CYKa4

after having about the longest day of my life with a 7 hour meeting...I got to my car (parked in a parking lot) to find the front passenger door panel along with the side skirt under it crunched in and scraped about 2-3 ft across. Apparently some douche bag decided to hit and run...

my very first accident in the past 9 years driving.

Anybody know how much it costs to get the door panel fixed? I'm hoping they won't need to completely replace the door panel and hopefully pop the dent out and do some repair on the paint but the side skirt looks like it may have to be replaced according to my friend.

what a ****ty way to end a long *** day.

need_TQM

That sucks man... feel your pain. Is it just me or does it seem like more and more people are not respectful of other people's property...

Small consolation, but at least it wasn't this bad...

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/28/v...k-your-bmw-x5/

Good luck with the repair

CYKa4

seriously. same thing happened to my brother 3 years ago too.

from the size of the scrape, looks like it was a truck or SUV lowered because i am not sure how to scraped entirely from the side skirt to the side mirror on the door panel.

anyway, put in a claim with my insurance and they said since its my very first accident ever, my insurance rate probably won't be jumping up too high. looks like i'm biting the bullet with $500 deductible.

AvantB8

Sorry to hear that!
Similar thing happened to me some time back, the insurance paid for the repairs and did not go up because it was hit and run. I did get the police report, though...

Good luck!

hankoman

Got my first scratch when the car was only two weeks old. Some idiot probably run the shopping cart into it or something. Been amazed with how respectless people are outside food shops. They simply drag by force the shopping carts in between cars. The problem with my scratch is that is is very ugly, but not worth 500$ to get fixed.

After this, I always park far away from all other cars.

iflywoe

i always park away from everybody, people have no respect!

im so sorry that happen to you, any cameras in the parking lot? maybe we can get together and go beat this guy :-)

i3adSaab

that sucks....I also usually park like 100' from the nearest car. A little extra walk is good exercise, most people are clueless, don't care about their cars, and often open doors hard and ding you. That's just the way it is unfortunately.

markcincinnati

I find parking away from everybody seems to make my car a target as it is then surrounded by vast voids of empty parking spaces, apparently pissing people off as if to say "we'll show him." Conversely, when I park within inches of other cars, I never even have a door ding.

Now, however, whenever I can I park with at least one side to a barrier. And, I have totally given up on valeting what with pushbutton start and the electronic parking brake.

I actually put the key into the hole and put the car in park and (by habit or routine) engaged the parking brake. The valet got in, didn't fasten his seatbelt, but the car in gear and of course the electronic PB did NOT disengage, the car looked like it was gonna be ripped off its suspension.

I parked the car myself -- I could not discern any damage.

Tried something similar another time, the bozo couldn't get the key out of the hole.

Reminds me of my years and years with my only cars being Audis with stickshifts -- and the gear grinding, stalling and clutch smell when "they" couldn't figure out how to move my S6 or my allroad or my wife's TT without putting the car in great mechanical peril.

In any case, you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

Hobbes

I will only park on an end parking spot so that I can cheat all the way to the side of the spot without an adjacent car. Usually this means the car next to me is far enough away that they can't hit my car no matter how careless. If such a space is not available I will part in the boonies. The extra exercise is beneficial and it's often quicker than all those folks who drive around looking for a good spot.

As for valets, I won't use them unless absolutely required. As Mark said, the e-brake and keyless ignition is a recipe for confusion, and most butcher my manual transmission.

BMWBig6

+1, and the lowered "curb view" on the passenger mirror is awesome with this technique (I just wish the driver side did the same).

CYKa4, sorry to hear about your misfortune.