JUMBO PALACE
Member
I'll start this post by acknowledging the overly dramatic title. I try to keep things in perspective by reminding myself that whatever problem or stress I'm worrying about is in fact a "first world problem". That is, a problem that exists only because I'm living a cushy middle class lifestyle here in the first world. And as you'll see from the photos, the damage is very minor. Limited to one wheel and some scratches on the front bumper. The black pen is from the auto-body shop inspection earlier today. I'm doubting it'll even meet my deductible.
That being said, I'm pretty salty it took less than three months for some dummy to hit my car. I was 2 hours into a 5 hour drive home from Boston and stopped at a rest stop on Route 15 in Connecticut to check some emails, gas up, and grab a coffee. I backed into a spot next to a white Cruze that had a young man in the driver's seat. While I was sitting in my car, I watch this kid begin to back out and cut the wheel way too early. I honk as I see his front bumper swinging toward me to no avail. Bam. I get out and we do the whole "you okay?" exchange.
I start checking out both our cars, taking some pictures of the damage. I can see this kid is just that, probably 17 or 18. He looks at me and says "you know, you didn't have to park right next to me".
I am dumbstruck. Fumbling for my words I'm finally able to ask what exactly he means by that. He responds that "there was no reason to park next to me when there were other spots available. This whole thing could have been avoided if you didn't park next to me." This almost felt like fate being a bitch to me. I had only parked there because the spot I wanted, away from other cars, was flooded due to the heavy rain that day.
Long story short, somehow I kept my cool and explained that is simply not the case. My car is firmly in my spot and he hit my stationary vehicle while he was backing out. When I didn't freak out he seemed to calm down and said something along the lines of "being nice has only hurt me in situations like this in the past". He was obviously nervous and upset, so I shook his hand, explained that it wasn't that big a deal, and insurance would work it out. I got all his information and he decided to leave before the state police arrived because he was taking his friend (who's fault it apparently also was for taking too long inside I overheard) to the airport. So as the state trooper pointed out, that's technically evasion, but hey, that's not my problem.
TLDR - dumb kid hit my car, blamed me, then didn't stick around for the police to arrive.
That being said, I'm pretty salty it took less than three months for some dummy to hit my car. I was 2 hours into a 5 hour drive home from Boston and stopped at a rest stop on Route 15 in Connecticut to check some emails, gas up, and grab a coffee. I backed into a spot next to a white Cruze that had a young man in the driver's seat. While I was sitting in my car, I watch this kid begin to back out and cut the wheel way too early. I honk as I see his front bumper swinging toward me to no avail. Bam. I get out and we do the whole "you okay?" exchange.
I start checking out both our cars, taking some pictures of the damage. I can see this kid is just that, probably 17 or 18. He looks at me and says "you know, you didn't have to park right next to me".
I am dumbstruck. Fumbling for my words I'm finally able to ask what exactly he means by that. He responds that "there was no reason to park next to me when there were other spots available. This whole thing could have been avoided if you didn't park next to me." This almost felt like fate being a bitch to me. I had only parked there because the spot I wanted, away from other cars, was flooded due to the heavy rain that day.
Long story short, somehow I kept my cool and explained that is simply not the case. My car is firmly in my spot and he hit my stationary vehicle while he was backing out. When I didn't freak out he seemed to calm down and said something along the lines of "being nice has only hurt me in situations like this in the past". He was obviously nervous and upset, so I shook his hand, explained that it wasn't that big a deal, and insurance would work it out. I got all his information and he decided to leave before the state police arrived because he was taking his friend (who's fault it apparently also was for taking too long inside I overheard) to the airport. So as the state trooper pointed out, that's technically evasion, but hey, that's not my problem.
TLDR - dumb kid hit my car, blamed me, then didn't stick around for the police to arrive.
