I had one of "those" mornings with running late to church, not realizing how much snow was in my driveway, and in desperation I took my "husband's" vehicle, which was parked near the end. (That means I was in the family van, which I only drive under duress--I HATE driving more vehicle than I need.) Unfortunately, parking was squishy and I accidently brushed someone's bumper while trying to maneuver the beastly thing in the parking lot. I checked it out after I parked somewhere else and wrote down the license plate number and left a note with my name and number and described where I thought I scratched it.
My frustration now is that I have not heard from him or her (or them) to confirm that they received my note. It was still there when I left church, toddler in tow, but I didn't have the time to wait to see when they were leaving. I suppose they might be waiting to get an estimate for touching it up (whcih terrifies me, but I am at fault), but I was hoping for at least a quick "thanks for the note" call today. Would it be excessive for me to email our church secretary to let her know in case the person could not read my phone number or lost it, or is that just making a bigger deal of the situation? Or, if anyone else has ever done that before, did you contact the police because you were not able to immediately locate the owner? I'm really hoping I did not just do everything wrong, but I've never done this before. I just know how pissed I would be if someone did something to my car and didn't at least let me know. Urg. Anyway, Sunday neatly ruined and now I have to wonder when, if ever, I'll get that phone call....
Thanks Kristen M--I'm also due with my third baby in 30 days, so was incredibly upset that it happened and really just wanted to talk to the people and apologize. I can't imagine someone not leaving a note unless they didn't really realize they had done damage--sometimes cars are pretty resistant even to little scratches.
Grandma T--thanks for making me laugh about it!! =)
you did the right thing. Maybe the person looked at it and thought it was no big deal. If you don't hear anything in a few days then he probably won't call.
Patience. You did your part and they will do theirs. The ball is in their court.
You definitely did the right thing. If nothing else you will maybe get a message before the sermon next Sunday.. "Will the person that crashed in the parking lot last Sunday please stand up?" :)
I'm impressed - nice work!
If the other party wants to call, they will. You did the right thing and if they want to pursue, you've done all you can.
I gave a "freebie" to a pregnant mom who scraped up my bumper about a year ago. ((I'm actually incredibly ticked about my car... 6 years of parking on college campuses has it SO dinged, dented, and scraped from selfish jerks who just slam their doors open or squeeze into spots too small for them and NEVER, not ONE person has ever left a note)). So when this poor mum, who couldn't twist around far enough to see (another issue I'm biting my tongue over) was mortified at what she'd done, and I 'caught' her in the process of giving me my first durn note EVER... I winked at her, crumpled it up, and wished her a happy baby shower. ((I actually saw the whole thing... including her using both arms to try and pry herself around to see behind her, poor thing, I've been that huge.))
So you may have gotten a freebie from someone.
Others do NOT want insurance companies involved for various reasons ((ranging from their deductible lowering every year they're not in an accident, to not wanting it to *raise* for a claim being filed (even one they're not having to pay out on), to divorce issues, to driving without a licence, to, to, to.
More likely, however, they just phoned your and their insurance companies, reported it, gave the info. They are under NO obligation to call you... that's your insurance company's responsibility.
So cross your fingers and relax. You did your part, the rest is out of your hands.
Don't worry about it. Accidents happen and there is no way if you hit my car and possibly left a scratch that I would hold you responsible. I would be afraid of having bad karma if I made you pay for a scratch:-) I would however be really impressed you left a note though.
I keep my cars in great condition too so it is not like I wouldn't notice...
If they don't call, it is most certainly because they read your note, inspected the damage, and decided that it wasn't worth the trouble or time to have it fixed. They probably thought they were doing you a favor by throwing the note away and forgetting about the whole event....since really, they would have no way of knowing how upset you would be over this.
It was honestly very decent of you to leave the note (being in a church parking lot probably helped, lol). If they haven't called yet, I think it's safe to assume you're in the clear. No harm done. So RELAX! Yes, it would be pretty excessive for you to call the secretary. How would that even help? Do you think this person would have reported it to them or something? I doubt it. The best you could do is ask around and try to see if anyone knows whose car it is, but depending on the size of your church, that might be an impossibility.
Like I said, you did what you should have done and (probably) so did the person you hit. There's obviously no real "etiquette" for this type of situation as it doesn't happen very often. If I were the one getting the note and I decided the damage was no big deal, it probably wouldn't even have occured to me to call the person and "confirm" that I recieved anything. I would assume my silence was answer enough.
You were a wonderful person to leave a note. They will call if they care to fix it.
I am personally glad to see that there are still people out there that care.
I think it's awesome that you left a note (I would have done the same)! Not everyone would have been that honest. Just wait for the call.
It's possible that it's extremely minor damage and they won't bother with getting it touched up, but otherwise, I would assume that you will hear from them once they've gotten an estimate, which would have to wait for today. They may have been just as busy or busier than you and didnt' have time for courtesy calls, you may simply hear from them when there is something to report.
I doubt they cared. My friend leaves a note if he ever does it and he says they don't call. So I wouldn't worry about it. If it happened to my car, I'd be peeved about the scratch itself but I'd actually be like wow what a good person... because you left a note. I wouldn't call though because it wouldn't be a big deal.
I left a note on someone's car before when I scraped his bumper and he called and said it was cool. But if he didn't call I would've assumed he didn't care. I left the number in case he did care :P
I wouldn't worry about it. If they don't call you, then maybe they didn't think it was worth reporting.
BTW I hope you took a picture of the scratch, just in case.
I would think that they didn't consider it "enough" damage to act on and they probably appreciated the fact that you cared enough to leave the note.
Make sure you let your insurance company know what happened even if you don't see any damage to your vehicle or theirs.
I had an elderly gentleman hit me from behind after he pulled out of a gas station. I was sitting at the light and he thought he could squeeze through..wrong. He scrapped my bumper and kept on going. It was during school release and traffic was crazy. I followed him to the school and checked the damage on his front-end. Nothing. My bumper had a little blue paint from his car. I got his license plate and make of the vehicle just to be on the safe side.
The next thing I knew my rate went up 6 months later because I was in an "accident" and my insurance company had to pay out for damages to HIS car. Ticked me right off! The insurance company NEVER called me to tell me or ask me what happened. Needless to say, I switched companies.
forget about it if it was small damage they wont call if not you cant to anything about it wait it out you did the right thing by leaving the note Maybe God was with you by not letting them call
