Uuugggghhhhhh!!!!

[1 Bad Merc]

Well, I guess it had to happen to me some time. I have now joined the ranks of people on this site that have been rear-ended!

I was sitting at a stoplight at around 7:30 PM on Friday night about 5 blocks from house after picking up a friend of mine at Midway airport. We were talking and then the next thing I know is I hear someones' tires barking and then "Bam"!!!!! OH man was I pissed! I got out of the car to confront this SOB that has just hit my baby and I look over and the first thing I see is a handicap placard hanging from the rearview mirror. I then look down and I see these two eyes just staring at me barely looking over the steering wheel. She was shaking and I just swallowed my anger and went to check on her.

She was a white haired old lady and I asked her if she was alright. She couldnt' even talk as she was shaking so bad. I tried to put her at ease by saying, " Dont worry about it" and "You are okay, right?" I then told her no one in my car was hurt and to just relax as it is only a car..Gulp! :bigcry:

I then went and checked the damage. I saw three or four scuff marks on the Marauders' back bumper. She hit me probably doing about 10 MPH but her car dived down as she slammed on the brakes. She did give me a solid whack though and I am wondering what the damage underneath is. I looked at her car (1990's Buick 4 door) and saw that the license plate bracket and frame was knocked off and laying in the street. Her front grill was cracked and half of it was laying on the ground.

The police showed up right away and we drove to a parking lot for the report. The officer that showed up was a friend of mine and gave me his' condolences. Next up he asked the lady for her DL and proof of insurance and she told the officer she had it but it was on the dining room table. By this time she had called her son and he showed up. I asked my friend how old she was and he told me 92!!!!!! Her son's first words out of his' mouth where, "Mom, you know you should not be driving at night" and " This is the second time this has happened"!

As we were still waiting another car pulled up and it was her daughter. It was a family reunion here in the parking lot! Then I find out that this lady is from my hometown and the officer and I played HS football with her great nephews! Her daughter went to school with my Aunt and my brother in law works with her other great nephew at the Ford Stamping plant. After hearing all of this and talking to her son who promised to pay for any damages I decided that we could handle this as an out of pocket deal. This might not be the brightest thing I have done but I kept looking at her sitting their and shaking so I decided enough was enough. I talked to my friend the police officer and we decided that we were not going to file a report at this time. He told me that if they did not pay he would be happy to make a report out for me at a later date. I wished her a good night and we both left.

I was just sitting her thinking about how hard it must be to tell your own mother that she's to old to drive anymore. My family has been going through a similiar thing with my own Grandmother who is 82 and it looks like we will be taking her car away from her in the next week or two.

Even though I am still upset about this accident I am grateful that no-one got hurt. Now the fun part begins as I get the car fixed and see if the son will pay the bill. If he doesnt I dont look forward to fighting with him about it and the bad blood it is going to cause. I have my fingers crossed so wish me luck.:)

[SergntMac]

I don't think you'll have any problems at all. You did a kind thing, hope the family makes this come to be her last.

[Petrograde]

I can only hope I'd be that considerate to the old gal.

92? ...wow.

I hope you get your MM squared away without any fuss.

[Hotrauder]

I agree, been there and you did the kind and considerate thing. I doubt very much you will have a problem. Good luck with the repair. :) Dennis

[DefyantExWife]

meh, should've kicked her little old ass anyway , softy :rolleyes:




j/k :baaa:

[jgc61sr2002]

Glad you were not injured. :D You certainly did the right thing.:up:

[Glenn]

You did the right thing. My Mom"s 83 and still driving.

Glenn

[jabird56]

You should have requested to the son as part of the deal, to take her keys away from her.... Unfortunately, you have to do that at times. A friend of mine had to do that with his parents, luckly they hadn't caused and accident yet....

[1 Bad Merc]

Thanks guys for your support! :pimp:

I was just sitting here wondering if I did the right thing and your responses sure helped me out. I firmly believe I did but I hope this does not turn into some kind of a financial fiasco! If this gentlemen screws me around on this I am not going to be a happy camper.

I would like my car fixed like it was before the accident and I have no idea the damage done underneath as I have not had the heart to look under the bumper yet! I will do this tomorrow and give the guy a call to let him know what bodyshop I am bringing the car to.

Now I am stuck with another dilemma.....who do I take the car too? I have a couple of shops in mind but I do know some people that have not been happy with some of the work they have received at them. I feel like it is a crap shoot and pray I dont have to fight with one of these shops to get a good job done! I especially dont want my car to be out of commission to long as I will have to rent one to use while mine is getting fixed. I am thinking I should rent a car (not a expensive car) and ask him to pay for it while my car is at the shop. I believe this is reasonable and would like your opinions on this.

Thanks for listening to me as I know I am rambling on here. I now know the sick feeling the other guys got on this site when someone hit their cars. It sure does hurt but I keep telling myself it could have been worse....Oh well, maybe it's time for some Ghost Flames on my Silver 03' !!!!!:banana:

[HwyCruiser]

Sounds like you did the reasonable thing considering the circumstances. Now you just have to figure out what kind of damage was done to the car and how to handle it.

Did the collision crack the bumper cover or the paint? Scuff marks may be able to be buffed out by a detailer. But if the paint is cracked your looking at least $500 to repaint it. If the bumper is cracked then your looking at a replacement + paint, probably in the neighborhood of $1,100. Unfortunately I've been there. I'd bet that the steel bumper behind the cover is fine after a that slow of a hit though, it's pretty beefy.

[Marauderjack]

Did it bend your exhaust tips any??;)

Good Luck and I think you did the right thing also!!:beer:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[JMan]

Takes a big man to be a softy. You did the right thing! I feel for the old folks trying to just perform day to day tasks. I'm sure she'll take care of it. As for your car, the energy aborbing bumpers kept any damage from occurring. As for the nose-diving plastic piece of crap that hit you, it could have been far worse! That's what happens when the weight distribution is 72-28.

Best wishes,

J

[1 Bad Merc]

Wow, I did not think the bumper cover would cost that much.

Hwycruiser in answer to your question the scuff marks look like someone took a brillo pad to the car and I dont see anyway of rubbing them out. They are very rough to the touch and match perfectly to her front drivers' license frame. I dont see any tears in the bumper cover but it is sagging a heck of alot lower in the middle then it was before. It looks pretty weird like it just lost it's shape or something all at once. I am hoping I can go and buy a Proguard from dennis and put it on and the sagging disappears. I am also worried that the paint being flexed for this hit will start to crack and peel off after it's been stressed like this.

In answer to your question Marauderjack thank God no! The tips I had on the res delete tips and they look fine. I still have the stock ones in a box in case I ever needed to switch them back.

The front nose of her car looked alot smaller then the back of the Marauder and she was kinda at a small angle when she hit me. I looked under the car and I really dont see anything wrong but I will bet the support bar going across probably has a dent or crease in it. I really dont care about that as the bumper cover fits over it and you cant see it. What I want the body shop to check out is to make sure this bar is even across the back and not shoved in.

[ex00p71]

The impact shocks (is that the right term?) right behind the steel bumper may have given way on one or both sides. I don't even know if you guys have them on 03+ cars.

[Motorhead350]

First me with the telephone pole and now this. I can't wait to see what happens next. You really handled this well by the way and this repair sounds like mullet work. ;)

[1 Bad Merc]

HI Guys,

Just a quick update on the accident I had with the 92 year old women. I finally found a good body shop (St. Aubins) down in Peotone and talked with the owner Jeff. He is the guy that painted all of Troy's cars that appeared on the show Rides for TLC and he also help paint the Ebay Mustang. He took a look at my car and indicated the damages where minimal. The rear bumper cover was scratched and he was able to buff most of it out. He indicated that he did not think it was worth painting right now and to see if it really bothered me. I can see a little bit of the scratches but I really have to get down on my hands & knees to look. What I was really surprised about was the dent in the trunk box on the bottom where her car hit me when it dove down. I did not realize that she went that far under my car! I got that fixed also and then we looked at a couple of more dents and scratches that I had.
We found a small dent on the passenger side rear door that was perfectly round with paint missing directly in the center. Jeff asked me if my wife ever parked the car at the Metra train station for work. I told him that she does take the car some times. He told me he must have fixed between 10 to 12 cars with this same identical dent and that the police have advised people about a group kids that are messing around in the parking lots and shooting BB's at the cars! What a B--ch!

Well I got my car back last week and it looked awesome! I was really happy with the job he did and would highly recommend him to other people in the Chicagoland area.

Thank you to everyone who supported me on my decision to not get a police report. You guys gave me good karma and when I talked to her son and told him the cost he came right over to my house the next day with a check! Everything worked out very well and I am happy this is over with.

PS...My wife just got back from the store and my rubber trim around the passenger window is all deformed. Took it back to Jeff and he indicated that someone tried to break into the car with some type of slimjim and also tried to slide it around the glass. I am now waiting for the Ford dealer to order me new rubber for the car. This stuff is just never ending.......

[ckadiddle]

Yup..won't go into details, but Marauders seem to be damage magnets. ;)

[LordVader]

:mad2: Have to agree. But I also think that since most owners are so meticulous, that any little scratch or ding sticks out like a sore thumb and just festers until it's fixed. Glad everything worked out for you and that you found someone to take your car to when the gremlins strike.

[DEFYANT]

HI Guys,

Just a quick update on the accident I had with the 92 year old women. I finally found a good body shop (St. Aubins) down in Peotone and talked with the owner Jeff. He is the guy that painted all of Troy's cars that appeared on the show Rides for TLC and he also help paint the Ebay Mustang. He took a look at my car and indicated the damages where minimal. The rear bumper cover was scratched and he was able to buff most of it out. He indicated that he did not think it was worth painting right now and to see if it really bothered me. I can see a little bit of the scratches but I really have to get down on my hands & knees to look. What I was really surprised about was the dent in the trunk box on the bottom where her car hit me when it dove down. I did not realize that she went that far under my car! I got that fixed also and then we looked at a couple of more dents and scratches that I had.
We found a small dent on the passenger side rear door that was perfectly round with paint missing directly in the center. Jeff asked me if my wife ever parked the car at the Metra train station for work. I told him that she does take the car some times. He told me he must have fixed between 10 to 12 cars with this same identical dent and that the police have advised people about a group kids that are messing around in the parking lots and shooting BB's at the cars! What a B--ch!

Well I got my car back last week and it looked awesome! I was really happy with the job he did and would highly recommend him to other people in the Chicagoland area.

Thank you to everyone who supported me on my decision to not get a police report. You guys gave me good karma and when I talked to her son and told him the cost he came right over to my house the next day with a check! Everything worked out very well and I am happy this is over with.

PS...My wife just got back from the store and my rubber trim around the passenger window is all deformed. Took it back to Jeff and he indicated that someone tried to break into the car with some type of slimjim and also tried to slide it around the glass. I am now waiting for the Ford dealer to order me new rubber for the car. This stuff is just never ending.......

Get the Trunk Monkey security device.

[fairlane347]

Get the Trunk Monkey security device.

:baaa: I love the trunk monkey, too funny!

[1 Bad Merc]

Defyant....what's the Trunk Monkey security system? Something I missed?

[jgc61sr2002]

Defyant....what's the Trunk Monkey security system? Something I missed?


There was a thread about the Trunk Monkey.
Someone will post it. I can't find it.

[buickconvert]

http://www.trunkmonkey.com/

;)