Nate

****ing bastards!!! I go out today and find my front passenger side corner has been hit. Someone must've turned too early and the side of their car got me. ****! The bumper has red paint on it and my silver paint is completely worn away in about a 6"x3", very deep scratch. The kit has small scratches on it, looks to be from someone's tires. My headlight casing is pushed back and is touching my fender. The fender does not seem to be out of alignment. The headlight casing has scratches in it.

****ing *******s! Can't people have the decency to atleast leave a note?

It was a red car for sure. Interestingly enough I look around the parking lot at work and see a red car. I walk over to it and guess whats on the side? A dent and a coupe scratches!!! They are in the correct places for it to make the marks on my car. However, like I said, my car has a large patch of missing paint. Whoever hit me has my paint on their POS car. This red car, which belongs to a coworker (whom I will speak with shortly), does not have my paint on there. The red car is dirty and if my paint were rubbed off you'd think there'd be a clean spot. Although it was raining heavily this morning and last night. It had to have happend yesterday sometime after about 3:30pm.

I hate to accuse my coworker, and I don't want to disrupt work... but the scratch seems to be in such the right place to match my car. The thing is, the coworker is a nice guy and it would be unlike him to not say anything about it.

My deductible is $500... I pay $1095 every 6 months... I'm sure that'll go up if I have to report this ****...

SL1200MK4

Well, I don't think your insurnance will go up if you report it...

Sorry to hear about that thought......... damn hit and run sucks.....

VICNYC_TL

nah Nate not if the car was parked it will not go up.

SimTypeS

Sometimes insurance companies are weird, and even if an 'accident' was not your fault, they raise your premium.
Sorry to hear about it, Nate. It's a sad sad world where some people don't have the balls to admit to stuff. I say, cut their balls off.

Mstyle

Sorry to hear that Nate..How much to fix?? If you don't report it?

Shyne

dude that sux...always remember, ballers bounce back...even if you are not sure, confront him...as well as all the other people at work who have a red car...if you dont find his ass, that karma will for sure get him back...Shyne

gohawks63

Wrong. The only time a claim is not chargeable is if it is a comprehensive claim (i.e. theft, vandalism, deer hit, etc.).

You can try and make a case that it was vandalized, but (now I'm not accusing you) how could you prove to the insurance company that the car was hit while parked vs. the fact that you could have hit something.

Again, I believe you, but I'm playing devil's advocate. I also work for an insurance company and I have an understanding as to how the claim process works.

All in all it sucks. I feel for you. I once had someone actually back into and take out the door to my car once (not the TL). No note, just pieces of their tailight.

BlackShadow

Nate,
Don't go accusing your co-worker without talking to him first. Because if it's not him then your realtionship with him will never be the same again. Remember, it sucks to be working with someone you hate.

So just ask him nicely.
BTW, does he know your car?

Inspire

Damn... Sorry to hear that...

Nate

I know, I didn't really accuse him. I asked him about it and he said it wasn't him. While the evidence still points to him, he is a nice guy and it doesn't really match his personality to try and hide something like this.

My poor car...

TLon19s

Man that sucks dude!!! Dam it wasnt your rear bumper either

Nate

Ya I know, now both bumpers are fawked up... but check my Acura of Bellevue thread - they are going to fix their mistake!

JLmaxR1

Are there any surveillance cameras positioned outside the building that could've caught the accident on tape? That would show whether it was your co-worker or not.

I'm not sure how your insurance works, but last year when I bought my Supra I had just picked it up and was on the highway heading home when one of those pieces of tires from a semi-truck was hurled in my direction by another car. I could'nt avoid it and had to run it over. It was big enough to crack the lower part of my front bumper along with scratching it and it screwed up some of the plastic underneath the car. I called my insurance guy and they repaired it for me and my payments never went up.

I also had to replace my windshield on my 3000gt because I "accidently" shattered it with my fist when my girlfriend of 5yrs. told me she wanted to date another guy. My insurance also covered that one and I didn't even have to pay a deductible. My rates never changed, got a new windshield, and me and my girl ended up getting back together!!

MahaRaja

oh ****! I got hit like that at school, but the guy who hit me left a note...you should talk to him....i would be pisssssssed!!!!!!

rayman009

man..if i knew who hit my car and they didn't leave i note i'd jack their car and sell it to a chop shop!! wahahaha

UW RL

that sucks man!!! sorry to hear that. I am gonna fix my front spoiler soon cuz it's scratched up too.

wanna buy my bumper? j/k

UW RL

oh yeah you got pics?

Lrpba300

Major bummer, Nate. I know how you have worked on your car. Get Pics taken as soon as possible (always a good idea!) So that u have the evidence, color of other car's paint (in this case Red) before it washs off, etc. I hope u find who did this crap & didn't have the NADS to report it or leave a note!

bebber

Boy that sucks! Sorry to hear that Nate. Something like that happened to me recently, but it wasn't nearly as bad as yours. A friend's kid banged their car door into mine in a parking lot and set off my alarm and left a dent. They didn't even have the decency to tell me about it, and the only reason I knew was that I was standing out of sight and witnessed the whole tragedy.

Friends can lie about these things too and feign ignorence. But I don't know if I would really call those kind of "friends" as friends anymore.

Still, I agree with the others, if you don't have any witnessed evidence that your co-worker hit your car, you pretty much have to take his word for it.

NBP TL

Damn Nate that sucks. Make sure you take pictures of your car and i would take pictures of that co-workers car just in case.
I hope you get everything worked out.

fahoumh

damn that phuking sucks.......sorry to hear it, Nate. Well, hopefully the universe will balance itself out.

Nate

Funny you mention the universe balancing out... like 10 bad things happend to me yesterday... it was the worst day EVER in life. I got some pics this morning but I didn't bring my USB cable to qork - I'll post them later tonight or tomorrow morning. I hope today is better than yesterday, or I'm going to ****ing cry.

TommyBoiSxty9

Sometimes?
ha...
lady i worked with had her car Parked in the parking lot --- she was IN WORK... someone came thru the drive thru (pharmacy)
went up over the curb and smashed into her car....

her insurance went up.
WTF

gohawks63

First we'll start with the easy one. The Windshield claim falls under comprehensive, so there should be no fault assigned and as a result no increase in premiums. As for the deductible on that claim, it all depends on how your policy was set up. You can have different deductibles for Comp and Collision. Having a deductible for comp really doesn't save you much and as a result I (like you) don't have one on comp.

As for your other claim on the tire pieces hitting your car, I'll try to explain without getting into too much detail. The reason why your rates never went up could be for one of two reasons. Did you pay a deductible for that claim? Falling objects are covered under comp. This is where it's not as cut and dry, and it's left up to the discretion of the person who set up the claim. If you told them that the pieces fell off the truck and hit your car, the claim rep may be inclined to set it up as a comp claim. As a result, no deductible and no fault. If you told them, that you ran over the object and it damaged your car, it's more likely that it was set up as a collision claim. As a result, a deductible and a potential rate increase.

Now if it was set up as a collision claim and your rates didn't go up, there might be another explanation. Some insurance companies give you a "pass" on your first claim before they begin to take away discounts or raise rates. I know the company I work for and am insured with does.

For example, my wife hit a fixed object in our work parking lot and did $2,500 damage to her Pathfinder. Since it was definitely her fault, it was set up as a collision claim. A few months later I received a letter explaining that they would waive this claim, but if I had another "at fault" claim within the next five years, they would take away my "good driver discount" which is pretty substantial (20%).

Makes sense? Best to talk to an agent to get further clarification.

Nate

Thanks for the lowdown on insurance... I want it fixed so I have no choice but to submit it. But I have taken pics of my car and I will park my nose next to my coworkers car tomorrow and take pics of how the scratches on my nose match the scratches on his car. Then I will submit that to my insurance company and let them decide if they want to investigate. I really don't think that is overboard - they should have the same info I have and make their decisions based on that. I don't want to disrupt my work as it is infinitely more important than this, but this isn't fair to me.

You can see pics of the disaster here:

http://www.natestl.com/images/scratch/

bebber

Boy, those pictures make me feel for you man. Whoever did that should pay dearly for it! Yeah, you can send those pics into your insurance company and let them decide if they want to pursue a claim against your red-car coworker.

I sucks that so many parts of the car were affected, and not just the bumper. This is more than just a minor fender bender.

gohawks63

Nate,

It probably wouldn't hurt for you to file an accident report with the police. It'll lend more credability with your claim, and who knows, maybe the cops will look into it. I know the insurance company will ask for it.

Nate

Really? How do I go about doing that? Do I just call the non-emergency police line and say I want to file an accident report? Then what, I go and pick up some papers? I still haven't reported it to my insurance... should I get an accident report before I report it?

gohawks63

Yeah, just call the non-emergency number. Since it happened a few days ago they might just have you come in and they'll fill out the report there. Who knows, they might even come to the lot. It all depends on how busy they are. I know in Chicago, in most cases, unless the car is undriveable, they'd rather you go in. Some of the suburbs though are more willing to come out. If you had called right away and they came out, they could have made notations on where your car was parked and they might have looked around, but it's hindsight now.

You can also share your suspicions with them and see if they're willing to at least question the guy. Like I said, no guarantee they'll do anything, but most insurance companies will ask you if you filled out an accident report. Filing a report will have no bearing on your insurance company paying for the repair (assuming you have collision coverage), but if you (or the cops) can make a case that your co-worker did the damage, the insurance company will go after him (or his insurer) for the cost of the repair and you may get a portion or all of your deductible back.

In addition, insurance companies use a variety of factors when deciding to drop an individual. Things like fault, severity ($$$ paid), and frequency (how often you make claims). Hypothetically speaking, if you had actually caused the damage, you'd be less likely to call attention to yourself by calling the police. If you catch the guy, it may benefit you down the road when your insurer looks at your "at fault claims". If you find out who he is and you/your insurer gets reimbursed, it reduces the severity ($$$ paid) of your claim.

As a result, since it doesn't cost you anything, aside from a little bit of your time, I'd say file a report.

I almost always suggest calling the police, even for minor fender benders. Usually the person who was at fault asks you not to call the police 'cause they don't want their rates to got up (maybe they don't even have insurance). They promise to pay for the damage, but when you get an estimate, they'll balk or even deny the event altogether. Then it's your word against theirs. It happened to my brother once. He was behind a raised pickup truck waiting to make a turn out of a parking lot. For some reason, the guy didn't look behind him, backed up and did $700 damage to the hood on my brother's car. The guy asked not to call the police and said he'd pay for it, "just let me know how much" is what he said. Once my brother called him, the guy said, "no way am I paying you that much". "my friend does body work and he says it shouldn't cost more than $300, why don't you go to him?". Mind you now his friend said $300 without seeing the car. Now things start to get messy, since the police weren't called, the facts now start to get obscured, fault gets passed back and forth, and you either end up settling for less or your insurance company ends up paying for it and you end up sharing some of the fault.

My $.02.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

thaitea

Man that sucks...something like that happend to me a month or 2 ago at my apt. Check this out:

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=22913

I was so pissed. They smashed in my rear bumper and broke my tail lights. The cost was over 1000 $ to replace the bumper and lights and labor. I don't know if my insurance will go up or not until December...that's when I have to renew my insurance. My deductible was only 300 though.

rickslick

Also Nate, I'm an agent. If you have uninsured motorist coverage on your policy your company may pay under this coverage. But you must have a police report. And usually its deductible is a lot less than your collision deductible and your premium shouldn't go up.

Nate

Ok cool, I just had an officer come take a look. He said he didn't think it was my coworker. The damage would make a sliding scratch on whoever did it's car - my coworker's dent is just pushed in. That it is bumper level makes sense I guess. I'm relieved, not that I really thought it was him though. Anyway, I filled out a report of the incident, I hope it helps! Time to call the insurance company. I'll see what they say about it falling under uninsured motorists coverage, thanks for that tip, slick rick.

my99tl

I know this is an old post, but did your insurance go up, Nate?

Also, where natestl.com?

I wanted a pic of your 3.2trl badge on your OEM skirt. thx

Nate

I reported it to my insurance but didn't get the estimate for months and months... I faxed it to them and never heard back. I know, I should've followed up better. It still isn't fixed! Sucks! They said it would have been covered under uninsured motorist protection and my deductible would've been $350. I don't have the money now to get it fixed.

natestl.com I have been lazy with as well, you can find it at http://natestl.seattleone.com though. To save you digging through all my stuff, the pics you wanted:









Bigger pics here:

http://natestl.seattleone.com/images/rims/

Its not easily noticed so I don't think you could say it was out of place.