Tonight as I'm looking for parking in my other car I pull up and see the neighbor's kid and his dad in their Acura SUV trying to back up into their garage, I also see their car getting some loving from my front bumper on their side.

Basically the kid cannot drive and cannot back up into a garage so he decides to scrape the side of his mom's car across the front of my 8 which I had just spent 6 hours detailing yesterday!

Now, my front end is already pretty messed up from it always sleeping outside and I was planning on getting it resprayed in the near future by my friend but it is now scuffed up on the front and I was deciding whether or not I bother and go tell the neighbor that he has the responsibility of fixing what his son did, but I'm just not sure if I should.

The bumper is not in terrible condition and I could just buff away the scuffing with the porter cable but I feel like it is his responsibility to fix it, since if I could not do this myself then I would have to take it to someone who would and would most likely cost me a few hundred. What should I do?

 

I'd go ring his doorbell and ask him to step up to the responsibility. Who knows, he might think you don't care, and next thing his son does is broadside your car at 30mph

 

I think I'm going to go ring his door bell and tell him that it did happen but he should have said something especially since I hopped out of the car and went and inspected to see if there was any major damage, but later decided that it is something I can just buff out myself. But that it was his responsibility to deal with it and that if I were someone else that can't do this themselves they would probably face a nice insurance collision claim since its something I could get them to pay for (even though it isn't MAJOR)

 

wow I wouldnt let him just get off scot free, u should tell him atleast wats up, something like this happen to me and then i got paid off :D, even if u can do it urself it still is damage...

 

Hit and runs are something that we all fear. If he hit your car and didn't report it or attempt to reach you then he broke the law. You bringing it to their attention would be the least of their worries.

I would make sure they are aware of it. If they want to make an issue of it I'm sure a police officer could sort it out.

 

I hate to say it but if my neighbor did that and didnt come to me to tell me, Id get the police involved.

People should take responsibility not run like little bitches.

 

Nah. Just go down to your county sheriff's department and file a "hit and run" report... Let the police/insurance companies duke it out with your neighbor. Since he wasn't man enough to take responsibility right away, with you there, then you have no obligation to him to give him a heads up, first.

Shoot...you just got your bumper repainted/replaced for free, if you follow up with this.

 

If it's a neighbor I'd let it slide for the damage you got but I would bring it to their attention. Afterall you live next to the people and you don't want bad blood between the two of you. I'm surprised how many of you said you would call the cops. Though it's not fair calling the cops would make you the *** of the neighborhood especially if the family happens to be respectful people.

You should definitely let them know though, I bet that kid would be coming over to plow your driveway once in a while.

Whatever happened to good ol' family values?

 

ID BUST A HANK ON THEM!

Me Myself and Irene!

 

yeah I'd tell them about it...they shoud have to pay to have it repainted technically if somebody would have done this and came up to u about it their insurance would most likely have paid to have it repainted

 

find his xbox 360, or even better his guitar hero controller and run over that **** with your 8

 

Must be great values for a kid to back into a sports car and not say anything.

Thats why everyone is suggesting getting the police involved. What if he already told his parents and they TOLD HIM TO HUSH! Then when the OP goes over there they deny it or say prove it. What happens then?

Its not the OP with no values, its the person who LIVES NEXT DOOR who hit HIS RX8 the DIDNT SAY ANYTHING.

 

Oh please don't do this first. At least go talk to the Parents / kid.

A hit and run is a felony and could really mess up the kids future.

If they're total douches about it then go ahead, just don't do it first

 

You should've said something to them right away... since you waited so long they might deny it and say you did it and you're just trying to blame it on them for a free paint job.

 

classic case of squeeky wheel gets the oil.. or in the case the rx-8 gets the paint.. PURSUE JUSTICE MY FRIEND, LET NOT THIS CLUMSY LAD LAY WASTE TO YOUR POSSESSIONS!

 

You live in San Francisco? Take the kid to Alcatraz and make him swim his way across the bay.

 

I say talk first then see what happens. Mention you saw it happen and you would appreciate it if his kid was more careful. If the guy is respectable he'll ask to see the damage and then go from there. Its hard to tell in the pic but more than likely it'll go one of two ways: Guy asks kid, kid denies, dad believes kid and tells you to get lost. OR Guy asks kid, kid denies, dad doesn't believe kid due to you being a truthful person and upon inspection of damage offers some form of compensation.


If its really as light as you think it might be then you demanding a respray is a bad way to go. Just remember that if they volunteer to pay for it, they're only paying for the damage caused. So instead of paying $250 for a full bumper respray, you might only pay $200 cuz it would've cost you $50 out of pocket for a buff job of that particular piece.

 

go over there. be like "sonny boy hit my car. im goin to get an estimate to get it fixed. if you know someone who will do it cheaper, that's fine, but you're paying for this." if the guys a dick, f*ck him, going to the cops should be a valid option then.

 

Okay.

So I was checking the tire pressure in the e34 because I noticed it was a little low before I went to knock on the door (it was parked one space down from his house) and he was going outside with a note with his info on it and he spots me and talks to me.

He basically told me that he hadn't realized that they had hit the car and done some damage and that he wanted to pay for the repair costs. He also talked about how he and my dad never got off on the wrong foot (but never had any problems with him myself) and some other random crap.

At the end he said that he wanted to pay for the repair costs since his son had done it and his daughter has also done the same in the past, wasn't the first time, won't be the last. He asked me how much I think it would cost to repair and I said it would be $150-$300 (I'm going off what my friend who does body work told me and I detail cars on the side so I have some basis on what it would cost)I basically told him not to worry about it but he insisted so I told him that if he wanted to give me like $100 to help pay for the repairs (since I was already going to do it anyway) then wouldn't mind so we settled it at that and I told him to tell his son not to worry about it that I had to learn how to drive too and I know it wasn't intentional. I'm only 18 and haven't had my license for the longest time, but I try to be responsible, and even though I could score $300 if I wanted from him I don't feel the need to, and getting $100 for my time that it will take to buff that stuff out is worth it for me.

The biggest part for me was that he actually took it upon himself to go out and take responsibility for it.

Cliffs: We talked it out, I told him not to worry about it, I get $100 out of it to help fix it.

Also, he had the thickest damn Scottish accent I have EVER seen. Think Scotty from Star Trek but 10x as much.


BTW, where are you getting a full bumper respray for $250? That sounds dirt cheap if they are using quality materials.

 

glad it worked out man.

 

i hate spending money on stuff that i shouldnt have. your a VERY nice person.


pshhhhh what if it was like 300 bucks to fix it.

thats 200 of YOUR own money.

thats like 20 hours of work FOR NOTHING.

Noppppeeeeeeeeee.

that woulda never flown.


butt like i said YOUR a very VERY very VERY nice person.

 

I'm just gonna prep the bumper, I.E. strip paint, sand, etc and my friend is going to paint it for me (he does body work) so I get the paint for free since he has it already and he does owe me some favors for borrowing my E34 for a month since he didn't have a car. I don't like taking people's money when they aren't being complete jackasses... I would however love to have stopped the trucker whom something flew off their truck and hit my front bumper at 70 mph.

 

wow, that's really honorable of the both of you.

but quick question..you said that both the son AND daughter have hit your car before!? either you're too close to their driveway, or those kids need to get their eyes checked and a booster seat behind the wheel.

 

first off this is why i dont spend any time detailing my car.

2nd your post should have been - " so the neighbor kid hit my car and this is what happened when they finally fessed up and this is how much they are paying"

you should never have been posting before talking with them.


3rd the kid didn't learn anything expect dad will cover his ***. Dad should have made the kid look at what he had done talk to you personally and arranged to pay you-even if it was with money borrowed from dad he should have been the one to make sure you got paid.

you should offer the kid to come over and watch you buff the stuff out so he ACTUALLY learns SOMETHING from this.

 

Make the kid do it, and make him redo it till it's right