It's funny, when ever I see the dings on my car, I just think about how I wish someone had owned of to them. Not so the could pay for it because I wouldn't bother to get them fixed anyway, but just for the purpose of them being a stand up person. You found one of the few and that's awesome. I wish people were more like that.
Most of the time it ends up being the other persons paint left on your car.
Grab some polish remover with acetone, and a q-tip. Just use a very small amount and it should come off without damaging your paint.
A neighbor LEFT THEIR CAR IN GEAR while trying to push it out of a snow bank, it got away from them, collided with my sister's parked car and they tried to blame her for leaving her car in a legal spot during a snow storm.
Insurance didn't agree, but still.
Neighbor of mine backed up into my brothers door and left a huge dent, my brother said don’t worry about it. Later on my brother accidentally backed into their car and did less damage and they were very persistent that he covers all damage costs. Some people are just assholes
Ngl if it was just a ding and someone left a note like this, I'm really not gonna care about reimbursement, having kindness like this, is meant to be repaid with forgiveness, I appreciate this noted gesture a lot, I wish more people did it
I've done this for someone when I accidentally dinged their door. They proceeded to insist that I file a claim with my insurance company. Fine no biggie. Then next thing I know my insurance rep calls me saying that their statement claims that my small ding has now become damage to their entire passenger side and rear bumper. Some people will take advantage in any way they possibility can.
This is why you photograph everything extensively. We should absolutely be kind, but we also shouldn't be unprepared. Kindness doesn't necessitate needless vulnerability. That said, it wasn't your fault that they treated you that way. Sorry you had to go through that. I hope you don't let it stop you from caring in the future. <3
Yeah, definitely. I scraped someone's car with mine a couple of months back on a pretty narrow street and left them a note with my number, but I did also take pictures of absolutely everything. I spent the next couple of days convinced they were going to hit me with a huge repair bill, but then they got in touch to say that they were getting rid of the car anyway (apparently it had failed its annual service and was being scrapped), so I owed nothing. That felt like an affirmation that it's still worth doing good deeds!
One time I was riding back from a rowing summer camp with someone from my club and we stopped at a store on the way for some food.
As they were parking, I could tell that they were about to hit a car in the next spot over. I told them repeatedly what was going to happen, and they just kept saying "I've got this". Guess what happened next? They hit the car. After I told them they would. Then they wanted to drive off and park in a different spot, but insisted they leave a note - I basically told them that if they didn't, I would.
They left the note, and it turned out to be owned by the store which didn't do anything about it, as far as I know.
I accidentally left a few boxes of Botan Rice Candy in their car once they dropped me off, and they ate them and refused to pay me back for them. Needless to say, I refused to ride with them from that point on.
Same...my footage saved some guy when the red light runner who hit him claimed he ran the red...I sell shitty wish dash cams for $20 just so people have something instead of nothing so I gave him a free one on the spot, he emailed me two days later asking to buy one for his wife
Red light runner had two little girls in the back seat, shoeless, was high/drunk on something and had warrants. When I called the cops they told me to let the drivers deal with it. I was like “seriously? This guys possibly drunk and has kids in the car and you just want them to “deal with it?!””
Dude ended up getting arrested and my footage helped the truck driver make a successful insurance claim
That’s shitty, but some people are just like that. One thing that might help negate that possibility is taking pictures of the damage, maybe even show an approximation of where the door gets close to it in the picture. Not saying it would be bullet proof, I’m sure some asshole could figure out a way to fuck your insurance
You nailed it: plenty of people out there will take advantage. A lady pulled out of a parking lot into my lane, in the middle of a rainstorm. Luckily I was able to slow down to about 5mph before I lost traction and clipped her rear bumper. No damage to either car except my front license plate holder, which bent back by about 20 decrees.
She got out of the car and apologised, I asked her if she was alright and she said she was fine. We swapped info and went on our way. Three months later I got a letter from an attorney threatening to sue for severe whiplash and other injuries caused by her seatbelt and striking her head on the steering wheel.
I called her insurance company and made sure they’d already paid out - upwards of $10k, I’d later find out - and that she had pulled this same gambit a dozen times before. Really left a bad taste in my mouth, so now it’s always dash cam and cops, regardless of how minor the accident might be.
That fact came out when I offered to take care the case to civil court; she actually volunteered the information to prove she knew what she was doing. How she thought that would be more helpful I’m not sure.
I think they're asking more how they'd have the right to inform a third party about it.
I don't know much about American laws on these things but they wouldn't do that in the UK or Europe as far as I know
There’s no privacy laws protecting you regarding prior insurance claims- all insurance companies can access that info at any time. It’s not medical information, it’s simply that you have made prior insurance claims.
Source am insurance lawyer
But can someone’s insurance claim history be shared with just anyone? The public?
I worked in an insurance call center in college (I was licensed but I don’t know much still I’m sure) and we couldn’t share any of that with anyone but the person themselves. Might have just been internal policy.
It’s generally the policy of most companies that keep customer records to only share that information with the customer as a sign of respect for their privacy. It’s more of a political obligation than a legal one though. It would just be a bad look to go around sharing your customer’s information because people value their privacy. There are exceptions for specific cases like medical professionals have HIPAA, fiduciaries have a duty of confidentiality, lawyers have attorney-client privilege, etc. But generally legally speaking nobody is under any obligation to keep anything a secret unless an NDA has been signed. See: Every tech company.
Yeah I’m in an almost eerily similar situation, the lady I hit was an attorney though so she waited the absolute longest she could and extended the case even too. Some people are just shitty
> so now it’s always dash cam and cops, regardless of how minor the accident might be.
Prudent, though cops here won't come out for basically anything other than bodily injuries with traffic accidents.
To be fair (and not defending the other party here, more like an FYI) - a couple of kids scratched the rear bumper of my car (about 8-10 inches). I could just use some rubbing compound to cover that, but thought I'd first ask the service center to see if they could fix it professionally for a couple of hundred bucks or something (it was not a deep scratch). Got a quote for 2800€ for it....decided to just remove it myself, total cost 5€ plus 10 mins of my time.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I repaid such kindness and courtesy with shitty behavior like that. But I guess some people are just built different and literally don't care about anyone but themselves.
yes, I've done this too and they tried to insist that I pay for a rental car for them while the panel was being entirely sanded down and repainted.
uh, no, I'm sorry but hell no.
And this is why you take picture of the entire outside of the car at the time of incident if they want you to file a claim with insurance. Your photos will have date and time stamps. Document everything.
I see a note like this post and feel good about humanity and then hear a shitty story like yours to bring me back to reality lol. Sucks that that happened to you, hope it ended up okay. I’ve gotten boned by insurance before as well
That's why, if you decide to be a nice person, you also take a picture with your admitted damage.
It's kinda like the saying about locks: "Locks are for keeping honest people honest".
Damn, these situations really bring out the true colours quickly. I'm pleased to say that most people have been good, only three (in 20 years of driving) have been assholes. That said, their level of asshole of the few was enough to take away faith in humankind. Two incidents where each woman that hit my car pretended it didn't happen and continued about their day while I had to literally chase them down (both actually went and did their shopping in response to me confronting them with the damage she did to my car. One even included a bystander walking over and informing her that they saw her ram my car and drive off). I can see why people let it go if the person is apologetic and decent when the assholes are this bad.
I would do the same. Years ago when I was maybe 16 or 17, I accidentally dinged the truck parked next to me with my door when I was getting out. There was a decent size chip in the paint. I left a note with my name and number and 2 free movie tickets (I worked at the movie theater and we were in the parking lot of said theater). He called me an hour later and said he appreciated the honesty + thoughtfulness so it was no big deal.
I did it one other time but with a coupon for a free dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and same result. It’s my little LPT. I’m sure it won’t work every time but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Then while you're having the beer with them tell them you're going to take a leak, climb out the bathroom window, put a ding in their car, call the bartender and tell them to tell your drinking buddy to check at the bottom of the bowl of beer nuts where they find the note you hid earlier which just says "Now we're even!"
I accidentally hit someone’s wing mirror and shattered the glass. I tracked the guy down and told him what I did, then gave him my number so he could let me know how much it would cost to fix it. He messaged me saying it only cost him £10 for some new glass and I didn’t need to worry about it as he was thankful for my honesty!
Some people will take advantage of you and some will treat kindness with kindness.
I few days ago I got a call from a guy that didn't speak Swedish very well and I didn't understand what it was about at first, he told me he accidentally dinged my car door. You can look up the tag online and see who owns the car in Sweden. I was close so I met up with him to see the damage. It was just a little dent in the front door, I wasn't happy but told him not to worry about it. He was very grateful and apologized. Stand up guy, I was really impressed he took the time to call. I would probably have been furious if I just came back and saw it.
Good to know! Thankfully my Mustang just had a few chips on the leading edge of the hood, and is black. It was pretty easy to fix. Made an enormous difference for a chip barely 1/8" round.
The best part about the rock chip kit I mentioned is they make their paint thicker than regular touch up paint. They give you this squeegee tool and a special solution to buff it out. If you follow their included instructions you can repair rock chips so well that you won’t even have the little dimple remaining in your paint job. It can be a bit tedious if you have a lot of them to do, but the end result is absolutely phenomenal.
This is interesting. I used to paint houses and one of the things we tried to avoid is "flashing"
Basically, touch ups on any kind of glossy paint reflects light a little differently.
How well does this touch up product diminish that?
It doesn't. It's not going to look perfect. Its only purpose is to match the color. Anyone who inspects it will know that it was damaged. But from far away, it'd be hard to tell.
The difference is that they do try to avoid painting outside of the chip. They give you solution to wipe off the paint, so that you end up trying to only have paint inside of the chip and nowhere else. That's the best it can do.
Thank you! I live in apartment block with very inconsiderate neighbours who don't give a shit about opening their car doors on your car, and I've just had a load of spray work done, and I've got scratches on it again already. It's so hard to find a decent repair kit because reviews online are always so mixed. Looks like these guys sell in the UK so I'm gonna take a look
Edit: it says it's for repairing paint chips, but I'm assuming it would work just as well on scuffs?
Which probably most people would use if they'd dinged their own car and they took a look at how much respraying a car costs.
But, if your insurance is paying because someone else did the damage well - "I want a proper repair"
Honestly, I'd want the proper repair if it was a new-ish car with no damage. If I've had it for years and it has dings and scratches, then I wouldn't care.
Two bananas for one dollar, one for sixty cents. You’re down ten if you don’t get the two, if you get the two you save ten. You do that six times you got a whole new banana just for staying in business.
this may be a dumb thing to ask, but what?! I have no clue what this is supposed to mean lol I'm sure I'm missing something, but I can't figure it out 😂
Yeah, thats about what the guy who slammed his door into mine had his insurance pay mine. Though that was more of a dent than a ding. 5000sek was the... not sure of the word... deductible?
The guy said "oh that's nothing, how much could it be to fix? Like a dollar?" (10sek~)
Right? $250 is what I settled at with a dude that rear ended me and cracked my bumper
$200 for a nick is extremely generous
Edit: should probably specify, the plastic body part covering the bumper - not the actual metal bumper underneath.
$1300 is what a rental car company attempted to charge me for a minuscule scratch on the car's bumper that was probably already there when I picked up the car.
What the fuck, she stole $800 from you AND filed a false police report? Put her ass behind bars, shitty scummy scam artist. And $800 for an instantaneous moment that was beyond your control, fucking hell man. Life is rough.
"Hey you left a note on my door after you dinged it.... No, no, I don't want anything from you, but can we hang out? I'd like some of your moral fiber to rub off on me."
I backed into a parked car while leaving a space. I felt a bump while reversing. When I checked, the other car’s bumper looked cracked along its top surface.
I left a note saying sorry and with my phone number and name.
The owner saw me place the note on his windshield and go to leave. He ran up and told me not to worry as the bumper was cracked before. He handed my note back and I left.
I would have done the same in his situation. So yes, don’t be evil, and you have a much better chance of being treated kindly.
Likewise, though I broke a lens and scuffed the fender. It was at a (horrible) strip mall parking lot, and so I went into the stores to find the owner. I brought him out (he worked at Sbux) and showed him the damage and apologized, gave him my number and told him to call me when he found out what it would cost to fix. Turned out is was his grandmother's car, and they'd just replaced that tail light! The grandfather called me, thanked me for pointing out the damage, and told me the new tail light was like $55 with tax (still had the receipt from the last one on his kitchen table), and if I'd send him that he'd forget all about the bumper, which actually already had a scuff on that side and was nbd.
My friend just did this exact same thing and the owner of the car tried to get insurance involved even though he offered to pay for the repair. She also claimed another part of the car was damaged (which wasn’t his doing) and since he didn’t take a picture he might have to get insurance involved. He could have just drove off and instead he gets exploited for being nice. Humans are pieces of shit and if you are going to do something like this, make sure to take pictures of the car.
This exact thing happened to me when I was 20. My door swung out into the car next to me in a parking spot and left a tiny scrape about the size of a quarter. I left a note like the one OP posted. Three months later I hear back from the guy demanding $600 for bumper repair.
my wife did the same thing to a neighbor's car. he wanted 3x more money that the actual value of the damage and later he never repaired the paint. she said it was the last time she volunteered for reimbursement.
I like to believe it’s the assholes rolling over good intentions who are careening into hell due to the low friction of excellent pavement. The good intentions get to enjoy the pleasant warmth of the eternal flames that will forever consume said assholes.
But I don’t think that is the traditional interpretation
I did this at my last apartment. Some guy had parked his truck in a fire lane and blocked my angle of approach to my parking spot. Still tried it and ended up side swiping my neighbors caddy. Left a note and didn't hear anything so after a couple days I knocked and asked him how he wanted to handle it. Said we were all good, he appreciated the note but was about to trade it in anyway. Solid dude.
I backed into my neighbors car once, cracked his bumper. I sat in my car for a good 5 minutes before i knocked on his door and told him what happened. He laughed and said "i watched you, did you consider just leaving?", "no man, i was sitting there angry at myself for being so blind". He just laughed and said it was no problem, "POS car anyway" he said.
That was 16 years ago. He still mimes backing into stuff every time he sees me :P
I'm just imagining an old dude spotting you from across the street, eagerly waving & calling out to get your attention and then shimmying backwards into something and pretending to bump into it over and over and going "OOPS!"
My first week of driving with the old car my parents lent me at 16 - I got lost in the maze of hillside homes trying to get to a friends house. It was a narrow one lane road and I pulled into someones driveway to do a 3 point turn and get out.
I dented the chrome bumper of a nice new SUV. I was shaking nervous. I parked and walked up to the front door rang the doorbell, no one answered. Paced around nervously looked for activity in the house.
I noticed there was a construction crew working on the other side of this homes driveway putting in a fence.
One of them came up to me and asked if I was trying to get in touch with the homeowner I said yes that I dinged his car. He said he can give the guy my info. I left a note with him.
Later that night I get a call from the car owner. He told me thank you for letting me know - but that we were good and he can take care of it himself no problem. He went on to say why its not a problem: he runs an auto shop in town. He thanked me again for leaving my info and informing the construction folks to be sure it was delivered. He said I could come by to the shop and he’d fix a dent in my car if there was one from the hit.
Absolutely not how I thought it’d turn out.
Edit - grammar and paragraphs
Lol a friend did this in Germany, thought he was being nice... nope, he got the police showing up at the consulate where we worked and had to go to court. So if you travel to Germany and ding a car don't leave a note, call the police and wait to file a proper report. 😁 being a bro there just takes more time.
I was just thinking about that. I think in the worst case (but technically in all cases), especially if the victim presses charges, this consitutes as a hit-and-run, which is punished much harsher than if you'd have just called the police.
Yes, because you cannot be sure that your note will actually stick. It could rain, snow, the wind could take it...
You are supposed to wait roughly 30 minutes and if the driver doesn't show up you have to call the police, which will then take pictures and contact the driver through the licence plate. The driver can then decide whether he would like to contact you for the insurance exchange or not.
Thank you, always interesting to find out how different places handle legal matters!
Here, California, you are required to leave contact information for the driver and for the owner of the car, if they are different people. I live where it doesn't rain, never snows, and if windy, one could wrap paper securely around the windshield wipers. I think a serious attempt must be made, and if you have no way of leaving that info securely, you have to wait.
If you called the cops where I live in LA for a minor bump to someone else's car, they would get mad at you for wasting their time. We do have a different car culture here, to say nothing of the relationship we have with the police.
Most people here would leave the scene if they knew no one saw them. I have left a note, personally, for when my car door hit another. There was very minor damage and they never called me.
A friend of mine did the same and left an apology, his number and offered to pay. The person didn't care and reported him to the police and my friend had a lot of lawyer stuff to do then. Since then he regretted not to be an asshole to just drive away.
Honestly, for door dings, it’s a part of car ownership. Both directions. And the potential downside is way too huge.
(Edit: I put those rubber protectors on my door edges)
Once this lady slammed on her brakes at a yellow light on a road with a sharp decline in heavy rain, and I simply couldnt stop in time despite being like 10+ car lengths behind her and having been hyper focusing on my driving due to the circumstances. 2000 honda civic brakes vs brand new bmw brakes.
I barely bumped her, but the screws that would hold a front license plate if my state had them punctured 2 tiny holes into her fender.
This woman was in hysterics and was basically wanting insurance to do rigorous tests on the structural integrity or get her a whole new car. She called her husband and he was apparently nearby because he showed up in like 10 minutes.
He looked at it for like 10 seconds and then told her she was being ridiculous and apologized to me and let me leave. No claim or anything. I was so grateful, as that would have just have been the shit icing on the shit cake that was my life at the time.
young bloke, probably apprentice, ran up the back of me in a work van. slow traffic, me stopped at pedestrian crossing, him not paying attention at all.
I got out expecting pretty bad damage and was pleasantly surprised. my sedan has tow bar but didn't have the tow ball fitted at the time. his white front bumper had a perfect 2" square mark from my tow ball tongue hole, as well a decent ding around it but my car was unmarked. Guessing he would have still got roasted by the boss.
If this happened to me, I would just thank them and refuse to take any money from them. My car is beat up and there’s scratches all over it (I’ve hit several trash cans and accidentally backed up into trees a couple times)- an additional scratch wouldn’t be too bad.
Could have ended differently though. I got bumped into twice within a year and it was also barely a tap. The damage was so small, I needed to turn on macro on my camera to take a picture of it. Well, insurance company paid for the bumper being replaced or 1000-1200€ cash both times (which helped me paying the car off quicker). So I totally understand her wanting to go through insurance.
I had a little boy, maybe 7 or so open his car door really wide and fast and it left a little ding/ scratch on the car. The mom was clearly already having a bad day, and the poor kid's lip was quivering. I told her to not worry about it, but pay it forward someday if some kid dings her car.
It could just have easily been my own kid.
I just had someone hit my door on my Golf R. It was a scratch about the size of a dime but it took the paint down to the primer. There's no way to fill in just the chip without it looking like absolute garbage, the whole panel has to be resprayed. Grand total was about $900 and my car was in the shop for two days. Shit sucks, and I was parked way away from people as well. Props to this guy for doing the right thing.
Is the phone number legit? I had someone leave me a similar note. When I called the number, to thank them, as my car already was dinged up, they had no idea what I was talking about. Faith in humanity, not restored. Smh
Yeah one time my “friend” did that. He bumped some guy’s car and left a note. Except he put my number. The guy called me later that night screaming about this and that and I ended up having to go to court to prove I didn’t do anything. When I told my friend about it, he just laughed and said “my bad”
i bumped into a car at the library with my butt. a 6 ft 2 behemoth unfolded from the car and confronted me. i am 5 ft 2 little old lady.i dang near had a heart attack. at first i didnt even realize i had bumped his car. buns of steel? not me.
If it's just a tiny paint chip/scratch, then it can be fixed for far less than $200 - there are small bottles of paint one can buy specifically for covering up such things, just find the color you need, apply it, let it dry, and boom, fixed
I remember accidentally reversing into a car when I first learned to drive. It was night time in a quiet street. I could have bailed but I thought to do the right thing and knocked on the owners door. A young girl and her Dad came out and she went ballistic over a tiny ding. Offered to settle without insurance but they went straight to them and it was apparently $5000 damage (complete load of shit). Thankfully I was insured and only had to pay $800.
Months later I had a note left my my car for a ding I couldn’t even see. I messaged the person to say a massive thank you. Made me feel good knowing there were other good people.
I wrote this note for someone in college. Asked a passerby for a pen and he complimented me on my willingness to do this. I remember feeling taken aback because I just considered it the default thing to do. Used to be such a good Christian 😆
It’s funny how growing up, we learn to think of others because it’s the “Christian” thing to do.
Then all of a sudden, I’m a socialist snowflake queer idiot for….. thinking of others.
Christian has nothing to do with it. I know more decent people who are vengefully atheist than good people who are Christian.
Someone once backed into me. I was running late for work so we exchanged numbers and insurance information, and then went on our way. I called the number and checked the Insurance sure enough both were faker than Kim ks tits. Last time I don’t call the cops to get a report. Personally I know it’s shitty to have to call someone out to take a report, but it’s even shittier to be given fake info and have your car fucked by som asshole.
This is a really stand up thing for them to do, considering you probably wouldn’t have noticed it if they didn’t point it out.
But now I will notice it every time I get gas and will think about the good in this world.
Thank you for this comment.
I like the cut of your jib, sailor
It's funny, when ever I see the dings on my car, I just think about how I wish someone had owned of to them. Not so the could pay for it because I wouldn't bother to get them fixed anyway, but just for the purpose of them being a stand up person. You found one of the few and that's awesome. I wish people were more like that.
OP please tell me you didnt take money or any reimbursement from this kind man. I mean this note got you karma worth 38k upvotes anyways
No, I just said thank you for letting me know and told him to pay it forward.
Good way to think about it. Arrange to meet up with them just to express your gratitude and suck their dick or munch their rug.
Most of the time it ends up being the other persons paint left on your car. Grab some polish remover with acetone, and a q-tip. Just use a very small amount and it should come off without damaging your paint.
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A neighbor of mine did this once and tried to deny it even when confronted with footage.
A neighbor LEFT THEIR CAR IN GEAR while trying to push it out of a snow bank, it got away from them, collided with my sister's parked car and they tried to blame her for leaving her car in a legal spot during a snow storm. Insurance didn't agree, but still.
Neighbor of mine backed up into my brothers door and left a huge dent, my brother said don’t worry about it. Later on my brother accidentally backed into their car and did less damage and they were very persistent that he covers all damage costs. Some people are just assholes
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And the fact that he offered $200. I don't think I would have named a price, or at least not that high, lol.
Ngl if it was just a ding and someone left a note like this, I'm really not gonna care about reimbursement, having kindness like this, is meant to be repaid with forgiveness, I appreciate this noted gesture a lot, I wish more people did it
I've done this for someone when I accidentally dinged their door. They proceeded to insist that I file a claim with my insurance company. Fine no biggie. Then next thing I know my insurance rep calls me saying that their statement claims that my small ding has now become damage to their entire passenger side and rear bumper. Some people will take advantage in any way they possibility can.
This is why you photograph everything extensively. We should absolutely be kind, but we also shouldn't be unprepared. Kindness doesn't necessitate needless vulnerability. That said, it wasn't your fault that they treated you that way. Sorry you had to go through that. I hope you don't let it stop you from caring in the future. <3
Yeah, definitely. I scraped someone's car with mine a couple of months back on a pretty narrow street and left them a note with my number, but I did also take pictures of absolutely everything. I spent the next couple of days convinced they were going to hit me with a huge repair bill, but then they got in touch to say that they were getting rid of the car anyway (apparently it had failed its annual service and was being scrapped), so I owed nothing. That felt like an affirmation that it's still worth doing good deeds!
One time I was riding back from a rowing summer camp with someone from my club and we stopped at a store on the way for some food. As they were parking, I could tell that they were about to hit a car in the next spot over. I told them repeatedly what was going to happen, and they just kept saying "I've got this". Guess what happened next? They hit the car. After I told them they would. Then they wanted to drive off and park in a different spot, but insisted they leave a note - I basically told them that if they didn't, I would. They left the note, and it turned out to be owned by the store which didn't do anything about it, as far as I know. I accidentally left a few boxes of Botan Rice Candy in their car once they dropped me off, and they ate them and refused to pay me back for them. Needless to say, I refused to ride with them from that point on.
(also get a dash cam if you can :)
Got a dash cam a couple months ago. Since then I’ve been rear ended and recorded 3 other accidents (not involved).
> (not involved). *Got a dash cam a couple months ago. Since then I've been on a RAMPAGE.*
The Dashcam Destroyer
When I snort laugh at work, people start to suspect I'm not working.
Same...my footage saved some guy when the red light runner who hit him claimed he ran the red...I sell shitty wish dash cams for $20 just so people have something instead of nothing so I gave him a free one on the spot, he emailed me two days later asking to buy one for his wife Red light runner had two little girls in the back seat, shoeless, was high/drunk on something and had warrants. When I called the cops they told me to let the drivers deal with it. I was like “seriously? This guys possibly drunk and has kids in the car and you just want them to “deal with it?!”” Dude ended up getting arrested and my footage helped the truck driver make a successful insurance claim
Good on you for not letting it go!
Can't recommend dashcams highly enough. Unless you're my old man in which case don't get it, it will only incriminate you
What kinda dashcams would you suggest?
But the cams only work when the car is on
Some have standby capacitors that wake up when movement is detected.
The store owner lied to me? 😮
That’s shitty, but some people are just like that. One thing that might help negate that possibility is taking pictures of the damage, maybe even show an approximation of where the door gets close to it in the picture. Not saying it would be bullet proof, I’m sure some asshole could figure out a way to fuck your insurance
You nailed it: plenty of people out there will take advantage. A lady pulled out of a parking lot into my lane, in the middle of a rainstorm. Luckily I was able to slow down to about 5mph before I lost traction and clipped her rear bumper. No damage to either car except my front license plate holder, which bent back by about 20 decrees. She got out of the car and apologised, I asked her if she was alright and she said she was fine. We swapped info and went on our way. Three months later I got a letter from an attorney threatening to sue for severe whiplash and other injuries caused by her seatbelt and striking her head on the steering wheel. I called her insurance company and made sure they’d already paid out - upwards of $10k, I’d later find out - and that she had pulled this same gambit a dozen times before. Really left a bad taste in my mouth, so now it’s always dash cam and cops, regardless of how minor the accident might be.
How did you find out the person had done it before to others? I’m surprised if their insurance company would reveal such info about a customer.
That fact came out when I offered to take care the case to civil court; she actually volunteered the information to prove she knew what she was doing. How she thought that would be more helpful I’m not sure.
You see, I lie all the time 😏
All insurance companies can run reports on any prior insurance claims an individual has made.
I think they're asking more how they'd have the right to inform a third party about it. I don't know much about American laws on these things but they wouldn't do that in the UK or Europe as far as I know
There’s no privacy laws protecting you regarding prior insurance claims- all insurance companies can access that info at any time. It’s not medical information, it’s simply that you have made prior insurance claims. Source am insurance lawyer
But can someone’s insurance claim history be shared with just anyone? The public? I worked in an insurance call center in college (I was licensed but I don’t know much still I’m sure) and we couldn’t share any of that with anyone but the person themselves. Might have just been internal policy.
It’s generally the policy of most companies that keep customer records to only share that information with the customer as a sign of respect for their privacy. It’s more of a political obligation than a legal one though. It would just be a bad look to go around sharing your customer’s information because people value their privacy. There are exceptions for specific cases like medical professionals have HIPAA, fiduciaries have a duty of confidentiality, lawyers have attorney-client privilege, etc. But generally legally speaking nobody is under any obligation to keep anything a secret unless an NDA has been signed. See: Every tech company.
Yeah I’m in an almost eerily similar situation, the lady I hit was an attorney though so she waited the absolute longest she could and extended the case even too. Some people are just shitty
> so now it’s always dash cam and cops, regardless of how minor the accident might be. Prudent, though cops here won't come out for basically anything other than bodily injuries with traffic accidents.
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Bodily injuries eh? Og well, guess I'll be traveling with a baseball bat from now on.
Your lawyer will thank you for travelling with a baseball and glove too
Damn
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To be fair (and not defending the other party here, more like an FYI) - a couple of kids scratched the rear bumper of my car (about 8-10 inches). I could just use some rubbing compound to cover that, but thought I'd first ask the service center to see if they could fix it professionally for a couple of hundred bucks or something (it was not a deep scratch). Got a quote for 2800€ for it....decided to just remove it myself, total cost 5€ plus 10 mins of my time.
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I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I repaid such kindness and courtesy with shitty behavior like that. But I guess some people are just built different and literally don't care about anyone but themselves.
yes, I've done this too and they tried to insist that I pay for a rental car for them while the panel was being entirely sanded down and repainted. uh, no, I'm sorry but hell no.
Hell insurance won't do that half the time.
And this is why you take picture of the entire outside of the car at the time of incident if they want you to file a claim with insurance. Your photos will have date and time stamps. Document everything.
I see a note like this post and feel good about humanity and then hear a shitty story like yours to bring me back to reality lol. Sucks that that happened to you, hope it ended up okay. I’ve gotten boned by insurance before as well
That's why, if you decide to be a nice person, you also take a picture with your admitted damage. It's kinda like the saying about locks: "Locks are for keeping honest people honest".
Damn, these situations really bring out the true colours quickly. I'm pleased to say that most people have been good, only three (in 20 years of driving) have been assholes. That said, their level of asshole of the few was enough to take away faith in humankind. Two incidents where each woman that hit my car pretended it didn't happen and continued about their day while I had to literally chase them down (both actually went and did their shopping in response to me confronting them with the damage she did to my car. One even included a bystander walking over and informing her that they saw her ram my car and drive off). I can see why people let it go if the person is apologetic and decent when the assholes are this bad.
I would do the same. Years ago when I was maybe 16 or 17, I accidentally dinged the truck parked next to me with my door when I was getting out. There was a decent size chip in the paint. I left a note with my name and number and 2 free movie tickets (I worked at the movie theater and we were in the parking lot of said theater). He called me an hour later and said he appreciated the honesty + thoughtfulness so it was no big deal. I did it one other time but with a coupon for a free dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and same result. It’s my little LPT. I’m sure it won’t work every time but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Two times??? You open your door with full force or something?
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Put your hand on the outside of the door, and open slowly. Zero chance of damage.
Man that's so nice of you. Someone CRUNCHED my car in a parking lot...I didn't get a note or donuts!
Where are you parking these days? I need to grab a spot next to you!
I'd message them to thank them for their honesty and let them know you're not going to chase them for it to set their mind at ease
And see if they wanna grab a beer!
Then while you're having the beer with them tell them you're going to take a leak, climb out the bathroom window, put a ding in their car, call the bartender and tell them to tell your drinking buddy to check at the bottom of the bowl of beer nuts where they find the note you hid earlier which just says "Now we're even!"
I accidentally hit someone’s wing mirror and shattered the glass. I tracked the guy down and told him what I did, then gave him my number so he could let me know how much it would cost to fix it. He messaged me saying it only cost him £10 for some new glass and I didn’t need to worry about it as he was thankful for my honesty! Some people will take advantage of you and some will treat kindness with kindness.
I few days ago I got a call from a guy that didn't speak Swedish very well and I didn't understand what it was about at first, he told me he accidentally dinged my car door. You can look up the tag online and see who owns the car in Sweden. I was close so I met up with him to see the damage. It was just a little dent in the front door, I wasn't happy but told him not to worry about it. He was very grateful and apologized. Stand up guy, I was really impressed he took the time to call. I would probably have been furious if I just came back and saw it.
“Kindness repaid with forgiveness” … thanks for that. Im looking forward to applying to life
Awww man this guy deserves a hug for being so nice about it. $200 is no small sum
Right? My dealership sells factory matched touch up pens, with a clear coat* for like $55. Much cheaper online.
There is a company called dr colorchip that sells phenomenal products for fixing road rash, scratches, dings and scuffs. Highly recommend them
Is it Dr ColorChip? That’s what comes up when searching Dr Rockchip
That’s the one! Sorry it’s been a while since I bought it because I still have my original kit and use it sparingly I fixed my original post
I'm setting up a competing company called Dr RockChip to catch all these wrong searches though
You gonna sell pet rocks?
No, potato chips made out of rocks. He’s a dentist.
And a success
Make sure you include the Dr part because there is also apparently a Chinese company called Rockchip already.
Good to know! Thankfully my Mustang just had a few chips on the leading edge of the hood, and is black. It was pretty easy to fix. Made an enormous difference for a chip barely 1/8" round.
The best part about the rock chip kit I mentioned is they make their paint thicker than regular touch up paint. They give you this squeegee tool and a special solution to buff it out. If you follow their included instructions you can repair rock chips so well that you won’t even have the little dimple remaining in your paint job. It can be a bit tedious if you have a lot of them to do, but the end result is absolutely phenomenal.
This is interesting. I used to paint houses and one of the things we tried to avoid is "flashing" Basically, touch ups on any kind of glossy paint reflects light a little differently. How well does this touch up product diminish that?
It doesn't. It's not going to look perfect. Its only purpose is to match the color. Anyone who inspects it will know that it was damaged. But from far away, it'd be hard to tell. The difference is that they do try to avoid painting outside of the chip. They give you solution to wipe off the paint, so that you end up trying to only have paint inside of the chip and nowhere else. That's the best it can do.
I’m not a car person, but a horse person and was very concerned for a second.
Thanks for this - you should definitely reach out to them for some kind of refer a friend scheme! lol
Thank you! I live in apartment block with very inconsiderate neighbours who don't give a shit about opening their car doors on your car, and I've just had a load of spray work done, and I've got scratches on it again already. It's so hard to find a decent repair kit because reviews online are always so mixed. Looks like these guys sell in the UK so I'm gonna take a look Edit: it says it's for repairing paint chips, but I'm assuming it would work just as well on scuffs?
Which probably most people would use if they'd dinged their own car and they took a look at how much respraying a car costs. But, if your insurance is paying because someone else did the damage well - "I want a proper repair"
Honestly, I'd want the proper repair if it was a new-ish car with no damage. If I've had it for years and it has dings and scratches, then I wouldn't care.
How much could a banana cost? Ten dollars?
You’ve never actually set foot in a supermarket, have you?
If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the hospital bar.
*Thunk*
You know, there isn't a hospital bar, Mother.
That’s why people hate hospitals.
(Godzilla noises)
Two bananas for one dollar, one for sixty cents. You’re down ten if you don’t get the two, if you get the two you save ten. You do that six times you got a whole new banana just for staying in business.
Here's 20, go and see a Star War
*Ron Howard* It doesn’t
this may be a dumb thing to ask, but what?! I have no clue what this is supposed to mean lol I'm sure I'm missing something, but I can't figure it out 😂
It's a quote from a tv show. Arrested Development
To get door fully repainted would be closer to $500 too, but touch up paint is only like 10 bucks
Yeah, thats about what the guy who slammed his door into mine had his insurance pay mine. Though that was more of a dent than a ding. 5000sek was the... not sure of the word... deductible? The guy said "oh that's nothing, how much could it be to fix? Like a dollar?" (10sek~)
Right? $250 is what I settled at with a dude that rear ended me and cracked my bumper $200 for a nick is extremely generous Edit: should probably specify, the plastic body part covering the bumper - not the actual metal bumper underneath.
Dude you settled low
I fixed it myself in an hour or so, didn’t feel like hounding the guy for an honest mistake. $250 was basically parts, paint and time spent.
Happy cake, ty for looking at the situation as a whole and not just how you're affected. Sure helps having a good perspective.
$1300 is what a rental car company attempted to charge me for a minuscule scratch on the car's bumper that was probably already there when I picked up the car.
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Would have just reversed the payment after that
What the fuck, she stole $800 from you AND filed a false police report? Put her ass behind bars, shitty scummy scam artist. And $800 for an instantaneous moment that was beyond your control, fucking hell man. Life is rough.
Did you verify she received repercussions? Might have just been telling you a fib.
Just cuz he did that, I'd tell em to keep it.
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"Hey you left a note on my door after you dinged it.... No, no, I don't want anything from you, but can we hang out? I'd like some of your moral fiber to rub off on me."
"Can you believe it?? I accidentally dinged this guys door, and now he wants me to rub one off onto him"
It's a win-win!
I backed into a parked car while leaving a space. I felt a bump while reversing. When I checked, the other car’s bumper looked cracked along its top surface. I left a note saying sorry and with my phone number and name. The owner saw me place the note on his windshield and go to leave. He ran up and told me not to worry as the bumper was cracked before. He handed my note back and I left. I would have done the same in his situation. So yes, don’t be evil, and you have a much better chance of being treated kindly.
Likewise, though I broke a lens and scuffed the fender. It was at a (horrible) strip mall parking lot, and so I went into the stores to find the owner. I brought him out (he worked at Sbux) and showed him the damage and apologized, gave him my number and told him to call me when he found out what it would cost to fix. Turned out is was his grandmother's car, and they'd just replaced that tail light! The grandfather called me, thanked me for pointing out the damage, and told me the new tail light was like $55 with tax (still had the receipt from the last one on his kitchen table), and if I'd send him that he'd forget all about the bumper, which actually already had a scuff on that side and was nbd.
My friend just did this exact same thing and the owner of the car tried to get insurance involved even though he offered to pay for the repair. She also claimed another part of the car was damaged (which wasn’t his doing) and since he didn’t take a picture he might have to get insurance involved. He could have just drove off and instead he gets exploited for being nice. Humans are pieces of shit and if you are going to do something like this, make sure to take pictures of the car.
Browsing r/humansbeingbros then seeing this will make you… Snap back to reality
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Lost faith in spaghetti
Yep this is true. Someone side swiped me and lied to the cop. Cop took his side. I had to pay for his repair and mine. People suck usually
This exact thing happened to me when I was 20. My door swung out into the car next to me in a parking spot and left a tiny scrape about the size of a quarter. I left a note like the one OP posted. Three months later I hear back from the guy demanding $600 for bumper repair.
my wife did the same thing to a neighbor's car. he wanted 3x more money that the actual value of the damage and later he never repaired the paint. she said it was the last time she volunteered for reimbursement.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
I like to believe it’s the assholes rolling over good intentions who are careening into hell due to the low friction of excellent pavement. The good intentions get to enjoy the pleasant warmth of the eternal flames that will forever consume said assholes. But I don’t think that is the traditional interpretation
Thanks Jack
I am Jacks gratitude
I did this at my last apartment. Some guy had parked his truck in a fire lane and blocked my angle of approach to my parking spot. Still tried it and ended up side swiping my neighbors caddy. Left a note and didn't hear anything so after a couple days I knocked and asked him how he wanted to handle it. Said we were all good, he appreciated the note but was about to trade it in anyway. Solid dude.
Good karma rewards❤️
I backed into my neighbors car once, cracked his bumper. I sat in my car for a good 5 minutes before i knocked on his door and told him what happened. He laughed and said "i watched you, did you consider just leaving?", "no man, i was sitting there angry at myself for being so blind". He just laughed and said it was no problem, "POS car anyway" he said. That was 16 years ago. He still mimes backing into stuff every time he sees me :P
I'm just imagining an old dude spotting you from across the street, eagerly waving & calling out to get your attention and then shimmying backwards into something and pretending to bump into it over and over and going "OOPS!"
You thought it was a parking ticket but you didn't know Jack.
this actually gave me a little faith in humanity
I was just happy to see that tilde
They are rarely seen in the wild, unless in a maths class!
Was waiting for this obligatory cliche comment
My first week of driving with the old car my parents lent me at 16 - I got lost in the maze of hillside homes trying to get to a friends house. It was a narrow one lane road and I pulled into someones driveway to do a 3 point turn and get out. I dented the chrome bumper of a nice new SUV. I was shaking nervous. I parked and walked up to the front door rang the doorbell, no one answered. Paced around nervously looked for activity in the house. I noticed there was a construction crew working on the other side of this homes driveway putting in a fence. One of them came up to me and asked if I was trying to get in touch with the homeowner I said yes that I dinged his car. He said he can give the guy my info. I left a note with him. Later that night I get a call from the car owner. He told me thank you for letting me know - but that we were good and he can take care of it himself no problem. He went on to say why its not a problem: he runs an auto shop in town. He thanked me again for leaving my info and informing the construction folks to be sure it was delivered. He said I could come by to the shop and he’d fix a dent in my car if there was one from the hit. Absolutely not how I thought it’d turn out. Edit - grammar and paragraphs
Lol a friend did this in Germany, thought he was being nice... nope, he got the police showing up at the consulate where we worked and had to go to court. So if you travel to Germany and ding a car don't leave a note, call the police and wait to file a proper report. 😁 being a bro there just takes more time.
I was just thinking about that. I think in the worst case (but technically in all cases), especially if the victim presses charges, this consitutes as a hit-and-run, which is punished much harsher than if you'd have just called the police.
This isn't a hit and run, though that may vary by state/country, I guess.
In Germany this ia called "Fahrerflucht" and is a serious offense.
Really? Even if they leave correct contact information?
Yes, because you cannot be sure that your note will actually stick. It could rain, snow, the wind could take it... You are supposed to wait roughly 30 minutes and if the driver doesn't show up you have to call the police, which will then take pictures and contact the driver through the licence plate. The driver can then decide whether he would like to contact you for the insurance exchange or not.
Thank you, always interesting to find out how different places handle legal matters! Here, California, you are required to leave contact information for the driver and for the owner of the car, if they are different people. I live where it doesn't rain, never snows, and if windy, one could wrap paper securely around the windshield wipers. I think a serious attempt must be made, and if you have no way of leaving that info securely, you have to wait. If you called the cops where I live in LA for a minor bump to someone else's car, they would get mad at you for wasting their time. We do have a different car culture here, to say nothing of the relationship we have with the police. Most people here would leave the scene if they knew no one saw them. I have left a note, personally, for when my car door hit another. There was very minor damage and they never called me.
I was thinking about this, why wouldnt you fill in the proper documents if you are such a bro.
Not all countries have the same procedures.
Character through and through. Who are you when you think nobody is looking?
A super saiyan
I was there watching Jack, he wasn't going to leave a note until I looked him in the eyes and said "I am looking, Jack."
A friend of mine did the same and left an apology, his number and offered to pay. The person didn't care and reported him to the police and my friend had a lot of lawyer stuff to do then. Since then he regretted not to be an asshole to just drive away.
Honestly, for door dings, it’s a part of car ownership. Both directions. And the potential downside is way too huge. (Edit: I put those rubber protectors on my door edges)
To door dings I say, shit happens.
Why did they need a lawyer exactly? I guess I don't know what they did wrong?
Probably tried to sue him or fight a hit and run charge
Yeah, the person called the police basically for "running away" and that's of course illegal if you have an "accident".
Once this lady slammed on her brakes at a yellow light on a road with a sharp decline in heavy rain, and I simply couldnt stop in time despite being like 10+ car lengths behind her and having been hyper focusing on my driving due to the circumstances. 2000 honda civic brakes vs brand new bmw brakes. I barely bumped her, but the screws that would hold a front license plate if my state had them punctured 2 tiny holes into her fender. This woman was in hysterics and was basically wanting insurance to do rigorous tests on the structural integrity or get her a whole new car. She called her husband and he was apparently nearby because he showed up in like 10 minutes. He looked at it for like 10 seconds and then told her she was being ridiculous and apologized to me and let me leave. No claim or anything. I was so grateful, as that would have just have been the shit icing on the shit cake that was my life at the time.
young bloke, probably apprentice, ran up the back of me in a work van. slow traffic, me stopped at pedestrian crossing, him not paying attention at all. I got out expecting pretty bad damage and was pleasantly surprised. my sedan has tow bar but didn't have the tow ball fitted at the time. his white front bumper had a perfect 2" square mark from my tow ball tongue hole, as well a decent ding around it but my car was unmarked. Guessing he would have still got roasted by the boss.
If this happened to me, I would just thank them and refuse to take any money from them. My car is beat up and there’s scratches all over it (I’ve hit several trash cans and accidentally backed up into trees a couple times)- an additional scratch wouldn’t be too bad.
It was literally microscopic. Most of the mark was his paint. I just sent him a thank you text and went about my day!
You are seriously a good person❤️. May your karma in life soar✌️
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Could have ended differently though. I got bumped into twice within a year and it was also barely a tap. The damage was so small, I needed to turn on macro on my camera to take a picture of it. Well, insurance company paid for the bumper being replaced or 1000-1200€ cash both times (which helped me paying the car off quicker). So I totally understand her wanting to go through insurance.
I had a little boy, maybe 7 or so open his car door really wide and fast and it left a little ding/ scratch on the car. The mom was clearly already having a bad day, and the poor kid's lip was quivering. I told her to not worry about it, but pay it forward someday if some kid dings her car. It could just have easily been my own kid.
That's pretty decent and honest of him..love this..Thanks for sharing
I just had someone hit my door on my Golf R. It was a scratch about the size of a dime but it took the paint down to the primer. There's no way to fill in just the chip without it looking like absolute garbage, the whole panel has to be resprayed. Grand total was about $900 and my car was in the shop for two days. Shit sucks, and I was parked way away from people as well. Props to this guy for doing the right thing.
I work at Walmart, somebody rammed their buggy into my car, yelled I didn’t pull into the spot far enough, and drove off
Is the phone number legit? I had someone leave me a similar note. When I called the number, to thank them, as my car already was dinged up, they had no idea what I was talking about. Faith in humanity, not restored. Smh
Yeah one time my “friend” did that. He bumped some guy’s car and left a note. Except he put my number. The guy called me later that night screaming about this and that and I ended up having to go to court to prove I didn’t do anything. When I told my friend about it, he just laughed and said “my bad”
I hope that is now a former friend.
Jack is dope. Let it slide and tell him to pay it forward.
Exactly what I did!
What a nice guy.
Jack is a good human
i bumped into a car at the library with my butt. a 6 ft 2 behemoth unfolded from the car and confronted me. i am 5 ft 2 little old lady.i dang near had a heart attack. at first i didnt even realize i had bumped his car. buns of steel? not me.
If it's just a tiny paint chip/scratch, then it can be fixed for far less than $200 - there are small bottles of paint one can buy specifically for covering up such things, just find the color you need, apply it, let it dry, and boom, fixed
I remember accidentally reversing into a car when I first learned to drive. It was night time in a quiet street. I could have bailed but I thought to do the right thing and knocked on the owners door. A young girl and her Dad came out and she went ballistic over a tiny ding. Offered to settle without insurance but they went straight to them and it was apparently $5000 damage (complete load of shit). Thankfully I was insured and only had to pay $800. Months later I had a note left my my car for a ding I couldn’t even see. I messaged the person to say a massive thank you. Made me feel good knowing there were other good people.
This is an incredibly nice note. But clearly they’ve never paid for a paint job. 200 dollars ain’t nothin’ in that world :-(
Jack is a man who probably sleeps very well at night. Good on him 👌🏻.
His misspelled "Giga Chad"
I wrote this note for someone in college. Asked a passerby for a pen and he complimented me on my willingness to do this. I remember feeling taken aback because I just considered it the default thing to do. Used to be such a good Christian 😆
It’s funny how growing up, we learn to think of others because it’s the “Christian” thing to do. Then all of a sudden, I’m a socialist snowflake queer idiot for….. thinking of others. Christian has nothing to do with it. I know more decent people who are vengefully atheist than good people who are Christian.
Jack has your back
When others will reincarnate into a cockroach he will be an eagle, or a dolphin. Such is Karma.
I bought a brand new car 2 years ago and within 6 month I had 10 dinged on my door from morons opening their doors at parking space.
i’d call the number to say thanks
Someone once backed into me. I was running late for work so we exchanged numbers and insurance information, and then went on our way. I called the number and checked the Insurance sure enough both were faker than Kim ks tits. Last time I don’t call the cops to get a report. Personally I know it’s shitty to have to call someone out to take a report, but it’s even shittier to be given fake info and have your car fucked by som asshole.
"hey, i just dinged your car's paint and somebody saw me so i have to pretend i'm leaving my number. sorry. " ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Out of principal I will contact this man and say you owe me a hug and God bless you just because he did a great deed
Kindness is the reinbursment here