Volkswagen Owners Club Forum banner
6.4K views 40 replies 24 participants last post by  mkv gti  
#1 ·
I had to work today (yes, overtime on a Saturday :p) and I park the rabbit in our local parking lot. So I decided to look around my car and I'm pondering the next mod for my rabbit. I look at the driver's side and think "Wow, I love my car!" and I walk around to the back with a grin on my face. As soon as I come around to the passenger side, I'm cursing my freakin' lungs out. I see white scrape marks along the rear fender, bumper and taillight and I'm thinking "How the F*** did this happen?!"

Image

Image

Image

Image


So I start listing the possible white cars in my work and there's only one in question. I'll have to wait until Monday to see the damage to her car. But other than that, the only place where it could have happened was at a parking lot for the chinese food place. This had to have been done recently because I could take the white dust off the scrape marks.

F***ing a, man. Here are my questions:

1) Will my insurance company pay for the damages?

2) Does anyone know of any reputable body shops in NJ or NY?

3) How much do you think it will cost to fix this?

Thanks.
 
#3 ·
That sucks man!
1) Yes, your insurance will pay for. Whether you file a claim will depend on the cost of the repairs and your deductible.
2) Can't help you there.
3) Depends on how the repair is done. If you want it done half assed because of cost they may jus repaint the damaged area. If you want it done properly, they will have to reapint the entire quarter panel area and the entire bumper so you wont notice the paint spary. I had to get a big dent fixed and a half assed repair would have been $300, but I wanted it to right so it cost nearly $600. I'm going to guess you're looking at $1000 at the least.
 
#4 ·
Sorry to hear about your rabbit bro, my is still injury free and I can't even what i wud do if i saw something like that on my car...But just a quick thing i notice, since you are going to repaint the entire side and upper back bumper, why not paint the lower valance bumper to, it will look like a body kit
 
#6 ·
Yeah I was thinking about that. Painting the entire bumper would look much better, but then I would have to paint the rub strips, front lip and side skirts to complete the look. I'll have to get a quote for the damage first and then see how much it'll cost to paint the rest of the parts.

Btw, I just called my mom and she said the deductible is $750. I beleive the damage will exceed $1,000, but at least I don't have to pay a lot more on top. I could also report it and file the claim, but I want this to be over and done with :mad: Now I need body shops...anyone? anyone? Bueller?
 
#8 ·
Thanks man. And sorry for your rabbit as well. I now know the pain lol
 
#10 ·
oh man.... I'm so sorry to see this. Big hugs to you. I would be WAY pissed off too. Definitely go CSI and see if you can narrow down the guilty party. But at the same time (traditional punkpie style) look for the silver lining: it could have been a lot worse. Car is still driveable, no one was hurt. It's just metal. And you never know what will come of this. Maybe you'll meet a hot chick at the auto body shop.
 
#12 ·
I like the way you think lol. I'm more calm about it now considering it's just a dent and some scratches on my car. I just really want to find out who did it so they can pay for the damages as well. I'm tempted to go back to the chinese food parking lot and scout for white cars with black scratches on their bumpers. It's primarily a low-class environment around that area so I wouldn't be surprised if it's a beat-up old car. Regardless, I want compensation. It could also have been my co-worker's 2006 white camry but she would have told me up front.
 
#13 ·
Yes, I should have definitely called the cops but I don't know how long ago this happened. I know it wasn't today or yesterday. In any case, I'll report it and see if they have any surveillance cameras in that chinese food parking lot. It's actually a big parking lot - it's shared by Pathmark, a laundromat, Radioshack, a gym, Subway, and a liquor store.
 
#15 ·
So sorry man!! I feel your pain, just happened to me a couple months ago!! Get your bunny fixed soon.

The hard part if you find a car with some damage is proving that car hit you. I'm not sure if insurance could prove it was that car. If all else fails you can take it into your own hands and take a huge deuce on their hood.

Sorry again man.
 
#17 ·
Well crap, that sucks. I still have my stock tails if yours are too damaged to repair. Let me know. Good luck getting it fixed.
 
#20 ·
Thanks Greg, and you read my mind about the taillights haha. I was searching online for a used or even new pair I might buy, but no luck. So you still have the stock tails? How much? lol

wow tony im so sorry to see this.. its unfortunate but im sure it'll get fixed soon. i know what the pain is like and its frustrating... good luck and let me know if you need a hand w anything... GL!
Cool Bryant. I won't need a hand with this stuff, but I'll be sure to call you when I finally start to upholster the headliner lol

Wow, That hurts to see.

Someone did that to me last year at work but it was my Toyota getto blaster that they backed into with a forklift, of course NO one came forward and admitted it was them when I asked.

So now I have my parking spot on video that is recoreded "security uprade" used to my advantage now records on DVR...

Good luck on the repairs, look into if your employer has security cameras and if so where do they face or what is the recording area's. If so park there like I do now.
Thanks. Unfortunately my work place doesn't have cameras in the parking lot. It's a 70' x 30' lot anyway so it's pretty small, but it should have one nonetheless.
 
#18 ·
wow tony im so sorry to see this.. its unfortunate but im sure it'll get fixed soon. i know what the pain is like and its frustrating... good luck and let me know if you need a hand w anything... GL!
 
#19 ·
Wow, That hurts to see.

Someone did that to me last year at work but it was my Toyota getto blaster that they backed into with a forklift, of course NO one came forward and admitted it was them when I asked.

So now I have my parking spot on video that is recoreded "security uprade" used to my advantage now records on DVR...

Good luck on the repairs, look into if your employer has security cameras and if so where do they face or what is the recording area's. If so park there like I do now.
 
#22 ·
DAmn!!!! Thats horrible. Good luck finding that woman who did it. The first thing she will say is "i never even felt it!"

I have a great body shop here in NY. It's Pete's towing and collision. I had my fender painted there and they do great work. I went there because I saw they did work to a bunch of my local dub friends cars and they all came out great.
 
#24 ·
Thanks Nitro. And yes, she probably would say that considering she didn't even leave a note or anything about it :p

I'll definitely check out Pete's Towing and Collision. Hopefully they can fix the job in a day or 2.

Pmed. Great bodyshop in clifton. KMG Auto Body
I added the shop to my list of "shops to get quotes from" lol
 
#25 ·
Looks like the tire/wheel took a hit too. Almost looks like there is a bubble in the side of the tire.
 
#26 ·
I dropped my fender off there and they said it would be a few days. I told them to take their time, no rush. 25 hrs after I dropped it off they called and it was done, baked, and ready to go. Mine came out a touch lighter than the surrounding panels, but that's because I didn't leave the car there to have them blend it. For you, black is black...no blending needed.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I today after lunch I did a little CSI back at the parking lots. It turns out that my co-worker's white Honda Accord doesn't have any black marks on the bumpers - so she's clean. Plus I think she would've told me up front about it so there goes that.

Now for the parking lot at the strip mall. I drove around the lot at 5 MPH trying to look for any white cars with black marks on the bumpers. Nothing. All I saw was an off-white beat-up Accord with marks on the front bumper, but the bumper itself was too low to ever scrape the height on my bumper. So that's out. I'll have to come back tomorrow and scout some more lol.

As for the repairs and shops, I've got a couple places in mind. Here's the list:

Pete’s Towing and Autobody
80 Rushmore Street
Westbury, NY 11590
516-338-9665

KMG Auto Body
58 Franklin Avenue
Clifton, NJ 07011
1-973-253-1965

Scerbo Auto Body
4 River Road
Montville, NJ 07045
973-334-1146

Long Valley Auto Body
19 Fairview Avenue
Long Valley, NJ 07853
908-876-5584

I'll probably take off tomorrow so I can get quotes from all of these shops. Then this Saturday I'll take it in for repairs. Hopefully it'll take no more than 2 days to finish the job. I'll keep you guys updated.
 
#35 · (Edited)
I checked those too - even commercial vans. Nothing so far. I'll have to keep searching.

Tony if u want a good shop and dont midn to travel like 40 mins from you, Main auto body,
650 Outwater Ln
Lodi, NJ 07644-1426
(973) 340-9884

Does great work, i gotta find another place right in garfield that does great work too forgot the name but we did some construction next door, this place always had benzes, lexuses and beemers daily. Ill find out in a day or two.
Cool Mike. Keep me posted about that other place. Tomorrow I'll be running around all over the place getting quotes lol. Money really isn't the issue, really. I just need a body shop who can restore my rabbit back to what it was (or close to it), even though it'll never look the same as before.

umm, it didnt have to be a white car. It could have been any color. It just scratched your car which made the black paint come off and show the gray/white primer. So i would check not only whites. It could have been a green one like the one that hit my dads rabbit on christmas eve.
Hm, yeah I guess you're right. But I did run my finger across the marks and found them to be white in color. That could also be the primer. Oh well, I guess my searches will have to be more thorough than today's "drive-by" lol

Speaking of drive-by...

Hahahaha Next time I'll have to bring my uzi so that when I find the perpetrator, he won't be denting any more cars lol