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My car got hit….  Don’t worry. I’m not hurt at all. I wasn’t in the car, but there was also no witness. It’s really weird, so I’ll start chronologically with what happened.
Background: I came home Friday morning from work, and my car had been parked in the parking port since.
This afternoon (July 2), I was sitting home when my next-door neighbor came knocking on the door. The mom was blurting something, and then her daughter clarified. Apparently, when they pulled up their car next to mine, the daughter opened the passenger door too wide and hit my car. So there was a notable scratch in the middle of my driver’s door. (in the middle on the middle border that protrudes from the rest of the car, not sure how to describe it better) I also noticed some white spots/lines above it but thought it was just dirt and such. Since there was not much to be done, except maybe patching the paint, I figured – whatever, it’s our neighbor, and they were being honest about it. I told them to forget it. No biggie.
This evening, I drove out & parked by Carl’s Junior. When I went back into my car, I had a good view of the whole driver’s side of my car. I still felt bad about the scratch. Damn! I’ve only had my car for 9 months. But oh wells.
Next stop, McDonald’s. I entered the parking lot, noticing this lady in my way wandering about the middle of the lot, so I had to drive around her in order to park. Kinda annoying, but whatever. I went into McD to get some milkshake & fries and came back out. This time – OH SHIT! There’s a dent in my car! Someone had hit the driver’s side just behind the fuel tank opening. There were also white scratches and chips. There were no cars parked immediately next to me.
The first person I saw nearby was the same lady who was wandering about the parking lot earlier. This time she was behind a huge white truck parked diagonally across from my front passenger side, doing something. I asked her if she had been around the last few minutes. She said yes. Then I asked if she noticed anyone hitting my car. She denied. It seemed like English wasn’t her first language, but I was pretty sure she understood me. I went to the McDonald’s driver-thru line, since I wasn’t too far from it, and people in line should’ve been able to see the incident. No one saw or heard anything. I went into McDonald’s and called the police.
The cops came and couldn’t really do anything since there were no actual witnesses or suspects. They believed that since the scratches by the dent and the ones by my driver’s door were of the same color, it was my neighbor who hit my car. I told them that I didn’t think I could’ve missed the dent earlier at home and also at Carl’s Jr. Also, there’s a black pole between my neighbor’s space and mine. I didn’t believe my neighbor could’ve hit my car like that with the pole in the way. I called home on my cell phone and had my mom talk to the neighbors while the cops were still with me. The neighbors denied having anything to do with the dent. I’m not sure what they put in the report, but one of the cops took my license and insurance and filed a hit-and-run report. They suggested that I went home and get my neighbor’s insurance information, so at least my insurance wouldn’t count against me for the superficial damage to my door.
The cops also found the scratches on my door questionable. The part on the “border” looked like it was scraped while my neighbor’s car was still moving, if that was indeed damaged by their car door. And the white stuff above it, now that they pointed it out, did not simple come from their door opening. So what?
I went home and took a closer look. There was no way my neighbor’s Toyota Cressida was tall enough to have made the dent. I checked their bumper. There’s a black mark above the front bumper, but I didn’t think that had anything to do with my car. And really, given the black pole of the parking port in the way, the dent did not happen while my car was parked there. The white marks on my door were still questionable. This time when I knocked on my neighbor’s door, the dad came out. He was adamant about having pulled the car into the space, then his daughter (probably middle or high school age) opened the door and hit my car. Simple as that. Ok, fine, I didn’t care to argue about that. I was more concerned with the hit-and-run dent, which now by comparison to other cars, looked like it was hit by a taller car, maybe an SUV, truck, or jeep.
Could it have been that strange lady at the parking lot? She was behind a big white truck. But the cops suspected if it did indeed happen at the McD parking lot, the car was probably trying to get into the space next to me, hit my car, and drove away. I suppose that sounds more reasonable than hanging around & waiting for me? Of course the woman and the big white truck had left by the time I called the cops. I also found it strange that everyone I had talked to inside & outside of McD would take a look at my car & feel bad for me. But this woman didn’t take a second look. I mean, if someone approaches you and say, “My car just got hit”, most people would respond by, “Oh no!” and look at the damage. This woman? Nada. Maybe it’s a cultural thing? Maybe she had something on her mind? I don’t know.
What really didn’t add up was that my neighbor (the dad) said he had seen the dent this morning, before he drove out. If this was true, and provided that my car couldn’t have been hit like that while parked there, then my car was hit while I was parked at work between Thursday night and Friday morning. But how could I have missed that visible of a damage after work Friday morning, this afternoon when I was examining my car after being informed about the door scratch, and then again when I was at Carl’s Jr.? But why would my neighbor make up a story knowing I wasn’t even suspecting him of hitting my car? Tina came to look at my car, too, and didn’t believe that I would’ve missed the dent earlier either.
Anyway, now I have an appointment to have my car inspected by my insurance on Thursday. Then I’ll have to pay a $500 deductible to get it fixed. If it’s an old car, I’d probably say screw it. But my baby is only 9 months old. So guess where my 4th of July holiday pay’s gonna go? Sigh. |
me gonna be a godmother! oi... that makes me sound soooooo old! kinda like senior year in high school when john-john said happy mother's day to me for being band mommy. melis is having a baby girl, due early march. she's considering cloth diapers, any comments on that?
hehehe. if you're jealous... sorry... go find your own prince cuz this one is MINE! 