Car drama
So, we go out to the car this morning, and find this on our windshield.
Transcript: Good morning. I believed you hit my car when you parked last night. I have green paint on the side of my car & my bumper is cracked. My # is xxx-xxx-xxxx[it would be really rude to post her number]. Please call me. I have pictures. Thank you.
Since we had not hit anyone's car yesterday ...
We looked at the car behind us, and there was some sort of light blue transfer on the car. Not really our car's color. Hrm.
Bitmonger called her, and told her that we didn't hit her car. They talked for a few minutes. At some point he asked if her car was the grey one behind ours with the paint transfer, and we found out it wasn't. She has the car with her. So, I have no idea what her car looks like, or what the damage looks like, or really much info at all. She asked him about the red paint on the left side of our car, and Bitmonger explained that it's been there for several years, and was from a gas station pole. After he got off the phone, I took a couple of pics of the other car, in case it becomes relevant. It probably isn't, as the red transfer issue, implies her car is red. And the other car doesn't have red transfer.
It never occurred to me that one needs to document damage one did to one's own car, or damage one didn't fix. So, lesson learned. Here's some doc of the current state of the car. Hope we won't need it.
The car's been in two big accidents. And numerous small run-ins with physics. With the two big accidents, much of the damage got repaired.
Accident #1 - Car slid on a patch of ice in Camden NJ like 5-6 years ago. Went left - hit a barrier. Went right - hit a car. Spun around, and came to a halt. (This was on a highway.). I don't think we fixed things that were cosmetic. It's possible that the damage on the right rear door came from this time, but I'm not sure at this point.
Accident #2 - Big piece of sign flew up and broke the windshield (on a highway). We got the windshield replaced.
Here's some pics of current visible damage on the car with info about where I think it came from.
Car Damage Doc - left rear door
We got this bit of paint transfer from a gas station pole a while ago. Years even, I believe. But not further back than fall 2003, 'cause we were in Philly when it happened. This is the "smoking gun" our neighbor says indicated we had hit her today or yesterday. It's been there forever. I wonder if we're going to need to prove that?
Car Damage Doc - left rear light
Somebody rear-ended us a while ago. The right rear taillight is cracked and kinda pushed in. This happened before fall 2003 'cause we were living in Maple Shade NJ. G was picking me up from work in Camden when it happened.
Car Damage Doc - right rear door
The right rear door is pushed in somewhat. Honestly can't remember when this happened. Maybe it was from the accident I had in Jersey? We didn't fix it 'cause it would have been expensive, and the door still opens from the inside. I think that's related to when this happened. It's been so long, I don't quite remember.
Update: I'm contemplating calling my insurance agent to see if they have any documentation about the state of car over the past couple of years that would prove prior existance of the red paint transfer. Anybody have an opinion about this idea?
Update 2: So, I called my insurance agent, and told her the situation, and asked her advice. She said that their records don't have info about the car in that sort of detail, but I can call the national claims number, and they might have that info. However, she said not to tell claims people about current situation as they would have to start a claim automatically. Just ask the question without current context. I asked her for advice about this situation in general, and she said: Let the neightbor start the claim, if that's what she wants to do. The insurance adjustor will be able to determine if it's an old paint scratch or not. So, it should be fine. Then, it occurred to me that neighbor-chick might not have an easy way to contact us. As in, she might have my phone number, since I called her, but she might not. She might have my license plate #, she might not. She definitely doesn't have my insurance info, as I don't think she even asked for it. So, I wanted to know if I'm supposed to give her contact and insurance info in this sort of situation or not. And she told me not to do that. Instead, she thinks I should just wait and see if anything develops. Kind of scared of calling claims person now, as not necessarily going to be good at hiding _why_ I want said info. I think I will continue to ponder this situation before further activity. If insurance lady is right, and an insurance adjustor will be able to tell how old the paint scratches are, then it should be ok, either way. Unless it takes a long time for the insurance adjustor to see the scratches. I mean, what if they can only tell the diff between old and within the last 2 weeks. Hrm. Man, I am out of my element.
Transcript: Good morning. I believed you hit my car when you parked last night. I have green paint on the side of my car & my bumper is cracked. My # is xxx-xxx-xxxx[it would be really rude to post her number]. Please call me. I have pictures. Thank you.
Since we had not hit anyone's car yesterday ...
We looked at the car behind us, and there was some sort of light blue transfer on the car. Not really our car's color. Hrm.
Bitmonger called her, and told her that we didn't hit her car. They talked for a few minutes. At some point he asked if her car was the grey one behind ours with the paint transfer, and we found out it wasn't. She has the car with her. So, I have no idea what her car looks like, or what the damage looks like, or really much info at all. She asked him about the red paint on the left side of our car, and Bitmonger explained that it's been there for several years, and was from a gas station pole. After he got off the phone, I took a couple of pics of the other car, in case it becomes relevant. It probably isn't, as the red transfer issue, implies her car is red. And the other car doesn't have red transfer.
It never occurred to me that one needs to document damage one did to one's own car, or damage one didn't fix. So, lesson learned. Here's some doc of the current state of the car. Hope we won't need it.
The car's been in two big accidents. And numerous small run-ins with physics. With the two big accidents, much of the damage got repaired.
Accident #1 - Car slid on a patch of ice in Camden NJ like 5-6 years ago. Went left - hit a barrier. Went right - hit a car. Spun around, and came to a halt. (This was on a highway.). I don't think we fixed things that were cosmetic. It's possible that the damage on the right rear door came from this time, but I'm not sure at this point.
Accident #2 - Big piece of sign flew up and broke the windshield (on a highway). We got the windshield replaced.
Here's some pics of current visible damage on the car with info about where I think it came from.
Car Damage Doc - left rear door
We got this bit of paint transfer from a gas station pole a while ago. Years even, I believe. But not further back than fall 2003, 'cause we were in Philly when it happened. This is the "smoking gun" our neighbor says indicated we had hit her today or yesterday. It's been there forever. I wonder if we're going to need to prove that?
Car Damage Doc - left rear light
Somebody rear-ended us a while ago. The right rear taillight is cracked and kinda pushed in. This happened before fall 2003 'cause we were living in Maple Shade NJ. G was picking me up from work in Camden when it happened.
Car Damage Doc - right rear door
The right rear door is pushed in somewhat. Honestly can't remember when this happened. Maybe it was from the accident I had in Jersey? We didn't fix it 'cause it would have been expensive, and the door still opens from the inside. I think that's related to when this happened. It's been so long, I don't quite remember.
Update: I'm contemplating calling my insurance agent to see if they have any documentation about the state of car over the past couple of years that would prove prior existance of the red paint transfer. Anybody have an opinion about this idea?
Update 2: So, I called my insurance agent, and told her the situation, and asked her advice. She said that their records don't have info about the car in that sort of detail, but I can call the national claims number, and they might have that info. However, she said not to tell claims people about current situation as they would have to start a claim automatically. Just ask the question without current context. I asked her for advice about this situation in general, and she said: Let the neightbor start the claim, if that's what she wants to do. The insurance adjustor will be able to determine if it's an old paint scratch or not. So, it should be fine. Then, it occurred to me that neighbor-chick might not have an easy way to contact us. As in, she might have my phone number, since I called her, but she might not. She might have my license plate #, she might not. She definitely doesn't have my insurance info, as I don't think she even asked for it. So, I wanted to know if I'm supposed to give her contact and insurance info in this sort of situation or not. And she told me not to do that. Instead, she thinks I should just wait and see if anything develops. Kind of scared of calling claims person now, as not necessarily going to be good at hiding _why_ I want said info. I think I will continue to ponder this situation before further activity. If insurance lady is right, and an insurance adjustor will be able to tell how old the paint scratches are, then it should be ok, either way. Unless it takes a long time for the insurance adjustor to see the scratches. I mean, what if they can only tell the diff between old and within the last 2 weeks. Hrm. Man, I am out of my element.