Subaru Crew - Meet The Members II

lark6

juice: Sorry to hear about the missus' fender bender. Luckily (pun intended) it wasn't more serious. Please give her my best.

Ed

subearu

hopefully it's just the bumper and the foam underneath. glad everyone is ok, hope she feels better.

-Brian

ateixeira

I haven't seen it yet, she just called me from her cell phone.

The guy was apologetic plus he hit her straight from behind, so it shouldn't be a struggle to determine fault.

-juice

lucien2

in MD a rear end accident is always the fault of the following driver. The law assumes that such an accident is caused by the failure of the follower to maintain safe distance for the given driving conditions.

c_hunter

Sorry to hear about that Juice. Maybe if you're real lucky, the damage will just be those two bolt marks from the license plate. If that was the worst of it, I'd use touchup paint and let it be. I guess you will find out when a pro looks at the car.

Craig

ateixeira

I have to see it first, of course, but most likely I'll get an estimate from my dealer. It's not even 2 years old yet, so I want OE parts and should be able to get them.

We'll see. Fitz always takes care of us, gives us nice loaners are stuff.

If it's not expensive I'll offer the guy who hit her to pay out-of-pocket so he doesn't have to make an insurance claim. What's a bumper cover and paint cost, any how? $400 or so?

-juice

bluesubie

Sorry to hear, Godfather.

-Dennis

locke2c

juice, do not settle outside of insurance if there is ANY chance your wife is injured.

be smart!

~colin

ateixeira

Hmm, you're more familiar with that than I am.

I'm trying to get the wife to pay a visit to the doctor, pre-emptively.

-juice

fibber2

Unfortunately, neck and upper back injuries don't often show themselves clearly on the day of the accident. I got progressively stiffer with restricted range of motion in the 6 weeks or so following a crash that totaled our car by someone who ran a light over twenty years ago. I had years of pain, cortizone shots to the disks, etc. Hopefully Lana will be fine, but don't write it off too fast...

The best of everything to your friends going to Russia.

Steve

ateixeira

Maybe we'll just deal with the insurance company, then.

She was alone. She'd just dropped off our daughter at pre-school. I'm glad our daughter wasn't in the car, she would have been freaked out.

-juice

p0926

IIRC a new bumper cover and painting costs about $500.

-Frank P.

hondafriek

I agree with the others, do not settle outside of insurance, get her to the doctors and get it on record with the insurance company, Rita is now crippled with Arthritis in her back from a hit she years ago.

 We foolishly let the old guy go so we got nought.

  Cheers Pat.

houstonseller

My mother suffered for half her life from a wreck where we were hit from the rear. It was much more severe than you mentioned however it is still a good idea to have it on record that she was examined. Hopefully it will be a total waste of time but the whole ounce of prevention thing is still good advice.

hondafriek

The Titan's stars are in alignment again:-)

 The smell is gone from the seat, the dent in the quarter panel is repaired courtesy of the paintless dent guy and he got a wash.

  Cheers Pat.

lucien2

paisan

Last I priced it out it was well over $1000. My local body shop doesn't paint only the bumper. They paint the bumper and blend any adjacent panel at about $150/panel.

-mike

locke2c

that's absurd... you start with the car's paint code and then use a colormatch computer to handle weathering/fade. you don't repaint every adjacent panel, that's so 1980.

~colin

lucien2

on the Outbacj (rear bumper skin, painting the skin, renew the bumper beam) was $600 or so.

paisan

But this shop deals with all high end cars (Ferrari, Porsche, Caddy, MB, BMW) all the local mobsters and their kids get their work done there. Maybe it's an old method, but for the goombas who adore their rides they like his work...

-mike

hondafriek

No more CEL either so I dunno.

  Cheers Pat.

ateixeira

I'll check it out tonight and report back tomorrow. I'll also see how the wife's doing, she said she felt fine but I'll try to get her to visit the Doc just for a check-up.

-juice

lucien2

the doc visit is important as documentation that she had some stiffness/soreness.

kens

juice,

Just caught up on the messages. Hope Lana is okay.

And to echo everyone's concern -- have her checked out by a doctor. Not to equate people with cars, but if your Subie had some unusual symptoms, you would at least have the dealer document it in case it became something worse in the future, right?

Ken

rsholland

Lana should get her neck checked.

Bob

c_hunter

I feel the need to reiterate that I would not replace/repaint the bumper if the damage is very minor. Subaru's paint is not the greatest, but it will hold up far better than almost any aftermarket paint job, especially on a flexible plastic body part. The bumper is just likely to get knicked again, anyways.

I got rear ended once many years ago and there were only a few minor scrapes in the bumper cover (from license plate screws). I got a new bumper beam underneath but kept the original cover and banked the rest of the insurance money.

Craig

c_hunter

You can poke your head underneath and look at the bumper mounting columns. If you see any paint flaking off, then they have "compressed" and should be replaced. If not, then you're OK.

Craig

hondafriek

I would disagree with you on this one, the Titan was only 3 weeks old when someone hit the rear bumper and put two gouges about 6 inchs long in the paint right down to the plastic.

Well the bumper was stripped of paint so that no imperfections would show, it was then flex primed and repainted, that was 3 years ago including 3 Ottawa winters and the paint on the bumper is still as good as the rest of the car.

The bumpers that you see flaking after being painted just were not done properly.

  Cheers Pat.

subaru_team

Thank God Tatiana wasn't in the car. Please let us know how she is. I'd chime in with everyone here about insurance - but you know how I feel. You should always protect yourself. Who knows - with the way things are today - the nice older guy could end up saying in a year that he was innocently sitting there and Lana backed up!! (I'm kidding - but you know how things can get changed around with time).

Please give her my love. I'm sure Fitz will take care of you. If not - you know the number!

Patti

bigelm

your wife is doing ok but make sure she gets checked. Normally, injuries tend to bring discomfort once body temp. has lowered. Sometimes 1-5 days after accident. - Trust me, I know...

Don't settle out of pocket.. for the sake of your loved ones...

nygreg

like everyone else, I hope the Mrs. is OK. I think for the rest of us (so we don't worry), get her checked out.

Greg

njswamplands

Karen_S

I'm glad it wasn't more serious, but I agree with the consensus. Let the insurance company handle it. Hope Lana is okay!

ateixeira

Well, I think I might have over-reacted. It's almost nothing. Two tiny dings where the bolts were on the other car's license plate.

I had to look twice to even find them. So minor I'll probably just touch it up instead of repainting the whole bumper. They guy must have been going 2mph at most.

The bumper skin might be very, very slightly out of alignment, but that just might be my OCDness talking. It's close and may have already been like that, hard to tell.

I think I'll have the dealer check it out just to get their blessing that it is OK. Will a dealer do just a touch-up?

Wife is fine, she was a little rattled but really didn't feel any physical pain. She was upset because it was the first accident she's ever been in, that's all.

So no worries, thanks for the concern and advice.

-juice

bat1161

Juice,

sorry to hear about the Mrs. fender bender, but I'm glad to hear she is okay. Maybe you should follow the advice from here and have her see the Doc just in case.

Mark

hypov

juice-
you may want to check the bumper inside out just the same, the inside especially. Replace their fasteners, they might be stressed to near breakage. That happened on my OB.

-Dave

ateixeira

That's why I'll have the dealer check it out. I'm sure they'll be thorough. That's the only way they'll get paid! LOL

-juice

p0926

With all the cautionary posts about visiting doctors and filing insurance claims, I can't help but feel a little depressed about the sad state of today's society when people feel compelled to do such things strictly to protect their interests.

When I was rear ended a year ago, I was hit somewhat harder that Lana was but since the damage was minimal (to my car at least) and no one was hurt, I didn't file an insurance claim (visiting a doctor didn’t even cross my mind). Mainly out of consideration for the other driver (young woman) and what it would do to her insurance rates. Also prominent in my decision was how I would feel if the roles were reversed. Was it worth it to jack up the other driver’s insurance rates just to get a small scrape mark repaired? Isn’t that what bumpers are there for, to take a little punishment and protect the rest of the car? Perhaps if I’d just bought my car and it was in immaculate condition (or I had Pat’s car :-) I’d have decided different.

To me it really boils down to the golden rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you). Besides, I figured that the other driver had enough to worry about (traffic ticket and repairing her own car). Am I really that old fashioned and out of touch with today's society?

-Frank P.

locke2c

no you are not, Frank. my answer to Juice was based on the information at the time being that the bumper was badly damaged enough to need replacement, in which I suggested that settling too soon could be a mistake.

the other item goes beyond respect-- it is about protecting your own interests. in the (what now seems unlikely) event that Lana was injured but signs didn't show for a few days, now who bears the responsibility of treating that injury? seems wrong for the person who caused it to be off the hook, eh?

I was not saying "sue their [non-permissible content removed] and take all their monies!!1!", I was just advising caution.

but sure, it sounds a lot less serious now and it's easy to make new conclusions based on that.

~colin

hypov

the other item goes beyond respect-- it is about protecting your own interests. in the (what now seems unlikely) event that Lana was injured but signs didn't show for a few days, now who bears the responsibility of treating that injury? seems wrong for the person who caused it to be off the hook, eh?

I'm in agreement. One may feel OK today, but may not down the road. In my case, my neck has been pruned to stiffness of late. It clicks and clacks with an occassional pop when I turn my head.

-Dave

p0926

toboggan

I've pruned grape vines and trees. But necks??????

MNSteve

hypov

I meant proned... hee hee

-Dave

locke2c

prone: disposed to, tends to, etc.

I used to have neck troubles and have a few suggestions:

1) fitness. crunches and reverse situps are good for a number of things including your neck.

2) new pillow or bedding. can help enormously...

3) get enough sleep.

4) make sure your monitor is at the right height at work and home. when facing straight ahead, neck level, you should be looking somewhere in the upper middle of the screen. not down, not up

~colin

ateixeira

It's hard to tell what caused that neck pain, was it even that minor fender bender a couple of years ago? No doubt our parents dropped us on our heads a couple of times. Should we sue them? ;-)

This was an older gentleman who said his foot slipped off the pedal. No real harm done, but he might have just been lucky. What if it was in front of a school crossing and he ran over 7 kids?

But Frank's point is valid, I think this was a minor slip, literally. Hopefully the accident itself will remind him to drive more carefully, leave more room for error by increasing following distances.

So I guess you could argue either way. We're waiting for a call back from his insurance company to see how they want to handle the claim. I will still probably have the dealer look at it, though.

The wife wants to hit the Subaru dealer tonight to get that $50 Gift Card from Home Depot, so that tells me she's feeling just fine. :-)

-juice

kate5000

Sorry to hear about the accident, juice. Glad it was relatively minor.

Do they give out gift cards at Subaru dealership? For test drive of what? My Forester has already 92,700 mi, time to start serious shopping...

ateixeira

My wife got a mailer. They know she owns a 2002 so she must be on the mailing list?

BTW, it's $50 to test drive, a full $200 if you buy a Subie. But it is in her name. Otherwise I'd sell it to you for $150.

KIDDING.

I'd have sold it for $100.

Still kidding...

-juice

njswamplands

paisan

Everyone these days are very much into personal gain/protection/etc. Same reason people don't stop to help others on the highway anymore etc...

-mike

fibber2

I kind of started this thread, so let me explain. First off, I absolutely agree with you. Litigation in our society is indeed out of control. Juice's initial description suggested that the situation might have been worse that it turned out to be, so we threw in our two cents.

Getting something on record does not mean that any funds have to change hands. A simple call to his insurer getting it on record - time/place etc., is enough to set the stage. If she feels sore within the next few days, go to the doctor. If not, let it go. Same with the damage to the car. No harm is done to anyone's insurance if no claim is made (in most instances...).

I got bumped much as Lana did (with my then 3 year old in the car) a few years back. It was minor, and I let it go. 20 years back was a much different situation. The crushed car bore substantial evidence that the occupants were indeed hurt.

I understand your feeling - life has become a terrible balancing act.

Steve