Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Sun 2 Apr 2017 14:39

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - neilp123

Hi there,

I was with my son yesterday at a health club type place. I parked in between two cars. When we left the club several hours later, I noticed a different bright blue car was parked to the right of mine. I then noticed a bright blue scratch/dent on my car, about an inch in height. I look at the other car and then was a scratch from the metal work at exactly the right height as the mark on my car.

I took photos of the damage to my car, the scratched paint on the other car, and a photo of the two cars parked next to eachother.

I wrote a (polite) note explaining what I thought had happened and left my phone number. I;ve had no contact yet. I know its only from yesterday, but I'm not expecting anything to be honest.

So what do I do know? I have no proof that it absolutely was this car, but I'm about as sure as I can be. I have the other cars number plate.

Any advice would be very helpful!

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 15:17

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - RobJP

You have no proof that the scratch was not there before the visit.

You have no proof that the driver of the car parked next to you caused the damage.

You have, in short, nothing. Go find an independent little bodyshop, and get the scratch/dent fixed for a cost of £100 or (probably) less.

If you claimed on your insurance, then you'd lose NCD or part of the 'protected' part of your NCD, and your premiums would be loaded by more than the claim value - plus, your policy will have an excess, and it's entirely possible that you'd end up paying the full amount anyway.

The excess is there to prevent minor or petty claims. This looks like one of those.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 15:28

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - neilp123

Thanks for the reply. Obviously you're right, I don't have the proof. I do find it incredibly irritating that there are people out there that would cause damage to someone elses property and not own up to it. Unfortunately I'm not in the position to just pop out and get it fixed for £100 or something near that.

I've contacted the health club to see if they have CCTV. Fingers crossed.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 15:29

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Stanb Sevento

Very common problem nelip123, most of us will have been there at some time and felt your frustrations. I'd say your chances of getting any recompence from the other driver are very low and without a forensic paint test you cant prove it.

In your shoes I would be thinking of one of the dent removal companies like Dent wizard, they can work miracles on reparing minor dents, its truly amazing what they can do. Reparing the scratch depends how deep it is, if only in the clear laquer its easy, if through to the primmer it takes a lot more, buti can be done. It costs a bit but is a fraction of the cost of a paint job.

I left work with a friend at lunch time to go to a shop, returning to his car there was a dent in his door just like you desribe. In a fit of anger he swung his boot with all his strenght at the other cars door. we got in a drove away leaving a great dent in the other car. Rough justice.

If you are handy and feel like trying it yourself I have had very good results from one of these.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dent-Master-Car-Body-Work-Repai...L

Edited by Stanb Sevento on 02/04/2017 at 15:36

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 17:38

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Falkirk Bairn

Sorry to hear of the damage BUT it reinforces my belief of

Parking well away from near the supermarket / gym doors or between other cars -

Preferably on an end space - reduces chance of dings by 50%.

Reverse into spaces & if you have to park near other cars choose where BOTH sides have cars reversed in.

Do not park next to cars with child seats, old bangers, MPVs, posh 4x4s where the owner may not care about bashing his/her car OR yours!

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 18:20

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Ethan Edwards

Good idea but doesn't work. I park well away from other people in a empty part of a car park and upon my return inevitably I have company usually parked too close as well.

What does seem to work is to park badly. Wonky with your rear almost hanging over the next space. Look like you abandoned it not parked it. Then usually people give you more space.

Works for me.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 18:37

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - gordonbennet

We had a lovely weekend in York a few years ago, parked my old but perfect Merc precisely central in a bay in the almost empty car park, returned to find a new Jag S type parked next to mine in the still almost empty car park and a nasty dent obviously from it where presumably fat boy/female couldn't exit without hurling the drivers door onto mine, no i didn't damage their car in retaliation, they can't help being a bit thick or uncaring of other people's property.

Nor can you tell from the car what the owner will be like, money doth not a gentleman make, nor does having a new car mean that the user can control it.

It's annoying, but we've got used to it, every car we buy gets damaged by half wits in car parks within a week at most of us owning it, doesn't matter how carefully or out of the way you park some brain donor will find a way to do what they do, one of the reasons SWMBO does not want a nicer car, her Scooby is peppered in scrapes both bumpers door protectors etc, she flatly refuses to have it painted.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 19:06

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Andrew-T

Perhaps the most annoying thing of all is that whenever one changes the car, it gets marked somehow within weeks. I've had the present car for 8 years now, but 3 weeks after getting it, SWMBO was driving when a local scrote chose to sideswipe her for no apparent reason. Luckily no serious damage was done, and we haven't bothered to touch it up.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 19:56

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - badbusdriver

'Bangernomics', this is one of the major plus factors in adopting the teachings of James Ruppert (from Autocar magazine, not the American murderer!). Buy an old, but sound car (ideally unfashionable) with a years MOT on the cheap, run it till it dies, scrap it, then repeat. No worries about parking dings!.

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Sun 2 Apr 2017 20:57

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Manatee

Perhaps the most annoying thing of all is that whenever one changes the car, it gets marked somehow within weeks.

It's almost a relief to get the first chip or scratch. You know it's going to happen. My Outlander had 600 miles on it when I tried to flake a bit of bird poo off the piano black grill badge and realised it was a very noticable stone chip. Whatever is underneath the shiny black is bright silver.

Rationally, there is no point in buying a new car because almost as soon as you have bought it, it becomes a used one. But I have failed to take my own advice:)

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Mon 3 Apr 2017 23:35

Toyota Prius+ - Someone has scratched/dented my car door! - Smileyman

life is too short to get worked up about minor things, sadly this falls into this category. Few weeks ago parked alongside a car in car park, opened the door and a gust of wind caught the door slamming into the adjoining car ... so there is now another little dent on my door to remind of the need to take care when opening doors in windy weather ... lucily it was not when another person walking past!

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