Damaged car unsure what to do stressing out

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angelofdarkness
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20 Dec 2021, 5:50 pm

I've been having a really hard time with this to the point its giving me major anxiety, and tightness in my chest. My car is in kind of rough shape from a few days ago, I was half asleep from lack of sleep from the stress of work lately. I scraped against a brick wall of a church, and even if I didn't do any damage to the wall itself when I stopped to look. It scrapped up my car pretty bad and I drove off. It wouldn't have been covered by my auto insurance to even file a claim and report to the accident to it so I left it be. There's also a dent in my bumper from a year ago that I haven't had the time and money to fix. I'm afraid to take my car to a body shop, as I thought I saw something about a law that if cars have so much damage they have to be reported to the police. I also had thoughts of just trading in my car and buying a smaller and cheaper used one that might suit me better. I also had thoughts of scrapping it to the junk yard, even if my mom won't let me and just walking everywhere again. I really don't know what to do with this car, and its making me want to cry. My mom just flipped on me and acted like i'm nothing but trouble since she seems to think its a hit and run?, There was no damage other then to my car and nobody was hurt, i'm at my wits end what to do with my car


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20 Dec 2021, 6:05 pm

Do you know for sure insurance won't cover it? I had a similar situation many years ago, but I hit a guard rail. Scraped up one side of the car pretty bad. I didn't contact the police, but insurance did cover it.



angelofdarkness
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20 Dec 2021, 6:21 pm

HighLlama wrote:
Do you know for sure insurance won't cover it? I had a similar situation many years ago, but I hit a guard rail. Scraped up one side of the car pretty bad. I didn't contact the police, but insurance did cover it.


my insurance isn't full tort so I don't have collision damage, so i didn't file a claim


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20 Dec 2021, 6:25 pm

angelofdarkness wrote:
HighLlama wrote:
Do you know for sure insurance won't cover it? I had a similar situation many years ago, but I hit a guard rail. Scraped up one side of the car pretty bad. I didn't contact the police, but insurance did cover it.


my insurance isn't full tort so I don't have collision damage, so i didn't file a claim


Okay. I'm sorry, I wish I had better advice for you. Sorry your mom is being so tough too. Seems like it might be better to use the car if you can.



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20 Dec 2021, 8:54 pm

As long as you didn't lease the car, you can drive the car, and it doesn't look TOO bad, just keep the car till it dies, then trade it in as scrap, then buy another car.

If it's YOUR car, then nobody can really criticize you severely. They can counsel you to be more careful in the future. That's what I would do.

How did your car happen to scrape the church wall, anyway? Don't worry: I won't criticize you.



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20 Dec 2021, 9:04 pm

Looks do not matter. If it drives ok and is mechanically good is what matters, and that the lights function ok (As in that they are visible and show the correct beam and colours) and the doors open and close ok for safety of getting in and out.
The only concern is that it does not have sharp edges. Other than that it should be ok.



angelofdarkness
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20 Dec 2021, 9:25 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
As long as you didn't lease the car, you can drive the car, and it doesn't look TOO bad, just keep the car till it dies, then trade it in as scrap, then buy another car.

If it's YOUR car, then nobody can really criticize you severely. They can counsel you to be more careful in the future. That's what I would do.

How did your car happen to scrape the church wall, anyway? Don't worry: I won't criticize you.


No I didn't see any damage at all other then scrape and dent on my car


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20 Dec 2021, 9:28 pm

Also, if you can get behind the metal panel, you can often push most of the dent out from behind.



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20 Dec 2021, 9:29 pm

Angel, I soo feel your pain as I did the same thing a few years ago now! I couldn’t believe what I’d done, as never before have I done any damage that was my fault before. Usually cars slide into mine in the snow! I had been given Prozac to trial and wasn’t warned about driving, but clearly my spacial awareness was effected! I too scraped the side of my car against a cement wall, underneath a narrow Marks & Spencer carpark! It was soo bad! Eventually, I had it properly fixed and traded it in for an electric car. You might consider doing some work on it yourself. eg buy a small tin of paint, read up a little on panel beating etc. You just might be able to help your car look less damaged externally. As MG said, looks aren’t as important as function. So long as it’s safe to drive & is road worthy. I was mortified at how scraped my car looked too!



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20 Dec 2021, 9:34 pm

Also, when most of the dent is removed one has the fun job of filler to make the surface look carlike again before one paints the area. Car bodies are like tin cans.



angelofdarkness
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20 Dec 2021, 9:37 pm

Mountain Goat wrote:
Also, when most of the dent is removed one has the fun job of filler to make the surface look carlike again before one paints the area. Car bodies are like tin cans.



i was just reading up on fixes even other then if i can get in behind the panel, i saw a trick with hot water and a plunger that might fix the dent. I could get filler such as bondo and fill in the scrape then find my paint color and purchase a tub, of what color I need and touch it up. It shouldn't be too bad. The bumper is maybe another story though


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20 Dec 2021, 10:36 pm

One ever so slightly overfills with the filler and then sands back.

Is the bumper metal or plastic? Metal can be hammered out. Plastic has different ways to fix it.



angelofdarkness
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21 Dec 2021, 9:03 am

Mountain Goat wrote:
One ever so slightly overfills with the filler and then sands back.

Is the bumper metal or plastic? Metal can be hammered out. Plastic has different ways to fix it.


the bumper is plastic but i did manage to make the dent on the front a little less obvious and i could get some cutting polish to get tid of a few marks probably some touch up paint for this area for now I'm more worried about it rusting but I saw some home fixes i could maybe try when it warms up some

https://imgur.com/wtQ5KUx


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21 Dec 2021, 9:42 am

CuRust or some rust treatment works well, but ALWAYS tip a small amount into a little container and dip the brush in that. Never dip the brush in its own container as it sets off a chemical reaction to deal with the rust, and if you paint onto the rust and then dip into the container, the whole contents of the container react as it it was painted onto rust (Or the metal surface one wants to protect) and no longer works.

It is not expensive and you only need a small jar of it. It goes further than you think as well, so only pour small amounts at a time into a separate container (I use old aerosol container lids).

Deformed plastic bunkers can have the dents pulled out via boiling water out of ones kettle and pouring onto the area. This makes the plastic moveable so one can pull the dent out and it stays out when it cools. Plastic has a memory effect to it if it is dented where if one pushed out a dent it will reform. Using heat from boiling water will overcome this so it learns its new form if that makes sense?

We use this effect a bit when we are using plasticard for making models and we want to form a curve in a straight piece of the plasticard material. We immerse in boiling water while curving it in the desired shape. While it is soft due to the heat it curves easier and then holds the curve when it cools down.

Paint on bumbers will crack if dented. The remedy is to sand the area down and repaint. (Primer, then the main colour and then a laquor on top), or if one is on a tight budget, just the main colour will do as a tempory fix.

Paint on metal protects it from the rust so is needed. Paint on plastic is just for looks so is less important.

If I have a scrape or a dent (Regularly get scrapes on bicycles) I will paint it as soon as I can to stop rust forming, as rust can creep under paintwork and one ends up with more work to do then if one simply got the paint out (Any colour will do to protect it, even applied with a brush... It is just to stop it from rusting.. As long as the paint is for exterior use so it does not wash off in the rain!)



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23 Dec 2021, 12:55 am

What kind of car is it and what's it's approximate value?

If it's an old somethingwhatever not worth a lot of money and the damage is all cosmetic but everything functions just fine - including lights - then sometimes the best thing to do is.. nothing! Just drive it around as is as don't worry about spending any time or money on it.


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angelofdarkness
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23 Dec 2021, 11:21 am

goldfish21 wrote:
What kind of car is it and what's it's approximate value?

If it's an old somethingwhatever not worth a lot of money and the damage is all cosmetic but everything functions just fine - including lights - then sometimes the best thing to do is.. nothing! Just drive it around as is as don't worry about spending any time or money on it.



Its a jeep compass 2012 I have no idea of its worth but the damage seems mainly cosmetic if there's anything else i just think the wheels are out of alignment. Im ordering cutting polish to get some of the contact paint transfer off and i have a touch up paint brush but it aint coming in the mail until next friday. I'll just have to keep a eye on the rust, and clean that up with some cleaner or diet coke before I paint the exposed metal really. I think otherwise, ill either leave as it other then getting something to put the fender attached where the bumeper clip failed or ill just keep saving money and come spring at least take it to a body shop for a estimate


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