Oh no. I got into a road rage and my car got damaged a bit. What to do?

[NeoPTLD]

Hi everyone on Anandtech. I have less than ten posts, but I'm an avid reader. Looks like you can ask anything here and I'm challenging you guys. Today I'm posting to get some advice on dealing with the consequence of a small confrontation with another driver on a parking lot. I was trying to head home. When I took a small road I knew I was going the wrong way, so I pulled into the threatre parking lot so I can turn around. As I was going straight on the passage way, this guy cuts me off causing me to give him a toot of horn. He went on his own way, so did I and I thought everything was fine. When I reached the passage way on the other side of the lot, the other driver was there. He blocked my way and got out of his vehicle. He started cursing me out than when he walked in front of my car to walk back to his, he slammed on my hood very hard and left a small dent. I was confronted by the security. The security said he and another employee heard him hitting my car allthe way from their ticket booth.

Here come's the complication. The police was called and he took the report. The policeman asks whos the registered owner of my vehicle. It is registered to my father. He tells me that he needs the registered vehicle owner to call and press charge before anything can be done against the other guy. From what the offcier told me if you press charge and the guy pleads guilty, it will be end of the story. It is different if he pleads not guilty. In that case my dad will have to testify in court as the owner of the vehicle and me as a witness and police says this will most likely take a whole day and a few visits back to the court house.

I didn't do anything to him other than honking at him for cutting me off. Nothing against him, but it was somewhat a automatic response going together with hitting the brake. My dad is out of town right now and he won't be able to get involved in this. Secondly, he'll be angry at me for being at a wrong place at a wrong time. I'm very pissed about the dent he left on the hood and I'm very much against him getting away with it, althoug the loss from my father having to miss one day of work for a stupid dent is much grater than the dent.

I'm so screwed. What can I do?

 

[Evadman]

You call your dad whereever he is and ask. I would want this guy to pay for the damage. what a dick.

 

[imported_vr6]

how bad is the dent? go get a free estimate from some place. Is the paint damaged or is it just caved in a little? I believe it doesn't cost must to remove a dent, but if the paint is damaged, i think it would be worth it to report it to your dad and let him decide.

 

[OS]

depends how nice your car is. If it's a ratty car, you should probably forget about it.


As for your dad getting mad, I don't see why he should, it's completely not your fault and you should mention that to him.

 

[hollowman]

Originally posted by: Evadman
what a dick.

 

[amdskip]

What kind of car and do you have a pic of the damage?

 

[yobarman]

the dent king is champion of all dent removal.

 

[dakata24]

is it even necessary to go to court for this? cant you just goto your insurance company and have them contact the insurance company of the road raged driver to pay for damages?

 

[p0ntif]

Good question. Not sure if the insurance thing would work or not. I bet if you took him to small claims court, not only would he have to pay you for the dent, but also all court fees, along with reimbursement for your dad's time. You could at least try if he disputed the damages. Get a lawyer to write him a letter regarding the repairs for the dent, let the guy know you have witnesses at the movie theatre. Also tack on an addendum stating that if he disputes the request for compensation for the dent, you will be forced to take him to small claims court which will cost him a lot more on court fees, etc. and most importantly . . .TAKE PICTURES OF THE DENT! just in case it comes to that . . .

 

[Moonbeam]

Make sure there isn't more to this story because it will certainly get told by the other guy if it goes to court.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

I'd say it's worthwhile getting your dad involved if the damage needs to be repaired... unless you want to just spring for the cost of doing so yourself?

What about the hood pounder though, when you go to press charges do you know where to find him?

 

[StageLeft]

You didn't have road rage - I honk at people all the time. That's what most people use their horns for. The guy was a nut. Hopefully this will work out.

 

[NogginBoink]

Originally posted by: p0ntif
Good question. Not sure if the insurance thing would work or not. I bet if you took him to small claims court, not only would he have to pay you for the dent, but also all court fees, along with reimbursement for your dad's time. You could at least try if he disputed the damages. Get a lawyer to write him a letter regarding the repairs for the dent, let the guy know you have witnesses at the movie theatre. Also tack on an addendum stating that if he disputes the request for compensation for the dent, you will be forced to take him to small claims court which will cost him a lot more on court fees, etc. and most importantly . . .TAKE PICTURES OF THE DENT! just in case it comes to that . . .

From what I understand (and a lawyer told me this), most small claims courts don't like the presence of a lawyer, and bringing a lawyer kinda puts you on the bad side of the judge before the trial starts.

Many times, just filing and serving a claim in small claims court is enough to get the other guy to pay up.

 

[Dhruv]

Neo:

1) if i were you i'd first try to get the dent popped out. an experienced person can do this VERY well, making it 98% undetectable. however, dents on hoods are harder and sometimes can't be fixed. lots of time the hood has to be replaced. this ususally costs around 75 bucks for a minor dent. if this is the case, i'd do option two.

2) i don't like lying, but sometimes you have to do it i guess. forget what really happened and tell the insurance company that your car was parked outside, and when you went the next morning, you saw that damage. how did it happen? say i dont know. they'll file vandalism or something and pay for it. but, first check to see how many times you have filed it. sometimes, if you go over a certain amount of times in a certain period of times, your premium will increase, which, in that case, it would be better to do option three. if i did this, i would justify it to myself by thinking how much money i give the insurance company and how much i've received. if they come out on top from you, then it shouldn't really get you down. but, don't talk to your normal agent when you try to find out how many times you have filed a report, maybe try to talk to the main office and they can look on the computer. becuase, if you have to go to step 3 (if you find out one more report will increase premium), then when you do step 3, the legit step, then they will get suspicious why you lied to them before.

3) call your dad as evadman said.

 

[bsobel]

2) i don't like lying, but sometimes you have to do it i guess. forget what really happened and tell the insurance company that your car was parked outside, and when you went the next morning, you saw that damage. how did it happen? say i dont know. they'll file vandalism or something and pay for it. but, first check to see how many times you have filed it. sometimes, if you go over a certain amount of times in a certain period of times, your premium will increase, which, in that case, it would be better to do option three. if i did this, i would justify it to myself by thinking how much money i give the insurance company and how much i've received. if they come out on top from you, then it shouldn't really get you down. but, don't talk to your normal agent when you try to find out how many times you have filed a report, maybe try to talk to the main office and they can look on the computer. becuase, if you have to go to step 3 (if you find out one more report will increase premium), then when you do step 3, the legit step, then they will get suspicious why you lied to them before.

Let's all think thru the compltete stupidity of this suggestion. First, the poster is advocating insurance fraud, a criminal offense which you could go to jail for. Second, almost all insurance policies are going to make you pay your deductable first, and from the description a normal deductable will be more than the cost of the repair anyhow.

For Neo. Call your Dad, file the complaint. Darn good chance the other person settles once he has the criminal complaint against him.

Bill

 

[NeoPTLD]

Anyhow this is the update:

Originally posted by: Skoorb
You didn't have road rage - I honk at people all the time. That's what most people use their horns for. The guy was a nut. Hopefully this will work out.

1.) The dent is there and enough to piss me off, cuz it was malicious damage. It is small enough that spending extreme amount of time resolving this issue is more damaging than the dent itself.

2.) This guy was a nutcase. When he confronted, he started complaining that I almost hit his car on his girlfriend's side when he is the one who took a left in front of me while I was going straight. I explained he was the one who cut me off, nobody got hit and wasn't a big deal.

3.) My dad is on extended leave right now and this is difinitely worth interfering with his job.

4.) As we know, that guy is a nutcase. I think our constition says accused have the right to face their accusant. From what people tell me, that means he's entitled to my full name and address. I don't wish to disclose my identifiable information to this guy. Not to be racist, but he was a Mexican dude and my main concern is who knows if he's going to have his gang pay a revenge and do some nasty property damages or even hurt someone in my family using information he obtained through the court?