I have a 2005 Prius with extended warranty (Platinum). My car recently had a hit & run, and the bumper needs to be replaced. Is this something that is "warrantiable"? The autobody place estimated the repair at $600. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
homer, I'm trying to be polite here, so please don't misunderstand my tone, but why would you expect Toyota to replace your bumper under warranty. Manufacturers warranties usually only pay for the parts & labor to replace items that are defective in materials/workmanship that some how made it through their quality control process (if we screwed up, we'll fix it for you at no cost to you). Your hit & run situation is no fault of the manufacturer whatsoever. That's why you carry insurance. You should put in a claim against your insurance carrier, but you will probably not recover all of the damage cost (depending on your policy & your deductible). Make sure you tell your insurance carrier that the car was parked & you found the damage when you returned. It is usually better if you called the police to the scene to write up a report as they can also witness any car debris on the ground & verify it happened there & not somewhere else where your insurance may think you were driving & just had an accident that was possibly your fault. If you did call the police, then submit a copy of the report to your insurance. That MAY improve your chances at a fuller recovery. Edit : Darn firepa63, you beat me again. I've got to practice typing faster. Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
What is your collision deductible? Most are $500, if that is your case you may be better off doing the repairs without insurance company assistance. You would avoid the claim on your coverage and the potential premium increase. You'd pay the full cost of repair, but if the estimate is $600 that's only $100 more than you would pay anyway.
I appreciate everyone's input. This was the route I was thinking of going, I just wanted to verify if my other options were valid or not. Thank you all again!