Just doing a lil bit of ranting. As some of you guys know, I accidentally backed into my cousin's '01 Civic as I was backing out of the garage (it was parked directly across the street). The car was dark colored, the street was not lit and the weather was bad at the time.

My left bumper corner hit the point where the Civic's bumper, decklid, and right outer taillamp meet. The bumper got scratched when my rear bumper overrode it, the lower lip of the decklid got pushed in a bit (less than 0.25" inwards), same with the sheetmetal at the base of the taillamp. The right outer taillamp's lower edge was shattered, however. My rig was undamaged.

I did recognize my fault. Initial plan was to have insurance handle it and I just supply a taillamp to lower the participation cost.

I'm just ranting because now my cousin texts me that a surplus taillamp will not be good enough since it has small scratches and imperfections [even a brand new lamp will not stay perfect for long once exposed to the elements, right? And how perfect was the 5-year old lamp I broke?] and that the insurance accredited repair facility is not good enough for them also.

What they want is a brand new taillamp and the seemingly minor repair to be done by ALEX Car Restoration (one of the most expensive shops in the area). And ALEX wants Php12k to do the job. Unfortunately, the insurance only sees the damage as worth Php6k and that's just how much they gave my cousin as their cash settlement. So now my cuz wants me to cough up the difference.

It's not really the money that irks me. Nakakaasar lang kasi parang hindi kami closed knit family (dalawang families na lang kaming naiwan sa 'Pinas). Ang dami kong kakilalang shops who would do the job for even less than the insurance estimate and still do a good job. Still they insist dun pa sa pinakamahal dalhin. It's just a minor rant but it was something I didn't expect especially coming from close relatives. The vehicle isn't even anywhere near mint condition to deserve Alex's work.

Ayun lang, sana pala winasak ko na lang para mas sulit ang bayad sa Alex...
Hindi naman ata nagmamadali sa bayad, medyo nagulat lang ako sa pagpa-pagawaan.

***btw, this thread might be deleted in a few days...