Someone backed into my Z.
 

Went to lunch at a local burger joint yesterday and just as I was settling in to enjoy my lunch, a gentleman comes up and asks if I own a white Nissan 370Z. Crap....that can't be good. I told him I did, and he proceeded to tell me that he just backed into my car. I couldn't hide my displeasure with the news and as we walked out to survey the damage, I was expecting the worst.

Fortunately, it turned out less severe than I imagined - it appeared to be a slight rub against the back bumper. After brushing away some of the dirt (I hadn't washed the car yet after the weekend rains), I could see there were some scratches in the paint that would need to be buffed out. I got the driver's info and told him I would get some estimates for having a body shop do the work:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...8/IMG_0288.JPG


When I got home last night, I decided to grab my detailing supplies and work on it myself. First, I cleaned the area and then took a clay bar and removed the black plastic that transferred from the bumper of the other car. Next, I took some scratch remover and went over the area with a couple of applications. Lastly, I reapplied some wax to the area. The end result is 95% of the scratches were removed. Fortunately, none of the scratches went through the paint; I'm so glad that I don't not need to deal with paint matching this color.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6...s688/photo.JPG

This was a reasonably happy ending, but still a pain to deal with.

Dave

Glad it was minor. When you started with "Do you own a White 370Z" I was expecting much worse.

At least he came up to you and didn't just run away.

Glad the damage is not as bad as imagined. I guess all that dirt acted like an extra layer of protection for your bumper lol :icon17:

nice to know there are still honest people out there. Maybe its a bad idea for me to park far away cuz they have a better chance of getting away. You plan on keeping the money or getting it repaired?

Are you gonna still make a claim even though there isn't much damage?

nice man. Good guy for not driving off.

Someone hit me in almost the same spot. Looked like they backed into me with a trailer hitch. Had to replace bumper. Hit and run. :shakes head: Hooray for insurance. :)

Someone backed into my 240sx. totalled it. didn't leave a note.

you should of threatened him and got a 500$ check out of him:rofl2:

glad it was minor

I was working out in the gym when I was done I came outside and someone backed into my 350Z. Huge dent in the door all the way to the metal, no note, no person reported it or nothing. There were no cameras either so it was all on me. At least you had an honest person.

Still some honest people in the world! Glad it worked out well for you.

One time I was coming out of a convenient store on a military post and I saw a lifted truck get an entire wheel on the back of a toyota MR 2. He was driving away and I snapped a pic of truck and license plate. The driver was barely even thankful then goes "its a beater anyway, Im just gonna get rid of it".... :facepalm:

On topic, the work looks good man and this makes me extremely paranoid :eekdance:

Glad that worked out pretty well. I had a kid back into my 350z in a parking lots once and did like $3000 in damage. At least he had insurance.

Hey Dave - Sorry to hear that, but then glad the guy was honest enough to come clean and find you to let you know. Also glad it was minor. I bet this person was an older guy? Not that all young 'uns are not responsible

Anyhow, hope we're gonna see you and your Z this weekend over in Hammond for the Z Club Meet? Supposed to be real good weather...

Hey Paul... I may try to make it over there Saturday if the weather holds. :)

If I backed onto someone's car, I'd be so guilty if I did not fess up or own up to it. I would not be able to sleep. Will do the same thing the gentleman did.

To all who commented on the gentleman's honesty, I did thank him for his finding me and telling me what happened as I realize he could have driven away and not said anything. In fact, he told me that he didn't know he did it until his passenger said something.

After getting a chance to look at the car in the daylight, I see two minor areas where the bumper cover is deformed. So I will need to check with some body shops and see if these will "relax" after sitting out on a hot day or if it's possible to carefully heat the area with a heat gun and smooth out the deformations.

Thanks for all the comments and feedback.

Dave

One of the burdens of driving something you really like is the thought someone is out in the parking lot treating your car like a pinata. For me the enjoyment of driving around is sometimes countered heavily by the stress of everything that can happen to cars.

Sorry to hear about your Z, like others said it's nice to know some people still have a conscience.

*edit: As for the bumper cover being deformed even here in AZ with insane heat the covers never really go back to how they were. I have tried a heat gun in the past with mixed results- the worst being bubbly paint from too much heat! For a body shop it may be a simple fix if it's minor but worth at least stopping by a reputable one and asking.

:iagree:

good job op! :tup:


some dumbarse key'ed my dd while it had less than 300miles.
same deal, i was lucky the scratch was only on the clear, so i polished it off using my RO.

backin up backin up backin up backin up...cuz my daddy taught me good.

Wow I got a story.... I was at work when a dude that came into the office and asked me who owns that BMW across the street? I laughed and asked why did you run into it? As I slowly got up to look out the window to see this guys pick up truck full of junk metal that he picks up to sell for scrap or something, any how he had a 15 foot pipe hanging out of the back that ran into the l/f head light bucket turn signal and fender. I was like u have to be shi@@n me. I hope u have all state! He said nope I'm. Going to try to pay you cash this poor dude had one tooth in his head and no cash I told him I would get a est from the body shop and he said he would come back the next day..... After a week he never returned I at some point said something like that fuc@ should dry up and die. About a day latter his buddy came back and asked "hey did you here what happened"? Turns out the old dude dropped dead of a heart attack the day after he hit me ( I did pay for repair myself almost 2 k).

In the end, if someone hits your car, regardless of what you see at that time, it is a good idea to exchange driver's information and get insurance info as well. You just do no know what would surface later on.