Probably not going to be worth the time and trouble...

Last night when I got off work, my car (THIS) looked like this:

I called the police to report a hit and run in the parking lot, but just had them log the call rather than doing a full accident report. My rough estimate for self-repair is $250 for the tail light (I have one on the shelf, but that's the current eBay price for used) and up to about $475 to paint & repair or replace the bumper. I expect a shop estimate would be about $1,500. I have $500 deductible and just had a claim a month ago for damaging my Cayenne with my trailer. I don't think that an insurance claim is worth it.

I remembered that a green Suburban had been parked back to back with my car across the parking lot lane. I drove the same car to work this morning and brought a tape measure. The height of the damage matches the Suburban bumper (parked in the far corner of the lot this morning). I found small paint chips that match my car on the bumper. The problem was that there was a lot more damage to the back of the Suburban. I see the Suburban regularly and it's usually very clean and polished. The damage is new, but not *just* from hitting my car.

I wrote a short polite note, saying what I thought happened and giving my info if they would like to respond. A while later 'Rhonda' came to my office and explained that she had been in an accident a week ago (police report in hand) and that no, she hadn't hit my Porsche. Two kids in college, insurance company wants to total her car, just before Christmas, ....

There's no witness. It's a small community and although we don't know each other, we know all the same people. She is a hard working part-time receptionist driving a 30 year old Suburban and I'm a pilot with 7 or 8 Porsches -who counts those things anyway. Time and trouble to fix it myself vs time and trouble to legally prove she did it and still get it fixed. This is not a battle worth fighting. One more job on my winter projects list.

Impossible to prove anything unless there's a camera that caught it.

I have been hit in parking lots before, while sitting in the parked car, and then been cursed out by the offender for making such an accusation against their person when i got out and called them on it.  

let it go, nobody can prove she did and it sounds like even if you got evidence she probably can't afford it.  I'm done taking people at their word, but let her have some benefit of the doubt.

Rhonda want to sell the Suburban for the insurance buy back?

Even better I think you should total the Porsche and sell it to me for cheap. 

Stampie said:

Rhonda want to sell the Suburban for the insurance buy back?

Actually when she told me about the insurance wanting to total it, that was my first thought. It's beautiful other than the slight damage to the rear and has 86K miles.

...I just learned I need to be a pilot so I can have 7-8 Porsches at my whim.

But agreed on just moving on and fixing yourself.

poopshovel again said:

Impossible to prove anything unless there's a camera that caught it.

Paint chip analysis? 

Probably not worth it in this case. 

Stampie said:

Rhonda want to sell the Suburban for the insurance buy back?

I could use the front and rear bumper and quarter panels. They're even the right color!

I would've at least asked to see this accident report, but that's me. If it doesn't bother the OP, I'm not stokin any flames.

Am I missing something? I don't see how that Suburban bumper damage would damage your car without putting a horizontal dent as well as the vertical. I could see it if the corner of the bumper hit you but the paint chips are close to the license plate.

There’s a truck that parks across from the Porsche regularly and has paint pieces on the bumper that match the missing paint pieces from the boxter.....   

the culprit is not in question.  

It seems plausible that the impact was slow and not very deep. It wouldn’t take much to crack a plastic light and to push in the soft bumper. So maybe she didn’t realize that she had done it.    But she definitely did it.  

It bothers me when people won’t take responsibility for their mistakes.  

Though the matching paint chips are very suspicious, I can guarantee that Porsche would look a hell of a lot worse if it were the sole source of the damage to the Suburban's bumper.

My mom once T-boned a Neon in a GMT400 badly enough to cave the whole side of the car in like a tin can. Neon totaled, at fault teenage female driver was lucky to walk away. The sum total of the damage to that K2500? One side of the front bumper was pushed back maybe 1/2" from the mounting bracket bending, you'd have never even noticed it unless someone pointed it out to you. 

With that being said, it is entirely plausible that the Sub was involved in two separate incidents.

Agreed that it has the appearance that the 'burb did the damage (the dents on the burb having been caused by something else) but we don't live in CSI.  Even if someone died, the chances that law enforcement would do a forensic detail of the paint chips is next to zero.  It would cost taxpayers $100k and take three years to do it.

E36 M3 happens.  Wipe it and move on. :)

rustybugkiller said:

Am I missing something? I don't see how that Suburban bumper damage would damage your car without putting a horizontal dent as well as the vertical. I could see it if the corner of the bumper hit you but the paint chips are close to the license plate.

I had thought it was the corner of the bumper until I saw the paint chips. This perspective shows a little better how it lines up.

At this point I have no doubt that it was the Suburban. I *hope* that she just didn't realize that it happened. With the mass of an early '90s 'burban, you could easily not feel a soft slow impact like that. I'll probably get a whole gallon of paint to re-do the bumper, and have plenty left to do a fender and the hood on the same color '99 Boxster that my daughter drives. ...make the best of it.

Patrick said:

I have been hit in parking lots before, while sitting in the parked car, and then been cursed out by the offender for making such an accusation against their person when i got out and called them on it.  

let it go, nobody can prove she did and it sounds like even if you got evidence she probably can't afford it.  I'm done taking people at their word, but let her have some benefit of the doubt.

I parked by a lady at Lowe's last Sunday and as I got out of my T&C she erupted out of her car accusing me of slamming my door into her thirty year old Buick. Really? I didn't!  Wow.

As for the heft of a suburban, back in 96 I was driving a 81 Plymouth Voyager (think dodge d200 van) I had stopped at a convenience store, came out jumped in checked my mirrors and backed up out of my space. Stopped due to horn blaring after backing most of the way across the lot. There was a fellow who had parked behind me in his brand new escort that I had just pushed across the parking lot. Totaled his car, I had to use a pinch bar to bend my bumper out.

I worked at a place that had armed guards and you needed a badge to get in, cars have ID tags, random inspections by guards.  No strangers in the area.  Some pinhead parked next to me and  pulled out, yanking the wheel way before his nose was clear.  Bashed in the bed of my truck about a foot deep and two foot long.

I know who it was, he called my insurance company and tried to make them pay (no fault?).  When I called, my insurance Co. said "Yeah, well we have a flag on him anyway, kind of a hot head".

If you want Rhonda's truck, make an offer.

Let it go.  Ulcers never heal....

AAZCD said:

rustybugkiller said:

Am I missing something? I don't see how that Suburban bumper damage would damage your car without putting a horizontal dent as well as the vertical. I could see it if the corner of the bumper hit you but the paint chips are close to the license plate.

 

I had thought it was the corner of the bumper until I saw the paint chips. This perspective shows a little better how it lines up.

At this point I have no doubt that it was the Suburban. I *hope* that she just didn't realize that it happened. With the mass of an early '90s 'burban, you could easily not feel a soft slow impact like that. I'll probably get a whole gallon of paint to re-do the bumper, and have plenty left to do a fender and the hood on the same color '99 Boxster that my daughter drives. ...make the best of it.

Now I see!

I had a little free time and a sunny day today, so I replaced the tail light and used a heat gun to flex the bumper back into shape without removing it.

Doing the proper prep and paint is going to be a lot of work and I don't think I'll get to that for a while. I normally don't do bumper stickers, but for now I'll make an exception:

Looks good but I think the proper repair these days is a large novelty band-aid sticker, all the cool kids are doing it.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=large+bandaid+sticker+for+car&crid=14HE3W14PXRKD&sprefix=large+band+aid+%2Caps%2C172&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_15

In reply to adam525i :

From what I hear, the "even cooler" kids are doing this:

I think its best just to fix it up and let it sail on..

Anyone looked into car camera's. I have seen them advertised that are supposed to activate and record things like this. Kind of tough to say you did not do it if you have them on film. 

I have a dash cam that will record if it senses movement.   It was a recommendation on our board that led me to them.  $35 for a refurbished unit. 

I bought a bunch.  They’re pretty cool.  

I plan to sell the car soon, so it was finally time to fix it right. I found a spray can of 'Scratch Wizard' Arctic Silver Metallic paint among my boxes of stuff that came with cars. When tested, it matched color well and sprayed smooth. "Awesome." I thought, "I can just spray the bad corner and blend it in with the rest of the bumper." Leaving the bumper on and masking around it, I did a few hours of prime and fill to get it perfectly smooth and feathered. I sprayed the color and clearcoat. It looked decent, but was a little dark at one edge when it all dried. No big deal I thought, there was just enough paint left to go back over that edge. I did a light wet-sand then went to wipe it with a cloth that had some industrial grade alcohol. The alcohol turned the paint gummy and the cloth pulled streaks across the paint. Ruined and not much paint left. Time to pull the bumper off and do it right.

I decided to get a full gallon of paint - there's another Arctic Silver Metallic Boxster in my driveway that could use a quarter panel re-spray. For bout $200 at O'Reilly Auto Parts (military discount) I bought a Nason single stage acrylic and hardener. I already had some basic supplies, a 60 gallon air compressor, and Devilbiss spray gun set. All I needed was some skill and more patience. I sanded down and primed the whole bumper.

...then cleared enough space in my garage to paint it.

Knowing where to look, I can see some spots where I didn't quite prep it enough, but the paint worked out really well. The color is a good match and it went on very smooth.

Now I'm going to have to polish the original paint to make it match.