I was parked in a parking garage and someone damaged my left rear bumper and part of the quarter panel. Really bummed, especially since I've only had the car 3 weeks. She was driving a rental, so now I'm trying to file a claim through Enterprise. I don't think there will be any question as to liability because the store manager was present. But just curious if anyone has any advice. I'm assuming the best thing is to get any body repairs done by Honda rather than an outside body shop. Is that correct? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry about your new car. That would bother me. The Honda dealers I've used don't have collision repair capabilities. They would have farmed my car out to another shop had I needed it. When I did need some body work my car insurance agent was familiar with all of the local shops and recommended one he felt was best. They did a great job (and I have done body work and painting years ago).
Not all body shops repair aluminum-bodied cars, so that's the first question you should ask when calling them.
Bummer about the hit to your new car. This image posted previously by @insightman shows a bit of what he’s mentioned; these are complex vehicles and the right parts need to go in the right places, in addition to repairing panels correctly.
Some dealerships have bodyshops. Sharing your misery, someone backed into our Clarity the first month we owned the car. We had our car repaired at our Subaru dealer, who did a great job on our Subaru a few years ago when my wife had a fender bender. They did a great job on our Clarity although we had to wait a while for Honda parts. Ford has been building their F-150 pickups with aluminum bodies for a while now. Given that the F-150 is the best selling vehicle in America, Ford dealer body shops should have ample experience working on such bodies.
After taking my Clarity to two different dealerships for service, my experience is that they don't know anything about the car. Even if they have a body shop, I doubt that they'd know how to fix the Clarity better than other shops. I think @jdonalds has the right answer - go with a well known reputable local body shop, not with a Honda dealer.
Was the driver a enterprises employee moving the car? If the driver was a customer driving a rental shouldn't you deal with her insurance instead? Most insurance have their recommended repair center/body shop. You can call them and see but they will most likely tell you go bring the car in for them to assess. If it is the bumper and the rear quarter panel it should be a easy replacement.. just parts and paint
My understanding is that rental cars usually have to have the minimum liability coverage on the car as required by each state they are tagged in. So in that case, the renter is responsible for damage to the rental car but the rental company ends up paying for the other car hit (they are often also self-insured).
They do....just like any car owner is required to have minimum liability insurance. But in any accident, it is the driver at fault that is liable... Unless the accident is cause by a mechanical failure on the rental car, then your insurance company may go after the rental car company instead
Bummer. Someone experience in properly repairing aluminum is important not only in the working the panels but ensuring that regular steel fasteners are not used on aluminum that can cause rapid corrosion. https://galvanizeit.org/design-and-fabrication/design-considerations/dissimilar-metals-in-contact
Thanks everyone for your comments. Still waiting to hear back from Enterprise. Trying not to go through my insurance because I don't want my rates to be affected.
One word of caution based upon personal experience. Years back I had a bus driver damage the bumper and we went through their insurance. Unfortunately, we had problems with the repair a year or so later and the body shop was no longer around. Tried to go back through the insurance company that did the repair and couldn't get anything done as it wasn't our policy. Had we filed with our insurance, it wouldn't be an issue.
I second that opinion. On our little accident, I went through my own insurance, which got the repair process started even before fault was established. Your own insurance company has a strong financial incentive to fight for you and they can do a better job representing your interests than you can alone. However, I can't rule out that you won't get dinged for the claim even if you're determined not at fault. I once read that people who get into a lot of those are deemed riskier because they put themselves in those situations more often.
These days, with insurance, if you take a sharp breath you are considered a risk and your premiums will jump...
Not really..... I had an extremely minor accident about a year ago, I stopped at the light and tried to grab something in the back seat, my foot slipped from the brake pedal and the car roll and bump to the car in front. No visible damage at all but I report it anyway just in case. (You don't know if the driver in the other car will report any medical issue) Didn't get ding by my insurance and my rate didn't go up
Checkout this list http://owners.honda.com/collision/profirstbodyshop I had an accident a while ago. Fixed in a body shop certified by AAA and Honda (the list above). I got my car two months later. They used all OEM parts because no aftermarket parts can be found. They don't even have a list of parts for Clarity. The final outcome is perfect. I can't find any difference at all. $8k billed to insurance. Is that a good news in the awful day? Most insurance allow using aftermarket or used parts, if available. Did you treid to contact the insurance of the driver? Enterprises is not directly liable, so they won't be very responsive. They are responding only because they own the car.
I was surprised to learn about this. My insurer (Travelers) told me they specify/allow new parts for the first 12,000 mies/1 year of the car's life.
Yes, it is important to find a body shop that knows how to deal with aluminum but it is even more important to find a body shop this familiar with dealing with battery electric cars. To avoid damaging the battery there are limitations on time and temperature for the car to be in a paint booth. I believe for the Clarity it’s 150F and 40 minutes. I recommend finding a body shop that has been certified to deal with Tesla cars. They will know how to handle aluminum as well as temperature and time limits for the traction battery. Tesla is very picky who they say are authorized to do body work on their cars and those requirements are the same Clarity owners need to worry about. Be exceptionally clear about the time and temperature limits.
BTW Tesla says 165F and 45 minutes but my Clarity has a sticker on the driver door jam that says 150F. Better make sure whoever does the work uses the lower temperatures/times. So what if it takes longer for the paint to dry. Pick up the car the next day instead. https://service.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/public/important-safety-info/BR-14-10-006_Parameters_for_Baking_Vehicles_after_Painting_R3.pdf
Ask if there's security cam footage available. My advice to you, the reason why you buy insurance is to protect yourself fromthings like this, now you don't want to use insurance, then why did you buy it?