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

[Anonymous]

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

+1. Someone dinged my door and scratched the paint (marks were directly in line with each other) within the first 2 weeks I had it. To repair where the paint is scratched means they have to remove the door. Definitely over $100 to fix.
Still annoys me because 1) they had to have known that at a minimum they dinged the door and 2) if they had taken 2 seconds to look they would have noticed the paint scratch (more like chip as it’s not small and very noticeable). There’s also a good chance they did see it and chose not to leave a note.
If I think I’m close to the car next to me, I am very cautious about opening my door so it doesn’t hit whoever is next to me.

[Anonymous]

My daughter did this twice (while I was in the car, that is) -- she was maybe 5 or 6. The first time, I left a note. It was a brand-new BMW, and the owner called before we even got home. He had already gone to the dealership and had an estimate for several hundred dollars -- and asked for the cash. I told him I was happy to run it through my insurance and gave him the insurance information.

The second time, we were in a fast food parking lot, and I had seen the owner walk into the restaurant right ahead of us. So I took her up to him so she could apologize in person and I could offer to pay for damage. He was very sweet to her, and told me not to worry about it.

She has been uber-careful opening the car door for the subsequent five years. And she is not super careful about plenty of other things.

[Anonymous]

Just park away from cars. Or at least away from nice cars.

[Anonymous]

I read page 1 and page 4 of this idiotic thread.

How do you think John Quinones would portray this scenario on "What Would You Do?"

If you damage a car, or your kid does, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

Anyone on this thread who says otherwise is a numbskull.

[Anonymous]

Shrug and move on.

I've had people hit my door while I was in the car. They even made eye contacted with me and they still moved on. That's life. It's why I'm so impressed with the people in this area who drive extremely expensive cars.

I was behind a Tesla this morning on the toll road that got dinged by a nice size rock that a dump truck threw up. The Tesla took the brunt of the rock and it just grazed the top of my car.

[Anonymous]

OP here. As I said my 11 year old was chasing a fly and dinged the car next to me. How exactly does that translate into him being disrespectful and not taking responsibility for his actions?

Like I said I almost gave the other driver $40. What more could be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. As I said my 11 year old was chasing a fly and dinged the car next to me. How exactly does that translate into him being disrespectful and not taking responsibility for his actions?

Like I said I almost gave the other driver $40. What more could be done?

Really? You “almost” gave the other driver $40 so you think you are absolved of responsibility? 1. Teach your 11 year old, who is MORE than old enough to know better, to be more careful. He was absolutely disrespectful and you will not get a lot of sympathy here. 2. You should have apologized to the driver and offered to make it right, whatever that entailed. More than likely they would tell you not to worry about it.

If you are this dense, I worry for your fly-chasing 11 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter did this twice (while I was in the car, that is) -- she was maybe 5 or 6. The first time, I left a note. It was a brand-new BMW, and the owner called before we even got home. He had already gone to the dealership and had an estimate for several hundred dollars -- and asked for the cash. I told him I was happy to run it through my insurance and gave him the insurance information.

The second time, we were in a fast food parking lot, and I had seen the owner walk into the restaurant right ahead of us. So I took her up to him so she could apologize in person and I could offer to pay for damage. He was very sweet to her, and told me not to worry about it.

She has been uber-careful opening the car door for the subsequent five years. And she is not super careful about plenty of other things.

THIS is an example of responsible parenting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter did this twice (while I was in the car, that is) -- she was maybe 5 or 6. The first time, I left a note. It was a brand-new BMW, and the owner called before we even got home. He had already gone to the dealership and had an estimate for several hundred dollars -- and asked for the cash. I told him I was happy to run it through my insurance and gave him the insurance information.

The second time, we were in a fast food parking lot, and I had seen the owner walk into the restaurant right ahead of us. So I took her up to him so she could apologize in person and I could offer to pay for damage. He was very sweet to her, and told me not to worry about it.

She has been uber-careful opening the car door for the subsequent five years. And she is not super careful about plenty of other things.

THIS is an example of responsible parenting.

Definitely. Well done, PP.

[Anonymous]

Super proud of my DS who nicked a car in the school parking lot pulling out of his spot. The damage was just a tiny (half inch) light scratch on the other car's bumper...not noticeable at all. He called me to tell me about it and said he was trying to find something to write with to leave a note. I was so proud that he didn't just drive off. It turned out to be the car of the headmaster. The headmaster was so impressed with his honesty that he called him into his office to thank him and let him know how impressed he was. He also did not ask for any money for damages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has happened a couple of times. Once there was a big gust of wind and my young teen just opened the door and let the wind throw her door into the car next to us. (wasn't intentional to hit the car, but it was careless). Another time, there was no wind, just a snug (not tight) parking space and my kid opened our car door into the other car.

Both times, scratches were made on the other car, and my car's paint was scratched off a bit.

Do you just move on? Is there anything to do with the other car? Is this just the car equivalent of what goes around comes around (i.e. sometimes your car will get dinged and sometimes your kid will do the dinging?)

It's a car. Driven in the weather, on the road, in public. Shit happens. If it's a significant ding or dent, I'd leave a note. Otherwise, no. That's the risk you take driving in public. You have no right to a perfect paint job. Sorry.

Americans, btw, are such assholes about their cars. Truly.

[Anonymous]

A lot of people don’t consider small dings damage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people don’t consider small dings damage.

That's kind of their problem. Not mine. And I've happily ignored other people's dings to my own car. It's a car. Not an extension of my person.

[Anonymous]

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

This is the correct answer.