How could this have happened?

[Amethyst]

A couple of months ago, I happened to notice that the driver's side corner of our car's front bumper was badly scratched, and the plastic was raised and torn. Neither of us was in a collision (that is, with us present). I figured it must have happened while the car was parked in a cramped downtown parking garage (one of those little ones under buildings where they double and triple park, not a great big mall parking garage), and we didn't notice it right away because I leave for work in the dark, come home in the dark, and driveability was not affected.

Anyway, we reported it to our insurance company as a hit and run and they sent us to a local body shop to have it fixed - covered under "uninsured motorist." We have a deductible.

The body shop's initial estimate was to replace and paint the front bumper cover, $598.00, 3 days.

At the 3-day point (Friday) the body shop guy told my husband that when they removed the front bumper, they found more damage behind it, requiring something to be welded (husband is not into cars and didn't ask questions). So, we are hoping to finally get our car back Monday afternoon if we're lucky.

But it is driving me crazy - how could somebody do that much damage in a parking garage, where there is so little room to maneuver, and no room to get up speed? And leave such relatively little evidence on the plastic bumper?

Amethyst

 

[pb4uski]

I wonder if the bumper cover flexed in enough for some of the internals to be damaged and then flexed back so all that was visible was scratches. Doesn't take much of a bump to bend stuff up.

 

[Goonie]

I had relatively the same thing happen to my car in December 2010, except the driver that hit it came into the restaurant and informed me. He'd backed out of his space, didn't see my car because it was in his blind spot, and only bumped my car lightly at very low speed. (I've known the guy most of my life, and know that he's a careful driver.)

The plastic bumper cover flexed under the force, and did so enough to bend and break some metal brackets and the housing for the headlight. There were 2 very minor scratches on paint on the top corner if the bumper cover where his car contacted mine, which I would not have noticed anytime soon. As a result of the bent and broken brackets and housing, the headlight assembly pop out if place slightly, and was aimed down about 10-20 degrees from normal.

If he wouldn't have told me about the incident, I wouldn't have noticed it until I drove at night with the headlights on.....and the one now aiming quite low!

Repair bill was $486, which was paid in full by the other guy's insurance with no questions or arguments.....thankfully.

They sure don't make cars like the old 60's Ford battleship that I used to own. I plowed into the back of a Dodge Dart, that ended up about 3 feet shorter. The rearend of the Dart put a small scratch on my car hood, and a little bit of green paint transfer onto my big chrome bumper.