I was at the shops with the family yesterday, got back to car and wife spotted a mark. Turns out it's quite a small but deep ding, looking like from another car door. We were in a parent/child space (2 kids with us of course) so I was amazed if it could have happened at that time.
Having a Tesla Model 3, I have Sentry Mode with records events within the perimeter of the car on a motion basis within a certain range. I scrolled back for a bit and found the incident where the damage occurred.
So on Saturdays I take my lad (6 y.o) to football training. All the parents use a car park across the road from the training ground, it's huge and there are always LOADS of spaces. I parked reasonably far back and had a minimum of 3 spaces all around me.
Sentry Mode captures a car pulling up right beside me, crisp image of the reg number, and then it shows the rear door of the car open and slam into mine. It's a teenager who gets out, presumably his mother is the driver who also gets out. They are both looking at the damage and she runs her finger over it, then hurries the rest of her family out the car and away they go.
Now, once I found this video I actually recognised the mother/younger son as they go to football. I don't know them, have never spoken to them, and they are in a different age group to my son currently.
Now I'm not sure what to do. Options as I see it:
1. Report to my insurer for them to deal with it, sending them video evidence
2. Approach the individual - this is complex as I know nothing about them and would need to wait until next football session - which doesn't feel like best time to speak with them, but if I want to that's my only opportunity
3. Try to find out who they are - ask coach at football (have already ruled this out as don't want to put coach in middle of something like this)
4. Take the hit of repair myself and let it go
I'm curious as to whether others have had similar experiences, how did you deal with it? Any other options you can think of? I'm usually pretty decisive but this one has me hesitant as I don't want to cause any embarrassment or issues for my son at football. Other context is that the next session is now not until midway through August as we are now on summer break.
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There doesn't seem to be an avenue to find out who she is, so fire in a claim via your insurer with the reg and details. Not sure whether supplying them with vid footage at this stage is needed (unless they request it).
She won't like it that you know that she realised the damage was done, but hey-ho, such is life.
Speak to the adult in question on a polite and respectful level that your cars cam unfortunately recorded an incident. Obv quite expensive cars so you need a repair done and wondering if you want to pay by cash once you have a quote or just let our insurance sort it. Will be fine
I’d find out how much it’s going to cost to repair, find the details of the driver and send them a letter letting them know you have camera footage and asking how they would prefer to pay for the damage.
How will he find the details of the driver?Originally Posted by jmarchitect
I'd go with option 1 and report it to your insurer with video evidence. Wheels will turn, your car will be properly mended. Life will go on.
Tesla repair will be hideously expensive and there may be sensor damage. Don't offer to sort it privately. No sympathy for the damage maker as they never bothered to leave a note.
the lady in question knew she had done the damage yet still walked away , just go through your insurance and give them the video evidence , afaik the other party broke the law when they did not leave any contact details for you so you could also file a police report and also tell them you have video evidence.
Ooooh…. That’s awkward
In the end I’d approach as sensitively as you can…. It will be extremely embarrassing for her , so, maybe a quiet word explaining that “maybe you hadn’t spotted the damage and thank you for checking, but unfortunately…”
Make sure there isn’t anyone else earwigging!
Or maybe a note on her windscreen?
Handing to your insurer to claim direct doesn’t give her the option to settle without insurance and is not the way forward
2 or 3 arnt really options. Deffo don't do 3! Not sure obviously but the coach is probably a volunteer and the last thing they need it something like this!
1 is perfectly fine, do that, or
4 if the cost is insignificant to you and you can't be bothered, or
5 just leave it, cars get damaged in car parks, ignore it
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Last edited by xxnick1975; 24th July 2022 at 13:04.
My 2 cents - let the insurance company deal with it. Send the footage, cut and dry, get it fixed properly and be done with it. It'll probably never come up, she'll have no way of knowing you identified/recognised her.
You don't know the person in question on any personal level, so really the question mark in your mind is only because you happen to recognise them from a football thing. Forget all that. Just submit it like you would any other ding to your car where you don't know the other driver.
I'd have some sympathy if they left a note addressing the situation, but she didn't so frankly there's zero obligation for you to now get stuck in some sticky situation to help them out.
Is the car park on private land?
Pre 2010 when I worked for an insurance company a lot of providers did not cover damages caused on private land.
If you don't want to do 3 then 2 is your next option. I can't see why tackling her at the training session would be a problem. Any reasonable person would have left a note on your car. She is not one of those.
Of course option 1 is the easy way out if you are covered. What happens when she does it again?
People who do this sort of thing do not care for others property.
This was and probably still is a very common insurance claim and is why your policy costs are so high.
If you let your insurance sort it you will have a claim logged against you , no fault so won’t impact your ncb but may well increase your premium on this and other cars in your name
I’d approach the guilty party first , you can always contact the insurance company later
My view. Report to insurer with details of offending car and let them know that you have video evidence if required.
Insurance, no brainer. Your insurer talks to her insurer, that’s that. All the personal stuff gets taken out and it’s dealt with dispassionately.
If she was a decent sort she’d have left details at the time, so why spare her a claim?
It’s a no fault claim on your own policy but it shouldn’t increase your premium.
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Football teams sometimes have message boards or whatsapp groups...etc, could be worth posting it there?
Insurance, its what you pay the premium for.
Thank you all for replies - it's been helpful.
My preference was to avoid any potential issues with direct contact and go through insurance, but I expect this to increase my premiums which feels a little unfair - but such is life I suppose.
I do like the note on the car/approach them directly after training suggestions, the only worry is that's not going to be for another 2/3 weeks so month after initial damage - which may leave me exposed with claiming on insurance should the individual not want to sort it out directly.
For reference, here is the damage (hard to photograph)
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If she had left a note, contacting her would have been my first option.
Knowing that she new what the damage was, and that she didn't bother, means insurance is the only option I would consider.
It may increase your premium a little for a couple of years but your car will be back to how it was before the incident.
And if SHE comes to you wondering why you haven't contacted her first (her premium increase will probably be more significant), mention the note (or lack thereof).
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
That dent looks minor, whats your excess? any voluntary on top , a moblie paint guy may be an option, pay the bill your self using the excess and no ongoing costs. If you take the estimate and the video to the perp, the DVLA will for a fee release details,maybe get a result by leveraging there increase in premium, esp if they have expensive or multiple motors?
Assuming there was no further damage other than the superficial ding pictured, Jon, maybe it helps your decision to know costs...
My local PDR chap would fix that ding for a maximum of £120, and assuming you're not too precious over the paint finish, you can use a touch up pen for the paint.
I have an almost identical dent that I'll be sorting soon in the above way. Sadly, I don't have evidence of the bloke I suspect that did it, otherwise I would ensure that he was challenged on it. Parties that cause the damage need to take responsibility in these situations IMO.
That’s a dent master fix for £125. Get it sorted and move on. For that I would not bother with insurance
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I had a similar thing on my car. Don't know where it happened or by whom so had to pay a dent man to knock it out. Cost me £100 and if I had evidence I would have given it to the insurance and let them sort it out. I really dislike the type of people who damage other people's cars and just drive/walk off.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
If he does this he will invalidate his Tesla warranty. Teslas have a whole bunch of sensors everywhere and one may be under that door and if it goes t*ts up later and Tesla find out then he has a problem. Maybe a sensor is damaged/uncalibrated etc
That is a £1800 repair at a Tesla centre at least - more if sensors are damaged.
Nonsense. It’s a surface scratch
Can’t believe you happily live with a Tesla if that is your level of neurosis
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Well there's a reason the insurance is high on these. Fact is there are sensors everywhere that non Teslas don't have and it could have impacted one and needs investigation
She knowingly damaged your car and walked away. In my opinion she needs to be held accountable.
I see this happen all the time with careless people opening car doors without any consideration and it winds me up.
A few years ago I suspected my neighbour reversed into my car and an caused a ton of damage (2k) worth. I had no real proof so chose to live with it, and I’m still angry with myself for letting it go and not confronting them (they’ve since moved).
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If you’re lucky enough to have a car which captures such an incident, I’d use the technology and make a claim through the insurance tbh!
However, I’d probably get a quote for a dent guy to fix it first - I can’t believe it would invalidate any warranty or that it’s dislodged a sensor or something - it’s just a small dent in a panel. After all it’s just an admittedly hi tech car, not a fully sentient Intelligence that - once plugged into the Tesla mothership - will start telling tales about the nasty dent man who popped the hurty bump in his door out!
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LOL
And yet in another thread, many of us were surprised to discover that something as simple as an external polish could wholly invalidate the manufacturer's warranty on a Tudor watch...
Just go through insurance. She clearly knew she’d damaged it so would no doubt deny it if confronted. No idea about Tesla’s but I do like the idea of the sentry camera.
Very annoying that. And like others have said, they need to take responsibility.
I guess the teenager that was actually careless might not be the drivers child, could be a family friend she was giving a lift to, or step child etc, so the driver might not be on the hook financially
Maybe you could send the clip to the club secretary, and ask them to fwd it to the parent with the request they contact you - I doubt they will give you the person's details directly. You never know they might reply positively.
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Wowser £1800, no wonder Elon Musk is the richest man in the world!
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So ,
Somebody in her car damaged another car .
She gets out, inspects the damage and walks away .
Yeah , for sure I’d let her get away with it .
Maybe you can contact Her through a Facebook group or something similar?
This. Far simpler than the civilised chat approach in a case where the person has already shown themselves incapable of doing the right thing.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
PDR dent guy of any stature will know where sensors are on various cars.
Is it yours or a lease?
I would get the dent removed & touch it up with a fine artist brush not the thick one supplied.
Painting the panel will not go well & usually the damaged panel can be spotted.
I’d go via insurance. That’ll sort both the damage, and the fact she should feel some sort of consequence. Her insurance company won’t be delighted with her, she’ll have to pay the excess, her premiums will go up, and if she has half a brain she’ll realise she missed the chance to make life easier and cheaper by leaving a note.
The worst case is she spots you later and has a moan or denies it. Simply point out you’d have been more than happy to deal direct, but she didn’t leave a note and she’s welcome to see the video footage.
The longer you leave it the harder the claim will be IMO. And if she’s the type to know what she did and walk away, I wouldn’t trust her to follow through on any promises of paying.
If you go through the insurance I doubt they’d bother to pursue the source of the damage. It’s not worth their time to invest in recovering such a small sum so it will just all go down on your record.
I don't know the OP, but this is typical of life at present, everyone too afraid to just do and say what's needed. Just confront her, okay, politely, but do it. You say you know who they are, what's the problem?
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That is total nonsense.
I got rear ended in my Tesla and Tesla just through it into a body shop a respray.
This. End of
Too right. Just say “I’ve got video of your offspring damaging my car, please give me your insurance details.”
I'm intrigued as to why a dent in a Tesla door would be more expensive than any other vehicle.
Are they built of different lighter materials?
It’s a tricky one as the paint is broken, a respray of some sort will be required, which will need to be ‘guaranteed’ to preserve the paint warranty on the Tesla. I’d therefore suggest the insurance route as a non-fault claim using your video evidence as proof.
What a pain though and I’m really sorry to hear about this as it would really upset me too. Where possible, I try to park away from anyone in car parks but still often find a car randomly next to mine even though there were no cars near me to begin with!
Good luck whatever way you choose and let us know developments
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Sorry to hear this OP, really annoying. I used to short term lease nice cars (to reduce my tax liability) and I always ended up having to pay out for damage done whilst the cars had been in car parks etc at the end of lease (every 6 months). I stopped leasing at the start of the pandemic and have been driving a 2010 Tiguan diesel since. Its truly liberating not having to worry about picking up damage from public car parks etc. Not that you should have to!
Regarding the Tesla, before deciding what to do I'd want to know if its going to be an expensive fix due to sensor damage / Tesla warranty issues. If it's big money then it'd have to be option 1 via insurance.
With respect, the people advising to go through insurance (myself included) are not doing so due to some nonsensical fear. It's simply the method to get the best outcome for the OP (IMO).
The trouble is, if your insurance is due for renewal in the meantime it'll be a claim and your premium will increase even though its definitely not your fault. You don't get a refund when the fault is proven either. At least in my experience. I know nothing about Tesla but I know it won't be cheap. I imagine if you speak to her and she knows she's been caught red handed she'll want to go down the insurance route anyway. She clearly thinks she's already got away with it. Would be good to hear how it works out for you.
+1. I used to lease, now I still run a nice car, just ten years old. And while I wish the OP the best of luck, dinging my new car is no longer a source of stress.
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If a scratch like that could damage a sensor in the door I’m surprised any are on the road! It’s a surface scratch nothing more, the car isn’t built from unicorn horn, the local paint guy will do it for £100 to £150 any more and he’s being fleeced. If he goes down the insurance route it will cost him far more in the end. But in the end it’s his choice.
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Photo #1 seems to show indentation of said unicorn horn ?
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