New truck- fender bender

So I just bought a new silverado 1500. Only has 1500 miles on it, and I notice someone has already hit it when I wasn"t looking. Pushed the left rear bumper in a bit (just enough to dent in the bed side behind the bumper a bit) and the tailgate won"t open. It is not visible unless you really look at the bumper, but i noticed that it must have hit hard enough that you can see a very faint kink above the wheel well on that side.

What would you do? Do I turn it in to insurance and live with the rate increase (the hartford 500 deductable) or do I just have my buddy thats a body man fix up the lower corner so the tailgate opens and live with the tiny kink above the wheel well and scratched bumper? Obviously this has me very upset, but what can I do? I didn"t notice it until I tried to open the tailgate. Thanks for the advice. Joel

I got rear ended when mine was new in 09. Same type damage your talking about. Tail gate wouldnt open. $3,800 at the dealership to repare. I was lucky and didnt have to pay for it.

How did you not have to pay? How was it handled?

I was stopped at a light and a girl texting ran into the rear end. Her insurance payed the bill. It was a pain though. My sons car just got crunched in a parking lot a few weeks ago. No note or anything so I feel your pain. But his car is not new, but it still makes you mad.

Ouch! I can see why you're torqued off. Why is it a new vehicle gets the dent but an old junker never does? As far as fixing it goes, it depends if it really bothers you to live with it. If you aren't turning it in there's no rush to get it fixed beside getting your tailgate working again.

A little over two years ago Marilyn went over a curb with our almost new van and bashed in the drivers side rocker panel. I decided not to turn it in and it hasn't been fixed yet, but it bothers me every time I look at it. Jim

My son was driving his grandfathers ranger last week
guy hit him on lower right corner broke taillight he told me to look at it, it had a small kink above rear wheel, told him get a written appraisal they sent a check for $2132.80 he paid 3 grand for the truck 3 years ago bought new taillight $45 bucks.

I think you have more than $3500 in damages - possibly a lot more. If the tailgate won't open it sounds like a lot of things are sprung.

Joel, depending what state you are in. Do you have uninsured motorist property damage coverage on your policy? Your agent will know. Some cases can lower or eliminate your deductible and shouldn't count against your policy. Just a thought - Brad.

(quoted from post at 12:08:08 01/05/12) I think you have more than $3500 in damages - possibly a lot more. If the tailgate won't open it sounds like a lot of things are sprung.

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Exactly. It won't be an easy fix. Might've even bent the frame.

Well, here in Michigan, if the vehicle is Parked and is hit, your comp should cover it, no deductible, it should also not go against you, but when my car was hit, parked, I saw the guy do it, and his insurance had to pay, not knowing who hit you may not help, but since it must have been parked when hit, you should be able to get out of the deductible I think.

I really don't think its that bad. Its visible why the tailgate won't open. When the bumper was hit it sprung in enough (about 1") to hit the area of fender behind the bumper. this caved it in just enough to be touching the bottom corner of the tailgate. As this bottom section pushed in it made for a very tiny (yet noticable to the eye) kink in the area just above the wheel well.

Doesn't take much to tweek these new ones ! VERY CHEAP made.

Makes one want to build full oil field bumpers. I saw one once where they even went all around the sides too. Did a nice job and dipped them down for clearance for the doors to open over them .

If you had any idea where it may have happened you could check for security cameras. Never know..if you are lucky it might have been caught on video.

Joel,

ONLY if you have Broad Collision. BTDT. That's why it's called "no fault" insurance.

Not "very cheap made" sir, it's called mpg and to move a certain mass at a certain velocity with a certain resistance takes a certain amount of fuel.....the EPA mandates mpg improvements to clean up the air so that you and I can breathe and personally I like it.......after growing up in the 50's when every car in front of you stunk.

Mark

So I hook up my tandem utility trailer, go to the feed store and pic up a ton of creep and a 50# salt/mineral block. Get the skid unloaded and drop the tailgate to remove the salt. Since my truck was new in April, I didn't want salt in my bed/liner so I took the salt out and got the air hose and blew it out.

One problem....I forgot to close the tailgate and as I was putting the trailer up I tore up the plastic tailgate cover somewhat and got a dimple in the tailgate.

Got most of the dimple out THANKS TO THE STEEL BEING THIN TO REDUCE VEHICLE WEIGHT and with my heat gun I was able to melt the cover and put it pretty much back in place.

Doesn't look too bad unless you know what you are looking for. Besides, this is a farm truck....it needs to look like one....yeah right.....I'll keep it pristeen as long as I can.

Now it is "Christened". I can quit worrying about the first dent.

Mark

When our daughter was in college, she worked part time doing data entry at the same insurance company I was working for at the time.

One icy morning it was so slick you could hardly walk across the parking lot, and when Amy came to work she slid into the back of the Claims Manager's Cadillac and put a dent in the bumper.

He just shrugged it off and said when the weather got better we'd keep our eyes open for a decent used bumper. Before we got around to doing anything about it, a garbage truck backed into the Cadillac and totally obliterated the damage Amy did.

Won't tell you what you should do. If was me, I'd probably have it fixed out of my own pocket if the cost was reasonable. My brother on the other hand would turn it into his insurance company and tell me I'm nuts for not. No harm done either way as far as I'm concerned.

When I hit a deer about a year ago with my '96 Dodge beater and pulled into a gas station with a broken headlight and plenty of other damage, the local constibal saw me coming and pulled in with me to make sure I knew that I had a headlight out so that it got replaced right there. I explained had hit a deer a few miles back then reached down to pull some fur out of some cracks where it got pulled out as she was flying. It wasn't his jurisdiction, so he called a Michigan trooper that came out and wrote up the report because they said it could have been over $1,000 in damage, and Michigan law requires a report at that point, and a copy was sent to my insurance company automaticly because thats the way they do it there. Of course my insurance company contacted me about the deer accident, but since was my highway beater, I told them I'd pay for it and did. Grill, headlights and turn signals, some other stuff, I don't know, about $600, but then again, my deductible is $1,000 on full coverage by my choice, with a clean record.

I've witnessed people hitting new vehicles intentionally. A pi$$er. If they didn't leave you a note with who, what, where, insurance company, etc, they may as well have hit you intentionally even if they didn't.

Whatever your decision, good luck.

Mark

I had a similar situation with a hit and run. Never noticed it and don't know where it happned. Found the damage while parked in the garage.
I have to pay the deductible but it does not go against me.
Depends on what type of policy you havr i suppose.

Get your body man friend to look at it first to get a better idea how bad it is. Often what looks minor can cost a fortune to repair.

Youngest kid came home for a week or so Wednesday. Had an animal run out in front of him on the highway, he swerved but still hit it. I got some of the parts at a wrecking yard yesterday, hope to find the rest today. Less than 100 bucks and a little time to R&R and it will be good to go later today.
Stopped at a Chrysler dealer yesterday and asked prices on replacement parts only, gave us a print out. Over $1400 for parts only. No wonder insurance is so darn high.
The kid was real lucky he swerved far enough to hit the animal (probably a coyote) on the corner, might have been messy if he hit it in the middle and deployed the air bag at 70+ mph on the highway. (Hwy 77, middle of King Ranch, South Texas, dark outside)

The line below the headlamp and the blotch on the end of the bumper near the tire is blood. He saw a deer on the other side of the road just before the accident.

Thanks for all of your input, guys. I always appreciate the knowledge that this forum lends to all of its viewers. You are a good group of individuals who help many of us on a daily basis.

I got an estimate last night of just over $2100 to fix my new truck. I have decided to turn it in to my insurance. The repair shop said that if the repair is under $2000 it does not effect my insurance. They are going to work with me on that. Also, I may get a waived deductible, or at least a reduced one. So, in short, things aren't all bad I guess. Thanks again.