I get back to my car at Leslie and Finch and I see two large scratches on my bumper, so someone must of scrapped me trying to park beside me. I walk to the front of the car parked beside me and BAM, my paint is still on his bumper. So I'm curious as to why this person didn't run off so I wait for them to come out. They get back and he DIDN'T know he hit me but after he saw his car, he admited that it was his fault. So I took down pics of all his info and stuff and he said to go through insurance at first, but then he asked me to bring the car to a chinese shop and not go insurance if its cheap to fix. I said it'll likely be atleast $500 and he said thats WAY too much. I'm like fine, I'll get a quote from a shop and the dealer and let him know.
My uncle owns a body shop, so he said they may have to paint the fender as well as there are some scratches and its probably better so the pearl white paint can be blended in.

My questions are:

-> Do I have to report this and whats the time period to report something?
-> He's willing to PAY for the damage right now, but if its too $, then I think he'll want to go through insurance. So if he wants to go through insruance, do I have to report it to the police or just call my insurance company and let them know the story?
-> Should I avoid insurance even its NOT my fault (ie. since its private property) and etc.

 

1) u dont have to report anything for sure!
2) go through insurance.. u have disadvantage if u go thru a private body shop. The fix will definitely be "too much" for him to pay anyways. And besides, why should u listen to what he wants.. it is what u want, and u want to do it right don't u?

 

Yeah, the only thing i'm afraid of is that some of the shops that the dealers out source to aren't that good. Anyone have any experience with this? My uncle's shop does a lot of the cars from Town & Country BMW in Markham so he should take care of my car.

 

Did you get his insurance information and his driver's license info? Dont call your insurance company, CALL HIS! Take it to your uncle if you trust him and have him give you a legitimit estimate to fix it to new. Also, if this shows up on your carfax then you want to make sure that you get reimbursed for depreciated value. We had a small scrape like that from a guy that hit us in a parking lot and we didnt know until later that it is now on our carfax report. And although it was a minor scrape, it shows on carfax as an accident. It doesnt give details which can be interpreted poorly.

 

who says u have to repair it at the dealer when u go through insurance? u can either pick from the list of shops they recommend or u can pick ANY shop at ur discretion

 

Sorry to hear that. Some drivers don't pay attention to what they're doing or watch where they're opening their doors really pisses me off. So I choose to take 2 parking spots wherever I park or furthest away from traffic. Regardless of the amount of notes I've rec'd I'd still do it b/c I’m protecting my investment from those dumb drivers.

 

Man you guys have got to have the dumbest drivers on earth haha.. still wondering why insurance rates are so high?

 

I dunno Sam, Sheikh Zayed Road has its share of crazy drivers aswell, lol.

 

he stayed right there and didn't run or move across the lot? Either way that stinks that people are that bad of drivers and are just dumb


EDIT: just realized you are in Canada






J/K

 

I'm with State Farm and ran into this a couple of times. I know my agent pretty well so asked him a number of "what-if" questions. I learned that if you read the small print in the policy, it says you are required to tell your insurance company or have the option to drop your insurance. Seemed stupid on the surface, but he went on to explain that if you do not report and get everything documented that the they are worried that the other person could later file a clain againt me (you) claiming you were at fault or that they now have a hurt neck, etc. With no police report and no other documentation, it puts the carrier and you at a disadvantage.

I also learned that if it is not my fault (other person admitted fault or like you it was parked) then no impact to my insurance rate as State Farm goes after the other person's insurance.

If just hit in the parking lot and you report it, then under comprehensive just like getting hit by a tree.

Good luck.

 

HamstersG is correct, call the cops and file the report. As stupid as it sounds, the other guy could call the cops and report that you hit him and ran away. I've heard it happening to other people. Just do it to protect yourself. Filing a police report will not get to your insurance unless you hand it to them. Also, this puts the pressure on the other driver so he will for sure follow through with paying you for damages.

 

a collision is more likely when both vehicles are moving.. so that's understandable

but hitting a car when one's doing 5kph and the other's stationary.. you have to be dumb with talent to pull that one off haha

 

^^ gosh u dont have to call the cops for this.. besides the cops WILL NOT care and this is not a hit-and-run and at least he admitted fault too. Just call both insurance companies and tell them what happened. Your insurance company will follow up and u dont have to do a thing. The adjuster will contact u back and give u further instructions. If you're unclear just talk to ur adjuster.. he/she can pretty much tell u anything. And make sure it won't get into ur record as an accident because this is not a collision.. juz a minor scrap

 

I would take whatever the guy offers ( $$) , pick your shop, and get it fixed without the authorities involved.

 

normally, i would go about it as follows:

1) take pics of all information, and of damage on both cars

2) DO NOT ACCEPT ANY FORM OF CONSIDERATION ON THE SPOT (i.e. cash), and DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN OR SIGN ANYTHING THAT COULD BE USED AS A RECEIPT.
(if you do, then it's over...legally you've already agreed to a settlement)

3) if he wants to avoid insurance, tell him you will get 2 or 3 price quotes from different shops. make sure 1 is from your Infiniti dealer.
(this step is quite a hassle for the victim, but IMO, if I was in the opposite situation, i would want someone to do the same)

4) ask him to reimburse you in cash for the full amount of the Infiniti quote, plus the cost of a replacement rental vehicle. (assuming you have a replacement car under your insurance policy)
if he doesn't agree, back it up with comparable prices from the other 2 shops.

5) if he still doesn't agree, then save any further hassle and just do it through insurance.
at the end of the day, you're already doing him a favour by giving him the option of not going through insurance. you should not have to be inconvenienced in order to save him money. you should not have to compromise on the quality of the paint job either.

6) if the damage is > $1000, then your insurance co. will ask you to report it to the CDC (http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/faq...html#collision).
the offender must then also report it to the CDC within 72 hours.

7) drop it off at the Infiniti dealer, or the shop of your choice.
at a dealer you can always complain if it wasn't done right...but at a smaller shop, you don't have as much leverage...




if i was pressed for time, or if the guy seems like an as$hole, i would go straight to step #5, 6, 7.




btw i pass by that plaza every day...