Ok, scenario...
Took dinner to a friend and her kids the other night. Spent about $100 on some awesome BBQ for us all. Was me and her, her 16 y/o daughter and her b/f, and her 20 y/o son and his g/f. Nothing romantic, was just going to hang out for the evening, as I hadn't seen them in a good while, a few weeks or a month or so. Drove about an hour to get there.
So, the daughter's b/f had to run home for a few so they hop in the Jeep and proceed to head out... when I hear my car alarm going off. Crap.
Turns out the 18 y/o b/f backed into my 370Z... and when I got outside he was absolutely SICK, I mean the boy looked frigging GREEN. Thought he was gonna puke in the driveway. Pushed the fender and bumper in and scuffed the headlight pretty badly. So they were talking about how they would claim it on their insurance, etc., and I told them not to worry about it, I would claim it on mine and move on. They've been very apologetic ever since, but I keep blowing it off, telling them it's no big deal, whatever.
So today I take it to the body shop and the estimate is $1900 and change. That's with them sanding out the scuffs in the headlight, not replacing it, as it was over $800 just for one headlight. DAMN.
So I've decided not to claim it on insurance, and I am just going to pay out of pocket for it all. I am not going to tell them how much it cost or any of that, they have enough stressful crap going on in their lives right now as it is. Matter of fact, I'm telling everyone that I came out into the parking lot at a store and found it damaged, as if someone had backed into it.
I decided not to claim it on my insurance for multiple reasons. #1, first and foremost, it would be fraud to tell them it happened somewhere and somehow it did not. I do not want to be dishonest. #2, I had a claim a few months ago for hitting a deer in my Tahoe and don't want a second claim inside of 3 months. Not that I am that worried about my rates going too high for this incident, but really what worries me more is if I have ANOTHER claim at some point in the next year... having three claims inside a year would probably put me into a high-risk category. With 4 vehicles with comp & collision, a sports car and an under-25 driver on the policy, I am afraid I'd end up getting raped pretty hard.
Oh, and to make matters worse, I've found out that the Z is going to need an entire repaint. The clear is coming off and the paint under is flaking. <sigh> So in a month or two, I'm going to have to find a GOOD shop to do a full disassembly, strip and repaint. Figuring another $3-4k for a really good job done by a reputable shop for that. Damn.
Really more just venting... but curious. What would you guys do? Make your friend's insurance pay? Make them pay? Claim on your own? Something else entirely? I feel bad for them, as it's only money, and to me, money isn't as important as friendship, and as making someone feel bad or hurt them having to pay for something like this (she's a single mom with 2 kids and struggling to deal with everything).
Thoughts?
Took dinner to a friend and her kids the other night. Spent about $100 on some awesome BBQ for us all. Was me and her, her 16 y/o daughter and her b/f, and her 20 y/o son and his g/f. Nothing romantic, was just going to hang out for the evening, as I hadn't seen them in a good while, a few weeks or a month or so. Drove about an hour to get there.
So, the daughter's b/f had to run home for a few so they hop in the Jeep and proceed to head out... when I hear my car alarm going off. Crap.
Turns out the 18 y/o b/f backed into my 370Z... and when I got outside he was absolutely SICK, I mean the boy looked frigging GREEN. Thought he was gonna puke in the driveway. Pushed the fender and bumper in and scuffed the headlight pretty badly. So they were talking about how they would claim it on their insurance, etc., and I told them not to worry about it, I would claim it on mine and move on. They've been very apologetic ever since, but I keep blowing it off, telling them it's no big deal, whatever.
So today I take it to the body shop and the estimate is $1900 and change. That's with them sanding out the scuffs in the headlight, not replacing it, as it was over $800 just for one headlight. DAMN.
So I've decided not to claim it on insurance, and I am just going to pay out of pocket for it all. I am not going to tell them how much it cost or any of that, they have enough stressful crap going on in their lives right now as it is. Matter of fact, I'm telling everyone that I came out into the parking lot at a store and found it damaged, as if someone had backed into it.
I decided not to claim it on my insurance for multiple reasons. #1, first and foremost, it would be fraud to tell them it happened somewhere and somehow it did not. I do not want to be dishonest. #2, I had a claim a few months ago for hitting a deer in my Tahoe and don't want a second claim inside of 3 months. Not that I am that worried about my rates going too high for this incident, but really what worries me more is if I have ANOTHER claim at some point in the next year... having three claims inside a year would probably put me into a high-risk category. With 4 vehicles with comp & collision, a sports car and an under-25 driver on the policy, I am afraid I'd end up getting raped pretty hard.
Oh, and to make matters worse, I've found out that the Z is going to need an entire repaint. The clear is coming off and the paint under is flaking. <sigh> So in a month or two, I'm going to have to find a GOOD shop to do a full disassembly, strip and repaint. Figuring another $3-4k for a really good job done by a reputable shop for that. Damn.
Really more just venting... but curious. What would you guys do? Make your friend's insurance pay? Make them pay? Claim on your own? Something else entirely? I feel bad for them, as it's only money, and to me, money isn't as important as friendship, and as making someone feel bad or hurt them having to pay for something like this (she's a single mom with 2 kids and struggling to deal with everything).
Thoughts?
