To ask if you’ve ever lightly tapped a car and driven away?

[TheSpoonyOchreSnail]

Earlier today, I had a small bump with another car while parking, and there was no visible damage. I didn’t leave a note or anything because it seemed so minor, but now I’m wondering if I should’ve done something. Has anyone been in this situation and just driven off? How did you handle it?

I have. I left a note with my contact details though. No-one ever called about it.

A lovely women made a tiny graze, no dent on my car and waited for about an hour for me to come back. She wanted to give me her phone number and address but didn’t want her husband to know. My car was quite old and I really wasn’t bothered. I just felt sorry for her having such a horrible husband when she was such a nice honest person. She said he would never let her drive it again if he found out!

I slowly bumped an expensive looking car, I just assumed it had dash cam so left a note but also took photos so that I had proof of what it looked like (no visible damage).

Never heard from them.

More like clips that hold bumpers/ radiators grills etc may have snapped. Other things can be dislodged and even safety can be compromised with things like bumpers. Similar to a cycling or motorcycling helmet, internal structure damage can be caused without any visible damage

I gently nudged a car that was opposite my drive on the wing. There was no apparent damage to the wing but it had flexed and broken a clip holding the wing on. It was settled v amicably and privately costing me £10, a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates.

However, it shows damage can be done without the car being marked. Also, these days you can be picked up on people's doorbells and CCTV and you also don't know what cars are around with dashcam.

I've twice grazed a car while parking. Left a note both times. Both times the owners got in touch but one of them decided not to bother repairing the very minor graze so that was that.

My car has been knocked, bumped and dented quite badly on several occasions (wing mirror torn off, scrape down whole side of the car etc etc) and no bastard has ever left a note!

Um…. How though? How are you hitting other cars “loads.” That’s a sign that you shouldn’t be driving. I’m sure everyone will do it once but really, loads?

Loads? I would consider whether you should really be driving. It's not at all normal to bump others cars, never mind loads

Especially with modern cars with sensors and now cameras. My car squeals like a pig when you get anywhere near anything.

Having said that, in the case of my minor bump described above they always went nuts when I came out of my gate due to the camber on the road so I ignored it!

Ha funny I saw a car do this today near a park- wasn’t you was it OP?!

Because the thread has moved on and they want it to be clear they’re responding to the OP and not the post above theirs

No. No we have not.

I would never do that and I wouldn't want anyone to crash into my car and just drive off, either.

Edit: and how are people "lightly bumping" other vehicles?

If its light you must be going so slowly you could have stopped before you hit it, or is your special awareness so poor you don't know where the corners of your car are?

Never without getting out and checking very closely for any damage. If there was even a slight scratch I'd photograph and leave a note.

The only time (so far touch wood!) I've ever bumped another car it was parking and I did dent the wheel arch.

I would have left a note but the poor woman saw me do it 🫣

I felt awful but she was so lovely about it and we swapped numbers and I text her updates with regards my insurance etc.

When I sold my car a few weeks ago it had been parked for over a week as I had a new one. When they came to clever there was a huge scratch along the back which may have been a child on scooter or bike. I was really annoyed as it meant I had to reduce the price.

So clearly people do do it even if they leave damage.

If I didn't leave damage I wouldn't as people are also too cheeky not to pretend you did!

Nope I would leave a note, I’ve come back to my car being crashed into, outside daycare, not just a scratch, no note.

DS crashed into parked car, his car came off much worse than the Audi, which had a bumper scratch, we still found out who the car belonged to, got the lady out of her shower, she was lovely, not really bothered and more impressed DS had stopped and not driven off, shouldn’t we be teaching DC to do the right thing?

I once saw someone drive into the back of someone else, both drivers got out and agreed no damage, no one hurt so all smiles and no problem. The hit car went to leave first and as it set off, there was a loud crash and the whole exhaust and back end of the car crashed onto the ground! The driver of the car that hit it, his face just dropped! I imagine the car would have been very pricey to fix or a write off.
Sometimes you can’t see internal damage but of course that was a full hit into the back of a car not a small scrape or nudge while parking.

I did, once, then felt so guilty I reported myself to the police. Had a lovely chat with someone who told me not to worry - nothing had been reported and it was unlikely any damage had occurred as I was reversing vvv slowly and was breaking when the other car stopped me.

No never have.

I once caught a wing mirror when driving.
I pulled over as soon as I could (long line of parked cars) and went back to find the car with a note with my phone number on.
I arrived at the car at the same time as the owner, so we looked together, and concluded there was no damage. They were grateful, I was relieved.

But I'd have felt guilty if I hadn't gone back, and it was my mistake so it was right if there had been damage that I'd paid.

Yes, I backed out of my drive and my son was talking at me, 19 to the dozen, about random shite, and I was distracted and I backed into my neighbours car parked opposite the drive.

I pulled back on to my drive and checked their car, couldn't see any damage, but knocked at their door anyway, mainly for show in case another neighbour had witnessed. There was definitely someone in, I could hear them clattering around through an open window, but they didn't come to the door. I did knock loudly and rapped on the window, but nothing.

So I went back to my car, reversed out again, missing the car this time, and genuinely had good intentions to knock again that evening. But I completely forgot, didn't think about it again for a couple of weeks. Nothing was ever said.