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appearance modification

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by cairo94507, Jul 2, 2005.

  1. cairo94507

    cairo94507 Active Member

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    So my wife's car needed some maintenance... I let her take my Prius to work.

    She comes home and the rear bumper has a big drag mark across it about 18" long where a car apparently tried to squeeze by her when she was parked and dragged across the rear bumper removing the paint all the way to the bare surface.

    I was a little disappointed -- this is the 2nd time that has happened to one of our cars at her work parking lot. And of course, no note at all. I am sure this is going to be about $600 to repaint. Insurance deductable is $500. Not worth turning it in.

    I really hate people who damage the property of others and ignore their responsibility.

    Oh well it is just a car - at least it was not our NSX. That would have really upset me.
     
    #1 cairo94507, Jul 2, 2005
  2. AfonsoSilva

    AfonsoSilva New Member

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    Sorry to hear about that, Mike. :(

    I have been really scared of parking lots exactly because of the first dent/first scratch fear factor. I've been trying my best to look for the end spot in the lot, where you can protect one side of the car from door dings and offset the car with respect to the space markings to give as much room as possible to the neighbor car to fully swing its door out and miss my Prius. Sometimes I walk several extra feet to get to the store, but if that avoids dings it is definitely worth it.

    At work I have been using the same tactics and avoiding at all costs to park in areas of high traffic or high maneuverability.

    I know it sucks, but I would definitely get it fixed... I find it highly motivating to keep good maintenance on a car when it is new. After that major first scratch becomes old, so does the regular caretaking...
     
    #2 AfonsoSilva, Jul 2, 2005
  3. 925PriusGuy

    925PriusGuy Winter Gray & Blizzard Pearl Pri

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    Michael,

    Sorry to hear about the bumper damage. That sucks!

    I spoke with Jeremy about adding a 3M protection strip to the rear bumper and he told me that he only recommends doing those for people who live/work in San Francisco (due to the tight parking) but maybe it's a consideration for your cars? Might not be practical, but I thought I'd pass that along.

    -patrick
     
    #3 925PriusGuy, Jul 3, 2005
  4. cairo94507

    cairo94507 Active Member

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    Thanks all for the thoughts. Getting the car repaired was never at issue - it will be repaired as soon as I can get it scheduled intot he shop. As for the bumper protector, in this instance, the damage would have still been done. Rather than the damage being from someone behind the car pulling forward and tapping the car, they drove by the car as it was parked, came to close and their car dragged the entire rear bumper, removing the paint across the width of the bumper. If they had an additional 1/4" there would have been no damage.

    My wife is a very conscientious parker and wll trained in this art. She has had some very nice cars so she is aware of all the guidelines for parking in lots. This wasn't her fault, but the fault of some idiot, likely driving some supersized SUV trying to squeeze past another car going the opposite direction in the lane.

    Sorry to slam SUV's but I hate them. The last 4 times I have had a car hit, it has been an SUV with some inattentive woman talking on her cell phone, yelling at her kids, drinking her coffee........ Believe it or not, the last time I was rear ended the woman sat in her SUV for an additional 2 minutes to finish her call beofre even getting out of the POS!
     
    #4 cairo94507, Jul 4, 2005
  5. GKarschnick

    GKarschnick New Member

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    Your bill for paint alone should not exceed $100. I was rearended last month and the bill for replacing the entire rear panel and styrofoam backing plus paint was less than $600.
     
    #5 GKarschnick, Jul 4, 2005
  6. cairo94507

    cairo94507 Active Member

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    Man - I don't know about that, but will keep my fingers crossed when I take it in. I will let you guys know what it cost to remove, repair, repaint, polish and re-install when I get it done.
     
    #6 cairo94507, Jul 4, 2005
  7. Bob Allen

    Bob Allen Captainbaba

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cairo94507\";p=\"103402)</div>
    Sorry to hear your story. My Prius was hit by a hit and run driver while it was parked in front of our house, about one in the morning. The driver of the other car left shards of his car on the street and my Prius on the sidewalk. The police told me there is virtually no chance they'd ever catch the guy (or woman). I agree, people are too caught up in their own stuff to care about anyone else, let alone take responsibility for their actions.
    I would guess the guy who hit me either had no insurance or a list of outstanding warrants or both. My car will be ready today. The body shop did a fabulous restoration. Damage? 6k.

    Bob
     
    #7 Bob Allen, Jul 22, 2005
  8. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    at least it was just the bumper. my parking lot at work has a large number of cars with big deep gouges in the metal right about where a big SUV parked next to them would have turned too sharp while backing out and bashed the car next to them. right behind the farthest back side window. i'm sure those cost a fortune to repair and will never come all the way out.
     
    #8 galaxee, Jul 22, 2005
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