askchapo

More advice for next time since the ship has sailed but never admit fault. Insurance is going to sort it out anyway so what you said to the guy doesn't really matter. If you said it to the cops it's another story.

If you were rear ended it's not your fault period. Even if you slammed on the brakes and came to a complete stop they were following too closely. Obviously this doesn't apply if you changed lanes in an intersection or something.

Anyway yeah my piece of advice to you is always look where you are going to put your car before you put it there, check your mirrors more often, and if you can swing it get a dash cam. If your trunk won't close and you can't afford the repair it's probably just bent in a way it's not supposed to and you might be able to beat it back into shape with a 3 pound sledge

Take lots of pictures. Ideally at the time of the crash, but evrn now pictures of your own car and the damage are useful. Also pictures of the intersection. You say it is your fault but unless you changed lanes I don't think it was.

The chill guy might start lying if he actually sucks or gets a big surprise bill from his mechanics.

Suss out vibes at shops because many of them are misogynist. And many are absolutely fantastic and cool. The ones I like usually have pride flags so that might be a way to find one.

My general advice is that if the other person is fine and not mad, then it 'never happened' in the eyes of insurance. The rate increase is almost never worth the actual cost of the repair but I tend to drive beaters.

My advice would be to ask for a used bumper and tell them in any case color match is not important. You can also drive fine w/o the bumper, but make sure your taillight is replaced.

Taillight should be $5 part, $20-60 in labor depending on how anti-mechanic your car's design is.

Car bumpers are about $70, but truck/SUV bumpers can be like $200 and the replacement labor can be nuts, especially if some of the attachment points were damaged too.

No clue how much trunk repair should be but there is a reason you see so many twined down trunks and bed gates...

If you've got a body shop in mind, they should be able to give you an itemized quote.

Paint Match $$$ This Part $$$ That Part $$$ Some other Parts $$$

You can either take that quote to other shops and see what they say or do some general googl'in to see what the parts cost on the internet to get an okay ballpark range of acceptible prices.

In answer to what you asked:

Call around to some body shops and see what their availability is. If you want to get some good recommendations, make small talk at gas stations about it: “say, you wouldn’t know a good body shop around here would you?”

When you interact with the body shop they could be all over the place with pricing for a bunch of reasons. Usually if you say you’re paying out of pocket and you just need it back up and running they’ll quote lower and if you say it’s gonna be paid for out of your insurance or the other drivers insurance they’ll quote higher. They might give you two quotes, one from a cursory inspection and another from actually tearing into it and seeing what’s up. Don’t be surprised if they eyeball it and say some number then actually start working and it comes out higher. Body work is like that because for example if you hit a deer and bust out your headlight and crinkle up your hood they might say “new headlight and hood, just $200” but once they actually look it turns out that the panel the headlight needs to be bolted into needs to be straightened up/welded/replaced and they come out to $400.

So you have to figure out how to trust the shop somehow. Shops know this and they occupy different niches like the good ol boys types who make you come up and talk to em while they’re working all the way to places with air conditioned offices with free drinks and someone whose job it is to explain everything to you. It just depends on what matters to you.

You might also peruse rockauto and youtube and see if you feel comfortable doing it yourself.

First of all, it's just a car and you are okay. That's what matters.

That said call around and get some quotes. There are local facebook groups and you can ask in those and usually people are very vocal about mechanics who are either particularly good or bad. So a simply post in your town or burb's community page of "Need a good mechanic/body shop for car repairs... any suggestions?" should get you dozens of replies. Then you get quotes form the two top recommended ones. If it's a mechanic and they do you right this time, keep going back.

Having a good, honest mechanic who doesn't fleece you is one of those adult things nobody tells you about but is a must. You have to build a list of "guys". Then before you know it someone says something like, "I got ants out of control in my apartment" and you respond without thinking, "Oh, you need a bug guy? I got a bug guy. Lemme get you his number."

i have heard that after a car crash you should go to a doctor to get checked for whiplash, or atleast have the doctor register on record you were in a car crash incase you develop injuries later because of the car crash

dunno why i think it has something to do with health insurance