[BrunoT]

Originally Posted by shpuntik

Let me paint you a picture:

3:45PM: I'm walking to my car which is parked in a commuter parking lot in Brooklyn, NY. As I am walking and see my baby in the distance, I also see a car pulling into the spot next to it, stop abruptley and correct itself

3:46PM: As I get next to my car, I realize that there is 90+ lady in a red Buick trying to park next to me. I get a nervous feeling and walk around my car and to my avail I see this:







3:49PM - 4:00PM: I loose my cool and start flipping out on the old lady as she clearly effed up my month old car and has admited to it and had I not seen it she would have just walked/drove away like nothing had happend. She admited to what she had done and we agreed to call the police.

5:26PM: No sign of the police, she decides that she does not want to go through insurance and will pay me in cash when I show her the bill from a body shop. I advise her that, that may not be the best idea as the parts and repainting can cost a lot of money, she says its OK and will figure out how to pay for it. As a result, I quickly write up a contract stating that she does not want to go thru insurance, will pay me cash, noting her address, name, phone #, plate #, license #, social security #, and her Walker make/model. I also took down all of her DL info, insurance info, registration info, VIN number, basically everything.

She agrees to everything and signs it.

5:30PM: Police arrive. They advise me that I should go ahead with the cash deal because as soon as they fill out a police report, my insurance company is notified. Also they said that if she fails on her promise to make the payment, I can come down with the signed "contract" and photos to the precinct and fill out a police report.

The police officer witnessed me and her signing the "contract".


This was a complete monstrosity and so annoying, now I have to go to my dealer tomorrow to get an estimate of the damages and send her the bill for the payment. Err!!!!! :mad:


How much do you guys think it will cost her to fix this?

One more thing, I really think that they should start road testing people over 65 years old and/or take away their license to drive as they clearly can not drive!


BTW this is the culprit:




-Dmitriy

wow, so much to cover. First of all, my condolences. It sucks to have something nice screwed up like that. But I have to make a few points so you'll be better prepared next time.

1. The police will just fill out a report with what they observe. Though if she's admitting fault to them, it's fine. But they aren't arbiters of who did what. She could just say you hit her car, you know? I've read that often in private parking lots they will not even write out a report. Their report serves mostly only to establish the identity of the other driver if disputed later.

2. People who want to pay you cash on an obviously expensive repair are doing so for a reason. One might be lack of insurance. Many drivers that age might be unlicensed or uninsurable. It's not wise to agree to that. Another reason is that your own insurance company has provisions that say you MUST inform them when damage occurs or you may forfeit your right to compensation from them (like if she doesn't pay up). So you're taking some serious risk here.

3. There's a reason beat cops are beat cops, not lawyers. It may be the case in your state, but here the police notify nobody over a parking lot fender bender.

4. But even if they do, there is usually no penalty for a non-fault accident, especially if you do not file a claim with your insurer. It is listed as an incident, at most. Our E90 was hit last year and we actually collected money from our insurer already (uninsured motorist) and our rate has gone DOWN $100/year since then. The uninsured driver at fault is paying our company back in payments, but they've already fixed our car. They're concerned with your bad driving habits, not your bad luck and old ladies' bad driving. I've been hit 3 times while insured by two different huge insurance companies, and never was their any negative consequence to me from it.

4. This is a civil, not criminal matter. Enforcement of your "contract" is for a court of law, not the police dept. I'm not sure what bringing them a copy of your contract with the other driver would accomplish.

5. The officer likely just wanted to avoid having to write it all up.

6. You are also now possibly going to have a huge problem collecting from her for your other indirect costs, such as a rental car, and more importantly, any diminished value from the car being painted (if it requires it). We had pretty minimal damage and still got about $1000 worth of rental cars and diminished value from our insurer w/o even negotiating. The entire actual repair was only about $700! I doubt Miss Daisy is going to comprehend diminished value and the principles of indemnification. She's gonna pay you the actual repair bill, max. You are probably entitled to more.

7. She will likely die when she sees the bill anyway and you will not get paid. Her idea of a repair bill is fixed in time around 1967.

[BrunoT]

Originally Posted by ACZakka325i

I cant bevlieve you were actually yelling at an old lady. I would probobly express my disatisfaction/frustration, but you need to fucking check yourself before you yell at an old lady man.

People make mistakes. Mabey I was just brought up differently.

True, but you need to remember that this was an old lady who also happened to have just hit his car, admitted she KNEW she did, and at least from his description was about to chose to just leave and let him deal with it.

human beings don't assume sainthood just because they managed to keep breathing past a certain age. I wouldn't have yelled at her either but let's not turn her into Mother Theresa. My experience with folks of all ages is that she would have backed out, found another spot out of obvious range, and gone about her business. I used to work where I was delivering to retail locations all day. I saw a lot of folks bump other cars from time to time. Usually they would look around to see if anyone saw it, then go park elsewhere. I haven't seen it written anywhere that this changes when you reach retirement age.

[ACZakka325i]

Originally Posted by brucec32

True, but you need to remember that this was an old lady who also happened to have just hit his car, admitted she KNEW she did, and at least from his description was about to chose to just leave and let him deal with it.

human beings don't assume sainthood just because they managed to keep breathing past a certain age. I wouldn't have yelled at her either but let's not turn her into Mother Theresa. My experience with folks of all ages is that she would have backed out, found another spot out of obvious range, and gone about her business. I used to work where I was delivering to retail locations all day. I saw a lot of folks bump other cars from time to time. Usually they would look around to see if anyone saw it, then go park elsewhere. I haven't seen it written anywhere that this changes when you reach retirement age.

I understand what your saying. But, you can yell at the person only if they tried to evade their responsibility. You cannot yell at someone who has accepted fault, and at least mildly expresses their remorse. How does it make it the situation better by belittling an elderly person. I would be pissed too, but I would try to be civil. It wasn't intentional, obviously.

[STE92VE]

To the OP.....you're lucky she wasn't carrying. Due to the way you were ranting and raving, she might have felt threatened and put one into your head.

[Dmitriy@AUTOcouture]

Originally Posted by STE92VE

To the OP.....you're lucky she wasn't carrying. Due to the way you were ranting and raving, she might have felt threatened and put one into your head.

Vice versa

Dude I don't regret any of my actions, my initial reaction was what it was. Afterwards we both came to terms and we were fine (this repetition is getting annoying), but you know what? Fuck this. When you see someone scratching up your brand new car, you try keeping your fucking composure and then remember this thread.

[Ascension]

Originally Posted by shpuntik

The wheel isn't scratched at all (thank god ).... However it is not very visible on the pictures but there are little bumps all over the bumper, I guess it moved a little bit and the screws from inside are bulging thru. So it may need to be bent back into shape.. How much does a new bumper, primed/painted/installed cost?

I had my front bumper replaced and it cost a whopping $800

[Ty Vil]

Originally Posted by Ascension

I had my front bumper replaced and it cost a whopping $800

That seems a bit low.

TO the OP... That was EXACTLY half way between the two costs I estimated for replacement.

That bumper may be able to be fixed though for significantly less.

[Dmitriy@AUTOcouture]

Originally Posted by Ty Vil

That seems a bit low.

TO the OP... That was EXACTLY half way between the two costs I estimated for replacement.

That bumper may be able to be fixed though for significantly less.

Hey man, thanks for the response. I went to my BMW service shop and they have thier own body shop, which gave me an estimate of all damages. The estimate came out to exactly $1,003.86. Out of that $283 is for the bumper cover. The rest is painting and labor.

I have already sent this estimate out to the old lady so that she can send me the $$.

What do you think? BTW I have attached the estimate to this post.

Thanks,

Dmitriy

[Ty Vil]

Originally Posted by shpuntik

Hey man, thanks for the response. I went to my BMW service shop and they have thier own body shop, which gave me an estimate of all damages. The estimate came out to exactly $1,003.86. Out of that $283 is for the bumper cover. The rest is painting and labor.

I have already sent this estimate out to the old lady so that she can send me the $$.

What do you think? BTW I have attached the estimate to this post.

Thanks,

Dmitriy

sent you a PM.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by shpuntik

Vice versa

Dude I don't regret any of my actions, my initial reaction was what it was. Afterwards we both came to terms and we were fine (this repetition is getting annoying), but you know what? Fuck this. When you see someone scratching up your brand new car, you try keeping your fucking composure and then remember this thread.

I get your point. People keep saying respect your elders and that is fine but they wouldn't be saying the same thing if a younger person hit your car even though it may have been an accident as well. They'd be bringing out the pitchforks and torches. It doesn't change the fact that she hit your car in something as simple as parking a car.

I think that older people, as it is a fact they lose not only reflexes but often judgement and strength in their older age, should be tested every year or two for driving ability mandatory. My grandfather when he was alive was a risk to other motorists, he would have slow reflexes and often doze off while driving. My grandmother can barely walk and is like 4' 9" now (she keeps shrinking) so I'd never want to see her behind the wheel either. This doesn't mean I don't respect them, it means I want to see them safe as well as people around them.

When I was in a parking lot sitting with my mother 2 older people parked next to us and hit our car not once but twice and then started to walk off like nothing happened before we tracked them down. They had no courtesy or respect towards us at all.

Good luck with the bumper, I guess on the brightside is that it will be flawless now.

[OC Guy]

I can keep my composure, losing your composure really doesn't help the situation. If I were her I would've pepper sprayed your ass.

[Dmitriy@AUTOcouture]

Originally Posted by OC 335i

I can keep my composure, losing your composure really doesn't help the situation. If I were her I would've pepper sprayed your ass.

I never said it helped nor did it hurt, it was what it was, it was my reaction to someone messing up my car. I'm glad that you can keep your calm while someone fucks up your car, kudos to you... but thats not me and I definetly should not be judged for that.

[Dmitriy@AUTOcouture]

Originally Posted by Neil

I get your point. People keep saying respect your elders and that is fine but they wouldn't be saying the same thing if a younger person hit your car even though it may have been an accident as well. They'd be bringing out the pitchforks and torches. It doesn't change the fact that she hit your car in something as simple as parking a car.

I think that older people, as it is a fact they lose not only reflexes but often judgement and strength in their older age, should be tested every year or two for driving ability mandatory. My grandfather when he was alive was a risk to other motorists, he would have slow reflexes and often doze off while driving. My grandmother can barely walk and is like 4' 9" now (she keeps shrinking) so I'd never want to see her behind the wheel either. This doesn't mean I don't respect them, it means I want to see them safe as well as people around them.

When I was in a parking lot sitting with my mother 2 older people parked next to us and hit our car not once but twice and then started to walk off like nothing happened before we tracked them down. They had no courtesy or respect towards us at all.

Good luck with the bumper, I guess on the brightside is that it will be flawless now.

Good to know that there is some variety to these sheep.

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by shpuntik

I never said it helped nor did it hurt, it was what it was, it was my reaction to someone messing up my car. I'm glad that you can keep your calm while someone fucks up your car, kudos to you... but thats not me and I definetly should not be judged for that.

Keep in mind that on a public forum not many people know you so you will be judged for what you say. I think the reaction you are getting is because it seems you don't really feel bad about it. People react in the heat of the moment, mistakes happen. Just try to remain a bit more calm next time. Just my opinion. Carry on.

[derek0480]

$1060 for a new bumper painted and installed from BMW.


Valet hit a pole in my car - 2 months old....bastard...


If she's paying...just get new one...

[Kiemyster]

ahh man. sorry to hear it. its ok, the shit should work out.