YACT: Who's at fault?

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MisterServer

Senior member
Dec 29, 1999
271
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so an older couple was already parked in their spot. I drive into the next parking spot to the right of their car. While I was about 3/4 the way into the spot such that my car wasn't totally into the spot yet and not totally turned straight, the guy on the passenger side of the car in the next parking spot opens his car door and scrapes the driver side of my car. The damage to my car is located on the area around the tire (i believe it's called a fender?) directly above the tire about a 1-2 inch scrape. who is technically at fault here?
 
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mattocs

Platinum Member
Jan 25, 2005
2,246
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I would think it is their fault. You are supposed to look in the mirrors before you ever open the door to avoid hitting a car, pedestrian, cyclist, etc.
 
I

Insomniator

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2002
6,294
171
106
I would say he is, it isnt your job to be looking inside of parked cars to see if people are about to open their door. Its his job to make sure no cars are coming.
 
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giantpinkbunnyhead

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2005
3,251
1
0
Hmm... odd situation. I would blame the door-opener, because he should have watched where his door was going... but also, if you knew they had just parked, it could be shown that you should have expected the occupants to step out of the car. Seems to me the passenger had the bigger obligation to be careful though.

 
E

Eos

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2000
3,463
17
81
You should always be more aware of what everyone else is doing, but they are at fault for not checking.

As a driver, you should be able to see others' head movements to know if they are planning a lane change, for example.
 
Kelemvor

Kelemvor

Lifer
May 23, 2002
16,928
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They are. IF it's very minor damage, don't worry about it. Otherwise technicalyl it's be a comprehensive claim on their part if they claim it on insurance.
 
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Thorny

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
1,122
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The same thing happened to my mother. The other person is at fault. Thier insurance didn't even try to avoid it, they just cut her a check. Hope you got thier information though, you want it as a claim on their insurance, not yours.
 
Dirigible

Dirigible

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2006
5,961
32
91
In CA, if someone opens their door into the stream of traffic (as in where someone is parallel-parked and opens a driver-side door) and the traffic hits it, the door opener is at fault. Comes into play a lot when cyclists get doored.

I would guess that the blame would be similarly placed here. I bet opening doors in those non-parallel parking lot spots would be treated the same as opening doors into traffic.
 
H

HomeAppraiser

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2005
2,562
1
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I had something similar happen to my wife a few years back. We were all in the minivan and she parked in a space at the mall next to an older car on her side. She said that she didn't want to open the drivers side door to get out because the older car was just ideling there for about a minute, so she pulled forward to the space infront, set the brake, turned off the engine then started to get out. Just then the @sshole pulls forward, she jerks the door shut but he still clips his passanger mirror on her door. No damage to our van at all.

I called my insurance who said parking lot accidents are always setteled 50/50 no matter who was at fault. I offered the guy a $20 for new mirror glass then $40 for him to go away. Now this was just a stationary mirror, no wires or power control but he submitted a claim of $150 to our insurance and they paid rather than fight it. Our rates did not go up however.

You may not be so lucky with your insurance so just offer to split the bill with those people.
 
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