# Beware of being rear-ended ‘a tiny bit’



## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

Sitting at a traffic light daughter was rear ended by a sweet old lady. There was just a tiny ding in the spare tire cover on her RAV so She told the lady not to worry about it. Days later she tried opening the back door and there was a loud noise and a piece of her door cover broke loose. Turns out the bumper doesn’t look bad but it was pushed in so if you look at it sideways it has this raised bump on top of the bumper like I drew here And the door catches on it. My tire shop recommended a body shop nearby. I bet when they straighten the bumper out, since it’s 10 yrs old plastic, it’ll break but she doesn’t care about that and they will also have to reattach that loose piece on the door. Hope something like this does take long to fix. I need to borrow her car to take my lawnmower and get the blades sharpened. 
The bump is barely noticeable so The car was designed with hardly any space between bumper and back door when it swings open.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Besides any cosmetic damage to the bumper, there is a good chance there is a plastic energy absorbing crush piece behind the bumper. If that did it's job and absorbed the impact, its toast and needs to be replaced. The body shop will check that out for sure.

Never assume "its nothing".

I got rear ended a while back. It looked like nothing, but I got her name and number and let the body shop conclude it was nothing. (Fortunately, while not "nothing", it was at least very little.)


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

SPS-1 said:


> Besides any cosmetic damage to the bumper, there is a good chance there is a plastic energy absorbing crush piece behind the bumper. If that did it's job and absorbed the impact, its toast and needs to be replaced. The body shop will check that out for sure.
> 
> Never assume "its nothing".


Yeah well now we know. 

I’ll tell her about that energy absorption piece while she has time to decide what she wants to do. Thanks.

It’s a good thing it’s an old car, you don’t feel as badly when something happens to an old car as you do when it’s new. Traffic here is terrible and now theres new subdivisions being built all over near us, so theres going to be even more cars on the road. People tail gate everywhere.


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## Missouri Bound (Apr 9, 2011)

I have a cautionary tail about being rear ended.
One winter, many many years ago I had a Datsun truck. On a slippery night, the car in front of me was stopped at a stop sign.
When I started to brake, I couldn't stop so I swerved right to hit the snow bank.
As I went started to attempt that, my left front fender hit is right rear taillight, breaking the lens.
We got across the street to a mini mart and exchanged info then I wanted to call the police for a report.
He was adamant that I do not do that, that this was no big deal and I shouldn't worry about it. He extended his hand and we both left.
3 weeks later, my insurance man called me saying that there was a $3000 repair bill for this accident, claiming that the damage destroyed his fender, tire etc.
*But what this guy didn't know is after we left the mini-mart, I walked into the local police station and reported it myself*, explaining it in detail.
The officer came out and looked at my truck and saw no damage whatsoever. All of that went on the incident report including my account of the incident.
I told my insurance man what I did and he said...."don't worry...it's taken care of".
I had a suspicion when he refused to call the police that he may be up to something. I'm glad my intuition was accurate.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

Missouri Bound said:


> I have a cautionary tail about being rear ended.
> One winter, many many years ago I had a Datsun truck. On a slippery night, the car in front of me was stopped at a stop sign.
> When I started to brake, I couldn't stop so I swerved right to hit the snow bank.
> As I went started to attempt that, my left front fender hit is right rear taillight, breaking the lens.
> ...


Wow. What a crook. You’re lucky.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)




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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

that looks like it could be popped back together.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

Fix'n it said:


> that looks like it could be popped back together.


Curious the cost. It’s the same color as duct tape. I fix everything in my house with duct tape. If it was mine a little piece along the edge and you’d never know.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i would have to see it in person. but it l;ooks like could litteraly just be pushed back into place. though, it may need some new clips on the back to hold it on better, and maybe a litttle straightening. i would take that off until its fixed, or it may fall off going down the road. 

once i was hit by a nice older woman, snowy roads. i got $1300 from her insurance. it cost me under $50 and a few hours to fix it = cha-ching !


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

I’m tempted to tell her to use my rubber mallet and just pound that little bump on the bumper down. what’s the worst that can happen?

Went to the highly recommended body shop. The first thing the estimator said what’s the name of her insurance company. I said she’s not using insurance she just wants to pay for it. He said there’s a lot of damage underneath then he wrote up an estimate for $1,303. (Is $1,300 a magic number?)

I said she only wants to be able to open the door she doesn’t care how it looks. he said she needs to find a little mom and pop repair shop, he said his work has to be guaranteed.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

take a pic from a little further back. if she doesn't care how it looks = just pull it off.


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## mark sr (Jun 13, 2017)

3M weatherstip adhesive should 'glue' it back in place.

another rear end story, I had a late model 1971 chevy truck and got rear ended at a stop light, minimal damage to my truck but it did a number on the van that hit me. He didn't want to call the law .... and since I was legally drunk, I didn't either. Fast forward a couple of yrs and there was a mini skirt walking down the sidewalk. I was looking but managed to stop when traffic did. The sports car behind me was too engrossed in the girl and didn't stop in time. But he straightened out my bumper from the previous accident. We laughed and went our separate ways. 3 days later my transmission came unglued - something inside broke from the hit bouncy around causing the damage.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

SPS-1 said:


> Besides any cosmetic damage to the bumper, there is a good chance there is a plastic energy absorbing crush piece behind the bumper. If that did it's job and absorbed the impact, its toast and needs to be replaced. The body shop will check that out for sure.





Startingover said:


> He said there’s a lot of damage underneath then he wrote up an estimate for $1,303. (Is $1,300 a magic number?)


Could be as suggested. 
With the crushed impact modules, the car is really not as safe as it should be.


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## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

That is why I have front and rear dash cameras.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

Found a little shop and they’ll look at it next week.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

did anyone even try to push it back into place ?


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

The little shop fixed it today $53.00

they used a heat gun then pushed the bump on bumper down so door opens, and attached loose panel on door.


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## Startingover (Apr 18, 2012)

The other night on the way home from eating out I told her to turn her headlights on, she said they were on.

I asked this little shop how much to buff the headlights and it was over $100. A neighbor said his friend has a shop and would do it for $50, everyone says it’s too tedious to do yourself. I’ll call one more place. The shop where I get tires cleaned my headlights no charge. (Unless it was built into price of expensive tires.)


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

cleaned, and polished, is 2 different things, though, they could have done a quicky polish.
but polishing doesn't last long. search around to see what replacements cost, some of them can be fairly cheap.


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## turbo4 (Jan 30, 2021)

Or the person doing the rear ending has intentions to car jack your car or rob you. Happen to me in Philly the city of no more brotherly love. I kept going. It was a rental. No way im driving my own car into a war zone.


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