Drive-aways

hullaballoo

I'm absolutely raging. I have to park my car on a public road because there are zero parking facilities where I live. I park it on a relatively quiet road with lots of space to pass the parked cars easily. The trouble is, there are 3 schools on this road.

The other day, I went out to find that my car had not just been scraped (I got used to the idea that I would have to keep shelling out for touch-ups) but someone had actually crashed into it. The whole top of the rear passenger-side wheel arch is creased and there is a nasty amount of scratching to go with it. It's at a height where it can really only have been done by a jeep-sized car or a delivery van. It's on the body as well so I'm expecting it to cost a heap to get sorted.

I know this is more a rant than anything else but how can someone think it's ok to just drive away having caused that amount of damage to someone else's car?

kavanada

I know, hullabaloo. It's so wrong on many many levels.

I had it happen to my car too. In a shopping centre carpark. They also got the rear left door and quarter panel. Was quoted €700 all in.

It's a cultural thing but with a few good apples that would stop and leave details. It's mentioned here so often, people pass their test and just think, 'This is my right. I'm entitled to drive wherever I want, as slow/fast as I want, never service my car, scuff the wheels because I don't know my car, la-di-da........'

Sorry again. Any chance you could keep a look out for another car with similar damage? Paint transfer too? Could it have been a neighbour?

Rowley Birkin QC

hullaballoo wrote: »

there are 3 schools on this road.

Sickener for that to happen but I think you're likely to find your culprit dropping kids off at one of these locations.

Not very scientific but your chances of getting damage like that with 3 schools around you has jumped significantly.

hullaballoo

I have been looking at it again and it looks there's a lot of mud and what appears to be diesel around the dent. Very odd. I said the road is relatively quiet, but that is relative to the other option which is a very busy main road! The side road gets a lot of traffic with the schools.

I was thinking about asking the schools whether they might have CCTV but the reality is that I'll probably just have to grin and bear it. Does anyone have any experience of claiming against insurance for this? I have it covered, but I would prefer not to risk my NCD or a premium hike.


Edit: Rowley Birkin QC, I totally agree with you and it is something I've desperately been trying to sort out. The road it's on is the best of a bad lot: the side road is wider where I park than the main road. People are regularly scraping along the cars parked out on the main road, wing mirror here, rear bumper there. The biggest killer for me is that it's not a bumper but it's the body and the seriousness of the damage.

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Not that it makes it any easier for you but somebody drove into my driver's side door 3 days after it was resprayed after I had spent a few months with an engine rebuild and generic repairs of my car earlier this year. Since then plenty of door dings etc. have appeared too.

Losers!

Pedro K

Happened to me last August. Car was parked in a parking layby on the side of the road in an industrial estate. Came back to find a great big dent on the bonnet.

I assume something with a high arse, probably a truck, given the area, reversed into me and fecked off.

Absolutely sickening. Sorry to hear it OP.

godtabh

hullaballoo wrote: »

I know this is more a rant than anything else but how can someone think it's ok to just drive away having caused that amount of damage to someone else's car?

The scumbags thing they can get away with it and usually do.

A neighbour drove into my sister-in-law's car when it was parked in our drive way and drove off. As it happens we were in the front rooms watching as she drove away and he boyfriend running back into the house hoping we didn't see him.

Turns out she was a learner driver in her mammy's car. Drive offs usually have something to hide

hullaballoo

samih wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Not that it makes it any easier for you but somebody drove into my driver's side door 3 days after it was resprayed after I had spent a few months with an engine rebuild and generic repairs of my car earlier this year. Since then plenty of door dings etc. have appeared too.

Losers!

It makes me reluctant to go and fix the damage when I know there's a fair chance of it happening again as soon as I get the repairs done. There's part of me saying it's more likely!

It's not the first time this has happened to me by any means, it's just the worst damage. The whole wheel arch has been done in. I'm dreading getting the call to say they've fukkered something not immediately visible as well!

I was once parked in Dún Laoghaire waiting in the car and some guy decided to force his bike between my car and the one behind. He actually had to go around the other side and yank it out. I couldn't bring myself to get out of the car because I was worried it might escalate and it wouldn't have gotten me anywhere.

Another time, a Golf driver decided he wasn't bothered waiting for me to parallel park on the main road so squeezed through, forcing oncoming cars to mount the path and taking a good bit of my paint with him. Dciks. Seriously.

Rowley Birkin QC

godtabh wrote: »

The scumbags thing they can get away with it and usually do.

A neighbour drove into my sister-in-law's car when it was parked in our drive way and drove off. As it happens we were in the front rooms watching as she drove away and he boyfriend running back into the house hoping we didn't see him.

Turns out she was a learner driver in her mammy's car. Drive offs usually have something to hide

Did you get them to sort it out?

It happened me years ago, got €800 from the culprit. Slightly different in that he kicked the car out of temper but still, damage and fleeing the scene!