Guy dings my car then threatens to sue me...

[nyrfan]

Originally Posted by iMONEY

See. That asshole mercedes owner was being a douche bag and parked right in the middle making it impossible to park on the left. I had to squeeze my self in just to fit on the right. Now if he was cool, he'd park a little farther to the left to make room for 2 cars.

Huh? How far over did you want him to go? His pretty much on the left line now.

[Allan Hernandez]

Wow this guy sounds like a 3rd grader

[Tiberious]

No worries Exflirt, no offense taken nor meant.

I hate that this guy can walk around like he's better than the OP or the rest of us.... he's not. I hope some justice comes his way whether through legal avenue or just come kind of karmic balance

Tib

[rwmiller56]

Originally Posted by kiteman

car cover is weird, don't see how they can prevent a dent unless they are made of a hard shell. besides most of them will scratch your paint and leave swirls.

Weird? In what way?

Read my post again. My claim is that they can help reduce the damage of dents, in this case maybe no paint would have been taken off. LMAO, and they don't leave scratches or swirls, if made of the correct underside material! This I can say from personal experience using one for 12 years with my 88 Vette.

[Goatcrapp]

I'm all for giving people a first chance at redemption.. and he's had several chances - is trying to BS his way through now. You now know the weaknesses of the surveillance system - throw a brick at his car from off-camera, and then deny deny deny.. tell him he needs to prove it, etc.

bring it down to a level he can understand.. and then bring it down even further, so he's f'ing scared of you. he's a punk and needs to be reminded of that. :shrug:

[Jagerday]

Originally Posted by rwmiller56

Sorry to hear about the damage. I hope you can get the issue sorted out with the offender.

I would seriously consider getting a car cover. I'm a firm believer in them, and they do prevent or reduce door dings. Sometimes just the fact that your car is covered makes the other person think and be more careful when opening their doors. If your car was covered, there might have been no ding at all, or it might have been reduced to just a small dent with no paint damage. Just sayin'.

Roger

Are you suggesting we cover our cars every time we park it outside of the garage?

[Cam2011]

Someday there will be camera in cars, I know that Buick Lacrosse had a prototype system in it by Onstar and Verizon, the car had like 9 cameras and would film passively, but when something happened whether it was a carriage in a parking lot, or a door ding at your workplace the cameras in question would record back one minute up until the incident and a few minutes after, also the car would alert you to your smart phone, or e-mail that something happened to your car.


Here is just one of the many articles I have seen about it. I really hope something like this comes out soon.
http://www.blackweb20.com/2011/01/05...-4g-lte-modem/

[Shu71]

OP your fiancé is right. It’s a car; it will get damaged from time to time. I feel for you. I just went through a situation where mine took a 3 inch rock to the hood, windshield and roof. It cost $2300 in repairs ($100 to me for my deductible). So I know the frustration of your baby getting its first imperfection.

Now on to what I see in the pictures. The paint on his door is inside the lip of the door edge. The scrape on your car is a scrape and not a ding. If his door had opened and hit your car, the length of the scrape would have been very short. That appears like the door was open on the SUV and someone backed up with the door edge against your door. Again note the paint in inside the lip of his door. It looks to me like they had pulled in after lunch to park. The passenger opened his door. The driver still had his foot on the brake, shut SUV off. While passenger door was up against your car, the driver let off the brake to get out at which time his SUV rolled backwards and dug into your paint. I don’t see much of a dent, just a scrape. All that said, unless someone (independent investigator/police) can pull a sample of the paint (yours) off his door, have it analyzed and confirmed a match to your car then you really don’t have a case of proof. Sorry, but the chances of it being investigated are slim and none and the burden of proof is on you.

Fair or not, it’s probably best to just turn it over to your insurance to pay and you to pay the deductible. I have to agree though that whoever was in his passenger side did this and for them not to fess up it a shame. Can you make out the passenger in the video? If so I’d make a mental note of them

[eggydoo]

just from what i've seen and happened to my wife, if you decide to pursue...insurance companies will claim no fault and you both pay for your own damage..

So all that mess you are going through you will have to pay yourself anyway.

[iMONEY]

Originally Posted by christianmotox

I dont see what youre saying, but ok....



"EDIT" never mind, i see what youre saying., you wanted to park on the left spot..... "EDIT"

if any kind of car fits there you cant get out the car on either side. Your stuck in your car. Unusable spot. Because wanted to park exactly in the middle So i had to manuever my ass in on the right.

It supposed to fit 3 cars but thats impossible, but will fit two really good if one leaves the other room. They usually dont.

[OrangeVert]

Originally Posted by vinman

Buy him some beers to bury the hatchet and then have the cops pull him over for dwi

[rwmiller56]

Originally Posted by Jagerday

Are you suggesting we cover our cars every time we park it outside of the garage?

I do. It takes less than 1 minute to cover or uncover it, when you use the proven "system" of folding and rolling the cover.

I have to admit, if I run into a store for a few minutes, I won't cover it. But I'll try to park in an isolated spot. But at work, I definitely cover it all day.

And guess what? The paint on that 88 Vette looks as good as new. I gave the car to my wife when I bought the Camaro.

In CA, we are sun baked, so it makes sense to me to protect the car, both from the sun & dings. In a rainier climate, I would be a little less inclined to cover it in the rain.

Speaking of garages, I cover mine in the airport parking garage (indoors) when I take my weekly trips to S. Calif, and I've never had a problem.

[DroptopZ]

Originally Posted by exflirt

This is the realistic answer. Does anyone really think an insurance company is going to devote the man hours to sue someone over a $350 scrape?!?! C'mon, people, use logic and think rationally! And what are the odds that the OP has less than a $350 deductible? If not, they would be required to pay out-of-pocket for the repair, then their insurance company will exercise a good-faith effort to recover the victim's deductible from the other person's insurance as per the usual insurance standards. But this is AFTER all the investigations, arbitration, mediation, etc. are completed, a lengthy process that conceivably could end in any number of different outcomes! Heck, unless that video shows the lines on the pavement where the vehicles were parked, I would be shocked if the guy didn't claim that the OP parked in HIS parking space!

I've had several accidents where the at-fault party was not held responsible, and this happens fairly frequently IMHO. I had one accident where two guys in a huge delivery van pulled into my lane without looking, forcing me to lay on the horn and move into a curb to avoid getting creamed in my little car. My options were to be involved in a major accident likely involving major bodily injury to myself, or hit the curb. I chose to keep my body intact. Well guess what - the delivery driver's passenger stated that I just randomly swerved into the curb. Seriously? My insurance company found me 50% at fault, and I was responsible for my own deductible with my insurance company paying for my car's damages. This is a major, highly-regarded insurance company with a sterling reputation.




Small claims court may be your most likely avenue of receiving compensation for this. Sometimes justice is worth the effort, but many people don't want to bother with the amount of energy and time involved. I'm one of those who would do it to see justice - and to make this guy think twice about acting in this manner in the future. I'd take it all the way to the end as much for me as for the next person this guy walks over. An act of public-service, so to speak

From the insurance company's stand point, it only matters what is provable and realistic legally for them to pursue. Ultimately it doesn't matter what is right or factual. We can go round and round about what a good insurance company would do, but the bottom line is that this is a $350 door ding claim, likely below the deductible, and insurance companies have bigger claims to worry about. They aren't likely to devote $10,000 in man hours to fight this one out. If they do that for you, congratulations! Stay with that agent/insurance company!

Reality, whether anyone likes it or not.

You're right, and you're wrong. Don't take this the wrong way, but what is your claims background? The reason I ask is because I've worked unclear liability cases for the last seven years and worked subrogation claims in tandem for four of those years. I currently do exactly what you're saying insurance companies won't do.

Yes, for a lot of insurance companies it's profit and loss... but if the loss is over the OP's deductible (lots of people do carry $250, after all), they can pursue arb. Arb is cheap, and usually effective if the evidence lines up (it appears to). I'm not going to spend $10k in subro efforts, but again... it doesn't take much to send the tool to collections; collections companies only take money from you if they get paid... which they do if they're worth their salt.

There are plenty of low-cost alternatives for the insurance company to pursue... and I know that I can usually negotiate with the third-party insurance. If they don't listen to reason, I write my own arbs. In the company I work for, this is not uncommon... and at least most of the people in my office, busy as they may be, try to take a little extra time to do the right thing. The only way you'd really be stuck is if the damage is under the deductible, which you alluded to. Then, I can do little more than make 'good faith' efforts, because I have no financial interest and no legal ability to pursue.

[Nessal]

*******LAST UPDATE #3*****


So this one looks like it will be on my tab. These guys got smart and decided to all remain silent. I should have known something was wrong when I saw that posse hundle up in one of their cubes talking silently. All of last Friday and yesterday, everyone involved straight up ignored me. They probably thought that I would forget or something. So then I confronted everyone that was involved and they all denied any wrong doing and just walked away as fast as they could.

I told each and every one of them that I'm not even looking for money. I just want an apology. That's it. Then I'll be gone and they won't hear from me again. Guess what? Nothing. Not surprising at this point. But what is surprising is that apparently the guy that owns the SUV has been going around the building talking behind my back. But luckily for me, I have an outstanding reputation here. People actually came up to me to tell me what this douchebag was saying behind my back. I just told them the story to set them straight. That's a pretty dick move on him but it will come around. Trust me on that one.

And lastly, I still can't get the video because the person that has it won't arrange a time for me to view it. What I found out from some of the older members here is that the group that I got caught up with are in this "old boys club" type of thing. The guy that controls the tapes is actually a really good friend of one of the guys involved. Now I know why he has been dragging his feet and ignoring me. Pretty pathetic in my opinion.

At this point, I'm going to repair the damage myself. I'm still debating if I should drop $350 to get it fixed or if I should just touch it up and fix it later. But let me assure you guys that this WILL come around to each and every one of them.

I just want to say thanks for all the support and offer for assistance on this one. I really appreciated it!