Ouch this hurts.
 

Hate it when I take really good care of my car only to come out and see this.

http://i.imgur.com/vQ7LMMY.jpg?1

I'm not upset this happened, I'm upset no note was left and upset I have to pay out of pocket for some coward. There are cameras so I hope I get their plate.
Never really done a claim like this before but do body shops let you pick an aftermarket bumper? I doubt it but thought I'd understand how it works before going through with everything.

That sucks man, I've been there and I know the feeling.

The insurance company pays amount to fix repairs minus deductible. If the aftermarket bumper is cheaper than OEM\stock replacement that the insurance company/shop is planning to use, then you can go that route. You can always just pay the difference if aftermarket costs more.

That sucks! I worry about that happening every day I park on the street in NYC. People just don't care and have no respect.

Since you don't seem to be really upset about it, let me do it for you. That's BULLSHIT. People just don't have common decency anymore. My friend had an incident like this but since it was in a mall parking lot, there were cameras everywhere.

Cops had to get involved when my friend tried to do it amicably, but the guy who hit him tried to ignore my friend after admitting to the damage. I'm sure he got a ticket due to the video evidence. Serves him right. I hope you find out who did this to your car.

When I was in NYC, looking at the side street parking was just disgusting, almost all cars had scratches on the back. Smart ones has the bumper flap on the trunk.

Hope OP gets this sorted out :/

Gotta wait until Monday to see if I have any footage. I'm never parking on the corner of a street again, I had the biggest fear of this happening and made sure I backed up more than necessary to leave room for people to turn. Somehow this person still managed to hit me, my tires have marks on them but luckily the fender and everything else looks good.

Dude, that sucks. Hopefully you get that repaired as soon as possible so you can start enjoying your baby again.

Good luck!

Damn. That sucks. Hopefully you get a dashcam going forward. I don't even feel safe driving without my dashcam running. So many idiot drivers these days.

Brings my piss to a boil.

Whoever did that deserves ass cancer, but growing on their face. I hope everything turns out in the end. That shit makes me sad for your car to be disrespected like that. :cry:

I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I lost my old mk3 vr6 jetta to a hit and run.

Body shops will install whatever you tell them to do. It's insurance companies that are the pain to deal with.

Being someone who has "ass cancer" I think this is a bit harsh. I do agree however that it royally sucks. I think every time a twin is hit or damaged, a unicorn dies somewhere. But wishing something that horrible on someone is just negative karma. I'm sure the guy who hit your car will have his karma coming. As everyone knows, karma is a bitch. I hope they find him and remember, it could always be worse. You or your family could have been IN the car and hurt. I know its hard to think about, but sometimes you need to count the small blessings.

Man that really sucks. What an asshole for just drive away, maybe a drunk driver?

Hopefull you have full cover and insurance can take care of it quickly.

Been through it. I'm assuming you have full coverage. I'm also assuming the vehicle isn't totaled, which it doesn't look like it is.

Your insurance company will have an adjuster inspect the damage and make an estimate based on bringing the car back to the condition it was in before the accident. They will not give you extra cash to get a slick aftermarket bumper cover. They will pay the cost of the stock bumper plus the cost of labor to replace it.

HOWEVER, if you're willing to shell out the difference, you can work with the body shop to install your aftermarket bumper cover instead. How easy that is will depend on your insurance company and whether you use one of their "preferred" shops.

The way it usually works:

IF you use their partner or "preferred" shops, the insurance company pays the shop directly for the work minus your deductible, then you pay the deductible directly to the shop. These places often have the claims adjusters right there in offices within the shop, so it's not always clear whether you're dealing with the shop or the insurance company. In those cases they try to present a united customer service experience. The advantage of doing it this way is that if the actual repair ends up costing more than the estimate, the insurance company works that out directly with the shop, and you're not stuck trying to go back to them demanding more money. The disadvantage is that since the insurance company and shop are dealing directly, you have less say in what happens with the vehicle.

IF you decide to use a shop of your choosing instead, the insurance company may pay the shop directly, or they may cut you a check to settle the claim, after which you can do whatever you want with that money. You can then do the work yourself if you want and pocket the labor cost. Or you can cut a deal with your body shop for less than what you got. Or you may end up finding that the actual repair cost was higher than what you received, in which case you're fighting with the insurance company for the difference. In some cases, when you sign the release, that's all you get, so any extra is on you.

To be clear, you always have the right to get another estimate, and it's often a good idea to do so. You do not have to use their partner shops.

So to your specific question about the aftermarket bumper:

If you're using the insurance company's partner shop, they will try to "manage" you into their process where they just deliver you a repaired vehicle with no special considerations. However, you can usually step around the claims representative and talk with the shop personnel to arrange for something different. You could work out with them that you want to replace the bumper cover with an aftermarket item and arrange to pay them the difference.

IF you're using your own shop, you get less interference from the insurance company. You just tell the body man what you want and arrange with him to pay any difference. Or, if you're getting a check directly from the insurance company, you just order the bumper yourself and take it to him, then make sure he takes the cost of the bumper out of the final bill since you already bought it.

I've been through this twice with my Jeep. The first time I used the insurance company's partner shop and felt like I got rather screwed. The second time I got a check directly and used a shop of my choosing, and I felt I had much more control over the process and what happened to the vehicle. That second time I had them do some custom work that would have been nearly impossible to get done at one of those partner shops. On the other hand, I knew exactly what needed to be done, so there were no surprises where I would come up short and have to fight the insurance company for more money.

Does that help?