[SFHess]

Until my neighbor backed into when leaving his driveway yesterday...

[Justcruising]

do people even look before backing up, hopefully his insurance will make it as good as new

[Redlinez]

That really sucks man. I constantly watch as I'm driving down the alleyway between our garages as my neighbors back out all the time without looking. Hopefully just a new fender will fix it. Sorry to see that.

[arpad_m]

Incredible how in this age of technology, with mandatory backup cameras and beeping parking sensors, someone would still do this in their driveway... On the positive side, it seems to be just the fender and the wheel, should be an easy and quick fix in a good body shop. What I'd be more worried about is this "accident" going on carfax and autocheck and cutting into the resale value of your car.

[ember1205]

My parents' house is on a narrower street and their neighbor across the road insists on parking their cars directly opposite of my parents' driveway. You turn onto their street and turn left into their driveway. The way he parks makes it mostly ok to make this swing.

Trying to back out and return from the direction you came, however, is 100% impossible and he refuses to park his car in his own driveway. I'd honestly love the immunity to back my truck directly into his car and shove it up on the sidewalk and drive away. People that park directly across from driveways like that are sort of inviting problems.

Otherwise, there's really no excuse for this sort of mishap. Sorry that it happened.

Be sure that you report to your insurance, validate that his insurance acknowledges that he is at fault, then use a repair shop that's authorized by both insurance carriers if possible. I've had repairs done in the past that the body shop simply couldn't get right and my insurance paid for the repairs to be done a second time, at a different shop, because the first one was one that they authorized.

[DaveC113]

Exact same thing happened to my car last year, but it was parked on the street. The newness seems to attract it for some reason, lol.

Luckily, easy to fix. Make sure you get the wheel refinished or replaced if it's bent and an alignment too. Good time to put on some side skirts too.

[DaveC113]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Incredible how in this age of technology, with mandatory backup cameras and beeping parking sensors, someone would still do this in their driveway... On the positive side, it seems to be just the fender and the wheel, should be an easy and quick fix in a good body shop. What I'd be more worried about is this "accident" going on carfax and autocheck and cutting into the resale value of your car.

It won't effect resale, it's just cosmetic damage.

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by DaveC113

It won't effect resale, it's just cosmetic damage.

Going through insurance will result in an entry on a Carfax report. Trading the car will result in the dealership having a no-budge policy about reduced trade value and anyone buying it outright could be looking for a lower cost as well.

I would suggest seeking diminished value.

[chris227]

Originally Posted by ember1205

Going through insurance will result in an entry on a Carfax report. Trading the car will result in the dealership having a no-budge policy about reduced trade value and anyone buying it outright could be looking for a lower cost as well.

I would suggest seeking diminished value.

Traded in my Mustang 5 months ago after having 14k in damage fixed a month earlier. Insurance claim and it did appear on the carfax report when trading it in. I got 27.5k on trade. i bought the car for 27k 14 months earlier. That fender damage will not affect value at all.
Some places will hop on a carfax report and try to justify a lower offer, majority will not.

[Brudda*Termite]

Man, that is messed up and it's neighbor on neighbor violence which just creates awkward, sorry to see it.


I read somewhere on another thread somebody said the damage threshold had to a certain amount to result in a Carfax report but I have no expertise...

[ember1205]

Originally Posted by chris227

Traded in my Mustang 5 months ago after having 14k in damage fixed a month earlier. Insurance claim and it did appear on the carfax report when trading it in. I got 27.5k on trade. i bought the car for 27k 14 months earlier. That fender damage will not affect value at all.
Some places will hop on a carfax report and try to justify a lower offer, majority will not.

Sounds like you had a good experience, which is great. Likely contributors may well be that you bought the car below value initially, the repair was excellent, and you had all the documentation to back it up. On a new car, a Carfax report is going to mean almost certainly taking a bit of a loss, and it's not going to hurt to ask for diminished value. Simplest thing to do is get it repaired, and immediately take it to a dealership and talk value. Get them to put something on their letterhead showing the value, possibly even with notation that it's lower due to accident.

Doesn't hurt to ask...

[SFHess]

Lucky it seems the damage is just cosmetic, though I'll have to wait for someone to look at it to know for sure. At least on a short drive it wasn't pulling or shaking, and nothing seems to be leaking.

[MackSteelPrivateEye]

A new fender and a complete repaint of the fender and door,

[DaveC113]

NOT a diminished value issue here. I went through the exact same thing last year.