Therefore you're going to have to shell for a new panel, painted and installed, and frankly $500 might be optimistic. In my experience body panels go for $700 and up, and especially given the size of the one you damaged (it constitutes basically the entire left side of the truck) you could be facing at least that, maybe more.

Body work is very expensive stuff. The best thing to do is probably go to your mechanic and get an estimate. Even if he doesn't do body work, he can a) give you an idea of what it would cost and b) refer you to a body shop that won't rip you off. If you can swing whatever you get quoted, then by all means just get it fixed and the rental people will be none the wiser. If not, and this is your first accident or your first in five or so years, I'd get the insurance company involved.

If you do tell the rental place about it they might insist you take it to a dealer, and no matter what happens you will almost certainly end up holding a heavier bag than if you simply repair it on your own recognizance.
posted by ChasFile at 2:07 PM on May 6, 2007

Go ahead and get the estimate from the rental car company, take the estimate to your insurance agent and have him/her figure out what the cheaper option is-- paying now out of pocket without making an official claim, or making the claim, so that you pay only the deductible, but your rates will go up (usually just for 3 years. If you remain accident-free for three years, your rate should go back down). Checking with your agent is not the same thing as making a claim against your policy.

And in the future, pay the rental company the extra $10.50 a day to get full coverage on the rental. As you can see, it's probably worth it. ( learned this early on when I sideswiped a bus-- "minor" damage that cost me $800 in 1978, when $800 meant something)
posted by nax at 2:16 PM on May 6, 2007

I would be verrrrrry cautious about fixing it without telling the rental place.

If anything goes wrong with the repair, they can claim it's not up to their standards, and have it repaired again at your expense. You really can't treat the vehicle as if you own it.

It sounds like you are willing to do the right thing, and trying to hide it will come back to bite you. I'd rather be up front and pay for it once, even if it's not the best deal, than end up paying twice. Plus, being upfront is really the right thing to do. My free advice, worth every cent.
posted by The Deej at 2:31 PM on May 6, 2007

Thanks everyone.

Well, the one thing I have going for me is this is a used car lot, owned by an individual (I dealt with the owner). I think what happens is going to depend on his personal whims and intentions regarding the truck.

Fortunately my mother-in-law's neighbor says the guy that runs the car lot has a very generous reputation, so if I'm lucky I may get off light on this one. I'm crossing my fingers that we just lose the $500 deposit check. If he has to get it repaired, I may try offering a check if the damage is under $1000.

As far as the comments about taking the truck to Mexico, chrisamiller is dead on... Mexico is 8 hours from here and when you stack up lodging, Mexican insurance, gas, additional rental, and my time away from work it's is absolutely not worth it.

yorrick: you most likely had to use a credit card when you rented
They accepted checks only... they already have a $500 deposit check.

nax: pay the rental company the extra $10.50 a day to get full coverage on the rental
As I said, this is a small used car lot; no such insurance is offered.

fiercecupcake: has the redneck trailer set ever been a FPP?
No, I've never heard of any links being made to it. Even though those people were bad neighbors I kind of feel sorry for their situation.
posted by rolypolyman at 2:40 PM on May 6, 2007

I would concur that that is probably about $1000 damage. I just nicked the front bumper of a saturn with my truck and ended up paying $1800 for a new bumper, paint, etc. It is almost certainly worth it to just pay it out of pocket; your liability-only insurance is probably not going to cover it and if they bump up your rates you may pay three times that over three years.
posted by maxwelton at 6:26 PM on May 6, 2007

I just had a similar scrape fixed on my car and it cost about $900.
posted by MsMolly at 10:09 PM on May 6, 2007

I had some similar damage on my 1994 Silverado fixed for about $700, so you might be able to get it done for under $1000.
posted by TedW at 7:37 AM on May 7, 2007

And I need to add that around here (GA) most paint and body shops will deal with you on the price some if you are paying out of pocket rather than going through the insurance co.
posted by TedW at 7:39 AM on May 7, 2007

UPDATE: Just for anyone keeping tabs, the damage estimate was $763. I'll be paying that out of pocket. It sucks that cosmetic work is so ridiculously expensive.
posted by rolypolyman at 10:29 AM on May 7, 2007