u/iamnotcreativeDET

https://preview.redd.it/foway2ltkmah1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d87e6f8295ce79749ff84eb015c29f6b1b18de91

The car was parked in the street, my neighbor backed into it with his F150 and pushed the rear fender inwards, I can see the point of impact/deepest spot and the crease seems very smooth, so if I pulled hard enough on it, shouldn't it go back into shape?

I am not expecting perfection I just want to get the bumper lined back up and the trunk to close properly again.

Should I try and pull this out? Or should I try and push it out from the inside? Also, what kind of at home tools could I use for this?

Also, side note, if there is a good PDR guy in Detroit Metro that would do this for reasonable money, I wouldn't be against paying someone who knows what they are doing, lol.

https://preview.redd.it/ffewxzcdkmah1.png?width=2304&format=png&auto=webp&s=bfdccbc7a0763417c5c8ff20d83a3ef7a68371c2

https://preview.redd.it/6n9as94mjmah1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0862d518df724228ad3ed3a179a7f8f8ad42e80

Edit: to clarify insurance totaled the car and let me keep it, I already have another vehicle (actually 5, lol), the intent of this is to just try something new until I sell this car on, or scrap it after I harvest all of my parts off of it.

Me again!

If anybody is interested the thread is located here; My Neighbor Backed into my Jetta, and I am sad.

So I 100% contacted my insurance company after all of the delightful advice I received in this previous post. It took AAA about 3 days to finally reach out to me after submitting the claim on their website, when they did I had planned to get a quote for a nearby body shop, knowing it was very likely this would already total the value of the car without needing a tear down.

I called the body shop that was recommended to me by AAA, the body shop told me they didn't really want to even do a quote because they know for sure that after tear down its going to be more expensive, they seemed very disinterested in helping. So I decided to cancel with them and go to my VW approved by shop that is right next to my work place, They wrote the quote on the spot, I was there for maybe 15 minutes.

$7500.

Given that it is a Mk5 Jetta with 130K, the most similar example I can find on auto trader is about $7000 with similar mileage and condition. I figured that was easily going to total the car, so I contacted my representative at AAA, we will call her Karen, and sent photos of the estimate. I guess because that body shop isn't in their network they told me they had to send an adjuster out to observe it and confirm that the estimate is accurate. Karen informed me that she had a few openings, Tuesday the 16th and Monday the 22nd. I took the Tuesday date because I had very little work to do that day, so I could take PTO and stay home to be there for the adjuster, appointment was booked on June 9th with Karen.

Tuesday the 16th rolls around, it comes to be about noon and I haven't heard from anybody about a visit. So, I hop on the phone and give Karen a call, straight to voicemail. I left a voice mail that explained I hadn't heard from anybody and if she had any information. I also sent her a text message through their ticketing system, no response.

Wednesday morning, at about 9am I decide to reach back out to Karen, sent straight to voicemail again, I sent her a text again asking if there was a miscommunication, still hear absolutely nothing, until about noon I decide to just call the generic support line and get connected with someone at AAA's customer service department who tells me there is nothing they can do. I ask for a supervisor, and they state they cannot get one at this time, but will have someone call me back later.

I do, eventually, get a call about an hour later from a customer service supervisor, who was able to get in touch with Karen's supervisor. Almost immediately after that call my phone rings, its Karen. She gets on the phone and explains to me that she had two client windows open at the same time and she thinks she assigned my appointment to someone else and gave me their appointment for the 22nd.

I explain to her that I took time away to do this and I am not going to be available on the 22nd for a work commitment. I ask her if she can get someone to me today or tomorrow so I can get this over with an not have to deal with it over the Holiday weekend. She says she will send out a request to dispatch and see what they can find out and as soon as she knows she will get back to me. This was at about noon today. Karen did state she would be monitoring her texts and would get back to me if I had any questions.

3pm rolls around, I have heard nothing so I text her "Hey! Have we heard anything from Dispatch?"

She says "yes, Jane Smith will be your adjuster, her phone number is 555-555-5555. We have you set for Friday."

I explain to her that Friday doesn't work for the holiday weekend, I preferred yesterday originally but settled for today or tomorrow."

she tells me, I kid you not, "well, reach out to her and see if she can fit you in."

So I did, I reached out to her and explained the whole conversation and how it unfolded, mind you this was all over text message. Within 5 minutes of this exchange I have Karen calling me again explaining that "its not her fault, she has no control over the scheduling." Karen. You literally just told me to contact her and see if she could fit me in.

Que the obligatory, "I am dropping AAA immediately after this claim is over" statement, and told them I will be canceling my plans for the holiday so I can keep my 19th appointment (after they offered absolutely no other options), and very sarcastically thanked them for "going above and beyond" for me after admitting to their mistake, now I burned a PTO day and my Holiday too because it.

Yeah, I am dropping AAA after this. Progressive did the exact same thing to me prior, which is why I went to AAA and had a bit of a rate increase because of it, but now I am seeing 0 value in the extra cost. A few months prior to this I received an email from a AAA agent after I worked with them for some other client in my email inbox, the work they do there is so sloppy and absolutely not worth my hard earned money.

They took a really sad situation for the car that I loved put my blood sweat and tears into and made it even worse.

TL;DR - supposedly "good" insurance company actually sucks, all insurance sucks. I wish my neighbor never backed into my car.

- a sad car enthusiast.