Neighbor ran over nail near our trash cans—how should I respond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How odd. I’ve run over a nail a number of times (unfortunately) and have never “felt” when I ran it over. Didn’t notice until my tire pressure was low or had a flat. No way to know where it came from.

I’d just respond “Sorry to hear- that stinks! We haven’t thrown away any nails, so we are not the culprit 🤣 I’ve seen a few construction trucks go by recently- probably from them but who knows. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend otherwise- good luck with the tire!”

I’d be friendly and light but take no responsibility at all. I would not under any circumstances pay for a new tire. Hopefully neighbor was just upset at the time, feels foolish and lets it blow over.

The bolded. I'm very surprised he felt it, got out and immediately had a flat tire. Must've been some nail!

Sounds like a scam to me, honestly.

Yeah, a nail means a slow leak. He'd probably picked it up in his own driveway or somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Email them this:

“My response requires me to retain legal counsel. Please standby for a response from my attorney. Just as a courtesy, I want to let you know I plan to ask counsel to seek legal costs from you.”

This is way crazier than the initial text. Legal counsel? After one text request? YTA.

[Anonymous]

The street is city property so I suggest you ask the city for compensation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our little street has construction for months due to a McMansion. Practically all the neighbors got nails or other rubble/objects into their tires during construction, such that one neighbor complained in a group email that the workers should be more careful about clean-up.

And that was that. No one asked for compensation for tire damage. Stuff happens. We all renovate at some point.

You can reply: "I'm sorry to hear you had a flat tire, Frank. We did not throw away any nails or objects that contain them."

Good advice, but calling him Frank may come off as flippant, like calling him Bud or Mack or some other catch-all nickname. Maybe don't specify a name or if you feel like it works better with a name, Frankie may come across as friendlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email them this:

“My response requires me to retain legal counsel. Please standby for a response from my attorney. Just as a courtesy, I want to let you know I plan to ask counsel to seek legal costs from you.”

This is way crazier than the initial text. Legal counsel? After one text request? YTA.

+1
People who go straight to lawyers just sound unhinged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just say thanks for the warning.

I like this approach. Also, did the neighbor actually ask for compensation or are you guessing that's where they were going with this? If they didn't ask it really could have just been a warning to look for stuff in the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently got a nail in a tire and never in a million gazillion years would it have occurred to me to try to weasel money out of a neighbor to fix it. I would respond with absolutely no opening of a discussion about it:

“Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. We don’t throw away sharp objects like that. Best of luck!

Absolutely. There's no way this guy knows for sure it was "near your trash cans" unless he saw it first and deliberately drove over it. In which case ...

I got a nail in a tire so I got it fixed. I didn't go hunting for neighbors to shake down to pay for it. Not only do I not suck as a human, it is usually an incredibly cheap fix.

[Anonymous]

I would not expect compensation for this, even if you had been throwing out a bunch of wood with nails sticking out of it or something. You assume the risk of this kind of thing when you drive out of your own driveway.

That said, I got a big piece of glass in my tire a couple of weeks ago and got a flat and the mom & pop place my DH took it to for repair charged us ... wait for it ... $15. Granted, we are down in the middle of nowhere between Manassas and Woodbridge. (Moved here less than a year ago from Vienna and lived 15 years in Falls Church before that, and didn't think there would be much of an upside to living way out here, but there is -- things like $15 tire repairs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email them this:

“My response requires me to retain legal counsel. Please standby for a response from my attorney. Just as a courtesy, I want to let you know I plan to ask counsel to seek legal costs from you.”

This is way crazier than the initial text. Legal counsel? After one text request? YTA.

+1
People who go straight to lawyers just sound unhinged.

Pretty sure this was meant to be funny in that it is as over the top as requesting compensation.

[Anonymous]

Simple, two-word response:

Prove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is very cheap to get a nail hole fixed in a tire - not an insurance event. I would say that you haven’t been doing any kind of home repairs and are sorry they ran over an errant random nail.

Not if your tires are five years old or more. You might need to replace the tire if it has ozone cracking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How odd. I’ve run over a nail a number of times (unfortunately) and have never “felt” when I ran it over. Didn’t notice until my tire pressure was low or had a flat. No way to know where it came from.

I’d just respond “Sorry to hear- that stinks! We haven’t thrown away any nails, so we are not the culprit 🤣 I’ve seen a few construction trucks go by recently- probably from them but who knows. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving weekend otherwise- good luck with the tire!”

I’d be friendly and light but take no responsibility at all. I would not under any circumstances pay for a new tire. Hopefully neighbor was just upset at the time, feels foolish and lets it blow over.

The bolded. I'm very surprised he felt it, got out and immediately had a flat tire. Must've been some nail!

Probably heard it.

[Anonymous]

Brief and kind. I liked this from a pp,

“Sorry to hear- that stinks! We haven’t thrown away any nails, so we are not the culprit."

[Anonymous]

The neighbor is clearly nuts. But as anyone who has been in an unpleasant neighbor situation can tell you, being right isn’t worth much.

I think I would go with:
“Oh no! Having a flat is so inconvenient. I’m sorry that happened to you. We haven’t done any construction or thrown away any nails, but I know that doesn’t help you right now. If your insurance company would like to see our Ring footage of the incident, please have them contact us! I would be happy to provide it and can connect them with our insurance company if appropriate.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email them this:

“My response requires me to retain legal counsel. Please standby for a response from my attorney. Just as a courtesy, I want to let you know I plan to ask counsel to seek legal costs from you.”

This is way crazier than the initial text. Legal counsel? After one text request? YTA.

+1
People who go straight to lawyers just sound unhinged.

Pretty sure this was meant to be funny in that it is as over the top as requesting compensation.

I suspect so too, but everyone on DCUM has a stick up their butt