I street park constantly and learn to avoid it. Avoid busy cut through roads and make sure you're as close to the sidewalk as possible and ideally try to park between two other cars to sandwich yourself in.

If you're street parking you will get scratches on your front and back bumpers (just the way she blows) but wear them like a badge or pride of being a city dweller!

Maybe fewer people have a pen/paper in their car these days?

My car has been hit twice in parking lots. Both times they left a note. Guess I've been lucky.

One was a scrape along the door, like the person was pulling in to the spot next to me and scraped my door with the corner of their car. The other hit my front end pretty hard, I think they were backing out of the spot across the aisle from me and backed straight into my car.

I saw a car back into a parked unoccupied car in a garage yesterday. The driver got out, looked at the damage and drove off.

My dash cam caught it all and I left a note.
I hope someone would do the same for me.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve done it more than once and left the scene. Whatever.

Terrible karma.

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean damage? Like a door ding because door swung wide or like they backed into your car and you have dents and broken lights?

A door dent is just the cost of living in an urban environment. No one is leaving insurance information for that. Honestly unless they are accelerating towards your car there is just no value to exchange info. Both insurance will go up. Either person could be crazy and escalate one way or another.

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean damage? Like a door ding because door swung wide or like they backed into your car and you have dents and broken lights?

Both

What do you mean damage? Like a door ding because door swung wide or like they backed into your car and you have dents and broken lights?

I witnessed a hit-and-run in a parking lot and stuck around to give the driver of the parked car my dash cam footage.

I hope someone would do the same for me.

Here is why people do it.

My daughter new driver scratched a car pulling into her day care job parking lot.

Being honest and naive she went into day car and reported it at front desk and they announced the license plate and guy came out.

Very angry man, demnded insurance info, but provided non of his own. Then demanded my cell phone number as I am Dad an on car.

He then called me up calling me the devil and attempted to black mail me. He said he wont report accident if I show up and meet him someplace and give him $700 cash. I then was saying look, I can go get number of place near day care and see if they can fix scratch while at work and I will pay.

He then acusses me of being a crook as connected to body shop and then he reports accident.

I then tell insurance when they call my car has zero damage. My daughter pulled into spot close to other car, she got out and she saw a scratch and assumed she did it. We have no picure of other car before or after.

My insurance (dont believe story) calls up guy and goes bring car to Geico facility so we can assess damage. He flipped out and call me saying I am not losing a days pay over this. You owe me to fix my car, a days pay and a rental car. Pay me $1,500.

Finally I go to him, look lets me at body shop near your house open on weekend, bring car and he can assess damage. If a low cost I will pay, if a high cost he is a GEICO guy he can put in a claim, get you rental. I will tell Geico it is our fault and we can move on.

Guy shows up no car and demanded $1,500 cash. I was like no way. I am at body shop, here is owner, he is willing to fix car right now. Where is car. He leaves yelling at me.

Geico then informs me he totalled car in a separate unrelated accident two weeks after daughter scratched him so there is no car. He wanted the cash. Finally he calls me back. I was not going to pick up but did anyone. I go look your car is totalled, there is no car to fix. He goes it is principal of it. My car damaged if you paid on time I would have go cash. Not my fault got totaled before you paid me. Last I heard of him.

And guess what Geico dropped me on renewal by jacking rates claming my daughter had an accident reported. I am like an accident with no damage on my car an no pay out on other car and no police report. Yep and accident is an accident.

And idiot other guy by reporting accident and totalling car two weeks later he got two accidents on car and I am sure his rates shot up.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve done it more than once and left the scene. Whatever.

You’re cute

Okay, I’ll confess. This happened to me when I was a new teen driver. I scraped the side of my car all along the back corner of the two cars parked on either side of me trying to get out of a tight space. My car had visible damage on both sides and there were def scrapes on both other cars (but mine was the worst!) I had NO idea what to do. This was before cell phones, and I’d never heard of leaving a note and it didn’t occur to me. So I just got the hell out of there.

A few weeks later my dad was like “your car got all scraped up!” And I was like “weird, no idea how that happened.”

I still feel bad about it, TBH. I never told anyone (too embarrassed). But like a year later someone mentioned leaving a note if you hit a parked car and I was like OHHHHHhhhhhh.

I’ve done it more than once and left the scene. Whatever.

The two times in my life I've purchased new cars, I had these exact same thoughts for about the first month I owned the cars. I'd be so irritated when I'd come to move my car and see a small dent in the bumper or a scratch on the side or a dent from where someone opened the door directly into the side of my car. I think people are just very sensitive to their new cars being dinged. But yes, street parking in the city will ding your car up in many tiny ways and it's pointless to leave a note, or expect to leave a note, every time a bumper is scratched or a door is dinged. No one is going to take the trouble to get an estimate to buff out some scratches and charge it to insurance and get reimbursed by a stranger, every 3 weeks for eternity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once when I was a teen I hit a parked car in a parking lot. I called home to ask what to do. They asked if there was any damage, I said no, so they said to just come home. If there was damage, obviously I'd have stayed to exchange info.

I know some people are taught to parallel park with the "bump and go" method which involves bumping the cars in front of/behind them.

I lived my formative years in Paris, and this is actually what you need to do for street parking. Otherwise you literally cannot get out of your spot.

Me again. Of course I don't do this here!