The Madness of Prowler

Over the weekend someone nailed my driver's side mirror on my car while it was parked on the street. I decided a) that M and I should not take up three parking spots in our 8 car lot and b) I'd let M park her car off the street. My reward? Smashed mirror, no note from the perpetrator.

No good deed goes unpunished.
-- Clare Boothe Luce

So at first, I'm real pissed. Then I calm down. It's how I deal with these things. I didn't even find out myself. macalyster noticed it when he and kalisti23 came over to get fitted for some clothes M is making for them. So macalyster, indicated he knew where there was an auto salvage yard nearby in Newton. So we went to find it, only a few miles away, and it's not there. Or if it was, it was closed and hiding. There's a recycling place there (might be a transfer station/swap shop sort of dealio) but I didn't see any smashed up cars there.

Anyway, as I looked more at the mirror, it's electronic and heated, I realized it may be more difficult for me to replace than I originally thought. I've got a $300 deductable, the mirror is available for $100 or so (wrong color though) and I'd probably cause $500 worth of damage trying to get it replaced.

My plan, first call insurance agent to find out if I'll get surcharged if I report this and file a claim. Then, I think I have to file a police report. Then I'm going to get a quote from Subaru to find out how much it would cost to repair the damage. It's possible there's other damage on the car I simply haven't noticed if I was sideswiped. If insurance is going to pay enough, and I can also get an estimate for $300 less than what insurance is willing to pay, I may be able to get out of this without paying anything out of pocket. It really all depends on what the cost is going to be.

Major pain in the ass though I tell ya. And I've been unlucky in finding the mirror at an auto salvage yard. At least if I could find one, I could get a sense of how difficult it would be to remove and replace the damned thing. And I still need a right hand fog light so it'd be good if I could find a junked car like mine (which is proving difficult).

EDIT: Talked to a dealership. The mirror housings only come in black now, $290 installed. $200 for just the mirror and housing. On top of that, $100 if I want it painted. WTF! So close to $400 to make it look "right".

Now, I saw the mirror on line for $100 in black (so I didn't bookmark it). Now if I can only find it again or at junkyard already white.