Today, Mom, Grandma, and I went to the library book sale. We use Grandma’s Rav, but Mom drives. On our way home, we stopped for Grandma’s cigarettes. (I know, icky habit, but she’s Grandma.) We pulled up alongside the store. Grandma went in, got her cigarettes, and got back in the minivan. We started to pull out so that we could maneuver around the truck that had parked in front of us.
CRUNCH
We hit an unforeseen obstacle. A low-to-the-ground car had pulled up directly behind us, at an angle. Mom hadn’t seen her when she looked behind us, the bulk of the car was on our left, on the driver’s blind side. We had hit the hood of the car, which was too short to be seen out the back windows.
We get out of the car to examine the damage. There’re a few scratches, any one of which could have been done by us.
The lady returns from the store to find us hovering about her car. She sees no new damage, except maybe a scratch. We decide we must have hit her with the spare tire in the back of the van. We don’t exchange information, and leave.
As we drive away, I see the lady take down our liscense-plate number. I also see a dent in the side of her car-- but decide it’s the wrong angle for us to have caused.
When we get home, Grandma gets a call from the lady. She’s found some damage and is heading over to talk. When she gets here, turns out she’s decided that we caused that dent. It wasn’t there the last time they washed their car, which was right before the last snowstorm. Mom says fine, it can’t cost more than a hundred dollars, we’ll pay for it’s removal. Have the garage call us with an estimate.
No, the lady says, let’s exchange insurance information.
No, Mom says, let’s not. If you file on my insurance, it’ll go up and so will yours. I’ve said I’ll pay, what more do you want?
No, the lady says, let’s exchange insurance information.
No, Mom says, let’s not. If you file on my insurance, it’ll go up and so will yours. I’ve said I’ll pay, what more do you want?
ad nauseum.
Finally the lady says that she doesn’t trust us and that the insurance information is just in case we decide not to pay.
Mom offers to get a 7th witness (There’s already Mom, Grandma, Grandad, Me, the lady, and the lady’s husband). She offers to call up a police officer to witness the deal.
The lady says no, we couldn’t get a city police officer (the accident happened in the city) out this far into the county.
I’m thinking why not, and why not a county officer? But I say nothing.
Then they try and say that we caused both the dent on the side and a scratch on the front of the car. Not very likely.
So, after more arguement, we decide on the “get three estimates and I’ll pay for it” deal.
I took photos of both vehicles.
Now, something smells rotten here.
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[li]Why would they wash the car in winter? (Note that this was before the snowstorm, so there wasn’t salt on the roads.)[/li][li]How did they get our number from our license plate?[/li][li]Do they really think we’re dumb enough to pay for both the scratch and the dent?[/li][li]Why would she not have seen the dent at the accident?[/li]answer: because it wasn’t where we hit.
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Anyone else see something wrong?