Naturally!!!

[XAC750]

My Wife's EX is a little over 3 weeks old and she has done a great job of taking care of it and being mindful of where she parks. So, naturally, some nucklehead backed into her in the church parking lot. We lucked out in that in the lady has decent insurance and she hit it in the one spot where ther is just air behing the bumper (right below the headlight and right above the fog lamp on the driver's side). She was driving an Xterra with bumper guards, so the surface area that actually made contact with the EX was relatively small. It's not even remotely the worst I've ever seen, but it still sucks.

Anybody have advice on the EX front bumper? Should I push for it to be replaced or accept a fix? It seems to be a composite or plastic of some sort, so I don't really know what is a standard fix. Most of my body work knowledge is sheet metal.

Anyone with "Fender Bender" advice, feel free to chime in.

[ramprun]

My Wife's EX is a little over 3 weeks old and she has done a great job of taking care of it and being mindful of where she parks. So, naturally, some nucklehead backed into her in the church parking lot. We lucked out in that in the lady has decent insurance and she hit it in the one spot where ther is just air behing the bumper (right below the headlight and right above the fog lamp on the driver's side). She was driving an Xterra with bumper guards, so the surface area that actually made contact with the EX was relatively small. It's not even remotely the worst I've ever seen, but it still sucks.

Anybody have advice on the EX front bumper? Should I push for it to be replaced or accept a fix? It seems to be a composite or plastic of some sort, so I don't really know what is a standard fix. Most of my body work knowledge is sheet metal.

Anyone with "Fender Bender" advice, feel free to chime in.

i was never in any kind of accident but if i were you, i would push for replacement instead of just fixing it.

[XAC750]

Yeah, the parts will all be replaced. I didn't realize it but in TN (and I'm sure in other states as well) if a car is considered new, by state law, all parts must be replaced. So it should be fixed nicely. That definetly sucks for the other lady's insurance because they are replacing the whole front facia, I can't imagine that will be cheap.

Here, is my new issue: A friend of mine told me about another friend he had who was in the same situation, and that guy got the other person's insurance to write him a check to cover the extra depreciation. I don't know that this exactly true and I have never heard of it, but it makes sense a bit. I have a perfectly brand new car that now has a car-fax blemish, which will really hurt resale.

Any thoughts?

[Sentientbydesign]

Yeah, the parts will all be replaced. I didn't realize it but in TN (and I'm sure in other states as well) if a car is considered new, by state law, all parts must be replaced. So it should be fixed nicely. That definetly sucks for the other lady's insurance because they are replacing the whole front facia, I can't imagine that will be cheap.

Here, is my new issue: A friend of mine told me about another friend he had who was in the same situation, and that guy got the other person's insurance to write him a check to cover the extra depreciation. I don't know that this exactly true and I have never heard of it, but it makes sense a bit. I have a perfectly brand new car that now has a car-fax blemish, which will really hurt resale.

Any thoughts?

The depreciated value probably won't be very applicable here because it's a very small issue. If they were to replace a door or if this was reported to carfax or the like, then you'd have a case.

I'd just have the insurance pay for it OR have them pay you and have it done privately (you get to pocket the difference).

[XAC750]

So I guess the damage is not worthy of any further reimbursement. They have gone through it and all they need to replace is the front facia, left headlight, and left parking sensor (the last 2 only because of clips, and clips aren't sold alone). They are going to go ahead and replace the foam behind the front fascia as well. I think the total came to right at 3K. I am still trying to figure out what and how things get reported to Car-Fax. Nobody seems to know. I thought it was any claim that went through insurance. However, somebody told me no that it was any report filed by the police. So I don't know. I just hope that it doesn't make it there because that would suck for future re-sale.

[Sentientbydesign]

Please don't rely on my opinion regarding this. I know that depreciated value due to an accident is grounds for reimbursement, I just don't think your situation is applicable. You might contact your insurance company about it and see what they say.