My truck and a pole

[theblet]

Backing up to let someone out in a crazy filled parking lot (without parking spaces). The car in front of me kept creeping back, and so did I. I saw the pole in my backup camera, shifted my focus to the car in front while waiting for the beep from the rear sensors. When all of a sudden bam. Guess I got a bit to trusting of the nanny gizmos. Going to call my insurance tomorrow. I have collision coverage. If I don’t file a claim, I’m guessing I’ll need a new bumper and a tail light. Not much I can do about the dent myself. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SD Rebel]

How much is your deductible? Also, how important to you that your truck will have damage/collision history on a car history report?

The damage looks small, a good PDR guy and probably remove the ding for about $100-$150 range, maybe even cheaper. The good PDR guys can do ding removal even with minor paint damage, including the touch up and buff of that scratch on the top. The rear bumper you can probably pick-up a used one cheap or time for an upgrade? Tail lights, plenty of good 3rd party versions or used OEMs are relatively cheap.

I would do this one myself, keep a clean record on your trucks history as well, probably do a lot of that under or close to your deductible.

 

[theblet]

How much is your deductible? Also, how important to you that your truck will have damage/collision history on a car history report?

The damage looks small, a good PDR guy and probably remove the ding for about $100-$150 range, maybe even cheaper. The good PDR guys can do ding removal even with minor paint damage, including the touch up and buff of that scratch on the top. The rear bumper you can probably pick-up a used one cheap or time for an upgrade? Tail lights, plenty of good 3rd party versions or used OEMs are relatively cheap.

I would do this one myself, keep a clean record on your trucks history as well, probably do a lot of that under or close to your deductible.

Pretty sure the deductible is $500.

What’s a PDR guy?

I will look around for used/third party bumpers and tail lights.

Planning on keeping this truck for 20 years. Should I worry about the history? My main worry is that my car insurance goes up if I file a claim

Thanks for the help!

 

[mikeru82]

PDR = Paintless Dent Repair. Those guys can work wonders but that might be beyond that kind of repair. It’s worth checking out though.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Pretty sure the deductible is $500.

What’s a PDR guy?

I will look around for used/third party bumpers and tail lights.

Planning on keeping this truck for 20 years. Should I worry about the history? My main worry is that my car insurance goes up if I file a claim

Thanks for the help!

If you plan on keeping the truck long term, ai wouldn't worry about actually using the insurance you pay for. It would fall under comprehensive for your claim, not collision. Depending on your insurance company, it might not hurt your premiums.

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

If you're looking to keep the insurance company out of it, I'd say do the bumper and the taillight on your own. Used, aftermarket, or OEM are all pretty well available as others have said above. Then maybe find a PDR guy or a reputable body shop to pull that dent and paint the bed side or just that corner of the bed. Most shops near me will charge about 120-150 per hour of dent work and another 4-600 to paint each panel. Which it looks like you only need one painted. So I’d guess that bed corner could cost you about 750-800 to get her looking show room ready. PDR guy who also touches up paint may charge less, but I’d still say 3-500 for that.

For what it’s worth I had a very similar Oopsie Poopsie in a parking lot last summer that cost me my Passenger side running board, rear door, and a little dent in the cab corner. If I did it all without using my insurance it would've cost about 3,000 just to replace with all new OEM parts, (the door and running board from Ram were silly expensive) plus labor, paint, and a rental. For my $500 deductible it was all set up and finished within 5 weeks of the accident. Truck looks like new again. I really enjoy fixing things myself, but to avoid the cost of the accident, I used my insurance which I pay for every year anyways, even when I don’t have an accident.

EDIT: This was my first at fault accident on my record. 7 years as a Progressive customer and they DID NOT raise my premiums for this incident.

 

[dajogejr]

EDIT: This was my first at fault accident on my record. 7 years as a Progressive customer and they DID NOT raise my premiums for this incident.

You are very lucky.
I had progressive on my house, 3 cars and motorcycle. First at fault when a trailer I was towing popped off my hitch, rear bumper got smoked… because my Truck was new in August 2023 but the accident happened in January of 2024, they wouldn’t cover an OEM bumper because it was next model year. I paid the extra $200 for the OEM.
Then, renewal time… despite being a customer for 10 years (Platinum or Diamond or whatever they call it) 0 accidents or claims other than glass twice for windshields, they raised my rates 30%.
They have small accident forgiveness.. their definition of small accident is I believe less than $1000.
Anything on these trucks cost less than 1K…lol

Consider yourself lucky…

 

[theblet]

Thanks everyone. I am contacting the insurance company today.

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

Let us know how they handle it, hopefully it isn't a headache!

 

[Willwork4truck]

I dont trust the “accident forgiveness” at all. Now you are on their radar and I’d bet they run motor vehicle reports every 6 months to see what you are up to. Easy for them to do and now they will catch any moving violations.

Sometimes a “customer pay” is the best way to go…

 

[HSKR R/T]

I dont trust the “accident forgiveness” at all. Now you are on their radar and I’d bet they run motor vehicle reports every 6 months to see what you are up to. Easy for them to do and now they will catch any moving violations.

Sometimes a “customer pay” is the best way to go…

Easy enough to not get moving violations. I havent had one in almost 15 years

 

[theblet]

Insurance company said it would be under collision coverage. $500 deductible. He doesn't "think" they would raise my rates since this would be my first claim. Have to get a body shop quote to submit before they can do anything.

I have a couple of calls into some dent repair shops. Have also found these parts online just in case:

NEW Chrome Rear Bumper Assembly For 2019-2024 RAM 1500 w/ Park & Dual Exhaust | eBay

For Dodge Ram 1500 2019-2024. Note: ONLY Fit the Model with Rear Object Sensor and with Dual Exhaust ! Compatible with Factory Dual Exhaust and Rear Object Sensor Models. 1 x Rear Bumper with Sensor Hole.

www.ebay.com

Amazon.com

Will keep you posted!

 

[Biga]

I would use a PDR guy for the dent, might not be able to get that one perfect but probably pretty close. I would stick to OEM taillight and bumper if you are keeping the truck that long. You might save money upfront on an LED taillight but once it goes out and if you have to replace it again it will cost you more.

 

[dajogejr]

Despite Progressive jacking up my rates..
They actually made it super easy to deal with them. OP, not sure you mentioned who you were going through.
I basically took a bunch of pictures on the app, answered questions…and then talked to them on the phone.
They deposited the estimated repair amount in my bank in less than 48 hours…
Took it to a repair shop, they went over it…there were some overages that couldn’t be seen from the pictures, and they directly paid the collision shop for the overages, since I had my funds minus deductible, I paid the rest.

It was actually very easy to deal with them, I’ll give Flo and team that.

 

[scottmoyer]

I wouldn't blame your raised insurance rates on the one claim you had. Insurance rates are skyrocketing. Think about it, regulations make cars crumble so much now that a 10mph impact is $10k in repairs due to crumple zones and frame shifting. Then, all of the states that mandate full glass coverage because a windshield used to cost $350, is now over $3000 because of sensors, special glass, acoustic glass and sensor recalibration after replacement.

I'm not a fan of insurance companies, but their costs are huge today. Also, schools aren't teaching people how to drive and the DMV is allowing people that fail the eye test to still get licensed, so bad drivers are causing more accidents in cars that crumble, so replacement costs go up. And who gets to pay for all of that? Us, with higher premiums

 

[1923bob]

Backing up to let someone out in a crazy filled parking lot (without parking spaces). The car in front of me kept creeping back, and so did I. I saw the pole in my backup camera, shifted my focus to the car in front while waiting for the beep from the rear sensors. When all of a sudden bam. Guess I got a bit to trusting of the nanny gizmos. Going to call my insurance tomorrow. I have collision coverage. If I don’t file a claim, I’m guessing I’ll need a new bumper and a tail light. Not much I can do about the dent myself. Any advice is appreciated.

That's a bummer I'm surprised it didn't slam on the brake and give you a hart attack ?

 

[boogielander]

dang that sucks.
the title was misleading i thought you installed a pole on your truck for... activities.

 

[theblet]

That's a bummer I'm surprised it didn't slam on the brake and give you a hart attack ?

I turned that off when it slammed the brakes for a bush that was 15 ft away

 

[theblet]

Despite Progressive jacking up my rates..
They actually made it super easy to deal with them. OP, not sure you mentioned who you were going through.
I basically took a bunch of pictures on the app, answered questions…and then talked to them on the phone.
They deposited the estimated repair amount in my bank in less than 48 hours…
Took it to a repair shop, they went over it…there were some overages that couldn’t be seen from the pictures, and they directly paid the collision shop for the overages, since I had my funds minus deductible, I paid the rest.

It was actually very easy to deal with them, I’ll give Flo and team that.

I have farm bureau. They have been pretty good to me over the years, even though rates are unbelievable. I’ve only filed one claim when my wife hit a dog. My agent couldn’t tell me how this would affect my rates, but said they since I barely ever use it, shouldn’t go up. No guarantees on how tho. Kinda sus

 

[SD Rebel]

I turned that off when it slammed the brakes for a bush that was 15 ft away

You mentioned the back-up sensors didn't warn you in your first post, just to confirm, you have the auto brakes shut-off, but your rear sensors are still operational? The center console toggle for the rear sensors are still on?