The first hit and run

I'm certain I may be overreacting, but yesterday I was hit in the parking lot of our favorite breakfast place. We parked seven empty spaces away from the establishment, against a passenger-side curb.
Now, I have to park in hospital parking garages on a weekly basis and I'm paranoid as all get out and check the car every time I get in to make sure there are no dings. It was a source of pride that I've protected my gorgeous '11 Golf TDI from ANY little bumps, dings, scratches... except for the fertilizer truck overflow we ran through last week, eeew... We ran to a Nissan dealership for my man to get started on his 370z he's getting in a few weeks, only to find that some jackhole had tried to pull into the parking lot and over-estimated his space, hitting my baby above the driver-side wheel well, not only resulting in the need for a new bumper, but also damaging the side panel. I had to go inside and explain to the restaurant why I was stalking every vehicle in the parking lot for matching damage. I've been told this is common, but whomever it was took off with no info left or anything. It's not major, but I have this sense of imperfection now when I look at my awesome little car. This gets easier, right?

I'm going to try to convince the insurance company to only go with a VW-certified repair shop since I had significant issues with the last place they sent me on a different vehicle. Do people really experience this a lot? I've had friends coming out of the woodwork saying that their new car was hit three, four, sometimes six times in the first year! I hope this isn't a trend... my blood pressure can't take it. Heh.

No, it doesn't. I washed my wagon yesterday and found a couple of paint chips in the front clip, repainted earlier this year after a minor accident. I told myself to relax, the car's 8 years old. But it still bothers me.

Sorry for your troubles. Are you new to car ownership? This kind of stuff does happen, and all too often as far as I am concerned.

You might try a different insurance company if you don't like the way your current one handles things. My insurance company always lets me choose where to get my cars fixed. I think they might know better than I do, though, as the get to read the complaints. I would insist on VW parts, but I don't care who does the work as long as they are good at it.

This is gonna happen again..... someday. (May it be a very long time coming!)

Bill

Buy a cheap car that came with lots of dents (even on the roof!). It does wonders.

On the summer cars, I park in the next county.

My last car was new (embarrassingly enough to admit, an '06 Vibe) and my previous was a '97 Jetta. As much trouble as I had with both of those vehicles, I have never been noticeably hit before (other than being rear-ended in the Vibe). I wonder if I have been an anomaly before now. In 16 years of owning cars, I've never had more than a scratch or a ding outside two moving-vehicle collisions. Such a strange experience.
And I really, really, really hope whatever comes next is a long time coming.

I backed into my own oyster cooker like a week after buying my new jetta. I was PO'd for about a week, then got over it. I swear the next new car I buy, I'm taking an axe handle to the dealer and put a nice whack in a fender after I sign the dotted line. Then the multitude dings of daily driving will mean nothing. Swear, really...

I had a rental vehicle get hit in a parking lot and the driver left. Luckily she was dumb enough to park in the same lot, and someone was kind enough to leave me a note with her license plate number.

I find it better to choose a body shop based off of referrals from people within the industry. My brother's jetta had to have doors replaced on 2 seperate occasions and we took it to a place that was owned by the same guy who owned a VW dealer because we figured they'd be more familiar with the cars, but they did not do good work. When my truck got rear ended, the insurance estimator guy recommended a place that turned out to be very good.

Hi,
I just hit your car and there are people watching me leave this note. They think I am leaving my contact and insurance info, but I am not.

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Now that would be cold.

LOL

Bill

That little scratch will become far less important as time goes on.

I would suggest you use the shop recommended by your insurance company. Really, they know who is doing it right. The dealer likely farms that work out anyway so it would not be VW doing the work. Even if it is VW doing the work there is no reason to believe they will do a better job.

Dealers are no better (or worse) than independent mechanics for almost anything you might need done on your car. They will almost always charge more per hour and often more for parts and supplies. They also tend to look at repairs a little different than the independent.

A dealer may well recommend work that strictly may not be needed, but could be connected to the problem or maybe replace a part when a little repair would fix it ALMOST as good a new.

There is no need to bring your car to the dealer for any service other than service that is going to be paid for by a recall or original warrantee. During the warranty period be sure to have all required (as listed in the owner's manual) maintenance done and to document all maintenance work.

I suggest that most people would be better off finding a good independent (Not working for a chain) mechanic.

Note: Never ever use a quick oil change place. They are fast cheap and very very bad.

The first dent in my NB was from the son-in-law. I have not had it fixed I smile every time I see it. I remember that my son-in-law is far more important than my car.

The insurance company is willing to let me use whomever I want and two people actually said they'd seen great work from the dealership collision center that I want to use. They're estimating $1k in repairs, but that's if they repair the bumper instead of replacing it. There will be NO bondo on my car and Progressive is willing to replace the bumper if the repair shop suggests it.

Lesson learned: Never settle on a $500 deductible. Urgh.

I watched an old lady swing into a parking lot one day, then whip into a spot and drag the front of her Tahoe across the side of a car. She stopped, noticed many people looking at her, backed up and hauled ace without a second glance. Of course, we wrote down the description of the vehicle and tag number, then went inside to find the owners and deliver the bad news. It's BS like that, that makes me want to drive my current TDI with dents and fading paint until it dies. The lack of care people have for other people's stuff is enough to drive a new car owner insane! And I want a new TDI Golf sooooooo bad......

I gave up buying new cars due to the mental stress involved.

I focus on keeping them mechanically perfect (well, as close as you can get).

I like very clean, well maintained, sought after, older cars now. One that if it gets a door ding, I can look at it and say "well, that will cost $100 to fix", then I say "I'll get to it next summer."