dunbar43

I was at a stoplight when I felt a car rear end me, the impact wasn't very strong, but it was definitely strong enough to notice. I got out of my car and walked to the back and met the other driver to look for damage, and his Chevy Colorado was still in contact with my bumper, so I asked him to back up. We looked for scratches and paint, but there was nothing due to the fact that his front bumper had black plastic across the front, but I still had police file a report.

The next day I noticed a dent on the driver side quarter panel, and now their insurance doesn't want to pay for it. Their insurance insists that if the dent was from the accident, there would be damage to the bumper, and there would be a dent higher up on the quarter panel. I was told that bumpers are designed to withstand 10-15 mph of impact, while the quarter panel is made of significantly thinner metal, which is why it would dent from the impact.

Thankfully my 84 year old grandfather was in the car with me, and he has been complaining of neck pain, so hopefully their insurance pays up (a body shop estimated $700) or my parents will be taking them to small claims court.

Any thoughts on the damage or getting insurance to pay?

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Quarter panels are the ones that take the hit from behind not the bumper. Same thing happened to me and took out both quarter panels. Best thing to do is find the exact same truck (at a dealer or something) and have it drive up behind you and take a picture of where the truck would have and DID hit your car to prove the trajectory of the impact... good luck.

Lil4cyl

First off, you need your grandfather to have a record of treatment.. meaning he should have gone to Urgent Care, hostpital, etc complaining about the pain. If you are not good at keeping records, and handling your own litigation case against the insurance company I would recommend a personal injury attorney. They ususly work for 33% of final settlement, but that is sometime negotiable. Do not sign anything with their insurnace company, and do not give any info to their agent other than basic info.

Also, if the accident report shows that the fender has damage, then the insurance company will have no choice. They can always refuse, but you can always take them to court. Have plenty of pictures, and patience.

You also need to contact your insurance company and report it to them. They can do the repairs if you choose, and possibly recover their cost from the other drivers insurance company. I would suggest at least consulting with an attorney if you dont want to handle all of this yourself.

dunbar43

The police report listed no damage because there were no scratches or paint, and I didn't notice the dent until the next day...I was focused on the bumper, didn't think about the sides. Does this damage seem reasonable and possible to everyone? Considering how well I take care of my car, I would have noticed this if it was there before the accident. Their insurance is trying to say someone must have backed into me, but wouldn't that likely leave scratches or paint?

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Just let your insurance company do the work since you are paying for it. If not find a laywer and they will fight for u.

Mr Jokster

iTrader: (8)

Yup, if you've got full coverage, your insurance usually will do that foot work.

skiz88

iTrader: (2)

That damage seems odd to me. I have an 01 gs300, the bumper looks the same as yours. I got rear ended at a low speed dead center of the bumper and my bumper was pinched in on both sides right under the lights next to where the bumper hits the quarter. I can send u a pic of what my bumper looked like if you're interested. My quarters had no damage.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

There is no guarantee that is from the accident, but they have absolutely no proof that it wasn't there and overlooked - especially if someone was feeling as though they were in pain. You have every right to go back to them and ask for the claim to be paid. The body shop should be able to give them more pictures from underneath and let their assessor come out and see what the crush panel inner to the bumper looks like. If the brackets for that are shifted toward that quarter, that's a sure sign it was done in the accident.

I completely agree with getting treatment records, too. You bear a responsibility to show proof when requesting payment for injuries, or they have the right to refuse that claim. Be very careful, go to your grandfather's regular doctor and get a referral to a specialist. This way, you are using your insurance as intended and not just doing a thumb through the phone book or interweb to locate someone who handles injuries.

Keep us posted, too, mang!

Big Mack

skiz88

iTrader: (2)

If you are fully covered your own insurance will pay for the damage and they will determine if it's worth going after the other guys insurance for reimbursement. I've been rear ended 3-4 times. In all cases I got a check for the damages. You really only need to deal with your own insurance company, not the other guys.

speedaddic

iTrader: (10)

the damage was definitely caused by rear end. The rear quarter panel is designed to buckle on rear impact. Pull your bumper off and you'll see damage to the rear support bar. You wont see any on the bumper itself cause its designed to flex. The impact will show on the bar after you pull the bumper off. You can also crawl underneath and look.

skiz88

iTrader: (2)

I doubt the rear quarter will buckle when there is no noticeable damage to the bumper whatsoever. The bumper has to get pushed in to damage the quarter. If the bumper cover gets pushed in the plastic gets pinched.

speedaddic

iTrader: (10)

pull your bumper off and see..

Then again, what do I know? Its not like I owned a bodyshop or nothing...

dunbar43

The adjuster came on Friday to look at it and looked under the car, he said that there was no damage under the car and nothing was bent or broken. I had my brother-in-law (who knows significantly more about cars than I do) look under the car last night and he noticed some bends and cracks.

The metal that runs horizontal in this pic has two bends in it.


This pic is zoomed in on the same metal than ran horizontal in the previous pic.

vwynn

iTrader: (4)

so why havent you removed the rear bumper yet?? You'll clearly see damage if there is damage.

isnt really hard to remove it too.