What kind of illegitimate male offspring of a female canine does this and runs off?

[Smallhorses]

Last night my wife (itgirlxx) went out to her friend's house in the Oakland/Berkeley hills for an ornament exchange with the girls that she meets regularly to exchange knitting tips and tricks! (It keeps her busy while I'm GT4-ing!) Anyway, she parked our '95 Miata on the street and sometime in the 2 hours she was there, it appears that someone reversed into our poor little car, doing what we've now had estimated at $1300 of damage, and then took off without leaving details. A rather unwanted Christmas gift for us. How annoying is that? Now debating whether to pay up for the complete replacement fender and all the painting & labour etc, or to claim on the insurance that we've been paying for for over 4 years and never claimed anything from.
I hope the culprit gets cancer for Christmas and dies screaming with many sharp implements in his/her head.

 

[Sage]

Oooooh, poor Miata. (And though it’s hard to tell at night, it looks like you’ve kept the paint in good condition.)

Lesson of the day: knitting is bad for your car.

 

[V1P3R]

That sucks. One suggestion is go to a junk yard and find a miata fender. (hopefully it's just fender damage) It's a "cheap" solution if you don't want to claim it and if you aren't really going to keep it that long or invest in it. That's what I did on my car anyway, although I did the damage myself.

Our ghetto stupid neighbors probably hit my dad's truck, are not good enough to stand up, and admit that they did it. There's no other way the truck could've been damaged because it always sits there. It's a weekendish only truck.

 

[Smallhorses]

The paintwork is almost immaculate, for a 13 year old car (first registered in Aug 2004) it's been incredibly well looked after, and I had the whole body rebuffed earlier this year after fixing a scratch I made when replacing the electric radio antenna that failed. It still only has just under 75,000 (genuine) miles on the odometer and barely ever gets driven in anything but sunny weather.

In the sun at Monument Valley.

Experiencing a hailstorm at Bryce Canyon.
Even with 2 weeks of accumulated road dirt (lots of orangey sandy stuff from Monument Valley and Arches National Park) from over 2000 miles of driving at this point, she still looks shiny! ​

 

[Philly]

If it was backed into, maybe the person was pulling out so it could have been somebody that lived across the street or maybe one of the people who were there with her?

And there are also big problems with the loonies that have the big huge truck with the hitch and back right into your hood with it. It happened on the Volvo, I will cry the day it happens to the VW.

I can probably only imagine how mad you are right now. My condolences to you and your car. Hopefully it will work out.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Someone mind telling me why a fender (and painting of said fender) for a 1st gen Miata comes out to 1300 bucks?

Anyhow, it's a damn fine car, too bad about this.

 

[Smallhorses]

That's the first estimate my wife got from a friend's bodyshop, which is a pretty comprehensive teardown of all the trim and stuff around the fender as well as a complete paintwork blend into all surrounding panels for a "good as new" finish and reinstalling all the trim parts, which I won't settle for anything less than. This car is going nowhere (well, it goes places, but we've no plans to sell it anytime), I own it outright, and it's very dear to both of us, even more so than our Porsche.

I'll be shopping around for more estimates before deciding to cough up for the repairs or claiming on the insurance depending on what difference it'll make to our premium and deductible to do so.

 

[Giancarlo]

It happened because you drive a Miata.

Haha just kidding, damage doesn't look too bad in terms of paint, the only problem is how big that fender piece is...

 

[land sea air]

hell it's possible (though admittedly unlikely) they were completely not paying attention and didn't even notice until they found the damage on their own vehicle. I was sitting in the parking lot with my friend in my car when some idjit pulled in too fast across from me and bumped the car, I watched them get out of the car and if I hadn't gotten out of the car and asked him wtf he was thinking then he would have walked away either because he didn't notice or he wasn't planning on saying anything... thankfully no harm was done. VIP3R might have a point about checking the local scrap yards to see if any have a Miata in

 

[Smallhorses]

I'm sure it's entirely possible if it was some daft trollope in an SUV (and judging by the height of the dent and the fact that there's no damage to the tyre or alloy rim, it seems entirely likely that it was!) and that she wasn't paying enough attention to notice it, but that only irritates me more. There's no reason to have vehicles like that on regular roads, and no reason to give incapable "liabilities-to-everyone-else" driving licences!

The scrapyard issue is moot, the Miata deserves new parts if she needs them!

 

[Azuremen]

I was gonna suggest find a fender in a junkyard, would cost about 60 bucks and then get it resprayed But apparently, thats not an option for you.

Its one of the things that comes with driving a small car in this SUV crazy land - people simply do not notice them. Which sucks for us that love small cars.

Hope you get it figured out; I still support junkyard fender, since that is the only thing damaged it looks like.

 

[Touring Mars]

That's a bummer. I'm just glad that Rachel wasn't hurt or even in the car, and that the damage to the car is fixable.

How much do you stand to lose in the long run if you claim on the insurance (i.e. in lost bonuses and higher premiums etc.?), and is that estimate of the cost of repair realistic?

In the meantime, I have put on my Mysterious Tool of Wizardry and equipped it with "Bad Karma and Violent Diarrhea From Hell" materia, and I am currently focusing it's deadly rays upon the dastardly "cu next Tuesday" who perpetrated this foul deed - Rest assured, they've got a surprise waiting for them this evening

 

[Duke]

Definitely a bummer, d00d!

The most recent Grassroots Motorsports mentioned that they mailordered a pre-painted fender for their Miata. The cost was reasonable and the color match was fine. White is pretty easy to match, too. They were very happy with the results. If you're interested, I'll find out where they purchased the part.

 

[Jim Prower]

Awwww...poor NA.

Hope you get it fixed. those are fantastic cars, and yours seems to be cared for well.

 

[stumpydino]

impressive theres no paint missing or chips
a few taps on the inside could bend it back to shape

 

[Sureboss]

Given the size of that thing, could someone have coughed while walking past it?

It does always surprise me how much bodywork re-do's can cost.

 

[YSSMAN]

Awww, that sucks. I've never had anything like that happen to my car (closest thing was a side-swipe), but it certainly is unfortunate.

Slightly OT: I remember you having an NA, but I didn't know it was like that. Actually is pretty similar to what I plan on replacing my Jetta with next year. I hope I can find one as nice as yours (well, minus the damage)!

 

[itgirlxx]

Thanks for all the kind words and support. I still blame myself a little bit because I was the one that took the car with me and parked it on the street. It's a really swanky neighourhood with lots of twists and turns. Still, that's no excuse!

 

[Perfect Balance]

It sucks, but the damage itself is not that bad. A Junkyard fender (It's OEM, its not going to fit weird or anything) should be cheap, and if your paint is really that good, painting the fender itself should be all you need. You are making it worse than it has to be. A few hundred bucks should be more than enough to make it look exactly like it used to.

 

[Keef]

I agree with PB; who the hell quoted you $1300!? I replaced the entire right side of my Del Sol for $1800, and that included the signal, front fender, passenger door, mirror, door innards, window mechanism and paint.

This is simply a fender and paint. Or is this California Syndrome?

 

[Time_Attack]

Why get a new fender? If there is no damage behind it this is a simple fix. Miatas did not come in very many colors and they can be found in your local junk yard I'm sure. Go there, pull a white fender and there you go.

 

[Venari]

A good dent man would win that.

$1,300 is a gip. I've had worse pulled out of my FTO's rear quarter and painted for £400.

 

[Orion]

I think that you should try using a strong suction cup to pull out dents. I had to do that twice because of 2 hit and run occasions. But $1300 is like 3 times more than what you should be paying. I thought that going to a Junkyard is a great idea too, just like Azureman said.

 

[Keef]

Smalls owns a Porches. He never be caught on the same street as a junk yard.

The bottom line is that whoever quoted you $1300 is retarded. Wasn't it obvious? How could you miss it? I mean, his eyes must have been going crazy! I think he meant $130, or maybe $200.

Where did you get this quote from?

 

[Smallhorses]

I think the issue that everyone is overlooking here isn't the cost itself, but the fact that regardless of if it's a $10, $1000 or $10000 fix, the 🤬 idiot that did it or their insurer should be paying, not me.

I could scan in the detailled quote breakdown, for costs, but that's besides the point. Most of the costs associated with this are labour for removal of the front bumper and trim parts around the fender so that a proper paint blending job can be done so that 2 years or more from now I don't end up with a part faded paintjob that looks something like this:

and makes it obvious to anyone that looks that the car has had new parts fitted, or covers parts of the window trim and mirrors in overspray.

I know there's plenty of fenders in junkyards all over the place, but the chances of finding an NA fender in as good condition, with no door dings etc, etc. is slim to none. I have no intention of patching this car up with substandard parts.
Similarly, pulling the dents out will still leave marks, look closely at the second photo I posted, that crease in the wheel arch where the paint has split isn't just going to "pull out".

On a positive note, I've just called my insurers, and folks out here in California seem to have the right idea, if I claim for this, since it was a "not-at-fault" claim, they can't increase my premium at renewal time! 👍
That's a lot different to the UK where a simple claim for having your stereo nicked results in a premium hike that makes you feel like you've been raped and costs you more in the long run than paying for the damage yourself, leaving you to question why you pay the money-grabbing vultures insurance money in the first place. 👎

So it'll get fixed, like new, by whoever the insurers opt for and not look like this when it's done!

 

[V1P3R]

If they weren't man enough to admit it when the incident happened then you are unfortunately left to pay it simple as that... When I got my car broken into IN my driveway they smashed the window both times costing me $120 or so. I even had video evidence and BOUGHT it to the police station and they didn't give a rats ass. I'm not over looking what happened and I understand your frustration but, the bottom line is you're going to either have to pay for it or leave it as is. I thought the fender via junkyard was a good compromise. Hell it will still be OEM but just not original, is it THAT important it's ORIGINAL OEM especially when this might not be the last time you have to fix/replace something on it? And well sorry I have to throw this in but it's only a Miata really.

 

[Smallhorses]

Smalls owns a Porches.

Porches is plural, and no our house doesn't actually have a Porch.
We do keep a Porsche in the garage though!
I've nothing against scrapyards, just my experience of the pick'n'pull ones round here has been that you get charged $5 to go in and look around, and then they don't have what you want anyway. They won't even tell you before you pay if they've even got the model of car in there that you're looking for!

 

[land sea air]

couple of good points there, especially about the paint matching... I know how it feels to have 3 different versions of the "same" blue on your car.

 

[Azuremen]

Porches is plural, and no our house doesn't actually have a Porch.
We do keep a Porsche in the garage though!
I've nothing against scrapyards, just my experience of the pick'n'pull ones round here has been that you get charged $5 to go in and look around, and then they don't have what you want anyway. They won't even tell you before you pay if they've even got the model of car in there that you're looking for!

That is true... I am just far to accustomed to being able to pull parts from a dozen different models for my cars... Oh, how I love shared drivetrains.

 

[Smallhorses]

.....is it THAT important it's ORIGINAL OEM especially when this might not be the last time you have to fix/replace something on it? And well sorry I have to throw this in but it's only a Miata really.

It's not only a Miata, it's my Miata so there's a huge difference!
If it needs fixing, it gets fixed, simple as. It just had a head gasket replacement at its 75000 mile (slightly early) service at the Mazda dealer because I started to notice oil seeping from round the valve cover. It had the timing belts changed at 60,000 by Firestone, and they used a non-OEM gasket to replace the original which lasted 60,000 miles, and which gave up after less than 15,000 miles. I know OEMs are a tad pricier, but I'm willing to pay for the quality guarantee.
This car isn't a junker that I intend to drive to death, like some of the Miatas I see on the roads here, but a well loved and cared for weekend toy so I've no intention of having someone do this kind of repair job on it just to keep costs down!!!

Lovely panel fit! NOT! ​