I backed into a parking space this morning. I was watching and fully attentive, but I failed to notice the concrete parking block had a 2" spike sticking up out of it. Regrettably, my bumper noticed for me.

My insurance company is the well-rated Erie. Unfortunately for me, the owner of the parking lot is also insured by Erie, which means Erie would have had to sue themselves in order for me to win. Erie resolved this dilemma by telling me the spike was a "stationary object" and it was my fault I didn't see and avoid it.

My first reaction was to at least be relieved that the spike only tore off the bottom piece and not the larger painted area. Not so fast. Body shop estimator told me the bracket that holds on the bottom is part of the top, and therefore the whole bumper is trashed. New bumper, 3-stage paint process, color matching, sensor recalibration, the whole shot. "$1,500 easy. Maybe more." Collision claim and deductible payment, here we come. Followed by the stigma of future Carfax reports that say my car was in a "rear-end collision" for shoppers who won't know any better how minor it was.

Not my best day.

 

That sucks, I back in to spaces 99% of the time because it's easier to pull out when you can see everything, and also because there is more clearance on the rear end.

 

This is one of these events where the insurer, Erie, wiggles out of their responsibility. In my opinion the parking lot is responsible for your car being damaged. No way, no how that this spike should have been protruding out of the concrete barrier. I thought the bottom portion of the trim could be replaced separately but apparently not. This is the kind of incident that pisses you off for making the mistake. GOOD LUCK!

 

I see those spikes sticking out all the time feels like it could really hurt someone. Wish more lots had the recycled tire barriers those are awesome.

 

This exactly. The purpose of a concrete parking block is to let you pull up to it until your tire bumps against the concrete, telling you to go no farther. By definition, if a standard-height car like ours can't reach the block with its tires because a jagged object taller than an ordinary car's ground clearance rips away at the car's underside first, the unfitness of that installation speaks for itself. But when I made that point, of course it was summarily rejected.

As for the bottom portion of the trim, I thought that too. But that apparently can't work this time because the bottom portion wasn't just damaged, it was torn away, and in so doing it evidently tore off its mounting point on the upper portion too. Checkmate.

 

From this angle it looks like the ripped part of the black part of the bumper at the bottom could be "plastic welded" or epoxied back in place, then a little filler applied and just the black part be repainted. The exhaust cutout chrome piece would have to be replaced. A typical body shop does mainly parts replacement though.

 

I appreciate the suggestion. If the car were 10 years old, I might go that route, although it's not evident whether it could permanently bear the weight of the bottom part with the unseen bracing broken. But this is a '22 with under 9k on the clock, so I think it should be given a proper restoration even where it doesn't show.

 

Yikes my condolences!

 

Thanks. I feel like my baby has a scar.

 

So does the Carfax says "accident" or just "damage", it should says "damage - severe level: minor, location: back". It can't say accident if there is not a police report

 

Very minor goes for this.

 

I don't know if they use the term "very minor" for anything. The only descriptions I personally can ever recall seeing are "major", "moderate" or "minor".

I can only hope other people don't react like I do. When I browse other people's cars and I see "minor", I always assume the damage was underreported and reflexively mistrust the car. I know someone (someone smart, in fact) who saw a terrific used car, obviously well cared for, whose only flaw was a reported rear-ender on its Carfax. He was scared off and bought another car in inferior overall shape instead. There's a reason "diminished value" is in the vocabulary.

 

That does suck! My heart sunk thinking how I'd feel in your situation. Looking closely at that rusting re-bar in that barrier, it's likely that the barrier and oversized spike have been there quite a while. I can't imagine you are the only one who's had an issue with it. Good luck getting the parking lot owner to pony up and I too wish there was a way to not have the car show as damaged in Carfax type reports.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I really do appreciate it.

I've had the exact same thought. I wonder how many people over the years have had their cars scraped or damaged by this stupid, needless shard of metal. And how there's no systemic way to make the miscreant fix it, while it quite probably does even more damage in the future. And clearly, multiply this "stationary object" by who knows how many nationwide? The owner knows this is a problem and simply has no economic incentive to care. It just seems so pointless.

 

The economic incentive would be small claims court, no?

EDIT: does commercial building code in your area mandate anything in particular about parking barriers? There might be a clause in there somewhere about this exact condition. IMO if so, it's easily open and shut to prove the business isn't compliant and that it resulted in damage to your vehicle.