Teen opens car door and dings car next to you... what do you do?

[Anonymous]

You offer to pay for damages. Dings can be over $100 a piece for non crap cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does you "note" say?

"My kid scratched the paint on your car, call me for payment"?

How do you function in the mean streets of adulthood, OP. Are you serious? You(r child) damaged someone's car and you don't know what to write in a note so you just walk away? That is egregiously pathetic.

[Anonymous]

I would be mortified if my child dinged a car door, the driver was right there, and I didn’t say something. That’s setting a really bad example. I refuse to believe this is something that “just happens” so the other person should get over it. You as the parent take responsibility for what your child does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- fwiw, kids are 14 and 11. I just said to the 11 yr old, "be careful opening the door"... of course, he didn't hear me b/c he was focussed on chasing a fly around the back seat. Then he opened the door hitting the car next to us (and the driver was IN the car!

I was not happy with 11 yr old. I know it wasn't intentional, and mistakes happen, but I wish kids would think about something other than themselves once in awhile. And, no... I didn't say anything to the other driver b/c I didn't know what to do. Should I have pulled out $40? That's all I had on me.

Just trying to get a feel for what most people actually do.

Wait a minute. Your child dinged the car next to yours when opening their door WHILE the person was in their car? OP, you just modeled and taught your child to be extremely rude and, quite ironic to your own post, to think even more about just themselves. Of course you address a person who is right there in the car next to you. Big fail OP.

+1 I can’t believe you didn’t acknowledge the other driver! And going forward, if your kid isn’t capable of opening his door without hitting other cars either park where there is no one around you or turn the child locks on.

[Anonymous]

Enough with the dumb teaching moments. Supervise your kids and teach them. These things happen. The entire door would have to be repainted which would be several hundred. Its annoying but it happens. Don't park so close to others.

[Anonymous]

Little dings? Nothing. They are an unfortunate part of urban life. A long scratch or a real dent? Leave a note w/contact info.

[Anonymous]

Wait what?? You contact the driver however you can (in this case by just speaking with them!) and you offer to fix the damage you caused.

You don't just go around the world showing your kids it's ok to damage other people's property and then just breeze about your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would use at as a teaching moment--you always leave a note, because you never know who was watching and might leave their own note. Or when the police were parked nearby and saw the whole thing, etc.

The vast majority of the time, the car owner will appreciate the note and won't care at all about a minor dink.

+1.

But then I am a freaking law-abiding model citizen.

+2 I also have left a note. Both because it is the right thing to do but also so that my child sees that the incident was disturbing enough for me to need to leave a note. Walk the talk, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be mortified if my child dinged a car door, the driver was right there, and I didn’t say something. That’s setting a really bad example. I refuse to believe this is something that “just happens” so the other person should get over it. You as the parent take responsibility for what your child does.

Very well stated.

[Anonymous]

Door dings are a part of living in a bigger city/suburban area. I generally park away from people because I want space to open and close doors, etc, but, if someone dinged my door and left a note, I'd never call them and ask for payment. These things just happen.

Frankly, I worry that leaving a note with your number is asking for a $5000 claim for "damage" that wasn't there.

[Anonymous]

Oh my god, people, you leave a f*ing note! Some of us take care of our property, and it’s absolutely infuriating to return to the parking lot to find some careless a-hole has bashed a dent in your car door. Please teach your children better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would use at as a teaching moment--you always leave a note, because you never know who was watching and might leave their own note. Or when the police were parked nearby and saw the whole thing, etc.

The vast majority of the time, the car owner will appreciate the note and won't care at all about a minor dink.

Woah, no, don't teach them like that! Don't teach them to do the right thing only because they just might get busted if they do the wrong thing!! It's not about a witness, or a cop, or a god. They have to internalize doing the right thing.

Then you can take a minute and decide that all car doors get dinged occasionally and as long as you're always very careful, it just happens and it doesn't make sense to leave money or a note.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait what?? You contact the driver however you can (in this case by just speaking with them!) and you offer to fix the damage you caused.

You don't just go around the world showing your kids it's ok to damage other people's property and then just breeze about your life.

THIS THIS THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Door dings are a part of living in a bigger city/suburban area. I generally park away from people because I want space to open and close doors, etc, but, if someone dinged my door and left a note, I'd never call them and ask for payment. These things just happen.

Frankly, I worry that leaving a note with your number is asking for a $5000 claim for "damage" that wasn't there.

I worry about that too, which is why I take some precautions even though I always leave a note. I use my phone to take photos to document the damage and write myself a brief contemporaneous note detailing what damage I did and what was unrelated. I also photograph the other party’s license plate and note the make/model/color so that I know for sure what car I dinged. Once, I slid on ice and my bumper just barely grazed a POS, very old, badly scratched and dinged car. I left a note anyway. I never heard from the owner. Another time, I was opening my car door and a very strong gust of wind whipped the door open so hard I couldn’t keep my grip on the door handle (remember that bad wind storm that canceled school this spring?). The car already had a couple very minor dings/scratches, but I left a note anyway and the owner only followed up to say she found my note, but she didn’t get any repairs or ask for compensation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait what?? You contact the driver however you can (in this case by just speaking with them!) and you offer to fix the damage you caused.

You don't just go around the world showing your kids it's ok to damage other people's property and then just breeze about your life.

THIS THIS THIS

+2 Please model responsibility and courtesy for your kids. How else will they learn?