The other day I was using a self car wash on my PiP and cleaning the carpets because one of my passengers left a big dirt streak on my passenger side, and when I was done i didn't notice that where i drove off was a full curb. My car hit pretty hard in the front and back and when i pulled over to look at the damage, my back bumper had become misaligned. Upon closer inspection the outer shell had a few of its clips come out from their proper location attaching it to the body. I had a screwdriver in the car and was able to unscrew the more sturdy plastic frame to allow me to pop the clips back into place. LUCKILY there was no permanent physical damage, no visible scratches or scrapes, but a big lesson learned none the less.
That would have been tough. I might have been in tears... (The first 'ding' will come eventually, it will always be painful).
I watched another instructor at the college where I work drive her prius over a curb. The car hit so hard it sounded like she smashed into a wall. She was high centered on the curb, the poor thing. As for damage... it's a car. Just took a friend of mine out for a spin in my car. She opened the door and bottom scratched the sidewalk. Shi* happens.
The really nice thing about the PiP, relative to my 2005 Prius, is that the front end is off the ground a little more. I no longer scrape my car's front end on the parking cement things. I'm still always parking my new PiP's front end way back, though. I'm still fearful of them.
My rear bumper was hit by someone in the parking lot, a scant 4 days after I bought my car!! The auto body folks had to replace the whole bumper and whatever foam was inside it. So, don't feel bad, they can fix anything. Side note: when I drove away after picking up the car, I felt and heard a SCRAPE. The auto body shop's driveway is sloped so much that it can actually damage a car!!! I'm sure they designed it that way!!
