Venting frustration but happy with new Subie

Wow! What did you say to her? Or can you repeat it here? 8^)

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Welcome to my hell. My Old Man told me I need therapy because I got into a yelling match that got a little heated with a guy who backed his Grand Am into my Subie.

I think the only thing you can do is try to limit possible damage but the dings will come.

I try to always park my car right next to the newest car in the lot because I figure s/he wants their car dinged as much as me.

I also try to never park it on the corner of a row.

But my problem is I have to park on the street and every idiot in the world thinks they can make it into the spot between me and the car in front and they bump and grind their way in..

Try paintless/dentless repair if the paint has not been chipped off.

Ron

If you witness this, this is no different than a collision. The responsible party is at fault and should be held accountable... either that or an eye for an eye.

CW

It's really simple. Confront the person, ask for name and address and explain why and that you are going to call police. Ask her for her insurance proof and contact. Get license number, then go to work on the phone.

Mine was dinged by persons unknown with a white vehicle, before my car reached 3months old.

Still, I would rather drive my dented Scubi, than a spotless Hyundai!!

sOK, you can go ahead and take it off road now. ;])

Mmm, Mmm- This lemonade sure tastes good!

TBerk

It coulda been worse. We moved to PA five years ago and bought a new Maxima. Took it to the DMV the day after purchase to get our PA licenses. A 16 year old girl backed out of the space next to us and badly scrapped up the side of the Maxima WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF TAKING HER DRIVING TEST! Unbelievable! Car was one day old, went straight to the body shop.

She failed the test, by the way.

Tom in PA

From inside a restaurant, we watched a white pickup park next to our one month old '02 ForesterS. His door hit my subie so hard I could see the subie rock. I watched where he was seated to ensure he couldn't see his truck, and the wife watched the nearby patrons as I caved his door in with my foot and moved my subie across the street to another business location. I felt GOOD on the walk back.

We now park at the far end of all parking lots, never next to a white vehicle, and get a little exercise. After 18 months, still only have the one ding.

BoB

That may not be legal, but I gotta give you props for your actions.

Paintless dent removal is not expensive for 1 or two dents and may be an option if that one ding gets your blood boiling every time you look at it.

CW

It seems s*it happens, Bob. Several years ago I purchased the car of my dreams, an '88 Porsche Carrera, white. I've always parked at the far reaches of any parking lot, lost lot of 2nd dates that way, but that's life. The Carrera got hit 3 times in as many months by careless people who were not to be seen. Finally sold the care "becasue I coulnd't protect it."

Before that I had a '98 Chrysler Town and Country mini because I'd wanted one since I was 15 and fell in love with the '46 T&Cs. Had the car, piece of junk, for 2 years and it was a magnet for door bashers. In order to sell it I had to put $1,500 into body repair and re-paint becasue of unconcious, thoughtless, crass people that don't give a damn about others.

Don

maybe you could have been a man instead of being a coward and confronted the person. if you are too much of a pussy to do that then maybe you should have called the police while the person was in the restaurant eating and made a report.

Excuse me for the really stupid question but is "paintless dent removal" a type fix to a car or a description of the type of damage?

Thanks

If it hasn't already been said, paintless dent removal will fix it without a trace. Most dealers have a paintless dent removal specialist that works out of the dealer one or two days a month. They charge roughly $30 per ding. Call and make an appointment.

Also, if it hasn't been said, I assume you took down the person's info that dinged your car. He/she is on the hook to fix your that they dented. It would be a shame if the only thing you did was complain about it here. Especially since the door dinger will continue to do it to others.

Regards, LK

I lost one fight, that I didn't start, as a 120 lb teenager. I have avoided them for the past 50 years. I'm not stupid enough to challenge a forty year old construction worker who out weighs me by 50 lbs. I've been called Howard the coward more than once but never Howard the stupid. I smile every time I wax the ding and recall 'his' door. :-)

BoB

If you read my e-mail, P=E8te, part that starts with "Dear Yahoo", you sa= w =

you don't have to touch, talk or otherwise go near the person. Just =

identify them "without a doubt" and go from there. That should solve the problem, unless you're afraid he'll shoot you for looking at him. Then you could put your hands over your eyes and peek through your fingers.

D> =

Paintless dent removal is a technique for repairing minor damage without the need to do any repainting. If the dent has not resulted in paint damage, it can sometimes be removed without a trace. In the case of a door ding that involves a minor chip, the dent can be removed leaving only the chip that can then be touched up.

I just had three dents - all self inflicted :-( - removed from my Miata yesterday and the results are incredible. One of these was a buckle about 8" across on the front quarter panel. The results probably depend on the skill of the technician doing the work, so ask around before you take your car in.

Otherwise the strategy of parking at the far end of the lot has always served me well. I cringe when I have to park next to another car, but if I need to do that, I pick the nicest looking car that has an open spot figuring that they care about their car too.

OBTW, there are no stupid questions, though there does seem to be no shortage of stupid answers. ;)