[Rai Ka]

Hello:

About a few months back, a Ford F-150 rear-ended my wife's Insight. The bumper of the F-150 caved in and the Insight, aside from some blemishes, held its shape and looked fine.

We went to get an estimate. We removed the rear bin and looked at the interior frame of the Insight. Everything looked fine. The guy estimated to be a $900 job. This include a new bumper, a repaint, and internal shock-absorbing bar/thingy. I don't mind paying for it, but the guy is pretty much sure that the bar-thingy (sorry, can't remember the name) need to be replaced, without even looking at it.

I just want to check out the internal parts myself before I agree to the repair. I'm thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to remove the bumper for a peek, but I really don't know where to start. Any one with the repair manual can shed some light on this matter?

Thanks in advance.

Charles

 

[Motty82]

First off, it sounds to me like the owner of the F-150 should pay for the damages to both your vehicle and his own being that you were not at fault in this accident. Secondly, who's bumper were you alright with paying to fix, his or yours? Was it your bumper beam or his that he thought needed repairing?
I was once rear-ended by a bus. I opted to just have the bus company repair my Insight just in case there was damage done to the bumper beam. I would reccomend you do the same. Oh... By the way, the bumper beam was perfectly fine on mine...
Sorry that I can not directly answer your question about how to remove the bumper so that you can look for yourself.

Hope all goes well,
~Martin
Recycled
2000 5 Spd

 

[cakley]

I've got the repair manual. I'll scan

 

[Rai Ka]

First off, it sounds to me like the owner of the F-150 should pay for the damages to both your vehicle and his own being that you were not at fault in this accident. Secondly, who's bumper were you alright with paying to fix, his or yours? Was it your bumper beam or his that he thought needed repairing?
I was once rear-ended by a bus. I opted to just have the bus company repair my Insight just in case there was damage done to the bumper beam. I would reccomend you do the same. Oh... By the way, the bumper beam was perfectly fine on mine...
Sorry that I can not directly answer your question about how to remove the bumper so that you can look for yourself.

Hope all goes well,
~Martin
Recycled
2000 5 Spd

Hi:

It is the beam on the Insight that we may need to get fixed. The F-150 doesn't have insurance. At the time, he gave my wife a false driver license number. She did take down his license plate, however, and we're letting the insurance company do the legwork. We had a high deductable, so we've been slow to get it fixed.

I'm probably going to get it fixed anyways. Just thought I might take a look before they look at it.

Charles

 

[AZCivic]

What a bummer about the other driver. Here in Arizona you will have a major problem with the police if you get caught driving without insurance, much less causing an accident without insurance and providing false identification. I take it that the police were not called to file the original report? Otherwise the guy would be in jail for presenting false ID as well.

At any rate, it would be a real good idea to get it fixed. What you risk happening is that it can cause you problems if you sell the car without properly disclosing the damage, thus exposing yourself to a legal battle for sale of a vehicle under false pretenses. Secondly, if you get rear-ended again without repairing the vehicle, the other insurance company, or your own if it's another uninsured driver, might protest paying up because they can argue that the damages would have been less if you had a vehicle in proper working order with a factory new bumper.

 

[Rai Ka]

What a bummer about the other driver. Here in Arizona you will have a major problem with the police if you get caught driving without insurance, much less causing an accident without insurance and providing false identification. I take it that the police were not called to file the original report? Otherwise the guy would be in jail for presenting false ID as well.

Actually, my wife called the police, but the guy left before the policeman arrives. The offender claimed that he's does live in town, so if that is true, I wonder if our local police dept would have queue our case even further back. There are so many cases involving non insured motorists around here, I think most get nothing but slap on the wrist.

At any rate, it would be a real good idea to get it fixed. What you risk happening is that it can cause you problems if you sell the car without properly disclosing the damage, thus exposing yourself to a legal battle for sale of a vehicle under false pretenses. Secondly, if you get rear-ended again without repairing the vehicle, the other insurance company, or your own if it's another uninsured driver, might protest paying up because they can argue that the damages would have been less if you had a vehicle in proper working order with a factory new bumper.

I've got the instructions now on how to replace the parts myself, so I'm thinking of just doing that.

 

[cakley]

Check my web site out today or tommorow and I'll have some pictures up for you.

 

[cakley]

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[Rai Ka]

Thanks a bunch for the info! Great site with all the great instructions and diagrams!



Charles