JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Ok, this happened at about 3AM. I'm still in college by the way so the weekly pranks are the norm . Long story short, we(group of friends) bang on a friends window and he wakes up. He gets mad and all and proceeds to run outside to my car. Steps on rear bumper, then on the trunk, and then onto the roof and jumps a few times. Keep note: this guy weighs about 280lbs so the damage wasn't light.

I got an estimate today at 7AM in the morning at Service King right when they opened and the total came out to $4034!
They have to replace the whole roof! Cut it out and reweld a new one in. Add paint + labor.
They claim the trunk dent can't be popped out properly, so they are going to pop some out and sand/fill the rest. This will involve repainting the trunk and also adjacent quarter panels to match.
The bumper has a scratch that will cost $500 to get the whole thing repainted ($500 included in the $4034).
How many of you guys in the autobody business here? Fair price?

So the question of the day, what would you guys do in this situation?
A) Get him to pay for it cash, insurance co is probably not going to cover his running and jumping on a car. (not sure how this is going to work??)
B) If I can't get him to cough up the cash, I will have to pay the $1000 deductible on my insurance and get it fixed. Obviously this will hike my rates, but how much? I have a clean record so far, no tickets besides a overdue state inspection 2 yrs ago.
C) Try to pop it out myself or take it to some cheap shop to try to get it popped out.
D) What other options are there?

He is/(was?) a very good friend of ours otherwise I would of gone to claims court or something more drastic already. We have all done worse pranks to each other before than knocking on a window at night. I have no idea what drove him to do this.

Another thing. If I end up having to pay the deductible myself to get it fixed, how will that affect my rates? I know a few of you guys have had your cars vandalized before, but probably never "friendalized". Give me some heads up here.

So any ideas/suggestions?

UPDATE: Pix of damage

Pic from the back of the car.


Pic of the right side of the roof.


Another one


And another...


Left side of the car


Trunk of the car where the foot came down.


Sunroof is no longer lined up properly.

My car is white and is waxed weekly. It's so shiny that its hard to take a good picture of the damage. It's much worse if you look at it in person.

As for the steps I have taken. I've filed the police report already and the next step is to call his parents. Wish me luck!

oohpapi44

iTrader: (1)

Have him pay for it in cash, leave your insurance out of it and then find a new place to park....

After that, get some wild turkey in him till he passes out and move him out to the quad and pour syrup all over his passed out carcass....

GWELEX

This is a unfortunate situation that is going to strain your friendship. He is responsible for the damages. However that business about the cutting the roof off scares me, try a few other body shops for estimates. If he can pay cash for the repairs, GREAT!! . If not bite the bullet and let your insurance handle it.

URDONE

If it were me and one of my friends did that, I would suck it up and ask him to help me pay for the deductable. I wouldn't ask him to pay it outright, because you guys prank each other back and forth, unfortuately he took it too far this time. Just ask him to help you pay the dedectable and you guys should probably tone it down a bit from now on. After he pays, nail his girlfriend in your Lexus.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Ahh...this is really pissing me off....lol. I'm sure you guys would be feeling the same in this situation. Arg...the car is less than a year old (bought new in June 05) and already needs major body work (roof/trunk) replacement!

If I claim it under insurance will this go onto my carfax report or auto records? Also, have any of you guys had experience with dealing with the insurance company involving vandalism? What kind of rate hikes or issues have you encountered?

URDONE

Your rates will definately hike up a bit, and I am almost positive it will show up on your Carfax if you take it to a reputable shop. I think you just found out who was a little jealous of your Lexus.

Dx3

iTrader: (13)

My friends know if they even laid finger on my car I would lay them out in a heartbeat. The #1 rule is you never mess with someones car.

Your friend was an idiot and was obviously a little upset at being woken up. However, causing over $4000 in damages was bringing it a little too far.

You haven't mentioned what he has said about what happened? Does he think he is responsible?

Bottom line is that unless he pays for it - you are going to financially suffer for 3 years, not to mention you are going to have a chopped up 2005 Lexus with a bad carfax.

Your so-called friend needs to man up and take care of his responsibilities - which is somewhere to the tune of $4000.

Jonny

LEXSOOS

This is , i don't have words to describe how what i would do if it was my car , anyway can you post some pictures of your roof? cuz i would never agreed to replace roof sheet.
I have a friend who owns body shop, i could ask him how much it will cost you to get it fixed. Post pic's a.s.a.p.

Jeff i can't belive it, also i don't think that your friend will pay you any money, what i would do is : get police report, fix car, get over it and forget this frienship.

Look at this:

1. If you go thru your insurance comp. and pay 1K deductible thats only 1K lost

2. Even if your premium will go up about $500.00 a year it will take you 6 years to pay off that 3K back to your insurance. I think it is easier to come up with $500.00 a year than 3K as one payment right now, probably after 2 years after incident your premium will be back to normal.

I say do not come up with your money other than deductible, GET POLICE REPORT and if you don't want your friend be involved, just say it happend over night and you don't know WHO and HOW it happend

Good luck man

GUNRU-GS4

Man sorry to hear that. He took it way too far. I understand pranks and messing around but that is straight up thousands of dollars in damage. It's not like egging someone's house or doing something that can be cleaned up. He must not be that good of friend. If one of my friends did that in front of me to my car it would take a lot for me not to kick there a$$ right then. Just thinking about that makes me wanna kick that guy's a$$. But you would probably get in legal trouble so good job.

I would tell him he has to pay for the entire repair cost or else you have no choice but to bring him to court.. Does he have rich parents? Knocking on a window and destroying a friend's car is a big difference. I couldn't imagine spending my own money to fix it.

bmgs400

Time for....Peoples Court! Take some action and don't take long....start the process today. All you need is witness statements, police report, estimate...you're set.

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Hey Johnny, if I do get it repaired by cash rather than going through the insurance co. Obviously that won't jump the rates, but will it still go on Carfax or some record system? The shop I'm taking it to is one of the highest rated in the area. The lexus dealer I bought my car from sends all of their cars there for body work. All of the cars they fix are returned to OEM condition besides the newer coat of paint. It's also backed by a lifetime warranty, so if I ever get any squeaks or rattles...they wll pull the roof apart and fix/redo it. I'm confident that they will fix it up no problem. I just don't want it to hike the ins rate or go on my record. I'm not sure if either is avoidable in my case though.

So any of you guys have any estimates of how much the rate will hike up for $4000 of damage if claimed under insurance? My friend has an IS300. He seems to have a bad habit of wrecking his car...well he used to. He's been clean for the last 2 years . It seemed like his insurance didn't go up too much back then when he wrecked it and it was his fault a few times.

Another thing, the guy at the body shop told me to call my insurance co to see how much my rate would go up. I'm not sure if I want to do that or not. I've heard that if you call your agent to ask about these things, they assume that the damage has been done to your car already. In that case, they are prepared to take action....this means hiking the rates and putting the incident on your record. Not necessarily on the spot, but soon after that call.

Edit: He's not poor but not rich. I'm not sure if his parents will foot the bill or anything at this point? I'm most likely going to give them a call today. Also about the court thing. I have 2 witnesses but no police report. There is however a noticable imprint in the trunk and a HUGE inprint on the roof...oh yea also a palm print of clearly visible fingerprints on the rear windshield. I'm still not sure what to do at this stage with legal matters and such. I don't feel like suing anyone, and I obviously don't want to foot the bill of a lawyer or the repairs. To think...I have another 1k to pay on top of the suspension I'm about to buy.

BTW LEXSOOS I'm still getting that set from you whenever you're ready. I hope you have responded and I'm still at the top of the list.

Also, I will post up some pix later when I can borrow someones digital camera. My car is white and highly waxed so I'm not sure how well the dents will show up. i managed to pop out the huge deep dent, but there are still creases on the side of the original damage. Also the sunroof no longer lines up with the roof!!!!

LEXSOOS

I emailed you all pictures you have requested, Teins are ready to go

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Oh trust me when I say it took some EXTREME self control, and I mean EXTREME control not to punch him in the face and kick him in the gut as hard as I could when I saw the damage.

I'm usually not even remotely violent at all, but this almost strung the line for me.

I'm going to sit him down later today for a good talk about what he is responsible for what and what is going to be done about it. The worst part....right after it happened he played it off as if what he had just done was no big deal!!! That was what almost did it for me with regards to not taking violent action. He didn't even give a sincere apology afterwards just a "uh sorry about the car" and walked off.

chuckb

First of all, YOUR FRIEND IS A COMPLETE MORON and would not be my friend anymore. That is so totally F-ed up. Anyone who jumps on the roof of a $40k 2005 GS needs to pay, bigtime. I hate to say but from the way you described it, that car will never be the same.

I honestly don't know what I'd do......I'm so pissed just reading this.

oohpapi44

iTrader: (1)

Jeff,

There really isn't much to sit down and talk about, your conversation is going to be very simple... (personally I would tell you to put a Voice operated recorder in your pocket) and tell him what the TOTAL estimate is to fix your car and ask him his intentions.... If he replies with anything other than "I'll pay the full cost", end the convo because nothing good is going to come of it, and then head to the police station with your witnesses and file a police report, then go through your insurance company as what Lexsoos said applies:

If you want to keep your rates down, squeal on the guy to your insurance company and they will subrogate the damages (sue the other guy to recoup) but you'll need backup (hence the voice recorder, even though it may not be admissible but it may help negotiate a settlement)

BTW, I give you a lot of respect for how you've handled it...