I felt a hard 'bang' and my heart sank..

[Riddikulus5Gen]

Originally Posted by SummoneR

I found your post. I'd say that could easily be handled with a little bit of filler and smoothed out easy enough. A new cover runs $300 and all new paint and clear would run a little more than I mentioned in my PM, due to having to primer as well. That could run you close to $1000, plus shipping of the cover which runs $140-$150. your cheapest route would be to have your existing cover repaired, an hour tops in labor to fix the scratches, plus paint.

Gah, all these big numbers just make me even that much more frustrated that this even happened! how lame I was to not take better precaution. bah.

thanks though! I at least feel better educated on things a bit now.
(Just kind of refreshed the wound. ha.) :(

[Riddikulus5Gen]

Originally Posted by blizzpat

You bought a car and you can't afford to repair a small ding?

Priorities my friend... priorities.

yupp, several hundred bucks is just not floating around. I know, it's embarassing. I could always do credit, but that's something I really try and steer clear of if at all possible. I have an old car that has gotten dinged up over the years, and never got those repaired, and now this is a NEW car, my dream actually, and that's why I feel the strong need to have it repaired more promptly, but I am new to actually having a substantial car payment, and yadda yadda yadda, long story short, not really something I had a reserve for, I only have 2-300$.
I shouldn't have got the car if we're really talking smart decisions, but
that's another story.

[Riddikulus5Gen]

Originally Posted by NicolasKL

Lol at "not having much control" over backing into a pole.

yeah, something like that. it rolled, I didn't really give it any gas, it was a simple and foolish mistake, newb to a manual trans, didn't give it enough gas and let clutch out enough for it to roll back the few inches and bump the pole.

[TAG UR IT]

I lowered my deductible to $250 with my insurance company.

I did pretty much the same thing in my 02SS. I misjudged the distance and backed into a freaking tree stump (which literally looked like a bush)...

But, I've had to use that insurance 3 times now.

I just got my car back out of paint after the front bumper was dinged by a 32oz gatorade bottle (full and oncoming at full speed).

$250 out of pocket that I really don't have either. But, my car is fixed. If you don't get these little things fixed, they will add up in the end. Heck, I had a ding on the back bumper and then when pulling into the garage, tapped a chair that completely jacked up the side of the wheel well. I got both fixed at the same time for $400. Nope...didn't have the money, but I fixed it anyway.

Lower that deductible. One day, it will come in handy. And it only cost me a few bucks more a month. Add all that up and it pays off with one use.

[Riddikulus5Gen]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

I lowered my deductible to $250 with my insurance company.

I did pretty much the same thing in my 02SS. I misjudged the distance and backed into a freaking tree stump (which literally looked like a bush)...

But, I've had to use that insurance 3 times now.

I just got my car back out of paint after the front bumper was dinged by a 32oz gatorade bottle (full and oncoming at full speed).

$250 out of pocket that I really don't have either. But, my car is fixed. If you don't get these little things fixed, they will add up in the end. Heck, I had a ding on the back bumper and then when pulling into the garage, tapped a chair that completely jacked up the side of the wheel well. I got both fixed at the same time for $400. Nope...didn't have the money, but I fixed it anyway.

Lower that deductible. One day, it will come in handy. And it only cost me a few bucks more a month. Add all that up and it pays off with one use.

Thanks for the personal exp. advice. I actually do have a very low deductible on the car, I think it's the 250, and good coverage, but was reluctant to go through my insurance for fear of not wanting my rate to increase?

And I agree about not letting these things just build up, of course, that's another reason I really just want this to be fixed and gone and done with. It's just an unneeded stress.

[aron77]

Yeah I shouldn't have bought mine either but I'm starting grad school this week and it is going to be tough and very stressful so despite the fiscal irresponsibility of the purchase the happiness has to be factored in and I have been in need of that and so far it is all worth it cuz I love the car and have dreamed of it for so long. Actually it was supposed to be my graduation present to myself for getting thru college in 08 but it has been hell since then so f it I threw caution to the wind and got it now.

I had a very minor mishap on the second day when I went thru an automatic car wash and didn't judge it very well and ended up pulling up on the curb a little. I was scared to death that I damaged something tho I didn't hear any grinding and I'm still worried I may have hurt the alignment but stuff like that is going to happen and it is even more likely until I get used to it. Then today I noticed what may be a tiny rust spot on my brand new car and I'm kind of freaked about that. If it is then it is a defect and they will fix it but it won't be quite prestine anymore.

I suppose your collision deductable on your insurance is at least $500 so I guess that is out. If your comp deductable is low, mine is $0, then you could play dumb and see how they classify it or if you have a cool or maybe ethicly quesitonable agent then maybe he can suggest how you can portray this so it falls under comp. Doing this is not really ethical but then again insurance companies are notorious for finding ways not to cover things so it is pretty easy to fall out of ethical character when dealing with them. My insurance tried not covering some damage once cuz I didn't know how it happened and suggested it may have been a shopping cart and they informed me that a shopping cart would fall under collision which is some real bs. I got it covered under comp but that pissed me off that they would try to do that.

Btw I love that blue you have. I never saw any around here in that shade of blue. I didn't like the dark blue, or really any other colors but black and silver ice, so I went with silver ice but after seeing your car I am kind of regretting that now. I wish I saw your car before I bought mine cuz I would have held out.

[TAG UR IT]

Something like that should only be like $300, though...so i woudnl't go through ins for that. But...you never know. My front bumper just turned out to be $1,050 to be redone. You never know....never know....

[Riddikulus5Gen]

Originally Posted by aron77

Yeah I shouldn't have bought mine either but I'm starting grad school this week and it is going to be tough and very stressful so despite the fiscal irresponsibility of the purchase the happiness has to be factored in and I have been in need of that and so far it is all worth it cuz I love the car and have dreamed of it for so long. Actually it was supposed to be my graduation present to myself for getting thru college in 08 but it has been hell since then so f it I threw caution to the wind and got it now.

I had a very minor mishap on the second day when I went thru an automatic car wash and didn't judge it very well and ended up pulling up on the curb a little. I was scared to death that I damaged something tho I didn't hear any grinding and I'm still worried I may have hurt the alignment but stuff like that is going to happen and it is even more likely until I get used to it. Then today I noticed what may be a tiny rust spot on my brand new car and I'm kind of freaked about that. If it is then it is a defect and they will fix it but it won't be quite prestine anymore.

I suppose your collision deductable on your insurance is at least $500 so I guess that is out. If your comp deductable is low, mine is $0, then you could play dumb and see how they classify it or if you have a cool or maybe ethicly quesitonable agent then maybe he can suggest how you can portray this so it falls under comp. Doing this is not really ethical but then again insurance companies are notorious for finding ways not to cover things so it is pretty easy to fall out of ethical character when dealing with them. My insurance tried not covering some damage once cuz I didn't know how it happened and suggested it may have been a shopping cart and they informed me that a shopping cart would fall under collision which is some real bs. I got it covered under comp but that pissed me off that they would try to do that.

Btw I love that blue you have. I never saw any around here in that shade of blue. I didn't like the dark blue, or really any other colors but black and silver ice, so I went with silver ice but after seeing your car I am kind of regretting that now. I wish I saw your car before I bought mine cuz I would have held out.

First off, congrats on starting grad school! and the new car to help celebrate and ease the stress.

My car was something I had been dreaming about since I was a kid, and then they came out with the 5th gen, and after a year of searching, I found the one that came to be mine. It was my 25th bday present to myself, but had been a loooong time coming, graduating from school, etc.

Anywhoo, my insurance guy has been great in the past, actually pretty darn ethical, and usually willing to go above and beyond what should be expected, to try and find all the breaks and things we could get on our insurance to give us the best coverage and best rates. So, I was just in general hesitant to submit this, since I have a clean record for anything, and I am happy with where my payments are right now, didn't really want to tarnish my record with something stupid and end up paying more. hmm..
that is kind of ridiculous about the shopping cart, hooray insurance... *rolls eyes*

And thanks for the comment on the blue! Once I saw it, it was something I really had to have, but in order to get that color these days, unfortunately you have to look for a used one, because it was only offered for the 2010 models, and was then discontinued. So, no worries on not holding out, and the Silver Ice just makes the body lines look amazing, (In my opinion.) So, I think you still did good. Enjoy!

[Camaro_hx]

Originally Posted by ravensjeff

Go to the strip club for a few hours and everything will be okay.

^^^^^
DEFFINATELY!

[aron77]

Originally Posted by Riddikulus5Gen

First off, congrats on starting grad school! and the new car to help celebrate and ease the stress.

My car was something I had been dreaming about since I was a kid, and then they came out with the 5th gen, and after a year of searching, I found the one that came to be mine. It was my 25th bday present to myself, but had been a loooong time coming, graduating from school, etc.

Anywhoo, my insurance guy has been great in the past, actually pretty darn ethical, and usually willing to go above and beyond what should be expected, to try and find all the breaks and things we could get on our insurance to give us the best coverage and best rates. So, I was just in general hesitant to submit this, since I have a clean record for anything, and I am happy with where my payments are right now, didn't really want to tarnish my record with something stupid and end up paying more. hmm..
that is kind of ridiculous about the shopping cart, hooray insurance... *rolls eyes*

And thanks for the comment on the blue! Once I saw it, it was something I really had to have, but in order to get that color these days, unfortunately you have to look for a used one, because it was only offered for the 2010 models, and was then discontinued. So, no worries on not holding out, and the Silver Ice just makes the body lines look amazing, (In my opinion.) So, I think you still did good. Enjoy!

Oh yeah this will make grad school much more bearable, not to mention not finding a job in my field of study. The past 3 years I literally cursed everytime I saw a new camaro cuz I knew I was supposed to be driving one. It was like rubbing it in my face everytime I saw one. In the end it is going to take grad school to get me that real job and it took grad school, and the student loan deferment that goes with that, to get me one now.

Well that explains why I never see the blue. Why they would drop that blue and keep the dark blue I saw on the 2011's I don't know cuz I like blue but there was nothign about that I liked. I've had 4 firebird and this is my second camaro so I've had a love for these since I was a kid but my favorite, til now, was the 87 formula I had that was blue similar to yours. I saw an electric pearl blue on the 4th gen and I loved that color but my 4th gen firebird was red. However once I saw a silver ice with black racing stripes I fell in love. I was torn between silver and black but your right about the contours of the silver and it does look great. I love the way the side view of the back end looks with those sharp bends. I'm happy with silver ice but I would trade for your blue lol.

Honestly I am a very ethical person so I'm not entirely comfortable with telling you to do something unethical but it is easy to rationalize when dealing with insurance companies who will snub you every chance they get. I live in tornado country so most ppl are covered for tornados but a few years back we had "microbursts" which are not quote unquote tornados but they blew ppls houses down to the groud just the same and since they were not "tornados" and ppl didn't have nor had they ever heard of "microbursts" they were not covered essentially ruining their lives. I don't know if the outcries ever got the insurance companies to do the right thing but it was sick either way. And on top of that they will raise your rates every chance they get. Like me, I have no tickets in over ten years, no accidents, my credit is decent, and I'm over 30 but they have me in a high risk catagory and can't tell me why and in the last year raised my rates ten bucks a month.

But I digress. Here is the thing with claims. A comp claim will not raise your rates unless you use it excessively as comp claims are essentially things out of your control, vandalism or acts of god etc... Too many will get you canceled. Now collision claims will get your rates raised cuz those are your fault, or they should be but see the shopping cart incident to know it is bs too, so they are to not be taken lightly. Either way collision or comp if it is just one claim then you have nothing to be worried about as it is multiple claims that draw the red flags and I don't think that one single collision claim will get your rates raised but a comp claim would be less harmful. Now a collision claim and say a ticket or two will get you enough points to cost you some dough but in isolation I think you are fine, of course your agent can tell you better than I. With all that taken into consideration if the claim is substantially more than your deductable and you don't have any recent claims then this is why you dance with the devil and have insurance.

[Tessa]

I scratched my bumper after 3 days of ownership so I know how you feel. I thought I could just curl up and die.

But I got it repainted and it was ok again. A minor scratch is so much better then having something really horrible happen (as some people have posted pictures of that make me want to seeing).

Plus I have had my front bumper ripped off and my car rearended twice in the first year alone. So....it will NEVER stop hurting. :(

[Sleestack]

Originally Posted by Riddikulus5Gen

yeah, something like that. it rolled, I didn't really give it any gas, it was a simple and foolish mistake, newb to a manual trans, didn't give it enough gas and let clutch out enough for it to roll back the few inches and bump the pole.

One thing to remember when in a pinch like that with a manual transmission, you can always use the emergency brake to stop your backward roll, and ease off the brake as you ease on the gas...

[CamaroBC]

dang. I havent finished reading this entire thread, but that was me this past thursday. Thats exactly how i felt.

[canadian ss]

Never park around anything that can hit you or you hit it. Sucks bad man. The other day my garage door opener was in my hand and the rear was just sticking out enough and almost made contact after franticly pressing the button to raise it again. Sure got real close. Lesson learned....always park all the way in or out.
Seeing out the back is horrible thou. I always stop like 5 feet from the guy behind me and the front sticks out more than the other cars do asking for a swipe. This car gives me gray hairs when backing up to park.