Shopping cart meets car
June 5, 2017 11:28 AM Subscribe
I lost control of a shopping cart and it left a shallow, quarter-sized dent on a nearby automobile. I left my name and number and the car owner contacted me. Got a few independent quotes based on the photos, which only made things more confusing. How to proceed?
While wrangling my bike and a couple heavy bags of groceries, I lost my grip on my shopping cart and watched in horror as it slowly rolled into a lady's fancy sports car, leaving a small ding in her passenger door. I took some photos of the damage and left my name and phone number under her windshield wiper. She called me today asking what I proposed to do about it. I told her I'd send some body shops the photos and get a few estimates for the work, then cut her a check for the damage based on their assessment, which she agreed to.
Problem is, I got the quotes back and they range from $150 to $600, depending on whether the body shops need to do any paint work or not (I doubt they would as I didn't see any paint damage--the cart was rolling very slowly, but I can't be 100% sure and know little of such matters). The lady said her insurance deductible is $500 and she would just want to settle out of pocket if it were less than that, but given the big range of estimates it's unclear what this will cost.
My questions: Given the large disparity between these two quotes, how should I proceed? Would this be covered in any way, shape or form by my own insurance? I wasn't in my car, and this wasn't near my house, so auto and homeowners insurance wouldn't seem to apply. And how can I protect myself from paying more money than I should be?
While wrangling my bike and a couple heavy bags of groceries, I lost my grip on my shopping cart and watched in horror as it slowly rolled into a lady's fancy sports car, leaving a small ding in her passenger door. I took some photos of the damage and left my name and phone number under her windshield wiper. She called me today asking what I proposed to do about it. I told her I'd send some body shops the photos and get a few estimates for the work, then cut her a check for the damage based on their assessment, which she agreed to.
Problem is, I got the quotes back and they range from $150 to $600, depending on whether the body shops need to do any paint work or not (I doubt they would as I didn't see any paint damage--the cart was rolling very slowly, but I can't be 100% sure and know little of such matters). The lady said her insurance deductible is $500 and she would just want to settle out of pocket if it were less than that, but given the big range of estimates it's unclear what this will cost.
My questions: Given the large disparity between these two quotes, how should I proceed? Would this be covered in any way, shape or form by my own insurance? I wasn't in my car, and this wasn't near my house, so auto and homeowners insurance wouldn't seem to apply. And how can I protect myself from paying more money than I should be?
The paint damage can just as easily occur in taking the dent out as putting it back. You can't see if the paint has delaminated from the metal surface so your assessment of whether the paint is damaged is not entirely relevant.
It is impossible to do accurate body shop quotes from a photograph, so the larger quote is likely assuming it is the worst interpretation of the images - a sharper edged dent than shown, which may need the inside door panel to come off and the mechanic work from the inside to massage the dent out. They then may need to use body filler to remove any slight creases still visible after the repair and sand/paint over it. The lower quote is assuming the best case - they can just pop the dent back out with the minimal fuss and the paint will survive both in and out deformations.
Either way it is likely to be below the deductible of most insurances to be not worth claiming.
Without the repair actually being done, I would get three quotes and pay the average unless I had someone (well, two people) quote while actually having the car in their possession. The only way to make sure you are paying the minimum amount is for you to pay the actual bill the bodyshop produces. Your best bet here is to offer enough that is considered a reasonable amount for the repair and hope it goes away. That way you are potentially insulated from the maximum cost of the repair if it ends up being the top end of the quotes.
posted by Brockles at 11:40 AM on June 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
It is impossible to do accurate body shop quotes from a photograph, so the larger quote is likely assuming it is the worst interpretation of the images - a sharper edged dent than shown, which may need the inside door panel to come off and the mechanic work from the inside to massage the dent out. They then may need to use body filler to remove any slight creases still visible after the repair and sand/paint over it. The lower quote is assuming the best case - they can just pop the dent back out with the minimal fuss and the paint will survive both in and out deformations.
Either way it is likely to be below the deductible of most insurances to be not worth claiming.
Without the repair actually being done, I would get three quotes and pay the average unless I had someone (well, two people) quote while actually having the car in their possession. The only way to make sure you are paying the minimum amount is for you to pay the actual bill the bodyshop produces. Your best bet here is to offer enough that is considered a reasonable amount for the repair and hope it goes away. That way you are potentially insulated from the maximum cost of the repair if it ends up being the top end of the quotes.
posted by Brockles at 11:40 AM on June 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
Offer her $200 cash in hand right now, or tell her to contact insurance.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:53 AM on June 5, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:53 AM on June 5, 2017 [5 favorites]
If my car were the one damaged, I would do one of two things:
1) take it to a shop myself for an estimate and then tell you what you owe me, contacting my insurance if it's high
2) not care enough to do that and be happy with a couple hundred cash in hand
If she doesn't care enough to do the legwork herself (or to get insurance involved), then I think offering her 200 bucks cash and washing your hands of it is a great solution.
posted by phunniemee at 12:14 PM on June 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
1) take it to a shop myself for an estimate and then tell you what you owe me, contacting my insurance if it's high
2) not care enough to do that and be happy with a couple hundred cash in hand
If she doesn't care enough to do the legwork herself (or to get insurance involved), then I think offering her 200 bucks cash and washing your hands of it is a great solution.
posted by phunniemee at 12:14 PM on June 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's weird she won't get an estimate herself, since she has the car. I think $300 is more appropriate, but either way. Make the offer or tell her to call her insurance company and you'll reimburse them.
posted by jbenben at 12:29 PM on June 5, 2017
posted by jbenben at 12:29 PM on June 5, 2017
Response by poster: In case it matters, she said that this was something she wanted to do quickly as she is leaving town soon, though she did not specify for how long she will be gone. She also shared that she works at the grocery store where this happened, so I don't think she's some random shady individual. I agree that it is strange that she didn't offer to get her own assessment done.
posted by lieber hair at 12:33 PM on June 5, 2017
posted by lieber hair at 12:33 PM on June 5, 2017
If it is truly just a ding, a small, conically-shaped dent, and it is not too close to the edge of a body panel, PDR, paintless dent removal is the best way to repair it. Good PDR artists — and it most closely resembles an art — can do truly amazing things. Also, they usually come to the car and not the other way 'round.
Don't know where you are located but in the Seattle area, Ryan Snider is the undisputed master of paintless dent removal. He work is magically good. You can send him a photo on his site and ask for an estimate to get an idea of how much good PDR costs but, if it is just a small ding in an accessible spot, I will guess around $300.
posted by bz at 3:40 PM on June 5, 2017
Don't know where you are located but in the Seattle area, Ryan Snider is the undisputed master of paintless dent removal. He work is magically good. You can send him a photo on his site and ask for an estimate to get an idea of how much good PDR costs but, if it is just a small ding in an accessible spot, I will guess around $300.
posted by bz at 3:40 PM on June 5, 2017
Best answer: She's going out of town? Oh, please. Nah.
Pass her the info on to the "dent master" mentioned above and worry no more. Make sure the check note says something like "Total Settlement, dent repair" or similar language that frees you from further obligation. She's just... wow.
posted by jbenben at 4:03 PM on June 5, 2017
Pass her the info on to the "dent master" mentioned above and worry no more. Make sure the check note says something like "Total Settlement, dent repair" or similar language that frees you from further obligation. She's just... wow.
posted by jbenben at 4:03 PM on June 5, 2017
Get her contact info and pass it on to your insurance company. She needs to take her car in to get it properly inspected from a few different vendors and your insurance company can and will deal with her for you. That's what you pay them for.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 9:33 PM on June 5, 2017
posted by LuckySeven~ at 9:33 PM on June 5, 2017
I think your range of quotes is based on how the body shops want to fix the dent. There's probably 2 main approaches. The first which is more pricy involves a more invasive process to smooth out the dent by banging and sanding which would then need to be followed by painting. Those are the higher qoutes you're getting. And doing that approach is fine but again more pricey and to me it sounds like doing a paintless dent removal would be the best approach here and cheapest. But not every dent can be removed with that technique. If the dent is on a crease or the material was stretched paintless dent removal might not work. But if it's a clean dent then a top notch paintless dent specialist should easily get it done for a few hundred at most and it should look like it never happened. I'd say offer up $300 or go through insurance companies. The lady should be getting quotes and info herself and coming back to you with numbers. And recommend she looks into paintless dent removal. Good luck.
posted by ljs30 at 6:42 AM on June 6, 2017
posted by ljs30 at 6:42 AM on June 6, 2017
Response by poster: Update: she left town and texted me when she returned, so I do believe she was on the up & up. I did a bit of research and estimated based on neighborhood PDR dent repair quotes and sent her a Paypal check for "total amount" based on those quotes. That seems to have done the trick, so case closed.
posted by lieber hair at 8:48 AM on August 15, 2017
posted by lieber hair at 8:48 AM on August 15, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Autumnheart at 11:38 AM on June 5, 2017