Parking lot incident | GTAMotorcycle.com

Parking lot incident

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Krime

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My GF bumped into a parked truck a couple days ago while reversing in a parking lot of a grocery store. Only damage to her own car is the tail light broke and needs to be replaced. She waited for the owner of the truck to come. The women pointed out how her bumper was now "wobbling" - I'm imagining a mounting screw likely came off. She went on to point out that a piece of her bumper had broken off as she pointed to the ground. My girlfriend didn't see what she was referring to as all she saw was the debris from her own taillight and nothing else. Insurance information was exchanged.

The lady got a quote from her own body shop at $750 + tax - apparently they need to replace the bumper, which was a bit of a surprise to my GF. She was quite adamant that she wants her body shop to do it. My GF is looking for a second opinion, and the lady seems to be getting restless - saying if it were to go through insurance, it would be resolved a lot faster, that she's busy etc. She seems to keep threatening playing the insurance card.

I have two questions here:
1) If she goes through insurance, will it affect her premium as well or only my GFs?
2) After my GF pays the shop for the repair, I'm imaging it would be smart to get the lady to sign a sheet of paper stating the dollar amount paid, and that the incident is now fully settled? Any recommendations here would be great - want to make sure my GF is covered.

Thanks.
 
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Wanting to go through insurance is not threatening. It's the legal course of action. If your gf wants to keep it out of the system, there can be a premium to it. Thinks of it this way, it was your gf's fault and now the lady has to waste her own time to get her bumper fixed. That time is worth something. A bit of padding isn't out of line to not go through insurance and have the premiums go up. The replacement quote sounds fair to me. Yes, you can ask for a signed paper saying the issue was resolved. Your gf is honest to a fault, this is why most people hit and run if the other driver isn't present. On a positive note, she's a keeper.
 
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I know married men who have paid thousands in damages to avoid any ill affects to their rates.
I say pay the lady right away, get something in writing from her saying the matter is resolved.
Then teach your girlfriend to drive better before you marry her. :thumbup:
 
Pay the $750, wash your hands of the lady by both agreeing the matter is resolved. Do this before she changes her mind, and decides that she wants you to pay the rental fees of a rental car while her's is in the shop, sporadically some other work needs to be done, or she just gets tired of listening to your demands of wasting her time to go to your shop and just calls her insurance.
 
Pay, and do it quickly. The short time frame for claims is going to make her file an insurance claim unless you act now. Yes, it does affect your insurance premium.

Long time ago I nicked some guy's bumper on his **** box, I stuck around and paid him off. Like a fool I thought it was settled and went in to get some food. I come out and my car is keyed along the entire side and my side mirror smashed. I check that place out for weeks and drove by looking for his damn car forever!!

Lesson learned: Don't play the good guy all the time, and even if you settle you get the hell outta there. (also write down ppl's license plates and ask for their license to get their name!!). Also, don't trust high school 'gangster' wannabes to be mature.
 
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Only your girlfriend's insurance would go up. She hit a stationary vehicle.

That amount doesn't seem all that out of line for a bumper shroud, these days, and several screw mounts were likely snapped off.

She absolutely wants to get a 'paid in full' acknowledgement, on paper.
 
My wife turned too sharp coming out of a parking spot a work and scuffed the bumper of a co-worker as well as folding in the passenger door of her own car.

The co-worker was decent to deal with but the paint job did come to $300 which I think is fair. The body shop has to mix paint clean equipment etc whether it's a spot touch up or full body paint job.

Re bumpers: Depending on the vehicle, bumpers can be pretty complex due to crumple zones, impact zones, etc. Not like the ones on a '58 Buick.

The co-worker signed a slip saying that that the issue was a done deal.

The damage to my wifes car was over $1500 at a body shop. Instead I called around to different wreckers until I found a replacement door in the same colour and put it in myself. Saved about a grand not including a rental for a week while the shop would have had her car.
 
I was once rear-ended in a 93 Hyundai Excel. Damage to the right side of the bumper. Looked "fine", just a little bit pushed in. I got 3 different quotes which all said the same thing. Replace and paint the bumper, remove and replace the styrofoam and the REBAR. Quotes all came in just shy of $1000. All on a 10 year old car.

Even though the damage may look "minor", you haven't seen what's under the surface. As others have said, chalk this one up to experience, pay the woman, get a signed release of damages then count the $ your GF is saving on not having an increase in premiums.
 
I agree to just pay it. Last time I got a cheque from an insurance company (many years ago) they had a stipulation written on the attached paper that by cashing the cheque I was acknowledging that the issue was closed and I had been paid in full. You may want to use such a wording.
 
My wife had a similar incident a couple of years ago. She was backing out of her parking spot and some guy raced down the aisle. She hit is side door. We went through insurance.

Your GF and my wife are 100% at fault, as deemed by Ontario insurance fault determination rules. It matters little of the speed of the other car. Because of my wife's little mishap she lost her 6* insurance rating, down to 0*. With me at 6* this averages out to 4*. Our insurance has gone up for 4 years, with two to go, until she gets back up to 6* again. She climbs 1* per year of no claims.

I believe not reporting a collision is illegal. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Illegality aside, we experienced a $300 increase PER YEAR for this little mishap, for a total cost of $1,800.
 
As far as I know, someone correct me if I am wrong but accident on private properties ie parking lots aren't treated the same way as if it was on a street when it comes to figuring out the at-fault of drivers. From previous experiences such fender benders are a 50/50 split in terms of the fault. You may be able use that for leverage when it comes to negotiating her claim.
 
Logically it's not BUT like I said, it has something to do with the fact that it's on a private property. If you go to the accident reporting centre they can tell you
 
RetroGrouch said:
How can a stationary parked car be at fault?
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maybe partially at fault? like parking in a fire lane or in the middle of a lane way or where it just ought not to be?
eg. If i pull up on my Honda Rebel 250 to the Kwik-E-Mart and just run in to buy some smokes, but I decide to "park" my bike in the lane way directly behind a cargo van a couple inches from his rear bumper. What happens if the cargo van starts backing up and runs over my bike? The cargo van driver will be very surprised to see that I had parked directly behind him in the lane and claim that I am partially to blame for the accident by parking there.
 
Noobierider said:
Logically it's not BUT like I said, it has something to do with the fact that it's on a private property. If you go to the accident reporting centre they can tell you
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False. A lot of people think this but its just untrue.. the other car was parked so it cant be held at fault..also, there are situations where both cars can be moving yet only one gets the blame.
 
Noobierider said:
As far as I know, someone correct me if I am wrong but accident on private properties ie parking lots aren't treated the same way as if it was on a street when it comes to figuring out the at-fault of drivers. From previous experiences such fender benders are a 50/50 split in terms of the fault. You may be able use that for leverage when it comes to negotiating her claim.
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Consider yourself corrected.
 
I would just whatever money she is asking for rather than going through insurance. Depending on the company you could be paying 1500 or more per year for next several years.
 
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