Yes, I’m fine as far as I can tell right now. My car is pretty much fine, although the front bumper likely will need to be replaced at a minimum (“fine” is therefore a relative term). The other driver made a wrong turn into the entrance ramp to my underground parking, and then backed up to get out. Problem was that he didn’t look before throwing his car into reverse. Although my car was about a dozen feet behind his, and I managed to hit my horn when he was about six feet away, he didn’t brake before he hit my car.
Highlights of the post-smash interaction:
[ul]“You can trust me. I live in Beverly Hills.”[/ul]
[ul]“I’m a really nice guy. Would I have such a beautiful girlfriend if I were a bad person?”[/ul]
[ul]“I have insurance. I just don’t have the card right now. And I don’t remember what company it’s with.”[/ul]
[ul]“You don’t want to make an issue of this. If you are going to report this to the police or the insurance company, I will have witnesses say that you hit me, so we should just deal with this without involving other people.”[/ul]
Guess what? Extortionate threats aren’t really a good way to get me to trust you to pay for the damage you caused. Or that’s what the police and my insurance agent said.
Oh, and his other theory: it’s my fault for failing to get out of his way when I saw he was reversing. So, basically, I should have backed my car out onto the busy street into oncoming traffic to get out of his way. My failure to cause an accident out on the street means it’s my fault that he hit me.