How do you deal with "minor" car accidents?

[sygyzy]

I have a small scratch and some of the offender's paint on my passenger side door after coming back from lunch. The car to my right parked really close, VERY close, and of course, with total disregard, opened their door and left some of their paint on my door as well as a scratch. I don't want to make it seem like not a big deal, but it's somewhat small. There is damage though.

Anyway, what is the best way to deal with this? I left a note and took pictures, but I don't know who the owner is. I couldn't wait around. With a $500 deductible, it doesn't seem worth it to file with my insurance. What would a repair shop charge to fix something like this? What would it involve? I assume they can't just use a touch up pen since the paint wouldn't blend/match. Would they remove the entire door, try to push out the dent, buff th scratch and repaint the whole door? It might sound weird, but I am not a fan of getting entire panels repainted, losing my factory paint, for relatively minor damage.

If the owner calls me, and I doubt he will, what should I ask for in terms of damages? How do you put a price on it? $10 for a touch up pen?

Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[KLin]

This is very simple. Key their car.

 

[shekondar]

Tire iron + other car's windshield =

 

[Drakkon]

How do you put a price on it?

Price of replacing the entire door + getting it repainted to match factory specs
$5K

that'll teach em to open their doors into yours...bastards did it to my brand new truck but wasnt able to catch them

 

[DnetMHZ]

Originally posted by: shekondar
Tire iron + other driver's face =

fixed

 

[ahurtt]

If it were me, what I would do depends on if the person who did it left a note for me or tried to wait around and take responsibility for it. I probably wouldn't bother to get the insurance company involved anyway for something so minor and it is just bound to happen eventually. . .pretty much inevitable. If they didn't leave a note or anything like that, I'd kindly shiv one or two of their tires in the sidewall before calmly getting in my car and driving away. If they are not gonna own up to it and at least apologize and offer to pay to have the damage fixed, then I'll just have to make sure they pay for it one way or another

 

[sygyzy]

As I was writing down their info, I really thought about doing some of the things you guys suggested here, except it wouldn't have made me feel any better. Ok, maybe it would have but only for a little bit. I am in the school of thought that thinks your car is never the same once stuff starts getting replaced/repainted. If I was in a wreck, I would be all for it, but I am not sure if I want to do a total repaint, door replacement. Though, thanks Drakkon for putting a price on it. Are you serious about that? $5k?

Anyway, I think ahurtt has the same views as me. I am pretty disappointed that they didn't at least leave a note or say sorry.

In case anyone is curious, I normally would not make a fuss (though I really am not currently), the car is a 2005, purchased in late January of this year. So basically, a new car.

 

[sjetexas]

I did this once to someone else. Opened my door a little too wide and left a nice smudge of green paint on their black door. Felt bad and left a note....never heard back from them. I don't think caused a dent, so maybe they were able to get the paint off and left it at that.

 

[fs5]

This is the reason why I park far far away from anybody. 1 year now with my car and not a door ding in sight <crosses fingers and prays to door ding gods>

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: sygyzy


Anyway, I think ahurtt has the same views as me. I am pretty disappointed that they didn't at least leave a note or say sorry.

Damn straight. It is the disregard for doing the right thing that pisses me off more than the actual damage itself which is bound to happen over the years of owning a car. I honestly don't think somebody, a comlete stranger no less, would open their door into the side of my car on purpose on any normal day where I hadn't done anything to anybody. But when they chose to look away like nothing happened and ignore it, that to me is unforgiveable. If they just leave a note or apologize, no harm done in my eyes. . .I probably wouldn't even take their money if the damage was as minor as you described.

 

[Linux23]

nothing.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

In case anyone is curious, I normally would not make a fuss (though I really am not currently), the car is a 2005, purchased in late January of this year. So basically, a new car.

Yeah it is always that first ding or scratch that hurts the most But as I said, they are inevitable and that car is not going to last forever anyway. I remember when I first got my current car, I pulled up in a parking space kind of leaving a couple spaces between my car and the next nearest one. Then some guy decides to pull in as I'm getting out and park next to me. As he was getting out of his car the wind caught his door and he lost his grip and it banged into my car. I had not even got the dealer sticker off the window yet. . .the car was literally like 1 hour old to me. The guy saw this and the look on his face was priceless. I thought he would puke right there in the parking lot haha. He apologized profusely and then I inspected the damage. . .there was just a scratch on the passenger side rear view mirror which turned out, on closer inspection, to be a smudge of his paint. We both laughed and went on our way. But other times I have had people open their door and hit me while I was sitting right there IN my car, turn around and see me sitting there, and just walk away. Fortunately in this case, the impact was not sufficient to cause any damage. . . but I couldn't believe the gaul of this person.

 

[mrchan]

if it's just a door, i would guess $300-$500 for them to fix the dent and repaint the door.

 

[Doggiedog]

I would just return the favor x100.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: mrchan
if it's just a door, i would guess $300-$500 for them to fix the dent and repaint the door.

Wow, lots of variation here. $5000 versus $500.

 

[mrchan]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: mrchan
if it's just a door, i would guess $300-$500 for them to fix the dent and repaint the door.

Wow, lots of variation here. $5000 versus $500.

defintely not $5k. he's exagerating, just a bit unless you REALLY want to get your door replaced (not fixed). even then, you're maybe talking about $1k.

 

[sygyzy]

No, just fixed. How far would a body shop go to fix it?