Hit and Run - Need to make some Lemonade out of this Lemon life has thrown at me
 

Hey guys,
Long time reader, first time poster. On saturday night (early sunday morning), I was awoken with a knock at the door from my neighbor asking if I knew that my car had been hit and the bumper was off of the car. I immediately ran outside and almost cried after what I saw (pics below). I always park on the street right outside my house but I did not hear anything when this happened. I filed a police report but I know the chances of finding the guy who did this is slim to none. Anyways, after sitting around all day yesterday feeling sorry for myself, I decided that I'm going to have to pay my insurance deductible anyways so I might as welll get the most out of it. The insurance guy is on his way out to my house right now to write me a check to get this fixed, but instead of just taking it to the shop to get it put back the way it was I thought I might as well buy some new things with this money. Any ideas you guys have as to what I can replace on my front end will be appreciated and definitely taken into consideration.

My first idea is to replace the front bumper with a 400h bumper. Is this a direct bolt on fit? Please help with some other suggestions; when life throws you lemons you gotta make lemonade!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...withme/rx1.jpg
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...withme/rx2.jpg

That doesn't look so bad. I wonder how the whole bumper came off like that with a minor side swipe? Looks like a slow impact from someone backing their car out. Btw, I'm not sure if you can put the hybrid bumper on. Good luck!

Sorry about your misfortune, I guess they will never catch the person that did that. In any event you have the payout so you can do as you want. I would still take this vehicle to a body shop for repair. There may be hidden damage you are not aware of.

wow! that must have caught just right for that to happen! Hope this all works out for you,hey maybe the guy will get caught too!

Maybe some idiot tried to tow it away and only attached the hooks to the bumper. Nope, I see the side swipe in the first photo. Doesn't look like it was hit very hard for the entire bumper to be knocked off like that.

I hate to see that happen. Parking on the street is always risky, I'm sure you don't have a choice. A body shop will be able to tell you what parts fit and what won't. Go ahead and take a check but don't sign the release until the body shop looks at it for hidden damage

Wow. As a fellow Rx owner we can feel your pain. It looks as though you had the side mirror turned in so someone wouldn't knock it off and to come out and find this happen. Are you going to the dealer or a local body shop?

:cry:

Looks like s white colored vehicle snagged the front left of your bumper and pulled it off. That should cause very little structural damage but all mounting holes on your bumper would be lost.

So look for (most likely missing) white colored vehicle with bent rear right bumper. The vehicle that hit yours would most probably be a truck/suv with open (space between body and rear bumper) steel bumper. I would not rule out service trucks.

I hope you did file a police report.

Salim

This is how easy it was to steal the HID lamps, until Lexus added bolts to the HID lamp assembly. The whole bumper can come off in a jiffy and therefore was easy to take out the head lamps.

The damage does not look like severe impact, more like brush-off. Is it possible that somebody tired to park in front of your RX and nibbled it?
I would look in neighborhood for vehicles that were parked regularly on your street and that match in color.
Sorry for your misfortune.::cry:

Sorry about your fender bender, I can totally relate as I got hit and run in the rain on a busy street and got side swipe less than 6 months ago. Take your car into a body shop that you trust, have them access the damages, maybe just some minor bent frame that can be easily pull, the bumper itself is salvageable, have it repaint will only cost around $300 or less ( make sure you tell the body shop this is out of pocket expense ) If you go through insurance then it's your deductible at first which in most case, you end up paying a big chunk of the cost.

Thanks for the responses guys. Insurance quoted $2400 in damages; so I'm stuck with the $500 deductible and they are taking care of the rest. It is currently over at the dealership getting fixed as we speak. I did file a police report and have walked up and down the neighborhood, but have not had any luck. Unfortunately I do not have any other option but to park on the street where I am. I guess on the bright side I'll have a whole new front end and a new alignment!

On another note, can some answer a quick question for me? I have my eye on some new rims which currently have some 245/40/18 tires on them. They are coming off an Oldsmobile Intrigue (universal 5 lug). Nothing is set in stone here, but what do you think about the tire size? Any reasons why this would be a bad idea or they may not fit?

May or may not work, a lot of things to consider. Backspacing,width, tire hight, tire pressure sensor compatable. I personally would never use a " universal fit wheel "

What are wrong with yours, did they get damaged too?

The insurance company said the front drivers side wheel and tire looked damaged and allocated money in the quote to have it replaced. Figured I would check out some options.

If it were me, I would have the vehicle restored to exactly what it was before this happened. Then save your money and get the rims you really want at a later time.