My son had an argument with a stop sign and a pipe this weekend.

I've seen worse. That looks like just a front bumper to me and maybe a new metal bar under the bumper. I guess it depends if you're doing an insurance job or not. Any warning lights come up?

 

If there's no accident report or insurance claim, you may want to just roll the dice and keep it away from the dealer until you get the damage fixed.

Otherwise?
Your kid (and you) will have higher insurance rates for quite a bit (3-5 years) and the Prius will be stamped with the "previously wrecked" label.

For the damage I see it's cheaper in the long run to just fix it yourself (or not.)

Good Luck!

 

Oooo.
I'm sorry.
You still have a chance to avoid the insurance claim and the damage that I see suggests you'll be cheaper in the long run if you DIY....especially if you have a high deductible and If the ink is still drying on your son's license???
You probably need to have a deductible with a comma in it.

Besides that....there might be another 'argument' if your kid is anything at all like I was when I was his age.

Good Luck!

 

I would check to make sure the inverter radiator wasn't damaged, and check your fluid level regularly for the next couple weeks to make sure there are no leaks.

Otherwise, some important things to consider is an insurance claim will show up on a carfax report if you decide to trade or sell the vehicle. Also, when your son buys his own car and decides to get insurance, it's already going to be high enough under 25 years old, and a black mark on his record makes it worse.

Make him get a job and pay for a new bumper cover, it's best to keep this little fender bender off the books if you can. The little plastics underneath weren't that expensive when i went roping around in my friends back yard and hit a stump. It was like $25 for a large peice which covered the engine underneath, hope toyota charges about the same.

 

I don't think the language would be "previously wrecked". Isn't the term "salvage" used, in cases where the car's written off, ie: repairs more than value. This is more "been in an accident" territory, and a very minor one at that.

 

Good advice, but if there's an accident report, there's paper associated with the VIN.
The car is as wrecked as it's going to get except for the word 'salvage'....and even then there's not much of a difference, really.
It's like the words "prior social disease" on a first date.

Yeah....some are worse than others....BUT...

I'd still hesitate to take it to the dealer, and avoid an insurance claim, and making the kid cut grass to pay for the damage is pretty cool too.


Good Luck!

 

Doesn't matter, people want a SPOTLESS carfax report. Any kind of damage on the report, is bad damage. This will reflect the at auction price, many larger dealers will stay away from it. Which means it sells for less, regardless of how minor the damage was. Case in point, i was rear ended in a parking lot, shortly after buying a new subaru impreza. It was very minor damage, cracked a tail light and dimpled the corner of the bumper. Did an insurance claim, they took care of it, dropped it off at the body shop and picked it up the same day, it was that minor. Well 4 years later, i went to trade it in at the subie dealership on a new impreza. It only had about 80k miles on it, and they said it had to go to auction, and they could only give me auction value for it. I wasn't suprised though, and if it didn't have any damage, they could have easily resold it on their lot for thousands more than they gave me. But they did take my trade, and they did send it off to auction.

 

Glad nobody was hurt. I'm guessing you're fortunate the airbag didn't trigger.

Aside from something failing later and possibly getting stranded, you might consider driving it as is and fixing things as you go - if funds are slim at the moment, and to avoid reporting to your insurance company.

Good luck.

 

Car Fax might be different State to State as my wife had an "oops" that required replacing the front bumper, and insurance claim, but no police report, and it never showed up on car fax!

I would take many pictures of the total damage from all angles, that way, when you go to sell it it is easy to prove just how "light" the actually damage was to the car. Selling it yourself, instead of trading it in, is always a better reward! It is a pain to have an accident, but the education your son is getting out of this,, is PRICELESS! Make sure he is involved as much as possible in the repair process, and KNOWS all the costs. It might save him from having another wreck now that he can count the cost! I would have him pay for at least 1/2 of it,, or a portion of it too! Unless it was not at all his fault.

 

How did your son hit a stop sign? Hopefully, he wasn't texting or looking at his phone.

SCH-I535

 

I believe that underbody plastic piece is ~$135. That front bumper infers "city driver". (In NYC many of the cars look like that.)

That's going to be a comprehensive claim. Your deductible is most likely going to take care of a good chunk of the damage.

Have the kid get a couple of body shop estimates (including the dealer's). If you can't live with the bumper damage then have the kid pay for it out of pocket. The money received from the insurance claim will be at the cost of an "at fault" claim on the policyholder & driver.

Slow down when looking for a turn. Slow down when going from a paved to unpaved surface. Lesson learned. At one time or another we've all done something stupid. At least it didn't turn out too bad.

 

Based on your numbers, that would be unnecessary IMO.

 

JimN, how is it a comprehensive claim? The car was being driven and was in a collision.

A comprehensive claim is when the car is not being driven, and damage occurs to the vehicle.

SCH-I535

 

My mistake, you are correct. The collision deductible will apply.

 

YMMV but I've been told by insurance when reporting things like this that the rates wouldn't go up unless there was a large payout, ie to another insurance company. A random incident like this with a previously clean record wouldn't change. But who knows... may be different with a [assuming here] teenage driver vs. an adult.