birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Okay.. before I tell you anything about what this picture is, I'd like you to give me an educated guess as to how old you think this damage is, and what angle you think the impact was that caused it? Oh.. and as far as I know the dumpster had nothing to do with it.. Quote
Weedy1 Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 It's a Ford. The damage happened 20 minutes ago. The bumper should fall off by the end of the hour. Quote
SanJuanWorm Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Damage about a week to two weeks. Angle of penetration looks to be between 20 and 45 degrees with respect to the front bumper. Also it looks like someone backed into it. If this were a front impact it'd be a lot more damage due to momentum. Quote
darrinhurst Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Almost looks like someone took an axe to your bumper? Who'd you piss off? Quote
SanJuanWorm Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Couldn't be the oilers cuz they couldn't hit anything. Quote
birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Posted December 18, 2008 Okay.. so here's a crude drawing since i'm so artistic: Green vehicle was going to park in one of the stalls to the right, but realized they didn't have enough room to make the turn. Started backing up.. meanwhile, beige vehicle has driven into the parking lot and is not paying attention. Bump. Green vehicle was backing up at a little bit of an angle in relation to the beige vehicle, but nearly straight. This is the supposed damage caused by a 2" trailer hitch (without the ball installed) just this past Friday morning, Dec. 12. A couple things have me suspicious.. 1. You can clearly see quite a bit of rust around the crack.. can that much rust form in 5 days? 2. There is NO paint transferred on the hitch of the green vehicle at all. So scuff marks, no scratches, nothing. 3. Not 100% sure about this one, but I'm not convinced that a completely flat square hitch could make that cut at the angle of impact..? My gut tells me this person is trying to have the green vehicle pay for old damages. Thoughts? I think the next step would be to take a measuring tape and measure from the ground to the hitch on the green vehicle, and from the ground to the crack on the bumper.. Quote
SanJuanWorm Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Could easily rust in 5 days. Just surface rust not deep rust. Quote
Brownstone Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 could defiantly see a hitch making that kind of mark, but looks like more than 5 days rust to me. Quote
admin Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 How long is the damage? Much longer than the 2" hitch? Stuff can rust pretty quick, even just a few hours I've seen. May be transfered rust as well. Quote
birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Posted December 18, 2008 could defiantly see a hitch making that kind of mark, but looks like more than 5 days rust to me. Definitely agree that a hitch could do it. But the rest just doesn't add up to me. Looks like more than 5 days of rust to me as well. And what's your take on this big scratched section on the OPPOSITE side of the crack? Tomorrow i'm going to go do some measurements I think.. Quote
cheeler Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Remember that with road salt, it can rust very quickly, and the temperature has been warm enough for it to melt ice the last couple of days. Quote
HAMMERTIME Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 That bumper is made of plastic, the rust is from your hitch. The paint flaked off the bumper because the weather was cold. I see this all the time as I work in the auto body industry. Let your insurance take care of it, do not pay any cash, because this person could be back in 6 months claiming an injury. Quote
birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Posted December 18, 2008 How long is the damage? Much longer than the 2" hitch? Stuff can rust pretty quick, even just a few hours I've seen. May be transfered rust as well. Yeah.. looks longer than 2 inches to me as well. I'm going to stop by with measuring tape in hand tomorrow and figure it out. Quote
birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Posted December 18, 2008 That bumper is made of plastic, the rust is from your hitch. The paint flaked off the bumper because the weather was cold. I see this all the time as I work in the auto body industry. Let your insurance take care of it, do not pay any cash, because this person could be back in 6 months claiming an injury. Yeah I see what you're saying. But there's no rust on the hitch.. and again no scuffs/scratches/paint transfer at all. Quote
dube Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Rust looks old to me and I don't understand how a hitch makes a vertical puncture, unless it was just the hitch itself and not the tongue; and in that case I figure you would would see a square dent. Hope things work out. Quote
Tungsten Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 I'd say your gut feeling is correct. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Ok this is my take... if you felt a BUMP.. then there's damage somewhere... that's a cheap plastic bumper that would crumple from an impact with a bug, let alone another vehicle... so look for damage elsewhere. If not, then this damage was probably cuased by the BUMP, and the angles of the hit... just my 2 cents... my wife backed into someone this year... did hardly any damage to their truck, but totalled a brake light and it's entire casing on ours. Quote
LynnF Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Definitely what Hammer said - I backed into a tree and my plastic bumper split top to bottom in a straight line about 4 inches long - almost identical to your bumper injury. No rust - plastic bumpers don't rust do they? And I left it for over a year before I got it fixed. A hitch would absolutely do that to a plastic bumper - they either crack or shatter completely. It's not like a steel one where it would just dent. If you're gonna make an insurance claim then go with any auto body shop because they're gonna tell you to replace the whole bumper - my Tribute was $1,500 for a painted one. BUT if you just want to fix it yourself, then find someone you know and trust because they'll use Bondo to fix it and it'll only be a couple of hundred bucks. Trust me on this one - I took my vehicle back in May to Mazda (lease return) expecting a $1,500 bill from them to fix it and it was $239. Sure glad I didn't replace it beforehand....don't let yourself get conned is my point. Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 Definitely agree that a hitch could do it. But the rest just doesn't add up to me. Looks like more than 5 days of rust to me as well. And what's your take on this big scratched section on the OPPOSITE side of the crack? Tomorrow i'm going to go do some measurements I think.. Ok my assessmnet. The scratch shown by your red arrow and question mark... is where the hitch slid against the bumper before actually penetrating.... the big hole is where it went right in and at that time you woulda felt the "bump" at which time the hole was exteneded down as the vehicles pushed up against eachother.... The mark on the opposite side was probably cuased when the vehicles separated. That's my NON CSI assessment.. Quote
walker1 Posted December 18, 2008 Posted December 18, 2008 It was a shopping cart Bubbles with a shopping cart!!!!!! I agree! Quote
birchy Posted December 18, 2008 Author Posted December 18, 2008 Went to look at it myself today but the person wasn't there. Will try again tomorrow. Quote
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