Reverse is for smart people

[billschroeder5842]

I'm an idiot. A BIG idiot.

I was backing up this afternoon and I forgot that I left my daily driver in the middle of the driveway.

Stupid.

Now I have two cars to fix.

[DadsCharger00]

  it could've been worse....sorry to see that!

[Ghoste]

Ouch, and you can't even yell at the idiot who hit you.  (well you could but it might make others uncomfortable)

[charger Downunder]

I think the biggest mistake was not leaving your daily driver there, it was not turning your head round first and having a look before reversing. Just don't do it again.

[twodko]

Ouch Bill! Sorry that happened to you........I'm calling your mom!

[A383Wing]

can you blame it on someone else....like maybe Skippy?

Bryan

[Indygenerallee]

Shit happens, looks pretty minor, be good as new! 

[XH29N0G]

Beats backing into your Grandfather's car.  I did that when I was about 17, and at a pretty good clip.

[bakerhillpins]

At least you were in it to stop it. Can't tell you the number of forgot to put it in neutral stories I know of that ended up with a tree firmly planted in a license plate. 

[Fred]

Ouch! that hurts. 

[billschroeder5842]

Yes, could have been worse. My daily driver (bmw 335) will require a new bumper cover---as they all do with that type of hit.

It is only money!!

[myk]

Don't feel too bad man.  I remember I left my '69 in Neutral, walked away and then heard the loud noise which was the Charger rolling backwards into a light pole.  I was not happy...

[bull]

Oh well. Nothing you can do about it now but learn from it, fix the damage and move on.

[bill440rt]

Ouch! That sucks. 

Don't feel bad, had that happen a few times in out family as well.
As a kid I left the back door in my mom's Caddy Fleetwood land barge. She proceeded to close it for me with the garage opening while pulling the car in. 
My dad took out the quarter panel in my mom's Horizon with the rear bumper of my '71 Road Runner.
My brother took out the front panel of my '87 Conquest with the rear bumper of is F150.

Great memories!   

[six-tee-nine]

Dude go to a doctor..........fast, I think you suffered from a massive burst of female DNA. Imagine what could happen if you start driving like a girl all the time.....

Sorry could'nt resist....
I hope you can get it sorted out.    BTW cant you fool your insurance company? Afterall we all pay more than enough every year we dont need them..

[Ghoste]

Not that it matters because we really only care about the Charger but how badly damaged was the daily driver?

[bill440rt]

I hope you can get it sorted out.    BTW cant you fool your insurance company? Afterall we all pay more than enough every year we dont need them..

Actually, he probably doesn't need to "fool" his insurance company. It's still a collision claim. 
This happens more often than you think.

Bill, have you contacted your insurance company about this? 

[billschroeder5842]

No, I have not contacted the insurance-my bad so I'll suck this up.

I went to a body shop this afternoon and got estimates. The daily driver is about 450 (take off the rear bumper, repair the creases, paint and reinstall) but I'm still waiting on the Charger.

Any guesses?

[bill440rt]

I'm thinking a couple grand.  
New rear bumper (can't straighten it, if you did it would have to be rechromed anyway).
Possibly a new bumper bracket if bent.
The corner cap is crushed so it probably would be better to replace. Plus it would give more access for a better repair to the lower valence.
The lower valence panel needs some extensive repairs (you can see it's folded where it tucks behind the bumper).
Possible minor damage to the floor and/or inside the trunk based on the valence panel damage. At the very least there will be some spot refinishing required inside the trunk.
Looks like the passenger quarter panel has some minor damage as well, and there would be an overlapping repair there if the cap is replaced. Now your getting into replacing a section of the tail stripe, trim removal/reinstall, etc etc.

Looks like minor damage, but once you or a shop gets into it to do it correctly & not half-a$$ed will require some work.  

[Charger_Dart]

sorry to see that happen to you. Hope you get it repaired soon. Last year my wife did something very similar, but fortunately did not hit the Charger. Insurance fixed everything, but rates did increase. 

[Homerr]

Any guesses?

$20,000 after it snowballs into a full repaint/resto.

[Benji]

Believe it or not there is a VERY easy way to prevent most accidents that happen when backing up.  When we back up we are usually in a hurry (going to work in the morning for example.)  We hop in the car, start it, yank it in reverse and quickly look into the rear view mirror and when we don't see anything we quickly back up.  The problem is even if we look at all three mirrors (if equipped) we only see a VERY small area, in fact in some cars the area that cannot be seen is from the rear bumper out to 15 feet behind the car! Fifteen feet of blind area.  This is why so many children get killed, they simply cannot be seen. A rear view mirror allows us to see approximately a 20° view of the area behind us depending on the vehicle.

It is no secret that we have a much larger field of view (about a 180° view) when looking through the windshield when compared to looking in the rear view mirror.  So what is the solution?  If you normally park your car in the driveway or in the garage when you come home after work, don't pull into the driveway, back into it.  When you pull up to the driveway in preparation to back into it you can look out at it through the windshield and see if there is anything or anyone one in the way. The next morning when you pull away from the house you will again be looking out through the windshield which has that 180° view not the 20° afforded by the rear view mirror.  Simple but effective.

Ben

[Dino]

Believe it or not there is a VERY easy way to prevent most accidents that happen when backing up.  When we back up we are usually in a hurry (going to work in the morning for example.)  We hop in the car, start it, yank it in reverse and quickly look into the rear view mirror and when we don't see anything we quickly back up.  The problem is even if we look at all three mirrors (if equipped) we only see a VERY small area, in fact in some cars the area that cannot be seen is from the rear bumper out to 15 feet behind the car! Fifteen feet of blind area.  This is why so many children get killed, they simply cannot be seen. A rear view mirror allows us to see approximately a 20° view of the area behind us depending on the vehicle.

It is no secret that we have a much larger field of view (about a 180° view) when looking through the windshield when compared to looking in the rear view mirror.  So what is the solution?  If you normally park your car in the driveway or in the garage when you come home after work, don't pull into the driveway, back into it.  When you pull up to the driveway in preparation to back into it you can look out at it through the windshield and see if there is anything or anyone one in the way. The next morning when you pull away from the house you will again be looking out through the windshield which has that 180° view not the 20° afforded by the rear view mirror.  Simple but effective.

Ben

It is very effective, just don't forget to look into the garage before backing into it as someone in the family may have put something there after you left for work.  Ask me how I know....

My wife backed out her cr-v last year, at a good clip, and did not notice my one week old car sitting there.  Fender and bumper were hit pretty bad, repair shop of course did a lousy job so now I'll have to redo the whole damn thing again.

It happens before you know it and it sucks but what can you do? 

[billschroeder5842]

Homerr is more on target as I'm in the "might as well do this and might as well do that"

No word yet but the body shop, but the guy said that the bumper and brackets apear to be straight with no damage and the trunk looks good. He said that the damage is confimed to sheet metal which he will weld (?) a bracket on will be able and "pull/work" the sheet metal very straight. He said that it will only require a small amout of body filler then paint.

Hmmm...sounds like he has promised a thirsty man water

[Homerr]

Heh, I knew it!

Here's the dent puller.  Some use a slide hammer instead of the pry bar this guy has.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsC7vrgXj_0

[c00nhunterjoe]

If it makes you feel any better I backed over my wife's focus 4 years ago in my lifted f250.............

[billschroeder5842]

Thanks, but I feel sorry for you!

I have not heard the end of it from my wife about me being a "Bad driver"

Bimmer goes in next week--drop it off in the morning and pick it up the next night.

No work yet on the Charger....but that is an October expense!

[JB400]

When I was 4, I was sitting in my mom's new Plymouth Duster Turismo in the passenger seat.  We lived at the top of a steep hill.  She got out and left me in the car.  I grabbed hold of the shifer and pulled it in to first.  No the car was not running.  The car rolled down and knocked out the left side mirror.  I didn't get in trouble.
I worked in a salvage yard in high school.  I took out the left side quarter panel and ripped off the entire door skin on a 96 cavalier.  It's all plastic.  Luckily, the car  was smashed on the right side.

[billschroeder5842]

Got the Bimmer back yesterday---looks good.

Got the Charger estimate...$883.00

Ouch!

[Ghoste]

Well hopefully soon you come on here and tell us it looks great too.  Still sorry this happened to your Charger of course but it could have been worse as we have said.

[bill440rt]

$883 is not bad at all.
I take it he is repairing everything?

[Homerr]

$20,833 isn't bad at all for a restoration.   

[Lord Warlock]

at least you have only done it once,  I on the other hand have done it at least twice, possibly three times.  Luckily it wasn't the charger r/t that was involved or i'd be suicidal.  (can't murder the culprit when you can only blame yourself)  I backed out of the garage in my stealth twin turbo, and nailed the neighbor's van who had parked it there to do some maid work for the wife when she was prego 16 years back, put a small dent in the front bumper of the neighbors car, used insurance to fix it (which then promptly raised my rates for 3 years), but only scratched the rear bumper of the stealth which i fixed myself. 
Then I repeated the process again with the stealth backing up into the wifes Intrepid, again no major damage to either car, thank goodness for an elastomeric style rear bumper on the stealth, it actually rode up the nose enough to lift the body of the stealth up....whipped out the buffer and some compound and couldn't tell i'd done anything. 

I eventually replaced the rear bumper of the stealth just because it had a dimple in it.  I believe i did it again with one the mustangs i had, again with one of my wife's daily drivers, but can't put a finger exactly which one. 

I usually look out the kitchen window before going into the garage, use the garage door opener, and look behind me as the door starts to go up, but obviously forgot a couple/few times.  Nowadays I am alot more careful doing it as its too expensive to fix a 40k car for being stupid.

I'm a safe driver when i'm on the street having had one accident in 30+ years of driving, and it was minor and not my fault as the other guy veered into my lane and my avoiding him caused the accident i was in, but i'm semi dangerous in my own driveway. 

[A383Wing]

kinda proves the theory that most accidents occur within a few miles of home...wonder what the stats are of accidents in your own driveway

Bryan

[Ghoste]

Which maybe just means that most of us don't drive nearly as far as we think we do?

[billschroeder5842]

**UPDATE**

I took the Charger in today to get the rear end fixed--a penelty tax from my stupidity. The guy who owns the place (Hollywood Finishes, Keller, Texas) has a '70 charger that he is fixing for his own use, so he was crawling all over mine looking comparing etc. His '70 will be magnificent when he is done.

I pick it up next Friday as I have a couple of extra things being done to it. I'm traveling next week so the timing works out perfectly.

I think my baby is in good hands!

[hatersaurusrex]

Don't feel bad... when I was in high school I had a 91 Ford Ranger, and I got in it one November morning to go to school and forgot that my sis had her 88 Civic parked right behind me.   I put it in reverse without looking back and BANG.   Of course my old man has a temper like a pit bull, so I jumped out in a panic and looked, luckily only a little abrasion on her bumper so just backed out through the yard and went on my way before anyone could see what happened.    She never knew either, and probably won't unless she buys a Charger and comes lurking on here

A few years ago, my wife's jeep was parked behind my F150, so I cut the wheels and backed out of the driveway through the yard.  Right as I got to the road, I heard a nasty metal-on-metal scraping sound.   I was looking in the rearview the whole way so I assumed a bearing gave out or something else.   Got out and looked underneath, nothing there.  Went around behind the truck and... yeah.  Mailbox.   It put a couple of ugly scratches on my tailgate but talk about feeling stupid.   If you've never owned an 04-08 F150, the beds on those things are very high in the air.   I never saw the mailbox in the mirror.   I'm glad I didn't have one of those fancy brick jobs...

I banged the mailbox back onto the post and went on to work, but every time I look at those scratches now I feel stupid.

Maybe the moral of the story is 'Don't back up when driving Ford trucks unless you've surveyed the area first'.   I'm sure there are guys on here who will abbreviate that to 'That's what you get for driving a Ford in the first place'

[Dino]

Maybe the moral of the story is 'Don't back up when driving Ford trucks unless you've surveyed the area first'.   I'm sure there are guys on here who will abbreviate that to 'That's what you get for driving a Ford in the first place'

Fails On Reverse Drive     

[Cooter]

Twas backing CHRISTINE out of her hibernation about 2 months ago. Couldn't see sh*t through the dew on the glass, along with being tinted balck as night. Anyway, bout the time I'm thinking "I shoulda seen that well by now. WTF?" BANG!  $1000.00 worth of rear bumper screwed. My boy was standing there at the time and never said a word. I asked him later why the hell he didn't say something. He replied: "I figured every time I try and tell you somethings close, you yell back to "Stop yelling your gonna make me hit something", so I didn't and damn if I ain't in trouble anyway?".....I had to just laugh.

[jasonspragg]

ouch, I bet you will forever check your back window when you back up.

Side note, love how minor the damage is to the charger and how major the damage is to the bimmer, gotta love the fact our cars were built like tanks and can take hits and not show alot of damage unlike fiberglass bodies

[JB400]

In this case Cooter, dang if you do, dang if you don't.  Dang

[kikgas01]

Be sure to post pics of the repair!!