Car breaks down - good 'samaritan' damages it
 

OK, so firstly its not my car.. my parents.

2006 or 7 Toyota Matrix.

the car just dies on the road at a major intersection before the lights. its got around 130000km on it.

My Dad is like old old old, what's he gonna do? (shoulda called BCAA!)

apparently its some issue with the transmission.

So... he gets the assistance of some guy who asked if he could help push the car off the road. ..so he agrees...

Anyways, the car is parked at a gas station and towed to a local Toyota dealership where it is fixed.

The car is ready for pickup yesterday and Dad drives it back.

TODAY - early AM around 7, I pay them a visit..and lo and behold, i notice a HUGE dent in the rear hatch. I'm like "mom, dad? someone hit you?"... they're oblivious.. no clue ..so i go like "there's a HUGE dent in the hatch"... and Dad realizes at THAT TIME... oh man, the guy with the jeep when he pushed the car with his vehicle must have put the dent in it.. i was like 'wtf, what speed was he going?'... anyways, i have to assume they are SOL.. and will have to repair it out of pocket. no contact details on that jeep at all.

https://i.imgur.com/PC75rah.jpg

sorry that happened :( you're best bet is getting a junkyard trunk to replace it.

/thread

its possible that a large amount of that dent can be pulled?
worth your while to get someone to look at it instead of trying to repair it at a bodyshop straight away.

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van...816448428.html
https://vancouver.craigslist.org/rds...829526583.html

its possible to pull it out, but since the dent is on that body line it is extremely unlikely that its gonna look good after its pulled out

If you don't want to go through ICBC, Like Swonz said go junkyard and try to find one same color and see how much it is. I don't think it would be expensive maybe couple hundred dollars?
You can try the local car wreckers on Mitchell Island (JK Auto, B&E) if no luck I just checked Chilliwack Pick A Part, and they have some Matrix from 2004-2007. There is a 2004 that is silver, not sure if anything has changed from that year and your dads 06-07. You can call them to see if its still on the car.

Seriously?:badpokerface:

Reminds me of a number of years ago I watched a good samaritan pull out jumper cables to help someone out with a dead battery and then he proceeded to put them on backwards and start a fire in the other car's engine bay... GG and SOL

Thread jack; if your parents were oblivious to the sent from the push, should they be operating a motor vehicle?

On topic, junkyard trunk is likely what will be your best option. I'm sure silver Matrix trunks are available. I was going to suggest PDR but the paint already flaked at the top.

sorry to say but the irony is pretty strong on this one

I think when you let someone push your car with their car, you forfeit any ability to claim damage from said push...

You guys questioning the push, you’ve never seen this before? Lol I’ve axtuallt seen it quite a bit. Especially on the port Mann I’ve seen cops with the push bars push cars off the bridge deck probably 8-10 times

I think they better start using public transit LUL

Sorry, but how and when does a Toyota ever break down like this?

they got a quote from a local body shop... new hatch/painted/installed. $900.

but yah, how the heck does a matrix essentially a corolla break down like this... and yah i'm the first to admit and i've already told them.. one of them needs to give up driving.

Well $900, is it worth it? Someone educate me on this, does the hatch have any structural implications on safety? If not, why bother fixing it? What's the worse than can happen anyway? Rust? Ok. VI? Unlikely anyway, they'd rather VI the classic e36 next to it LOOOOOOOO

wtf, maybe it's just me and my ignorance, but since when was it normal procedure to push people's car with another car?

What happen to the good old, one guy steering and 2 guys in the back pushing the car?

I mean the only exception I can see this being a "good" idea is that it happened on an uphill.

looks like old grandpa got a push but stomped the breaks good while going a decent speed all without a tire to protect the body,live & learn
https://media.giphy.com/media/l2JhOV...oXXq/giphy.gif

Probably ran out of gas. :badpokerface:

Normally you'd use two vehicles that are roughly the same height, so it's bumper to bumper contact where the vehicle is actually strong. If the bumper is at the height of the hatch that's just sheet metal you're gonna have a bad time.

is that really damage from another car pushing it? it looks like there are two points of contact, the top left and bottom left corner. Only the top left corner appears to have traded paint. if a car is pushing from behind, why is the damage only on the left side of the trunk?

if they were oblivious to the damage, then it could have happened anywhere before/after the incident and they just didn't know about it if it was a hit/run. Or they are embarrassed to admit they backed into something.

also, wouldn't the shop that fixed the car have done a walk around to see the condition of it before taking it in? If they saw a giant dent like that, i'm sure it would have been brought up.

Also check on car-part.com, there's a bunch at wreckers in the lower mainland. Some you'll have to call for the price, but it says http://www.importautorecyclers.com/ has a silver one for $390.