God damn motherfucking, son of a whore piece of shit bastard!!!
/rant
I was walking to my car at work and noticed from a distance some funny marks. As I came closer, to my horror, some fucker hit my car! Several long blue scratches and a cracked panel along the passenger side front lip.
It wasn’t there yesterday. I know because I had to brush snow off my car.
So while driving home I’m steaming a bit…then I remember something. The fucker who parks next to me at home has a dark blue car.
I get back and with a flash light check his car. Front passenger bumper is scratched.
OK, so, all I got is some paint transfer on my car, and his front passenger corner scratched (we park end to end). The paint on my car is blue (it’s rubbed on and looks like a light blue but it’s smeared) while his car is a darker blue. I’m going to match up the corners tomorrow and take plenty of pictures with my digital camera.
If I go to small claims (this is assuming he contests the damages, unknown yet since I got home 15 minutes ago) do you think I have enough for a win?
I’ve got to get to a repair shop and get the estimate (which I’m sure is a replacement front bumper) and do a few other things tomorrow morning before I go to work. I guess I’ll also have to talk to the driver (he’s an old guy who I’ve had a few minor issues with before but nothing like this)
And also, I don’t know who the guy who parks next to me is and I assume he isn’t going to give me his info, how do I go about getting this info from the DMV?
God damnit I hate fuckers who damage other people’s cars. It might not even be the guy next to me which means I’m paying whatever the repair is…ARGH!
I’d sure exhaust the amicable route first. Let him know that you suspect he accidentally hit you while leaving, easy to do in icy conditions. Suggest that y’all line the two bumpers up to see if the scratches match. If they don’t, it wasn’t him. If they do, his reaction will drive your next move. Either he compensates or you take him to small claims.
One thing to consider… is there enough uneven snow or ice on the pavement to have a bearing on how the two vehivles would allign?
The same thing happened to me last year. One day we noticed that the left, rear quarter panel on our car was bashed in pretty bad. We thought it happened in a parking lot. Then my husband was taking out the trash a couple of nights later and he ran into a neighbor in the driveway, who asked if Beth*, the girl who parks next to us, ever told us she’s the one who smashed our car! He happened to be out in the driveway that night and watched her do it. He said another neighbor was sitting on his porch and heard the crash, looked up, saw her re-aligning her car to back into her space, and asked the guy who’d actually seen it if it looked as bad as it sounded. Amazingly, neither one of them said anything to us because they assumed she’d come right over and let us know, herself.
I went to her door and simply asked her to provide her insurance information, as I’d learned from 2 neighbors that it was her who hit our car. She denied it, of course, but coughed up her agent’s name and number, none-the-less. I called my own agent, as we happened to be insured by the same carrier, and opened a claim for them to investigate. They forced her to take her car to their authorized repair shop to have pictures taken to compare to pictures they’d taken of mine, talked to the witnesses, determined that she was at fault and paid my expenses 100% – no need to go to court and no adverse effects on our insurance.
So ask around – it’s possible someone saw what happened and just hasn’t said anything to you. And call your insurance company to find out how a claim against your policy for a hit and run while your vehicle was legally parked and unattended would be handled. If all you have to pay is the deductible and they won’t count it against you as an accident, it’s cheaper to let them take care of it than paying for the whole repair on your own (this is assuming you can’t prove your neighbor’s liable).
My advice would be to just take pictures (take lots) and then call the police. Don’t even bother asking the person who owns the other car as 99% of the time people will just deny it, even if you saw them do it. There’s really no reason to get into an argument with someone else, just let the officer determine if the other person was at fault. Even if they weren’t, a police report will help with filing for insurance to replace the bumper. ( I know you may not NEED the report but it can help establish place and time.)
Yeah, I spoke to my insurance comany this morning (waking up 3 hours early is a bitch, I don’t start work until 1 pm!) and they told me to take some pictures and call the police. If I go strictly as a hit and run I pay my deductable but if they give me a report telling me who hit who I don’t pay a penny.
lieu Yesterday’s temperature went up above freezing so all the ice melted. The day before there was plenty of snow (wet crappy stuff) which is why I know there was no damage to my car the day before yesterday.
There is also no ice or snow on the ground at this time. I should be able to match up the corners pretty good (the ground itself is a little uneven but only by a 1/3 inch or so).
The paint is the most obvious part of the damage. Someone rubbed off a lot of it on my car (I know it’s there’s, the basecoat on my Silver Matrix is black).
The guy who parks next to me is gone right now. He normally comes back about 15 minutes before I leave normally for work. I can only hope he didn’t go through a car wash because I’m pretty sure my paint is on his car.
I’m heading out right now to get an estimate on the damage…wish me luck :mad:
Don’t even bother with small claims court. If you’re gonna sue, you need a lawyer.
Chances are you won’t need one, though. Get your estimate, file your report and the nice policeman can find out your neighbor’s insurance company for them. For a minor thing such as this they probably won’t give you any trouble about settling.
Yeah Snoopy, that’s exactly what happened. Got my police report after the great police officer took a look. We chatted while he wrote up the report and we went to the guy’s home. He was quite confused (being 73 years old) and the officer was a little annoyed at his stalling (asking for his ID at least 8 times and trying to stall us by calling his sister or someone for us to talk to).
In the end he didn’t fight me in the assessment. I got my report and I’m going to hand deliver it to my insurance company tomorrow. Hopefully my baby (the car) will be all nice and fixed next week.
The estimate was $796 plus 2 days of rental. UGH. I’m very happy I don’t need to shell out for that!!
It could always be worse. I was hit on the 26th of last month and the estimate is just over $3800 and over three weeks to get fixed. So I am stuck in a Cavalier that is too small for comfort.
I’m left wondering if this guy is really competent to drive at all. Some people are still quite sharp at 85, some need to give up the keys when they hit 65. We had to really struggle to get my grandmother to give up her car, even though she was in assisted living and could get a ride to wherever she wanted.
I am a lawyer, and I disagree strongly. For an $800 claim, there is no reason to get a lawyer, and to do so would cost you more than you could possibly recover.
The idea of small claims courts that individuals can effectively prosecute their own claims with a minimum of procedural details that would require a lawyer. In fact, in New York, if both parties show up in small claims court with lawyers, the court will transfer the case to a non-small claims court.
In New York (and I belive in most other jurisdictions), you just go to the court clerk’s office and fill out a simple claim form. Usually there are clerks there who are used to helping claimants with the process. If you friendly and polite to the clerks, they are usually happy to provide help.