Last Friday, while parked dropping my daughter off a school, a minivan hit my TL's front driver's side bumper and wheel well area while trying to park in the area in front of me.

Nothing major, some paint scrapes to the bumper/lighthouse panel, a few scrapes to the front driver's rim, and a tiny dent.

Driver of minivan admits fault, and we exchange ins info. Driver wants to avoid insurance and wants to settle out of court. I suspect the driver either has a very high deductible, or no coverage on collision, at which if the claim goes through driver's ins, it would raise her rates and driver would be responsible for most if not all of the repairs.

Yesterday I got an estimate from a local body shop, $2200 plus $200 car rental as the repairs would take a week. Total $2400. I have not told the at fault driver of the costs yet.

I've been thinking of trading the TL in for a 4Runner for a while.

Should I:

1) Try to collect the money directly from the minivan driver and trade the car in as is without repair. This would be a gamble with the mindset that any delaership repairs would be less than costs incurred by the consumer.
2) Collect the money directly from the driver and repair the car with no insurance involvement, and then trade the car in. Benefits of this is it likely won't show up on carfax b/c insurance is not involved.
3) Go through the person's auto insurance directly for the repairs/car rental, and have this incident show up on carfax.

A few years ago, while parked, a driver backs up into my TL at

 

I vote two.

 

Not sure where the rest of my post went... but a few years ago another driver backs up into my TL at very low mph.

Very minor cosmetic paint damage. $1000 paint work.

I don't have a carfax account so I don't know if this incident showed up on my carfax's history.

Last thing I want now is to have TWO incidents show up, albeit these incidents are very minor and cosmetic in nature.

What would you do?

 

I would also go with #2.. Good Luck..

 

I too would go with #2. A co-worker just traded in a car with minor body damage and the dealers offered her crazy low prices because of it. She finally found one that gave her a halfway reasonable offer.

Now that said, you won't be able to hide it from them even if it doesn't show up on the Car Fax. Anyone that knows what they are looking at will still be able to tell that it's had body/paint work. Not to mention they can also measure it with a paint meter (and most likely will), so I'd expect to get a bit less than you would in otherwise good condition.

 

This is exactly why you can never trust a car's history report. Close inspections are absolutely necessary nowadays because everyone avoids getting their damage reported. Not saying your damage is bad enough to make the car not work correctly, but when you pull a report you're trusting that you are getting the car's full information which includes even minor damage. With all of that said, you'll get the most money for your car with option #2.

 

Another #2 vote here.

 

If you're getting 2400 more for your car on a trade in with everything fixed, sure go for it.

If not, calculate the difference and pocket the rest/put towards the new 4runner.

 

Definitely go with option 2....

 

Well #2 is no longer an option. Paint/repair estimates were over $2k so person who hit my car is not willing to pay that much out of pocket.

Now I'm stuck dealing with an insurance claim.

I thought about not repairing it and letting it go, but the more I look at it, the paint damage/dent is definitely visible. No frame damage and all cosmetic, just doesn't look good.

I will try and also file for diminished value, but I wonder if this will be a lost cause.

 

Good luck with the diminished value claim. I had to jump through so many hoops to get my claim to go through with the at fault driver's insurance.

First they denied that there is a such thing, then they try to find every bit about your car and see if anything has ever happened to it. My car ended up having a minor repair on the door that the insurance tried to say that once it has been in an accident, the car's value can no longer be diminished. I had to hire a professional, well known, appraiser to come look at the car and type up a 3 page letter explaining how there still is diminished value. Paid $250 but added that on top of whatever the appraiser said I could get.

 

I believe that if it is under a certain dollar amount it doesn't show up on CarFax. Like my post before, I ran a CarFax and the minor door accident didn't show up but it was fixed through insurance since it was probably covered.

 

For those interested:

I followed up with the auto ins company. Ins company still trying to get a hold of claimant who struck my car. I have the feeling claimant is playing hard to get on purpose.

I asked ins company about reporting to carfax. This rep/adjuster says the ins company does not report to carfax and stated it is the body shop who reports any accident info to carfax. This body shop I'm supposed to be using does not report to carfax. FWIW.

Also asked about diminished value. Adjuster states this part of the claim starts after the repair is done.

So as of now, with claimant being hard to get and upcoming holidays, repairs are stuck. I'm also wondering what would happen if the person who struck my vehicle never reaches back to the ins company?

 

Your insurance should just cover the repair. They can then try to go against the other driver to recoup their costs. None of this should delay your getting your car repaired under your own policy.

 

True, good point. I have a $500 deductible with my insurance I would have to pay. As of now I'm going to avoid using my policy if possible since I don't want to pay $500 upfront and later go chasing after this person.

It's unfortunate the city I live in was recently voted the area with greatest likelihood of accidents in the state. People here are too much of in a rush, drive big minivans and suvs without looking over at their blindspots, and many are first time drivers from another country.

As an innocent bystander who was hit while parked, I can attest!

 

That sucks. I find myself increasingly frustrated by people who can't drive their cars/trucks down the road without running into other people. Is it really that hard?

 

I was suspecting that this was going to happen at some point. Whenever a person says that do not involve cops / insurance and he will pay it out of pocket, be aware that he can always retract his statement. Later on he will claim that such an event never happened and it will be your word against his. Better to file a police report straightaway.

 

i vote #3... If by any chance when fixing it the shop recognizes more damage you are footing the bill yourself. Insurance is there for your protection.