fender bender

fender bender

A small car accident in which minimal damage is incurred. Michelle was a new driver so she was extremely upset when she had her first accident. Luckily, it was a fender bender and there was no real damage to either car involved.
See also: bender, fender
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

fender bender

Fig. a minor car accident. A small fender bender tied up traffic on the expressway for hours!
See also: bender, fender
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

fender-bender

1. n. a minor accident. (see also rear-ender.) There are a couple of fender-benders on the expressway this morning, so be careful.
2. n. a reckless driver (who causes minor accidents). I can’t get insurance on my seventeen-year-old, who is a hopeless fender-bender.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

fender bender

A minor collision of automobiles, resulting in minimal damage. Dating from the mid-1900s, the term owes its long life to its rhyme. For example, “I hope my insurance company isn’t going to charge me for that little fender bender; I barely scratched the other car and no one was hurt.”
See also: bender, fender
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • bender
  • fender
  • fender-bender
  • by accident or design
  • design
  • (whether) by accident or design
  • accident
  • whether
  • by accident
  • waiting
References in periodicals archive
The parties to the fender bender were then brought to Camp Karingal where the dentist filed complaints of threat and reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property against the American national.
The Making of Parts may have confirmed Daniel as one of the UK's most promising new directors, but he had already received considerable acclaim for his 2003 debut, Fender Bender.
"In usual practice, if a patient has minor trauma from a fender bender or a fall and you get an MRI, it shows a high-intensity zone, an annular fissure, or end plate changes, and the normal thing that we think is that these findings are ...
"If a patient has minor trauma from a fender bender or a fall and you get an MRI, it shows a high intensity zone, an annular fissure, or end plate changes, and the normal thing that we think is that these findings are ...
Known as fender bender crimes in the US, the problem is escalating in Wales with a staggering 71 per cent - 1.2 million - of motorists returning to their cars to find damage done but no note left.
But what I thought was a bit of a fender bender turned out to be a write-off, so my wife set about swiftly acquiring another vehicle.
Losses have also proven almost nonexistent thus far, said Morelli, with claims generated mostly from "minor fender bender" incidents.
In July last year, the police arrested a JR Tokai Bus diver for causing a fender bender on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture after drinking.
For example, if a squabble over a fender bender transitions into a full-blown fist fight in the presence of the landlord's representatives, clearly the representatives should intervene by calling the proper authorities.
BeneFit Gloss in Fender Bender, $14, www.benefitcosmetics.com
I was in my early 20s, and the case was about a fender bender on that greatest of all roads, the New Jersey Turnpike.
Jackson and Ben Affleck get involved in a fender bender on the freeway.
"Don't assume that because a [pregnant] woman has had only a fender bender that you can relax," said Carol Harvey R.N.C., a staff nurse who specializes in high-risk obstetrics at St.
Matters such as what to do with an elderly shoplifter, whether to enforce an outstanding warrant for a poor mother, or whether to report a minor fender bender during a shift may not be the stuff of action-adventure movies, but they weigh on many police officers nonetheless.
With only one homicide for every 29 in the Fifth District, and few diplomatic crises more serious than a fender bender, these officers are little more than window dressing.