Paintless Dent Removal or body shop?

My neighbor backed into my brand new Tundra while it was parked, two days after I got it. Long story short he wasn’t listed on the vehicle policy and the owner’s insurance won’t pay for my claim. I filed a claim with my insurance who won’t assign it to uninsured motorist without a police report and the police won’t file a police report unless it’s a hit and run, which it isn’t as we exchanged information, so I’m left going through my collision coverage and paying my deductible.

My question is, despite the slight paint damage, would PDR be effective in getting the dent out? Or should I just take it to the shop and let them make it like new? My biggest concern at the moment is my premiums going up for something that isn’t remotely my fault.

 

PDR won't work. Pay for repair yourself and take him to small claims court. I would think you could get a police report because he is uninsured. Nice neighbor

 

PDR will take care of most, if not all of that dent. Have your PDR company look at it, and tell you if it's something they can fix.... I had worse damage fixed by a local PDR guy.

 

Man, that seriously blows. I’d be furious, especially with it being that new, and the fact that your neighbor isn’t going to make it right. I had a guy put a small dent in my bumper about six months after I got mine, and I was pissed! Luckily for me, the guy did the right thing and paid for the repair out of pocket.

 

You would be surprised with PDR. Doesn’t hurt to get it looked at.

 

Wow man that really blows - I hope it works out well for you.

Just a thought - I guess it depends on your relationship with the neighbor.

Pick two estimates you are happy with and make him copies.
Knock on his door and hand him those two,stating !

You are paying for this plus my deductible !!!
How would you like to handle it?

Pay me cash or pay the body shop - Your Choice !

GAWD - i would be furious !!!!

 

If that truck rolled into my shop I would most likely write it for a new bedside. We do not offer PDR but I have watched some amazing videos of people fixing stuff like that.

 

Sort of my thoughts too. That's a serious ouchie

 

PDR fixed mine.

 

I find it strange that they won’t file a police report unless its hit and run. Also your insurance company denying you the uninsured motorist claim without it.

 

PDR can make it look better, but doubtful fix like it needs to be.
Don't settle, make neighbor pay for repair of your NEW truck!

 

You can always tell where a body shop has repaired & painted a dented panel, at least I can.
Evidence of PDR repairs are much less noticeable to me.

 

+1, I had a guy back in to me in a parking lot. I was stopped and putting it in drive. He even admitted to having a hard time seeing out of his vehicle. Went straight to police station and filed a report. They balked some because it was a parking lot but I insisted. It helped. His insurance bought me a bumper.

 

Wrong, you can tell where a bad body shop made a repair. Don’t chunk us all under the bus.

 

Why would you assume that all body shops are bad body shops? I certainly didn't convey that message.

 

I would think you can file a police report without having them come did you check online? And your insurance I would have words with them... GL sorry

 

So what did you mean when you said you can always tell where a shop has made a repair? I don’t think all shops are bad, I have a bodyshop.

 

I just have a knack for spotting paint and body work on a vehicle, I also find 4 leaf clovers when nobody else sees them.

 

Tell your neighbor pay you cash

 

Yes, and tell him to buy auto insurance.

 

How does one do something and not take responsibility for it?

Take it to a shop, get an estimate and give it to your neighbor and tell him cash is good.
Not sure why a cop wouldn't write a report and not sure why insurance wouldn't take care of it and ding the car owner for it.

If i let someone drive my truck and they get in a wreck my insurance company would cover it and then beat me to death with big numbers or drop me.

What state do you live in?
I would go after the insurance company

 

I can understand the insurance company's position. They can't just take someone's word for what happened. How do they even know there was another vehicle involved? The OP could be making up the whole neighbor thing after hitting a tree. Usually uninsured motorist carries a much lower deductible and they do not want to pay just on one man's word.

 

The whole thing smells like bullshit to me.
The car that hit you is insured
The cops have to take a report if they are called.
Even if it is a cat in a tree they have to make a report.

 

A bit more backstory since the TLDR version seems to have got a few people up in arms:

My roommate works a block away and he saw the van back out of the driveway but did not see it hit my truck. He saw the man get out of his van and take pictures of my truck. When I went out to drive somewhere, there was a note under my windshield, stating he had hit my truck, along with his name and phone number. I texted him and he apologized again for hitting my truck and said he would like to settle it without insurance. I told him I would get some quotes from local body shops, which I did. One quote was for $1700 (Gerber Collision) and the other was for $3900 (Leif's Auto Collision). I sent him copies of the quotes and asked what he would like to do. He said it was significantly higher than he was expecting and that he would send it to insurance.

Fast forward a week or so later and the owner's insurance called me and I took pictures for their estimator. They quoted me $900 and change. A few days after that, they called and told me that because it was a commercial policy and the driver was not listed on their policy, they would be denying coverage. I received a letter in the mail stating the same thing today, as well as a statue of limitations for filing a lawsuit against their company.

In the meantime I filed a claim with my insurance company and included the note the other driver had left for me, the estimate letter from his insurance, and the verbiage they used stating they wouldn't be covering the accident. My insurance claims adjusted told me I had 72 hours from the time I talked to her to file a police report in order to qualify for uninsured motorist coverage. I called the Portland (Oregon) police department immediately after we got off the phone and told them the situation. I talked to three different officers, who all told me they could only file a report if it was a hit and run, but because he had filed a claim and we had "exchanged information," it was not considered a hit and run. They gave me an "incident" number, which I passed along to my insurance company.

I've since reached out to the guy who hit me, via text, and he has not replied to any of my messages.

Anyway, I appreciate the replies. It seems about 50/50 on whether PDR would fix the dent or not. My biggest concern is my premiums going up. I have an accident from nearly three years ago that is about to fall off and the last thing I want is for three more years of increased premiums because of some bonehead that can't drive.

 

So someone is driving a company's vehicle but is not covered on their policy? Statute of limitations to sue? It sounds as if the insurance is getting in front of this issue and trying to intimidate you with legal mumbo-jumbo.
The nicer you are the less you will get out of the company/insurance at fault. The insurance companys do this every day and is their job to minimize their losses.
You need to threaten a Law Suit or at minimum take to small claims court. Do not wait around.

Good Luck!

 

This is an excellent example where it’s worth the money to talk to a lawyer. I’d consult with an attorney ASAP. And like others don’t take the insurance hit - take the guy to Court seems you have a pretty solid case to get him to pay for the repairs.

As for the repairs, you would be surprised what a good PDR guy can do. There are no paint cracks or scratches that I can see - I would bet a good PDR guy can fix that.

 

I would at least try PDR, but if you’re going to take any legal action, you should be working on it already.

so the uninsured motorist was driving on private property when he/she hit you? Were you parked on your property, or an easement, street, etc...?

it seems like if an uninsured drove on to your property and caused property damage, you could press charges, especially since the individual admitted to causing the damage.

 

I just had a valet hit a corner in my Tundra while in Clearwater and put a HUGE dent in the passenger side bed right in front of the rear tire and the side of the cab. Fortunately for me they paid for the repairs.
Went to Gerber Collision in Winter Park since they are recommended by Lexus dealership. They were able to do PDR and the estimator said even the PDR guy was mildly surprised at how it came out. They figured they would have to replace the side panel which they didn't want to do. Looks great.

 

If all this is going down you will have to sue the company directly. They have an umbrella policy that will take care of it. It was their company vehicle that hit you regardless if it was someone listed on their auto insurance or not.