Why are new cars so prone to damage?!?

[jfanaselle]

I know this topic has been covered on here before, but it seems like every time you buy something nice and new and it's all shiny and you're so proud of it, something has to come along and ruin your life by messing it all up.

The week after I bought my Versa, which is the only brand new car I've ver bought in my entire life, I was driving next to a golf course and a golf ball came flying out of the sky, bouncing about 2 feet in front of my car while I was going around 40 miles per hour. If I had been going 41 it would have hit my hood or my windshield. But fate doesn't let you off the hook that easy. So today I'm driving to work on Interstate 15 about 20 miles north of San Diego in fairly light traffic when out of no where, a rock flies up and puts a 5 inch long crack in my windshield on the lower passenger side. I screamed and cursed and eventually calmed down. I got about 10 miles further up the road and another rock came out of the sky and smacked my hood, right above the grille on the front end, leaving a golf ball sized dent and a nice sized scratch as well. Why is this world so cruel?

[jdshift]

Really no explanation for it...........just the way it is, everything happens for a reason..............a reason for everything.

[Vahagn23]

there is some law I forgot what its called, but it baisically says that everything opposite that one doesnt want to happen always happens, its like your waiting for something so bad and it never happnes, but then 2 days later its there and you dont need it anymore.

[NY.AD.MAN]

It's the same reason why all the spoiled little frat boys and sorostitutes get brand new $40,000 cars and park them right next to your car and then kick open the door, leaving a giant dent and a scratch you can't buff out...

It's because we love our cars so much that we notice normal, everyday damage while others just don't care...

By the way, we should give all of those people sh***y cars for a week and see how bad they treat their cars after that...

[BillyBeaneBall]

J, same thing happened to my "first" V coming home from a White Sox/ A's game in Chicago (go A's!!!!) It got hit in the hood with some sort of road debris and left a fist sized dent with paint damage. I paid $300 to get it repaired. Good thing I did too...because 2 months later I totalled the stupid car!! That HAS to be the biggest waste of $300 I've ever spent, LOL!

Speaking of stuff on your new car, I have what appears to be road tar or something on my driver's side mirror. Can anyone reccommend something that will get this crud off safely?? Plain water won't do it and I'm afraid to use anything else without a recommendation, I'm not a car nut so I really have no idea what product might do the trick....

[Rockhound]

Speaking of stuff on your new car, I have what appears to be road tar or something on my driver's side mirror. Can anyone reccommend something that will get this crud off safely?? Plain water won't do it and I'm afraid to use anything else without a recommendation, I'm not a car nut so I really have no idea what product might do the trick....

Try some bug & tar remover spray, you can find several brands at your local auto parts store.

[BillyBeaneBall]

Tanks!

Was afraid of hurting my baby's paint job...I really couldn't deal with any more V- related injuries this year...

[lain]

I think its just that since your new car doesn't have scratches or dents you notice it right away. And on a used car you dont because it happens right next to that other dent or that other scratch so you assume it was already there.

[Rockhound]

I think its just that since your new car doesn't have scratches or dents you notice it right away. And on a used car you dont because it happens right next to that other dent or that other scratch so you assume it was already there.

I dunno, my first car was 6 years old when I got it - it had it's share of scratches and a few door dings, but I sure knew when a new dent appeared. I practically washed that thing daily (bored, in HS) so I knew the sheet metal like the back of my hand. Just depends how observant you are on that one, I guess.

[Rockhound]

there is some law I forgot what its called, but it baisically says that everything opposite that one doesnt want to happen always happens...

Murphy's Law?

[Vahagn23]

lol not sure maybe '

Murphy's Law?

[KimberKenobi]

Probably because they are new and so perfect that everything shows up...

I didn't notice every time I got a new ding in the hood of my '93 Loyale. But a new ding on my spotless Camel? duh!!

OMG! I forgot how free it was to drive an older car... I'm driving the '86 Bertone (5 speed *gasm*) and yesterday I bumped into Bo's pickup... damage? nope. I'll admit that I bumped into Tim's pickup in the first Camel... cracked the freakin bumper. that sucked. ****, today I almost drove under a semi trailer (it was parked) just to see if I would fit... I thought about it long and hard... but I didn't. Now I wish I'd at least pulled up to it to see how close I'd come...

...

...

...

Don't tell my mommy on me...

hehehehehehehehehehehe!!

[Vahagn23]

hmm okay i see u get a lot of bumps lol

Probably because they are new and so perfect that everything shows up...

I didn't notice every time I got a new ding in the hood of my '93 Loyale. But a new ding on my spotless Camel? duh!!

OMG! I forgot how free it was to drive an older car... I'm driving the '86 Bertone (5 speed *gasm*) and yesterday I bumped into Bo's pickup... damage? nope. I'll admit that I bumped into Tim's pickup in the first Camel... cracked the freakin bumper. that sucked. ****, today I almost drove under a semi trailer (it was parked) just to see if I would fit... I thought about it long and hard... but I didn't. Now I wish I'd at least pulled up to it to see how close I'd come...

...

...

...

Don't tell my mommy on me...

hehehehehehehehehehehe!!

[KimberKenobi]

well... I'm not used to having such a large amount of front on a vehicle... that's why I bumped into Bo's truck... (the front space on the Bertone is freakin huge... the top fits in the front trunk space)

I offer no other excuses or explanations... At least I can admit to my dumb stuff... that's what I keep telling myself ;oP

;oD

Well... let's catalog my bumps...1) The breaks in my '91 Ford Probe GT gave out one rainy night on a dangerous curve and I had to make a split-second decision if I wanted to go head first into a 6' ditch or glance of a fence... I chose the fence. (happened one month after I got my license)2) Shortly after getting my Loyale I did something stupid and ended up taking out my mom's mailbox (it was a rubbermade one... and the post went 4 feet into the ground...) There was no damage to the Loyale or the mailbox... my mom never knew.3) While driving down the Eastern Bypass, there was a wreck in the other direction of traffic. When my light turned yellow, the lady in front of me slammed on her breaks and turned to watch the accident... I guess she assumed that the breaks in my '93 Subaru Loyale would be as good as the breaks on her brand new Toyota Camry... they weren't.~@~ nothing more of note with the Loyale, it just died one day... no mishaps in my '95 Suzuki Sidekick or the '01 Suzuki Vitara4) I backed the Camel into Tim's truck5) I bounced the Camel off the Minivan6) I coasted the Bertone into Bo's truck~@~ We are here...and I've just realized that all the cars I have owned have been odd years... weird... I've been driving since I was 14 (I learned how to drive in a bad Michigan winter in my Uncle Mike's big Dodge truck) and I'm now 24... that's 10 years of driving. Growing up, my mom was constantly (well, okay, that's a strong term...) ... I bet my mom had 7 wrecks in the 9 years we lived in Louisville, I know most of those weren't her fault. My step-dad and my mom have been together 2 years... He's wrecked her car 3 times and his car 5 times in that span of time... Maybe my views are a little skewed...

Plus, I remember all the accidents I've managed to avoid and they far outnumber the accidents listed above... I've had people pull out in front of me in the all my vehicles, plus the College's Dodge Sprinter that I drove for 3 days straight ferrying visitors around to and from activities and the airport...

[kc5f]

Thanks, Kimber, for making me feel so good about my wife's driving!!!

[KimberKenobi]

Thanks, Kimber, for making me feel so good about my wife's driving!!!

;oP

Anytime I can be of assistance... I guess... ;oD

[BBISHOPPCM]

I hit a Chevy small block motor with my Versa right after I had the bumper replaced from the previous accident... Actually, the engine block was sitting in my parents' driveway (long story), and I was trying to creep up into the parking spot as close as possible, and I lightly tapped it (just scratched the lower part of the bumper). I also backed into a telephone pole (TWICE, same pole, one month before the electric company moved it because everyone keeps hitting the damn thing).

[KimberKenobi]

Ahhh... and then Brandon comes along and makes me feel not-so-dumb because this stuff happens to other people too ;oP

;oD

Thanks, Brandon! It's good to know it's not just me!!

[kc5f]

Hey, Kimber, I only said you made me feel better about my wife's driving, not mine! I wasn't particularly pleased when my brother-in-law was visiting and I backed into his '69 Mustang. Got to buy him a new fender... (Of course, it didn't damage my at-the-time Escort's bumper, because his fender was all rust!)

[KimberKenobi]

YES!!So that makes three of us >.<

hehehehehe!!

[jfanaselle]

Wow... this post got way off topic. LOL - I love this forum. Here's some pics of the damage. The pic of the hood doesn't do the dent justice. It looks small and undetectable in the pic but it catches your eye from 100 feet when the car is cleaned up. I'll be calling my insurance today to get the windshield squared away but the hood is probably something I'm just going to have to live with.

[KimberKenobi]

The Camel has a ding similar to that... the shop said it'd be about $100 to pop out and repaint. Which sucks.

[jfanaselle]

Well $100 is alot less than I was thinking, and it's what I'm already going to have to pay for my windshield ($100 deductable for glass with my insurance). There's a whole mess of those "dent doctor" style guys all over here in so cal, maybe I should try one of them.

[mayahmed423]

Hey its the same like mine, even my car's windsheild got crack, ill post pics soon...

[jfanaselle]

The crack has gotten twice as long since I posted these pics. I was supposed to have the windshield replaced last Monday, but they guys showed up with the wrong one. They're coming back out tomorrow morning and then all should be well again - except for the dent of course.

[BillyBeaneBall]

I think everyone has done something stupid in thier cars at one point or another...I know I have...not often but I've done it...trying to think up an example...here we go...

Shortly after I got my Kia Sephia (2000 model purchased in 2002 with 78 miles for $6,000, WHAT A STEAL, completely base model) I was going to the grocery store and went to pull into a spot when I saw a shopping cart in the corner of the sopt facing away from me...I was feeling lazy because it was early in the morning and I just woke up so I figured I could nudge it out of the way if I crept up to it (there was no other cars in the vicinity, if I was really smart I would have just taken the next spot over...duh) so I crept up to it and slowly started to push the cart and it toook a funny turn and scratched the hell outta my bumper and quarterpanel.

Lesson learned, lol.

I wanted to drive that crappy little Kia into the ground because ii got it so cheap to. By the time I BARELY bumped the guy in front of me in traffic and the insurance company totalled it out there was 80K miles on it an it had no problems AT ALL. I miss that car and the freedom it gave me...I could park anywhere or do just about anything to it and I just didn't care if something happened to it. Now I freak out if people park to close to my V... LOL