I must vent: Parking lot morons!

The BBQ Pit
1

So we bought a car for Astrogirl about a month and a half ago. It’s her first car. Remember your first car? It was a thing of beauty, regardless of how big a piece of crap it was; it represented all that was good about being alive and free in the modern world.

Mine was obtained in 1985 under kind of unusual circumstances… a 1976 Chevy Impala station wagon that had seen better days. It took some work, but that car served as a serious party wagon for a couple of years! I loved it!

Astrogirl’s first car isn’t flashy. It’s a 2000 Toyota Corolla. And she is in love! She has organized the trunk, complete with baskets containing a few necessities that she might need. She has a toy raccoon sitting in the cup holder to serve as a mascot and driving companion (once she gets her driver’s license and I no longer have to go with her everywhere, she’ll need the companionship! I have Chico, a bobble-headed Chihuahua, on the dash of my Jeep. An invaluable friend who bobs his head along with whatever I have on the radio…). She even sprays scented body-spray in the interior of her car about once a week, to give it a pleasing odor!

So, as I said, we’ve had this car for a month and a half… and although we bought it used, the exterior was spotless. The dealership even repainted the front bumper for us, as it had a few little dings in it.

After a mere month and a half in our apartment complex parking lot, it has been involved in 3 mishaps!

What the fuck??

First, about a week after we got the car, someone apparently dropped something on the hood, producing 2 nice inch-long scratches right down to the primer, and possibly deeper (I’m watching to see if they start to rust, in which case I’ll go to the dealership and get some touch-up paint…). Not a really big deal, of course… and no note saying “Sorry, I dropped something on the hood of your new car!” Dangit!

Then, a week or so later, we noticed that someone in the parking spot next to the new car had backed up and hit the passenger-side mirror, producing an amazingly deep (maybe 2 mm) and wide (maybe 3 cm) scratch in the plastic housing of the mirror. Again, no note saying “Sorry, dude!” Dammit! :mad: Again, no huge deal, really… but Astrogirl was a little upset…

And then, this morning, we noticed that some moron had (either last night or early this morning) swiped the side of our car with theirs, leaving a shallow but long dent from just behind the driver’s side front wheel to about mid-way through the driver’s door! Some of the damage can be erased with some rubbing compound and an hour’s work… but the dented fender and door? Nope. FUCK! :mad: Astrogirl is more than a little upset about this, and when she gets upset, I get mad.

Was there a note saying “Sorry! I smacked your car when I was pulling in/backing up because I had just finished a fifth of rum, and was seeing double… I’ll be glad to pay for the damages, please call me at xxx-xxxx”? No, there was not. Were there any witnesses? Nope, at least not as far as I know. Any physical evidence? Yes. Yes there was… I have the fucking passenger side mirror of the car that did it.

The mirror was laying on the ground by the side of our car, and had “Honda” impressed in the plastic molding.

“Hmmm…” I hmmmed.

After I got back from taking the wife to work, I casually looked for Hondas in the parking lot as I went to our apartment to gather my stuff for the day…

I saw an old Honda Accord about 100 feet away. It was missing the passenger side mirror. I noticed, after retrieving the mirror, that the break-off points and broken wires matched perfectly. And, against the brown-colored paint of the Honda, was a wide streak of silver paint (our car is silver)! I may not be the brightest flame in the family candelabra, but the conclusion seems obvious.

I left a fucking note, under the windseild wiper: “Hi! It seems like someone driving this car hit our car either last night or this morning. Please give me a call at (my cell phone number). Thanks! Dan”

Two hours later, the car was gone… so I assume that the owners saw my note.

Dude, you have until about noon tomorrow to call me and 'fess up. I’d like an apology along with your offer to pay damages, but it’s not strictly necessary… after noon, I will be visiting the police station, with your mirror and the photos I took of your car and ours, to file a hit-and-run accident report. I don’t really want to do that, and if it was an older car that I owned, I probably wouldn’t bother… but we don’t own the car; it’s owned by Toyota financing (as they promptly remind us every month), and we are obligated to keep the car in pretty good shape.

Call me.

2

Quick story that will make you feel better.

You know whom did it? Quit bitching. I bought a new car for my wife in March of '03. 2 weeks to the day it was ran into by some asshole whom crushed the quarterpanel to the point the power antenna couldn’t clear the dented metal. This dent was big enough that the whole panel had to be replaced. (we didn’t have comprehensive coverage at the time, so out of pocket)

This happened when it was parked in our driveway!!!

When you find the driver, kick him in the nuts for me once or twice. I’ll cover the bail. :smiley:

Fuck, now I want to start a thread on my asshole!

3

umm, that doesn’t sound good, huh?

4

Man, I know that feeling. Though my car hasn’t been severely damaged, the complex has taken its toll. The lovely Black Pearl paint that’s kinda glittery and sparkly has dents and dings in it now, from 2 years of living in this complex. And I’m pretty sure it’s one of the assholes in the white cars who can’t park in the fucking lines to save their lives, since most of the dings and dents have white paint around them. I’m planning to get it repainted eventually, but there’s no point in doing that while I live here. Fuckers.

[Pulp Fiction]“It would be almost worth them doin’ it, if I could catch them doin’ it.”[/PF]

5

Don’t be nice about it. Call the police with the plate.

Sometime similar happened to my brand new Matrix. Fucker who parks next to me hit my front passenger side bumper…hard. Hard enough to crack the windshield fluid bottle 4" behind the skin of the car and leave a 8" gash along the bumper to the front tire.

I saw the matching mark on the car next to mine with our paint exchanged.

So I called the police. An officer took one look and agreed with me about how the hit happened.

I got a nice police report and his (the guy next to me) insurance kicked in the $1500 to fix my car (new bumper, new bottle with pump plus 2 days rental).

I hope you got his plates! I’d call right now and give them the plate. If he covers up the damage you’re SOL.

6

Reminds me of an urban legend come-to-life that happened to a friend of mine. Someone ran into the front of his car, breaking the right headlight and denting the side panel. I saw his car (missed the accident) and I went and got him. We were both looking at the damage when we noticed a piece of paper stuck in the broken headlight. It said, “Sorry about the damage. Call me and I’ll pay for it.” That’s all. No name, no phone number. Bastard.

A kind of funny story to hopefully cheer you up a bit: In the same parking lot, I saw about 5 parking police standing around a different friend’s car. I went and got him, and we walked over to see what was going on. Turns out the police had backed into his car, and they weren’t really sure what to do. Luckily there was no damage to his car, the police car lost a tailight.

Also, I would get some paint from the dealer and fill those scratches now. Once rust gets in there, it becomes a pain in the ass to get out. Good luck.

7

Ugh. I have a parking lot story of justice delayed but achieved, that may give you some hope.

I was parked in the 24 Hour Fitness lot (the one on Midway) and was in the gym, doing my thing, sweatin’ to the oldies. Somebody comes on over the PA system and asks for the owner of a Toyota Tercel, license #blah blah blah to come up to the front desk. I am immediately filled with dread.

Seems someone pulled out of the spot next to me, and sideswiped my car. That person then decided to drive THE FUCK AWAY! Thankfully, a kind soul whom I will always be grateful for, witnessed the event, and got the bastard’s license plate number.

Um, oops! I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the insurance company rang him up and said “Do you have something you want to tell us???”

8

We all have our stories and here’s mine. The car was parked in front of the house, not in the driveway as is my usual spot for it given stories like the ones above. Anyway as my luck would have it, one of the very few times it was out on the street, it was almost run over by a cycle of some sort. I say “almost” because the cycle only made it up the back of my trunk. You could see the tire mark! On the left side of the car were parts of the cycle. Frankly I was so amazed that I started to worry about the young Evil Knievel. I knew that he must have done much more damage to himself than to my trunk. Not being sure if this had just happened a short while before, I call the police inquiring if anyone had reported a cycle accident in our neighborhood. Figured the rider would have been in too bad shape to leave me an “I’m sorry” note. The policeman giggled (at me I think) and said the person had yet to report the accident, but in the event they did, he would be sure to call me. I never did get a call…go figure!

9

Here’s another parking lot story.

A friend of my boyfriend’s had driven to uni (there’s an enormous on-campus parking lot). He arrived about an hour early and decided to take a nap in his car, but was woken up by a loud BANG which turned out to be the door of the car next to him being slammed into the side of his car. The dickhead had flung his door open. They made eye contact, and then the guy just walked off!

When the guy had left, my boyfriend’s friend proceeded to repeatedly slam his car door into the other car, leaving quite a few sizeable dents.

I hope everything works out for you and Astrogirl. Damn. I want a raccoon for my car now too.

10

Someone keyed my car. How weak is that? They did it on the passenger side, so I didn’t see it until after a while, so I don’t know if it was at work or at my apartment.

It’s also collecting dents at an amazing rate. There are far too many assholes in the world.

11

You guys are makin’ me nervous. I just got a new (well used, but new to me!) '02 Nissan Sentra.

I’m gonna have to go buy some foam rubber to wrap around my baby when I park it just to be safe. :frowning:

12

stop your bitching. cars dont last forever, period. you buy a car it looks like candy then 3 years later when you throw it out is a pile of junk.

and yes, people can’t drive ( doh, what a surprise ). just about a week ago i saw some black lady park and hehe well she did to the side of her own car what they did to yours.

and who would be stupid enough to leave you a note, are you on crack ?

13

I know this opinion isn’t going to be popular, but I have to agree with vasyachkin. It’s a car. Take the money you might spend to keep it looking perfect, and do something nice for someone else. You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good.

14

On Sunday, I was at the grocery store. On the way back to my car, I saw some tiny white-haired lady back their station wagon (!) into a parked fire truck.

How could they not see the massive ten foot high bright red fire truck? They backed into it hard enough to push the fire truck’s bumper up. They sit there for a moment, perhaps wondering why they’re not moving even though they’ve got their foot on the gas. Do they stop to get out and see what they’ve done? Nope. They crawl forward very slowly and drive off.

Granny, give up the keys!!

15

Thanks, I needed the laugh!

16

This makes me afraid to get in my car, much less drive. :smiley:

17

Well, as an adult who takes responsibility for my actions, I would. The law agrees with me.

And as a practical matter, I’d rather leave a note and hassle with fixing the guy’s car than have the police show up at my door with my friggin’ mirror and a lot of questions about exactly why I didn’t leave a note…

18

Yea, but it’s my car. I’ve worked and put money into it. It’s the first one I’ve owned that isn’t a piece of crap, and I’m sorry if it doesn’t meet your approval, but I like to keep my things looking nice. It may be “just a car” to you, but it’s my car to me and since it’s both the most valuable thing I own and something I hope to keep for a long long time, I’d like to keep it looking decent.

Speaking of little old ladies, I saw one do a hit-and-run not too long ago. She was backing out of a parking space and just schmacked into this SUV. She looked back at it, shrugged, and drove off. So I made sure to call the cops and give em her plate numbers.

19

Advice given to me when I was young from someone of questionable ethics:

If you hit a parked car and the owner isn’t around. Do not drive away as you can get into some serious shit. Get out and leave a note saying you hit the car and that you are responsible. Do not leave your name or contact information.

If there are eyewitnesses, they will see you making the note and take no note of you or your car. If you do get caught, you can then claim stupidity of not leaving your name/number. This gives you a good chance of getting away with it and, if you don’t, gives you a large chance of not suffering the serious shit of a hit-and-run.

Not saying that is the case here but sounds like it probably is.

20

Don’t wait for that jerkoff to call. Phone the police right now and file a report. Fuck um. They didn’t show you any respect.