# You know that big dent or scratch on your car? How'd you get it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 23, 2007, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838 "2007-07-23T14:12:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/21 "2007-07-23T17:17:25Z")
It was a misty, gloomy morning in early December. The turnpike was especially sloppy and is prone to ponding, so I was keeping it around 50-55mph. Up ahead I saw lights that looked like trouble in the right-hand lane. I moved to the left. As I came around curve, I realized the trouble was in the left hand lane - a car had spun out and was across the lane at a 45deg angle with it’s head pointed at the concrete center barrier. Worse still, the occupants were standing in the road. I tried to slow down and shift lanes, but I hydroplaned. The car was not responding to either the brakes or the steering wheel. Between the accident and me was a semi, who was also maneuvering into the right lane. I managed to point the car to the right, narrowly avoiding the crashed car, but now I was a split second from sliding under the back of the semi. Somehow I made it to the side of the road, where I slid along the guardrail for many feet before coming to a stop. I consider the scratches on my passenger side a small price to pay for not having killed others or myself. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/22 "2007-07-23T20:01:11Z")
Mine is a combination of a then-16 year old daughter in the driver’s seat, the sun at a particularly bad angle, and a mailbox that was unfortunately placed in her way. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/23 "2007-07-23T21:06:00Z")
I put a small dent in the left rear door my Nissan Sentra when it wouldn’t start for me one time, and out of frustration I hit it with my fist because I was so pissed off. The car has been mostly trouble-free for me other than that one incident. I think it had been vapor-locked. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/24 "2007-07-23T21:12:25Z")
I have an F-350 Crew-cab pickup. It currently sports a front bumper that looks like a frown. I was slowing down to make a left turn, when an uninsured motorist popped out from between the stopped cars in the right two lanes, who had politely let him exit from a driveway. The officer called it a “sucker punch”. I’ve left my bumper as a warning to other uninsured motorists (that, and it will cost exactly my deductible to fix it). Oh. He had to be towed away. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/25 "2007-07-23T21:14:03Z")
I was on a four-wheel drive road, and I ran over a stick, which flipped up and whacked my passenger front door. Oh well, it’s not that bad and I won’t get it fixed. I didn’t get the last one fixed, and that involved sliding sideways into a whole tree, on a rougher back-country road. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/26 "2007-07-23T22:04:53Z")
Someone, somewhere, decided to sit on the front left fender of my wife’s car. Now there’s a butt-shaped indentation there. Stupid plastic cars. ---
**Author:** ![MTRG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@MTRG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTRG)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/27 "2007-07-23T22:33:54Z")
We had just moved to Baltimore (kinda near Fells Point (bar area)) You have street parking and it is pretty tight. Anyway, my wife and I were sitting on the front stoop one evening and saw this obviously drunk old man staggering up the sidewalk. He crossed the street (the other side from us). He barely made it across, but kept going until he was pretty near our car (parked arcoss the street from where we sat. The drunk staggers and does a head dive into the front fender of our car. Nice loud **THUNK!** :eek: then :mad: Before I could get across to where he was, he had picked himself up and continued along his merry way. resulting head dent and hand dent came out FTMP with a suction cup. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/28 "2007-07-23T22:37:28Z")
I’ve got a dent on the front right fender when some crazy see-you-next-Tuesday tried to run me off of the freeway at 75mph. There was a Pit thread. Now I’ve got a nice long scrape from a creosote bush. My husband decided we’re parking on the back driveway now, which entails driving on a dirt track behind the horse pens and past a bunch of, well, creosote. I was backing out of the space (at night, during the new moon) and hit the bush. Scraaaaape! :smack: I’ve got some really good rubbing compound though and it took the scratch right out. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/29 "2007-07-24T00:41:47Z")
Sitting at a light that had just turned green. Traffic started moving then the front car that was making a right turn stopped because someone was in a crosswalk. The car in front of me stopped and I stopped. A kid in a Jeep Cherokee decided to cut between me and the SUV behind me. The SUV that was behind me hit the Jeep and pushed it into my truck. Damage bumper, tailgate box and 2 small dents in the back of the cab from the front of the box. Other than some door dings, my 14 year old truck was in great shape. Then a week later, while driving to see an insurance agent about the damage and knowing I would not have been there if it wasn’t for the accident, a large tree branch was blown out of a tree because it was windy and hit the passenger front fender of my truck, adding another nice dent. If that wasn’t enough, a few months later while driving to work, I drove through an intersection to find a bunch of yellow paint all over the road, someone lost a 5 gallon bucket of house paint. I slowed down but still ended up with a bunch of yellow spots all over the passenger side of my truck. By the time I made it to a car was 10 minutes later, much of the paint had dried. My truck became a beater in a period of 3 months. ---
**Author:** ![Refulgent\_Cynosure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8dc957/32.png) [@Refulgent\_Cynosure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Refulgent_Cynosure)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/30 "2007-07-24T00:51:40Z")
Two things: About four years ago, I had an SUV that had just had its back hatch latch (heh) fail. While moving to a new trailer in the same park (Hey! We were students!) I managed to bump into a strange, black truck that was parked in the street, and in the shadow of a huge tree in the dead of night. I couldn’t tell the difference between the thumping of the hatch and the thumping of a collision. I was braking repeatedly. I didn’t find out until detectives called me a week later. It was a combination of my broken latch, documentable fact that I was moving, and my 6-month old pregnant belly that saved me from charges of hit and run. _yikes!_ I guess the detective could tell that I was sincerely surprised that anything had happened at all. About two years ago, my husband put our garbage can at the street in an unusual place. While I was backing out to take my kid to preschool, my son’s carseat and head created a PERFECT blindspot. I ran over the garbage can so badly that a neighbor had to use a car jack in order to get the can out. The dealership body shop finally managed to screw my bumper back in place. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/31 "2007-07-24T00:56:52Z")
[QUOTE=beowulff] I have an F-350 Crew-cab pickup. It currently sports a front bumper that looks like a frown. I was slowing down to make a left turn, when an uninsured motorist popped out from between the stopped cars in the right two lanes, who had politely let him exit from a driveway. The officer called it a “sucker punch”. I’ve left my bumper as a warning to other uninsured motorists (that, and it will cost exactly my deductible to fix it). Oh. He had to be towed away. [/QUOTE] Sometimes it’s good to make an example of people. Welcome to the boards, by the way! **Queen Bruin** : “crazy see-you-next-Tuesday”? What in tarnations is that? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/32 "2007-07-24T01:04:46Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] **Queen Bruin** : “crazy see-you-next-Tuesday”? What in tarnations is that? [/QUOTE] Sorry - should’ve used the obvious spelling: C U Next Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/33 "2007-07-24T01:06:59Z")
The back right bumper, I basically ripped it off trying to get out of a hospital parking garage. An EVIL parking garage. When I got home, I wrapped it back on with clear duct tape, and that held for probably another nine months until it finally gave way one afternoon as I was driving back to work from lunch. Luckily my friend’s husband owns a shop and took pity on me. They got it back on, though there’s still a big scrape, and the glass on the lights is broken out. I’m not going to win any driving prizes. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/34 "2007-07-24T01:07:05Z")
Ah! Well, that’s a little different. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/35 "2007-07-24T01:38:00Z")
Putting my sea kayak on the roof rack…:^( ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/36 "2007-07-24T04:17:37Z")
I’m not sure, but my _theory_ is that one of the times my brother borrowed my car, he hit the fence post backing out of my driveway. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/37 "2007-07-24T04:30:52Z")
Avoiding a moose on the Kangamangus. It was worth it, I had never seen a moose before. ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/38 "2007-07-24T05:31:47Z")
This is the thread that I was born for! My current car (owned from 2003 - present) There is a large chunk out of the back bumper. I was in a parking spot at work one night and a truck cut the corner too sharp and hit me. He claimed I was backing up at first, but since my e-brake was set and the car was in neutral, he admitted he was lying. FTR, I was getting a drink of soda before backing out. There is a huge scratch on the passenger side. Well, about 4 inches long. In high school I dated a girl and she lived out in the middle of nowhere. I was a bit tipsy, moving my car so her parents could get out in the morning, and I scratched that one along the mailbox. Damn box. On the passenger side, further back, there is another scratch. This is where I hit the street sign. The one in front of my parents. The one that has been there for my whole life. Yeah, that one. The drivers side door has some large dents on it. This is actually from a combination of things. My wife and I were kicking a soccer ball in the back yard one day, and it hit the door several times. Small dents were left but nothing major. The second part was her sister hit it with her car (the one that was already totaled, but she actually drove home, so it kind of didn’t matter to her, since she was getting the new one from guy-who-hit-her’s insurance). The front is the absolute most amazing. See, I thought the light was yellow. It wasn’t. It was red. I T-boned a van going about 35. The van was going 20 some. It didn’t hurt the van much at all, but my little Hyundai took a huge pounding from this. The most important part to know is that the scratches on the hood were there before: here’s why… My wife, being used to her Nissan, always ended up rolling forward in my car because the clutch was a little touchier. She went to visit her parent’s and pick up some things, and then she calls me. “Honey, I hit a boat.” Huh??? There was a boat on a trailer in front of her at a red light. Apparently, she rolled forward and hit it. It didn’t damage the boat in the least (I think she may have got more trailer than boat) but it left 3 scratches on the hood, each about 2" x 3". She hasn’t hurt the new car…yet…(actually, neither of us has) Brendon Small ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/39 "2007-07-24T06:46:27Z")
My truck is eighteen years old, and I’ve had it for eight. It’s got a couple of micro-dings, presumably from grocery carts and such, and some rust on the passenger door, but the only real dent came from a tree branch falling on it. Oh, and there’s a small hole in the front bumper where a drunk driver–seriously, this guy was drunker than I have _ever been_–backed into me. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838/40 "2007-07-24T13:14:57Z")
My Ford Escape is one week old, and it has a small dent on the front passenger fender. It has been noted as “lot damage” so we are awaiting the call from the Dent Doctor to get it fixed for free. Other than that, there are no dents/scratches yet. I do anticipate something the day after this dent is fixed. Maybe I should go for the discount on accessories that was offered as an option B rectification. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-that-big-dent-or-scratch-on-your-car-howd-you-get-it/412838.md?page=3)