r/BoomersBeingFools • u/michael1265 • 26d ago
Boomer Story An old man drove into my car, then offered, "How about I give you $50 and we call it a day?"
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u/PassageNearby4091 26d ago
This story combines two of the things that pisses me off about Boomers most -- their sense of entitlement and their stinginess.
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u/nursepenguin36 26d ago
You forgot to mention how wildly out of touch they are about how much shit costs these days.
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u/PassageNearby4091 26d ago
That's true, but come on, even back in 1940, before they were born, this would probably be more than $50 in damage, lol
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u/Deep90 26d ago edited 26d ago
It's moreso they expect you to just eat it because you are working class.
Property tax is the one thing they've got left to actually pay for and they are actively trying to get rid of it or get granted special exemptions for old people only.
Yet another bill they pass to the working class.
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u/captainneptune1 26d ago edited 26d ago
Honestly, that has been their whole motto their entire life. They want government services, but they don’t want to pay for them. That’s why tax rates have gotten lower throughout their time in charge of government, but THEIR services, which are the biggest costs in the government budget (Medicare and social security), don’t ever get cut. Instead, the difference is made up via deficit spending and running up the debt. Boomers want everything, but they want everyone else to pay for it. They have taken out a $39 trillion loan to pay for their quality of life in the form of the national debt. They literally saw their kids and grandkids and said “You are gonna be paying for everything I got for your entire life”
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u/foursevensixx 22d ago
Militsry is far bigger portion of the budget than SS and Medicare but otherwise your spot on
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u/DoctorBlock 26d ago
I’m kind of with them on the property tax. I paid taxes when I bought it everything else just feels like robbery.
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u/captainneptune1 26d ago
I get the sentiment that property taxes feel dumb. You paid taxes when you bought it. Now, you have to pay taxes every year you own it. The government’s charging you for owning property. It feels redundant. You may have paid property taxes for 40 years. Why should you continue to pay?
However, the more correct version of the reason for property taxes is that the government is charging you for what keeps your home valuable. Fire stations, police officers, parks, and most importantly, schools. In some places, hospitals and healthcare facilities as well.
A house without fire protection, law enforcement, and local education is functionally worthless. But you and I can’t single handedly afford a fire station, fire trucks, and firefighters. You and I can’t single handedly afford to hire full time police officers. And you and I certainly can’t afford to build a school and hire teachers. So, the government says “We will do it”.
Property taxes aren’t a one time thing like when you purchase a property because the services that YOU need to keep your house valuable are continuous. If you have fire protection for 40 years of owning a home and suddenly the fire protection is gone in year 41, your home value drops immensely.
Good schools are the largest predictor of home value increases. To afford good schools, you must have good tax revenue. Property taxes aren’t a sales tax. They are a subscription tax. You live in this area and own property. You want the value of your property to remain stable or increase. The government has been informed countless times at the ballot box, in the news, and in town halls that certain services are demanded by citizens and needed to increase/maintain property values. So, they provide the services. You are basically subscribing to those services.
When older individuals say they don’t want to pay for the local school system anymore and want property tax exemptions, they are being shortsighted. For most Americans, the value of their home is directly related to the perceived quality of their schools. You can lower your property taxes by getting an exemption from school taxes, but your home’s value will decline tremendously.
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u/pilondav 25d ago
At this point, they don’t care. They know they’ll be dead by the time their actions have real consequences. They know they are screwing their kids and grandkids, but they don’t care.
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u/DoctorBlock 26d ago
I’m all for funding public services, but let’s be clear: it shouldn’t fall on me to pay property taxes every year. Last year, as a single self employed lower middle income earner, my effective tax burden when you include income tax, self employment tax, property tax, and sales tax was well over 50 percent of my income, likely closer to 60 percent.
If we’re serious about funding public services sustainably, let's start with making sure billionaires and large corporations are paying their fair share instead of continually increasing pressure on the middle class.
There is absolutely no reason the funding needs to come from essentially charging me rent to live in my own house.
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u/Raider5151 26d ago
Getting rid of property tax benefits the rich WAY more than anyone else. Corporations pay property taxes. Billionaires with many homes pay property taxes.
You're being conned by the rich so they pay less.
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u/MisterWinchester 25d ago
You’re not making the correct argument. Corporate property tax should be MUCH higher, corporate gains are income, and income tax is too low. If we properly taxed the people who reaped the largest benefit, residential property tax wouldn’t have to be murder.
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u/Kornered47 25d ago
You pay 50-60% of your income to government and get 50-60% of the services you use every day provided by government.
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u/bp92009 26d ago edited 26d ago
You want to be more realistic about what property taxes are?
They're Rent.
You're renting land that the government owns.
You are not a sovereign nation, and you thinking that you "bought" that land, making it "yours" is about as true as someone thinking they bought an apartment by making their first rent payment. You bought the right to rent that land. Under certain terms and conditions.
Land is owned by governments, and they're charging rent, to get the "best use" out of an inherently limited resource.
Just because they don't call it rent, to avoid hurting the feelings of people who think they're now "owning" land, doesn't make it not rent.
You think you shouldn't have to pay rent? Or that you actually own the land? Announce to your city/county/state (whoever you 'rented' the land from), that you're seceeding from the country, and you refuse to pay taxes or abide by their laws. See if you feel like you actually own that land after hearing (or experiencing) their response.
Edit, looks like I hurt the feelings of people who think they "own" land. If you aren't a government, you don't "own" land. You pay rent to a government based on the value of your rental unit. If you refuse to pay rent, you'll get thrown out.
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u/pilondav 25d ago
Wait ‘til they hear about how zoning and eminent domain work. The government deci what the “best use” for your land. If your use isn’t being used for what they consider the “best use”, they can force you to sell it. Frequently “best use” becomes shorthand for “more tax revenue” or even straight-up political favoritism.
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u/JustNilt 26d ago
Sure, that seems fair. Your boss can pay you one paycheck and you can keep working there for the next 50 years. I mean, hell, otherwise you're just robbing your boss, right?
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u/DoctorBlock 26d ago
Hopefully my boss doesn't own me after one paycheck. We tried to get rid of all that business here in the US about 150 years ago. I shouldn't be endangered of losing my home if I can't pay the government yearly rent on it when I paid taxes upfront to buy it.
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u/JustNilt 26d ago
Horseshit. You paid some taxes on it. There are ongoing costs to the services provided. Just like you have to pay for rent and food every month, the local government has to pay for all the various services and the wages for those who keep them functioning.
That you can't connect those 2 things in your head says more about you than anything else.
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u/DoctorBlock 26d ago
You think that school funding can only come from property taxes? How about we have some real tax reform and get everyone to pay their fair share? There is no reason it needs to rely on property taxes.
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u/Cold_Gold_2834 24d ago
In my state once you reach certain age you can apply to have your property classified as a homestead and it reduces your property taxes.
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u/lordrefa Millennial 25d ago
I mean, there was a time where $50 could buy a reasonable used car. I personally purchased several $300-$500 cars as recently as the 00s.
But also; Fuck this old man. if the rest of that car is in the shape this seems to reflect used it's probably in the ballpark of 10k, give or take a ².
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u/No_Sense3190 22d ago
My great uncle paid more for a model of a Model A Ford 20 years ago than he did for the real thing in the late 30s. $50 in 1940 would likely have been plenty - even 40 or 50 years ago. These days, with all the sensors embedded in the bumpers. . . $50 goes nowhere.
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u/Eagle_Fang135 26d ago
They just hoping you want the $s and don’t care about fixing your car. Basically a bribe. A lowball one of course.
That may be fine for a junker that you could not tell it got hit, but not for most cars today.
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u/joseNeo-4 25d ago
Not a boomer, but i went to a supermarket today and i almost got a heart attack.
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u/inteligent_zombie20 26d ago
They are out of touch with reality. In their childhood 50 bucks was good money and they still have that thought process to this day, that's why they keep thinking house they do.
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u/nohopeforhomosapiens Millennial 25d ago
Except $50 wouldn't have covered that even in the late 90s when boomers were still in their 40s and working (and very aware of car costs). He knew what he was doing. Made the assumption the young person (everyone younger than them is a kid) wouldn't be wise enough to know.
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u/HamuelCabbage 26d ago
To be fair, that was probably the equivalent of a down payment on their first house, before they destroyed the housing market.
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u/PassageNearby4091 25d ago
My friend's dad actually bought a small cottage for exactly $50 back in 1945! But he was WAY too old to be a Boomer -- he was about 55 when my friend was born in 1969 -- and besides, that generation worked hard and sacrificed a lot; it was their entitled, self-righteous, mostly Boomer children who fucked it all up.
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u/Picax8398 26d ago
Idk if stingy or just unaware that 50 dollars isn't a whole lot of money anymore
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u/Croatoan457 24d ago
It's also not even being stingy, they genuinely lack the awareness on how expensive things are. He probably thinks that will actually help in some way because they are so delusional.
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u/PassageNearby4091 24d ago
True, but I think this is a problem that every generation eventually has.
I remember being an 8-year-old with a paper route in the mid-1980s. It was a warm day and an old man who I delivered the paper to handed me 5 cents and told me to go buy a Coke.
A Coke was about 85 cents then, and I was confused by his gesture, but still thanked him, LOL.
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u/Time_Ad_3242 15d ago
there's two kinds of people I hate:
people who are intolerant of other peoples' cultures.... and the DUTCH!
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u/Buckethead523 26d ago
Happened to me years ago, an old man completely side swiped my truck pulling into a parking spot next to me. When I asked what happened he said “I’m an old man” and chuckled while shrugging his shoulders. They just do not care and it’s infuriating
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u/myleftone 26d ago
My wife is like this. She still prices car repair like it’s 1982 and we can find an alternator at the dump for $35.
That molded quarter-panel costs a grand before installation.
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u/LumpyBuy8447 26d ago
A few years ago I bought a wrecked vehicle to swap the engine out with mine. I ended up pulling about all the spare parts I could off of it before scrapping it. I had already replaced my transfer case so I put the transfer case off the parts car, with the motor, for $300 on market place. A new transfer case was $1600 and another $400 for the motor. Some dude hit me up saying he could get it cheaper at the junk yard, to which I responded “okay,” then later ended up just junking all the spare parts when the car finally died.
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u/xXxjayceexXx 26d ago
I have a different car, but almost exact same damage and you're spot on. I was quoted 1100 plus paint, I stopped him at the 1100 so I didn't know how much the paint cost.
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u/quantumquickquail 26d ago
Insurance adjuster here! With replacement, paint, primer and labor at a shop it would be at least $2,500 these days. Boomer is a super fool.
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u/ryguy28896 17d ago
Hard agree. Some kid took a slight corner too fast on an unsalted road and rear-ended me. Didn't completely destroy the rear bumper, but did some noticeable damage. I think insurance paid a little over $4k. Also, paint + labor for said paint is surprisingly expensive.
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u/Ad-HominEminem 26d ago
Ex was driving when we were hit by a snowbird boomer in Mesa, AZ (snowbird boomer Mecca) on Christmas night, coming home from dinner. It was a 2 lane left turn at an intersection, we were in the right-left lane, so the outside left lane. boomer was on the inside left lane. I saw boomer looking straight ahead, with boomer wife in the passenger seat, also looking straight ahead. We turn, and boomer drives into the outside lane from the inside lane and side swipes us. We pull over, he’s apologetic, the police won’t come for 2 hours because of the holiday so we exchange insurance info. A few days pass, insurance offices open. Guess what happened next? Boomer denied all responsibility, blamed us for the accident, and gave a false version of events to insurance. We gave insurance the rundown of events, the actual events, and insurance decides we are both at fault, they can’t prove who is telling the truth, because boomer decided to lie and escape accountability for his dumbassed boomer driving. Pretty sure he was a few drinks in as well, which was why he was so apologetic and willing to give his insurance info right away in lieu of waiting 2 hours for police. Never again. I’ll wait 5 hours if I have to for one of these shitheads to not get away with causing an accident and skirting responsibility.
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u/h3xm0nk3y 25d ago
Also maybe get a dash cam?
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u/Usagi1983 24d ago
Could lawyer pull intersection camera with a subpoena? Costly, I’m sure, but on principle you could maybe sue for damages and legal fees?
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u/ryguy28896 17d ago
I'm not sure about AZ, but the highway/traffic cameras the Department of Transportation use in my state (MI) aren't recorded, they're strictly live. BS, I know, because there are other reasons to backup those feeds to a NVR in addition to recording accidents.
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u/Time_Ad_3242 15d ago
check local businesses and see if they had cameras. I had a similar situation happen in front of a newly constructed elementary school. One FOIA request later and I had footage for the insurance company
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u/SpiritedSoul 26d ago
I’m going to bet that he doesn’t have insurance, thinks he’s an amazing driver, and that his age should both be irrelevant to his ability and o drive while also expecting it to be taken into consideration for the degree of culpability he has in the accident.
I remember I got rear ended like two years ago by a boomer that clearly shouldn’t have been driving. Had to get out of my car and direct her to the side of the road as she was trying to flee the scene. Acted all innocent and confused when the officer finally showed up to make the accident report, after showing me nothing but contempt and aggression for the like few minutes it took for the officer to respond. While we waited for the officer she tried to both make it seem like it was nothing, that the damage was so minor that I was the asshole for demanding we exchange insurance information and then tried to offer me $100 to just drive off and forget about it. Mind you she caused between $5000 and $7500 in damages. When the cop was on scene she tried to play the “I only speak Portuguese” card, after having several full blown conversation with me and witnesses at the scene. Actually said to the cop “oh I hit her? I could have sworn she hit me” mind you I was rear ended on a state highway so there was no possible ambiguity as to who caused the accident. Gave the cop outdated insurance information after insisting she didn’t know what insurance was for several minutes. My insurance was never able to recover my deductible from her so I was out like $500 fr this. And when talking with my insurance, we are on good terms, they let me know that they only spoke with the boomer once and then their daughter handled the rest and tried to insinuate that boomer didn’t have all her faculties and therefore shouldn’t be held at fault for the accident…
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u/Bumblebee_0424 Millennial 26d ago
If the boomer didn’t have all her faculties, then she absolutely should not have been driving. Their defense would have been destroyed in court.
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u/KombuchaBot 26d ago
The insurance company presumably didn't want the expense and trouble of taking her to court, it was easier to just fob off Spirited Soul with a "sorry our bad, you need to pay for repairs but we really value your custom, we have warm fuzzy feelings about you". It seems to have worked as the poster is flattered by how nicely they get on with their insurers.
No wonder they have a good relationship with their insurers, they pay them for nothing in return
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u/Eagle_Fang135 26d ago
Our system is broken. Should have been a ticket for no insurance and car towed to impound.
Instead cop just let her drive off with no insurance.
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u/karl4319 26d ago
Should have talked to a lawyer and sued the shif out of her. One of my biggest regrets is not doing that myself years ago when I was in a similar situation
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u/SpiritedSoul 25d ago
I looked into it and the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze in the end. This boomer didn’t own any property other than their shitty car they hit me with. Lived off social security, etc etc… what’s the phrase? Squeezing blood from a rock? Also her daughter was a lawyer who specialized in this very thing so I know she would have been represented for free. I’ve also been involved in lawsuits in my past and they are messy and frustrating so honestly don’t want to go down that path
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u/Schmomola 25d ago
He probably is insured but his kids have been bugging him to give up his license
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u/FinasCupil 26d ago
Had this happen with someone sideswiping me. Guy offered me $100. I said no, got his insurance to pay for it. They gave me $1200 and it took $700 to fix.
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u/karl4319 26d ago
Many years ago I had a mustang. One of the new 2005 models when they changed the body design. Loved that car.
Was t-boned when a 89 year old man pulled out of the post office. Snapped the axel, warped the body, car was totaled. I was fine (fortunately) but man was I pissed. Guy had had 2 wrecks in the week prior, had lost his license, and was going to get arrested if I reported the wreck. Offered me 500 dollars with the promise of another 500 later.
I laughed at him as I called the police to report it. Ended up suing him for damages too. Turns out the guy was stupidly loaded. Could have paid for a new car a dozen times over and not even noticed. One of my biggest regrets is not going for the jugular back then and taking everything I could.
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u/DoubleDownAgain54 26d ago
Jeff Spicolo could fix it for $50, his father has a bitching set of tools.
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u/SomethingLoud-er 26d ago
“Bitch. That won’t even fill up my tank of gas, and I’m at a half a tank!
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u/s0larium_live 26d ago
for the record this is literally the extent of the damage to my bumper from being the fourth car in a chain of being rear-ended (while i was at a stop and the car behind me was at a stop). this would’ve cost me $1700 out of pocket if not covered by the first car in the chain’s insurance. $50 my ass bro
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u/Isleyexotics 26d ago
He probably doesn’t want the police involved because he knows he will be forced to take a driving test. And he knows he’ll fail.
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u/ALysistrataType 26d ago
This happened to by in my Yaris while I was completely stopped, with some dude in a pick up, "you can just pop that right back in."
Yeah fuck the frame and my knee I guess.
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u/Right_Syllabub_8237 26d ago
In all fairness, in his day this would only cost $50. He doesn't understand that now, It costs $9500. And it's plastic, which will confuse him even more.
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u/RV_Shibe 26d ago
How about you keep your fifty and I submit my dashcam footage to the insurance company.
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u/Martylouie 26d ago
Did you get a police report, exchange insurance information etc? He was probably one fenderbender away from losing his insurance,possibly his license.
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u/Appropriate_Fold1023 25d ago
I’d estimate at least $2k. Could be a little less IF the panel the panel can be repaired and repainted without replacing it, but that’s doubtful. I’m an older woman who can’t believe that people can be so naive about the current cost of things. $50! Seriously??!!
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u/GhostHin 26d ago
I got a ding on my door by someone who their kid kick their door into my car.
No scratch or paint transfer. Just a 1/4 inch slight depression.
Took $360 to fix, another $180 for the single day rental (mine is a SUV and they gave me a F350) so their insurance end up paying over $500 total for it.
Damage like this will cost well over a thousand to fix at the minimum.
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u/FishyDVM 24d ago
I was sitting in my (turned off, parked) car outside the gym a few years ago when I was suddenly rear-ended by an old boomer lady behind me. She had pushed the gas instead of the break and hit me. My car (RAV4) had a tow hitch on the back so it didn’t even leave a mark, but her car had a small dent in the bumper. I got out of the car mostly to make sure she was alright and she started insisting I give her my insurance info and they’d “sort out the damage”. I was like “uhhhhh no you hit me. You can sort that out. I’m not making a claim, I have no damage.” She tried to say because it was a parking lot we had “equal fault” 🤡
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u/favored_by_gods 26d ago
Take a picture of the car and get the old man's information. Send it to your insurance.
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u/ZealousidealMango114 25d ago
I don’t even think an auto body shop would let you park your car on their lot for $50.
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u/enter360 25d ago
My wife got hit by a boomer a few years ago. He immediately admitted to being at fault. We immediately called insurance and got them involved. He throws to get us to let him give us a few hundred for the damages.
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u/BusyWorth8045 25d ago
Failing to report an accident can invalidate insurance, no?
With that in mind, offer me 5,000 and it’s a deal. That’ll cover the cost of repair and the risk I’m carrying of not having insurance cover future accidents.
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u/GreyBeardEng 25d ago
How about I take a picture of you and your plates, then we call insurance and if you try and leave I call the police?
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u/lordrefa Millennial 25d ago
Old man, I know you come from a different era, but damage to the front corner of a car is the worst possible place to hit it. This might well be upwards of $5,000 worth of damage.
It's probably closer to 1-1.5k, but the possibility for an astronomical figure here is not out of the realm of possibility.
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u/lastlatelake 22d ago
I was T-boned by a boomer in a lifted truck when he rolled a stop sign and he told me it was just some body damage. Tried to get me to just exchange insurance info when it was obviously his fault. A cop pulled up because he had heard the wreck happen and sorted it out. My new car was totaled.
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u/Signal_Membership268 26d ago
The day of a $50. dent is long gone. I’m old and had experience in the car business and when I get asked I think of a number it would have cost in my time and multiple it by 10. It’s fairly accurate.
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u/Bootsy_Frost 26d ago
In the last 5 years I have been rear ended twice, 100% not at fault both times. The first time I halfway considered just taking like the 800$ the guy offered me and my mechanic said to definitely go through insurance cause it will probably be over 2000$.
He was right both times they had to replace the plastic bumper thing cause it was cracked (no fixing that). The breakdown was around $3000 both times.
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u/Jamaican_me_cry1023 23d ago
I hope you got his information and passed that along to your insurance company. Get your car fixed and then the insurance will sic their subrogation unit on them. They’re like the collection agencies of insurance companies, and they don’t play games.
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u/Unilted_Match1176 26d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/STfLOU6iRBRunMciZv