Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 10:23:06 GMT
On Sunday I picked up a friend from the Aldi car park and a combination of a tight space, her wittering on and rain meant that I put a tiny scrape on a parked car. My fault. And it is tiny, there is no visible damage whatsoever to my car, which is black so shows every mark.
Some old chap waved his hands at me telling me what I already knew.
So I found pen and paper and scrawled a note of apology and left my telephone number. I did sort of hope the rain would make the note illegible, but no, the phone rang that evening and the guy told me it was his mothers car etc etc, and we agreed I would pay the damage. I know the paint shop and have been in there this morning.
I recall the endless number of scrapes I have had in car parks, including a really deep one which (still) runs about one third of the length of the car caused by either a bike or a trolley. None of the guilty parties has ever left me a note.
So, what would you have done? Am I an idiot, indeed probably a £100 poorer idiot.
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Prue
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Post by Prue on Feb 10, 2014 10:44:17 GMT
Oh dear JJ, I hope you're *only* a hundred quid poorer.
I had a similar experience, though involving more serious damage, years ago. I was waiting to come out of the carpark of a small suburban shopping centre. A car passed along the main road in front of me, I pulled out and turned right behind it, and suddenly it stopped dead and I hit it.
I took full responsibility, though I'm not sure to this day that it was my fault. The thing here in OZ is: if you're up their arse, you're legally at fault. It was only a very light impact: I was barely crawling, having just pulled out from being completely stationary.
Long story short - I was expecting to pay a few hundred dollars at most for a bent bumper bar: I received a demand for several thousand $s, citing extensive damage to the other car, damage I couldn't possibly have caused with my piddly little VW farting along at about 5 mph.
But since I'd taken responsibility I had to pay. it took me many years to pay it off. And I sold that car and never bought another one.
The world's full of bastards, JJ.
To answer your question, what I would have done is taken lots and lots and lots of photos.
I hope your experience isn't so unpleasant.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 10:57:59 GMT
I have decided that if they play fair, so will I.
I spoke to the body shop earlier and told him it might even polish out. We wait and see.
However if I suddenly get a bill for hundreds, well, it was on private property, and I might well tell 'em to take a jump.......
Years ago we had a morning of freezing rain. I was going to see a friend and stopped at the top of a small hill, deciding not to risk it. A pedestrian coming up the road on hands and knees was the clue. I half got out to have a look and the car took off with the brakes full on, pirouetted twice, followed the curb scraping the wheels which slowed it right down and buried itself backwards into the back of a parked Mini at low speed. I also thought the damage was minor, but Oh no, a massive bill as they claimed all the boot floor had been buckled and so on. Like you, I paid as I thought there was no option. It was not my fault, but I could not really make a claim on god for the weather conditions.
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Prue
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Post by Prue on Feb 10, 2014 11:14:17 GMT
Yeah, it's amazing what utter arseholes people can be when they see a chance at easy money. It was the same story with my incident - the claim against me included bullshit like a twisted chassis and damage to the car roof - pre-existing damage I assume, but they found a sucker to pay for it. I hadn't realised till I read your story how bitter I still was about what happened to me all those years ago. Passing to a lighter note, I recall reading in a novel once about a bloke who prangs into another bloke's car and leaves a note under other bloke's windscreen wiper along the lines of "The people watching think I'm writing my name and contact details. Tough titty!" Hope yours turns out OK, JJ.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 11:49:34 GMT
Are the recent spate of bush fires giving you any sort of problem Prue?
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Post by jimshoo on Feb 10, 2014 12:57:48 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 14:05:24 GMT
Well, I received a phone call telling me the cost (£135 + VAT) so called into the body shop on my way back to the office. Bit of haggling and we settled on £120 for folding money.
End of the matter.
But, hands up those who would have left a note? Or left a note if it had been dark and no-one was watching!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2014 14:07:26 GMT
Jimshoo. Are these or similar the ones that most Russian drivers seem to have fitted as there are real problems with corruption and insurance claims?
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Post by ARENA on Feb 10, 2014 14:25:58 GMT
My eldest boy is a claims accessor in an car insurance company in Ottawa, he recommends them .
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Prue
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Post by Prue on Feb 11, 2014 6:22:40 GMT
Are the recent spate of bush fires giving you any sort of problem Prue? Not really JJ; I'm so close to the city it's unlikely they'll get this far. We feel their presence though; there's a strong smell of smoke, both here and in town, and the air's really hazy - almost like a light fog or high, thin cloud. I do feel for the poor buggers out in the bush, but it could have been much worse - no lives lost this time. I think the most disturbing thing is that the police believe that 12 of the fires in Vic were deliberately lit. What kind of monster does that? Sounds like a really good outcome of your little scrape, JJ. Good news
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Post by cobden28 on Feb 11, 2014 21:20:54 GMT
I'd probably have been completely honest and left a note with my details for the owner of the other car to contact me. If as in this case the amount claimed seemed excessive, I'd have a quiet word with my husband to see if, in his opinion, the scratch on the other car could be polished out with a bit of elbow grease. From there on, if this were the case, I'd try to negotiate with the owner as to whether he'd accept a cash amount to fix the damage, without the insurance comapnies getting involved.
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