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I think this should be in the lounge because the focus is on the question at the end, not the car, but I posted here anyway because it has a Bonneville in it!

Sirius took a hit a few weeks ago (still burns me up ). Wife was parked at the market and was just about to get out of the car when some lady in an old Escort (or something like) who was paying more attention to her grandchildren than driving nailed the left rear quarter panel, bounced off the tire, and rebounded into the left passenger door. Kim was NOT happy.



The glare in the pictures makes it a little hard to see, but she left a lot of white on my car. Most of it washed off other than a few minor scrapes. No dents, tears, cracks, etc. Still pisses me off, but I’m beginning to get over it.
OK, so here’s some facts;
As Kim was getting the woman’s insurance information she could see the date on her card…2007.
The incident occurred on private property (grocery store), and the cops were not called.
Kim was IN her car, but it was not running when she got hit. A few seconds later and she would have been OUT of the car and possibly been hit herself.
The other driver was a grandma with her grandkids, and was distracted. Grandchildren ranged from about 3-4 yrs to about 10 or so. They were all very apologetic.
The other car was a 2000ish Escort that looked like it hadn’t been washed since it was new.
Circumstantial observations/assumptions;
The other driver’s handwriting makes me suspect something was amiss. It wasn’t sloppy, but looked “jittery” – like she had the shakes. Kim thinks she was just nervous…since Utah is the capitol of prescription drug abuse I, being the cynic I am, lean toward being hepped up on some sort of goofball.
Kim’s intuition told her this other woman came from a stressed family. I know that’s a WAG on her part, but she’s right about these kind of things more often than I care to admit.
So, given that limited background data, what would you have done and why? There is no right answer to the question, I’m just interested in your reaction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HhqRm5M ... re=related

Here Cody, this one doesn't have some dumb music going on.

Your biggest mistake was not calling the police to make a report, Even if it was on private property.

Secondly, Do you have any info on the driver? Address? Witnesses? Talked to the lady about repair estmates yet? Filed Legal Action???

RJolly87 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HhqRm5MXQI&feature=related

Here Cody, this one doesn't have some dumb music going on.

It had music?

fuelforthesoul1999 wrote:

RJolly87 wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HhqRm5MXQI&feature=related

Here Cody, this one doesn't have some dumb music going on.

It had music?

Motorhead should report it immediately to the police and pursue the insurance side of it, even if you get nothing and she is charged. We all have a responsibility to be licensed and insured.

99% of that will buff out... and then you won't even worry about it anymore.

Get an accident report from the police ANY time something happens.

Normally I'd agree, but this looks mostly fixable, and there's no potential injuries so it's probably not a big deal. Someone once let me off the hook, and I am very grateful.

Blown93SSEi wrote:Your biggest mistake was not calling the police to make a report, Even if it was on private property.

^^^Completely agree.

Private property or not, you hit me, caused damage. A police report is CYA (this way the Escort driver does not try to turn the tables and claim the incident happened the other way around).

willwren mentioned, we all have a responsibility to have insurance, the police could follow up on that.

Now, the '07 insurance card could be nothing. I have a habit of putting my newest insurance card in the center console (with NUMEROUS old/out-of-date ones). Perhaps she did the same and had no idea she pulled an old one.

Hope everything gets taken care of and glad it was not worse.

The_Maniac wrote:...the '07 insurance card could be nothing. I have a habit of putting my newest insurance card in the center console (with NUMEROUS old/out-of-date ones). Perhaps she did the same and had no idea she pulled an old one.

I'm hoping for the best on that one for you too. The 2 times I got a ticket here in California, I pulled out expired insurance paperwork, even though I had the new paperwork right under it. I just wasn't looking and was too upset with myself for not paying attention to how fast I was going. Officer didn't even tell me about it, just accepted it both times. I didn't notice until later. But I've had the same insurance policy number on my car since I got it in 1999, so any proof of insurance document from me has the right insurance carrier and policy number on it, at least. I hope that's the same deal with the grandmother who hit your car.

In these bad economic times (and sometimes just by local ordinance) many municipalities will not come to private property to take a report unless there is a hit and run.

Rusgreim wrote:In these bad economic times (and sometimes just by local ordinance) many municipalities will not come to private property to take a report unless there is a hit and run.

Now that's a new one to me. If that's the case, someone calls for a report and dispatch says "sorry, if it's just a report, we're not sending someone", then they can't accuse people of a hit and run, can they?

Not just that, but don't some insurance carriers require a police report to move forward with a claim (I don't know this one, as I've never been in that situation)?

Out here if there's no injuries a lot of times they won't send an officer, but you can go to a police station and get a report filed.

Same thing sorta happened to me. Teenage girl and BF backed out of Walgreens drive thru line and smacked the 90, pretty hard. No apparent damage to either car at the time. Next morning, after the sun shined on the car for a bit, the bumper of the 90 was wrinkled up badly. I had let it slide, now I wish I hadnt.

That car is way too nice, I would pursue a claim and let insurance pay for getting it buffed out, and if shes uninsured, well then whatever the next step is.

Blown93SSEi wrote:Your biggest mistake was not calling the police to make a report, Even if it was on private property.

Secondly, Do you have any info on the driver? Address? Witnesses? Talked to the lady about repair estmates yet? Filed Legal Action???

A report can still be made since the supermarket has cameras. IF they caught it on tape.

Thanks for your responses. I expected most responses to recommend getting a police report and doing all the CYA stuff, and that’s what I think I would have done. My wife is, I’ll say, more compassionate than me. I probably would have fried granny, Kim chose not to.
Some good points were brought up. First, just because granny’s insurance card was expired certainly isn’t proof that she DIDN’T have insurance (however likely it may have been). Second, Bill’s comment about getting uninsured (or unsafe) drivers off the road is an argument I made to my wife. As I said before, I think granny was impaired. I wasn’t there, and I have no proof, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Based on that alone, I would have called the fuzz. Therein lies a moral disagreement between my wife & I. She had a problem with having granny get cuffed and hauled away in front of her grandkids (emotional trauma to the kids, etc.) – I’m for getting an impaired driver off the streets. Kim agreed with my point, but it was long after the fact (I was out of town during the incident).
Damage to the car was minimal. Most of it cleaned up with a little 3M Cleaner Wax. Some minor scratches remain, but not many more people than me will notice. No visible dents or other damage was done. I have Granny’s address, phone #, "insurance", etc., and there’s minimal chance of her “turning the tables” so I have no worries there. The fact that no police report was made means that, if I was to make an insurance claim, it’s likely my insurance would wind up paying. Luckily Kim’s assessment of the damage was accurate – if she’d have seen dents a police report WOULD have been filed.
While I’m bothered that she may have let an impaired driver, or at least and INATTENTIVE driver, back on the streets I’m OK with Kim giving granny a break. I have moments, however, when my blood boils a little thinking about people driving while distracted. If granny had waited until she’d parked her car before putting the smackdown on the kids, she wouldn’t have hit my car in the first place. If Kim hadn’t paused before getting out of the car, granny may have put her in the hospital. Hope granny doesn’t wind up putting someone ELSE in the hospital someday - that’s the biggest regret I may have.