I think someone backup up into my car...

[Conquerer]

All right, so I just installed my Navan grille yesterday and today I went to check on it only to find a handful of surprises...

First I notice the grill peeking out on the right side (misaligned) and I could feel it was loose. Then I see the right front part of the hood is covering a bit of my right headlight, when in the past it was always fine. I pop the hood to take a look and I find the right tab on the grille snapped off, the top screws all loose and even worse, I find this:





At first I didn't know what to think of it and questioned the possibility of me ****ing something up when I installed the grille, but that just doesn't make sense at all and it was a simple install (other than getting the old grille out). Then I realized somebody might have smashed into it cause my light is pushed backward (thanks to that snapped section) and that part of my hood has two small cracks that I can't say I remember being there...

Here's some more pics of everything:

Tablet on the grille snapped:

Hood fitment over the headlight:

2 cracks on the hood:

And here's my car from the day before to show that it was all good, and I can't see those two cracks on the hood:

Okay, well now for another interesting thing. First of all, like I said, at first I didn't know what happened and didn't think of someone hitting it since there wasn't any real noticeable paint scrub marks or dent damage, but there was this big Budget rental truck in front of my car. I was just taking pics of the damage and didn't think that he might have smashed it... After I took some pics I hear someone walking from behind me and it was the guy who was driving the truck. He asked me if I was taking pictures of the truck earlier and I said no, my car, and got in the truck and then left. Only afterwards while I was walking back to my house I realized... ****, maybe it was him or someone else?

Luckily one of the pics I snapped had the truck and the license plate in it so I could possibly use it if I need to:

There are some small paint chips on the bumper and the hood but nothing really significant, and from checking pics from the day before, I can see some that were already there (and others it's too far away to really tell). I'm not completely sure what happened, but I can't see how in the hell this could have happened other than someone hitting it... I installed the grille in my driveway at my parents', spent the night there, drove to my place for school in the morning, parked the car on the street (only place to park it), went to class, and came back to find it the way it was. I never really checked it in between all this, but it had to have happened either while I was driving (didn't hear anything at all and I had no music on the entire drive) or when I was in class. I'm thinking the latter...

What do you guys think?
Modified by Conquerer at 7:10 PM 2/9/2009

[StandardProspect]

that sucks man

good luck figuring that out

[MySXisSlowerThanUrs]

hmm thats weird, Looks to be no damage besides the grill

Maybe when you shut the hood it could of cracked it and chip it..

[Conquerer]

hmm thats weird, Looks to be no damage besides the grill

Maybe when you shut the hood it could of cracked it and chip it..

I checked the grille after I last closed the hood and it was tight-fitting. Plus, that doesn't explain the snapped material connected to the headlight.

[WI_240sx]

if your saying it was that truck in the picture there, that might be possible, cuz if someone just strait up smacked into you im almost sure that light fixture would have cracked, but if he slowly backed up, and pushed a good 1/2 to a full inch before he realized, that might be enough to snap that bracket and grille clip.. thats my input on it.. i highly doubt the hood would have caused that damage, unless you turn into the hulk before you close your hood..

[renegade141]

i'm willing to bet the budget truck had something to do with it.

see if it parks there again tommorow and check out the bumper, you might not find anything at all though.

[ddgsxr504]

I'm willing to bet the guy in the van hit your sh*t. The bumper rear bumper looks to be right at the height of your headlights. He prolly hit it backing in (parallel parking).

Now there are two scenarios:

1. He backed in, hit your car and prolly didn't even notice. (with just the headlight tab broken and the minor dent on the hood it looks like a very slow impact)

2. He backed in, hit your car and noticed it. Got out to look and at a quick glance didn't see any damage and continued on his faggy day. I know that we (240 owners) can spot a spec of dust in the wrong location on our cars but the average person wouldn't be able to notice the damage on the car with a quick glance.

[s14tan]

You Too!! I just got hit today aswell. except mines worse lol.

Hope you get that figured out bro.

Must save the Zenkis!

[Conquerer]

Yeah, I'm fairly sure it had to have been him... It's a big van and you can't see **** directly behind you. And everything is all in the one place. Right headlight pushed in, right headlight bracket snapped, right grille tab snapped, scratches on right front corner of hood... Everything adds up to say it was smashed, and if it was anyone I'd say it was that guy. Plus he asked me if I was taking pictures of his van -- why would he ask me that if he didn't know he might have hit my car or something? I'd say he was asking to see if I was going to do anything and then he probably would have said some bs that it wasn't him or something like that.

I'll have to give Budget a call, probably tomorrow. Thankfully I took that picture with the license plate too... I don't know if they'll do anything at all but I might was well try. What makes it worse is that I need to be studying for exams and this cost me already over two hours of studying time.

Does anyone know how much it would cost to fix/replace that headlight bracket?

[WI_240sx]

its not just the zenki's... its the chuki's too.. in the past 3 months my s13 has been hit 3 times... 2 said f**k it and scattered off... and 1 left a note.. 1 is a fender, but the other 2 are unibody impacts about 1500 dollars in damage..

i can garauntee it was a slow impact into the headlight.. look for any smudges or hairline fractures in the lens.. might find something, ya never know..

[WI_240sx]

Yeah, I'm fairly sure it had to have been him... It's a big van and you can't see **** directly behind you. And everything is all in the one place. Right headlight pushed in, right headlight bracket snapped, right grille tab snapped, scratches on right front corner of hood... Everything adds up to say it was smashed, and if it was anyone I'd say it was that guy. Plus he asked me if I was taking pictures of his van -- why would he ask me that if he didn't know he might have hit my car or something? I'd say he was asking to see if I was going to do anything and then he probably would have said some bs that it wasn't him or something like that.

I'll have to give Budget a call, probably tomorrow. Thankfully I took that picture with the license plate too... I don't know if they'll do anything at all but I might was well try. What makes it worse is that I need to be studying for exams and this cost me already over two hours of studying time.

Does anyone know how much it would cost to fix/replace that headlight bracket?

go in the classfields on nico and ask if anyone is parting out thier s14.. you might get lucky.. 5-10 bucks would be my guess.. bout same price for the grille if its not reusable..

[Conquerer]

Same price for the grille? It's a Navan grille and usually costs around $150+ from what I've seen... I was lucky enough to pick mine up for around $100. It's only the one tab that's broken so I'm not sure if I can maybe fix that... Don't know how reliable it would be. Best scenario would be Budget paying for the bracket and a new grille, but I really can't expect that... Probably get some bs about it's not their fault or something.

[WI_240sx]

oh. my bad.. im not an s14 guy.. love em to death, but no one owns one in wisconsin so i dont know too much bout em, but at least the bracket should be cheap.. as far as the grille goes, just look around.. if someone with an s14 that got rear ended wants to part out the car, they will normally sell stuff for pretty cheap..

i know how you feel.. it sucksmakes you feel disrespected when no one tells you that they hit your car

[JdrifterCA]

if somone backed up to my car....and crack my intercooler one more time.... i will open up a huge can of whoop a$$. hope u figure it out.

[ThuG LyFe]

as much as i hate it too it's inevitable. too many retards out there that shouldn't be driving. my car was backed into a few times already, and the first time was only like 2 weeks after i got my bumper repainted. i hate street parking but that's my only option so oh well...

makes me wonder what i'm going to do when i get a s2000 and something like this happens...

[!Zar!]

Sounds like a typical day in the city.

Where you car is almost constantly getting battle scars.

Be happy to live in the suburbs.

[i240sx]

BJ rape...lol

[Sabot]

That sucks man...people that do this kind of s#$t pisses me off and I know that most don't mean it but still. I work hard for what I have just like everybody else here and it just not fair. I hope you could catch the culprit but I highly doubt it. Good luck.

[Conquerer]

I just called Budget and made no progress. I was told the license plate wasn't valid and that other number on the truck doesn't give them any information... ****ing retarded... I'll have to find a Budget location around here (or all them) and go in and see what I can do from there, and also file a police report. And like I said, I'm studying all this week so this really sucks. I'll either have to put this off till the weekend and next week (reading week/spring break, thankfully) or sacrifice study time. I have an exam in a few hours and then my next one is Friday though so maybe tomorrow I can do something.