Minor Damage on Daily Driver

[slick61]

Some of you may have seen my none-too-brief venting after my car got sideswiped while parked on the street. Finally got around to assessing & addressing the damage. I guess most people would say the "damage" was inconsequential. As for me, you'd think someone ran over my dog. Had a REAL bad case of cottonmouth for about 2 hours afterward.



It's an '04 Saturn Vue in Rainforest Green. I've owned it since 27 miles on the odo (12,200 mi currently) & other than a few light scratches in the clearcoat, it's been pretty much perfect (other than the excessive orange peel).



Process:

wash- Meguiar's Gold Class

clay- Meguiar's Quick Clay

taped off all plastics adjacent to painted areas

rough polish- ScratchX on worst areas, by hand

fine polish- Meguiar's #80 (speed glaze) by PC

sealant- Meguiar's NXT liquid, by PC (2 coats)



topper- Natty's Blue, by hand (to come)



anyways... on to the pics... sorry they're not better quality.



here's a street shot the day of the incident. Can see the skid mark coming right up to my front wheel.

here's where their door mirror scraped down the door & front fender. These made me nervous b/c I couldn't tell how deeply they went into the surface.

But I was MOST concerned about the wheel. Some of these scratches felt really deep.

I've got to admit, this took a LOT longer than I anticipated. Approx. 1.5 hrs. to clay, 2 hrs. to tape everything off, 1.5 hrs w/ScratchX by hand, 6-7 hrs. to polish w/PC, 6 hrs to apply sealant (by PC) & clean up/remove tape.

 

[slick61]

There are still some of the deeper scratches in the clearcoat, but overall came out pretty good. Was getting late in the day, so snapped a few quick pics...

I NEVER thought the wheel would come out this good, but sure took a LOT of elbow grease

here's my "Dorf" shot...

The NXT went on & came off REALLY nice. Hope to get it topped with Natty's Blue this weekend. My only regret is that I didn't have some #83 on hand. The speed glaze didn't have enough "cut" to it, to get the fine scratches out of the clearcoat on the hood.

 

[jnmttu]

Wow, it looks new again. Consider yourself lucky, every time I have ever been hit, it took paint off the car.

 

[slick61]

if the body panels had been sheetmetal instead of dent-resistant polymer, I'm sure I'd be singing a different tune. Was an important feature when I bought. I figured the dent-resistant panels would come in VERY hand in L.A. for door dings & stuff, but hadn't planned on this happening. The "give" in the panels probably saved me a lot of money & headache.



Geez, this clear coat is hard tho... I guess that's good and bad...

 

[imported_themightytimmah]

Nice turnaround, you might want to try a more aggressive polish via PC next time, I think it might save you a few hours. If you went #83/cutting/4" and then followed with #80, you could probably do it all in an hour.

 

[slick61]

Nice turnaround, you might want to try a more aggressive polish via PC next time, I think it might save you a few hours. If you went #83/cutting/4" and then followed with #80, you could probably do it all in an hour.

an HOUR???? you clazy...



well... maybe a pro could. All the contours & compound curves & seams & joints & creases made it tricky with the PC (for me, anyways)- had to hand-finish certain areas & in/around the door handles. Maybe it's just me, but there's a lot of surface area to cover & very little of it is flat. The ribs in the roof were a pain, as were the fender blisters. Because of that, I rather enjoyed doing the hood. Nearly fell off the ladder a couple of times while doing the roof tho. To reach the center of the roof, had to basically lean against the side of the car & a couple of times, the ladder slid out from under me... it's an attention-getter.



Was quite a first experience with the PC tho. And quite a workout. Doing the sides was an endless series of squats- standing to do the upper part of the door/squatting to do the lower parts of the doors. My quads were stiff all the next day. All I need to do is throw in a few kicks & calf raises here & there, and my workout is set!

 

[Shelbrain]

Are you going to be compensated by the driver that hit you?

 

[slick61]

Are you going to be compensated by the driver that hit you?

No... I tried repeatedly to get her drivers license & insurance info, but she continually refused to provide it. It's a he said/she said type deal. The girl said she swerved & hit my car to avoid hitting another car & that it was his fault. His story was that he stopped for the light/traffic (possibly rather suddenly) & the next thing he knows this girl pulls up beside him claiming he caused her to have an accident. I talked to the sheriff's dept- they said they wouldn't have sent anyone out unless there were injuries. I filed a claim with MY insurance company, just in case there were hidden suspension/steering damages. When my claims rep talked to the girl, she said she was just a witness, & had nothing to do with it.



My claims rep said all I could do was go back to the police and file a hit & run report, then file the claim with my insurance. If the repair cost did not exceed my deductible, the only thing I could do was take her to small claims court to try & recover the damages. If the repair amount DID exceed the deductible, then my insurance company would go after her. It sounds like a LOT more hassle than its worth, although I'd almost do it to take this chick DOWN. But, will take the high, moral ground on this one & rise above such things- being the patsy that I am. Part of me would still like to take her to the cleaners just because she was so rude & insulting. Pity the fool who marries HER.

 

[Scottwax]

Personally, I wouldn't let her get away with it. She's just going to do crap like that again until someone makes her pay.



Really nice job on your Vue, looks brand new!

 

[slick61]

Personally, I wouldn't let her get away with it. She's just going to do crap like that again until someone makes her pay.



Really nice job on your Vue, looks brand new!

Yea, I know, I should probably go after her. Seems so petty & vicious since I was able to get about 95% of the damage out, & could probably get the rest with a slightly more aggressive compound.



Thanks for the comments, though it really isn't that hard to keep this vehicle up. It's pretty much my "around town" car. It get dusty more than dirty & is always garaged at night. I NEVER park near sprinklers, so no water spotting to speak of. I use the Mr. Clean AutoDry (which I'm not terribly impressed with) for every wash, since my water's so hard & then spend about 1/5 hours drying it off afterward to minimize spotting. Bug splat is a rarity here in SoCal, as is rain- so it's weekly wash is more to get the dust off than anything else. UV degradation is another matter tho. Am already starting to notice some fading on the rear bumper, so will have to start paying more attention to that.



For weekend drives along the coast, I have the Mustang GT convertible (triple white... oy vey!)- it's a good cruiser & is next up on the list for a full detailing, once I get some Meg's #83 to start off with.

 

[grimmster]

God job cleaning it up.



I would probably go after her also, depending on your deductable. If you had to take that to a repair shop (which you should have done to get an estimate) they probably would have charged about $500 to fix those area's. Especially now that she is 'playing dumb' I'd really want to go after her.

 

[SpoiledMan]

Nice recovery.



ALL SHOULD KNOW



If you demand service from the police because someone is refusing to give you information in a situation such as this, they will come. When someone has an accident, they are lawfully required to exchange information. Refusal to do so is a crime. Police respond very quickly to any crime that is in the act.

 

[qwik5o]

Nice recovery.



ALL SHOULD KNOW



If you demand service from the police because someone is refusing to give you information in a situation such as this, they will come. When someone has an accident, they are lawfully required to exchange information. Refusal to do so is a crime. Police respond very quickly to any crime that is in the act.

I was thinking the same thing. It is required by law to exchange information when requested. The police WOULD have responded. In actuality, they will respond to any accident, injury or not. :hm

 

[slick61]

Nice recovery.



ALL SHOULD KNOW



If you demand service from the police because someone is refusing to give you information in a situation such as this, they will come. When someone has an accident, they are lawfully required to exchange information. Refusal to do so is a crime. Police respond very quickly to any crime that is in the act.

Yea, I found that out after the fact. I was so upset at the time that I didn't even think to get witnesses, since I didn't see what happened. I figured the police had bigger fish to fry- even though this particular fish was workin my last nerve.



At first, all I saw were the mirror scrapes on the door & fender- which I figured I could probably get out. I didn't even notice the lower fender & wheel damage until after everyone left. I guess I was just too flustered at the time.



Thing is, had nearly the same exact thing happen a little over a year ago. Was at the DMV to register my '86 mustang (gt vert), & saw this elderly gentleman back out of his space immediately across from me in an old, beat up S-10 pickup with giant tube bumpers. As he backed out, I kept thinking... he's gonna stop... he's gonna stop. Nope, he didn't stop. CRASH... into the back of my stang. He then pulls forward, looks back at me, then pulls into a parking space. He walks over as I'm picking up the pieces of my shattered taillight assemby & says "gee, I'm sorry" & shakes my hand. I tried to be as pleasant as possible & said "well, I guess these things happen sometimes". So I figure he's going back to his truck to get a pen, or his insurance info or something... but he gets in & leaves... as I'm standing there with the pieces of my broken taillamp in my hand. So, the police department is right across the street- so I go over & file a report. They send a cruiser over that evening. The officer tells me I could go after this guy, but it's a lot of time & trouble for a little money & that it would probably end up coming back to my insurance company anyways. So, I let it drop & pick up a new taillamp assembly off of Ebay for $50. So all I'm left with is a scrape on the bumper. So I guess I have a history of being entirely too passive in these situations. I just chalked it up to "the joys & frustrations of Southern California living". I gotta stop being a nice guy. It appears that the old addage is true...

 

[Accumulator]

Slick61- Sorry to hear about all this, but at least the damage looks *so* much better now that you've worked on it.



As for going after the money, I dunno if the average person passing judgement would think you're entitled to much compensation. Think of how most "normal people's" cars look anyhow.



Oh, and when the elderly lady rear-ended the MPV and split, my call to 911 got action and my memorizing her plate and providing a good description helped get things wrapped up quickly. My version of being a nice guy was that I OKed not busting her for hit & run after they got her back to the scene.

 

[slick61]

As for going after the money, I dunno if the average person passing judgement would think you're entitled to much compensation. Think of how most "normal people's" cars look anyhow.

... that's what I was thinking... looking at it now, I'd look like the consummate idiot if I tried to take this to small claims court & sue for damages (WHAT damages?). I suppose I could've gotten estimates from a detailer or dealership, but I wasn't going to let anyone else touch it- too many horror stories and I'm too picky. Money was never my motivation... "cleaning her out" was just a figure of speech- perhaps I should've said I'd like to teach her a lesson- though I doubt it would sink in.



It's stuff like this that makes me progressively more jaded & distrustful. My compassion for people (humanity in general) seems to dwindle with each passing year- people just suck.