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Scraped car on wall in parking garage!

17 replies

FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 06:12

Hi there! I was hoping you guys could give me some advice (and maybe calm me down some!) on a very recent bump I had in my car Sad
The other day I was parking somewhere new in town, and I noticed as I was going up the levels of the parking lot, that a lot (and I mean A LOT) of cars seemed to have scraped their cars up walls on the way - it was covered in scratches! Typically I managed to scrape my car along the corner of a wall when I tried to park in this very tight parking lot. There were a few people around who looked over at my car, but walked away pretty quickly (I was there for a while checking my car, which has some pretty bad scrapes Sad and making sure I hadn’t damaged the wall or anything). It seems like I definitely got off with the most damage, and the car park was pretty banged up from all the accidents anyway!

Anywho, back to the point, am I likely to get reported for this, even though I didn’t damage anything but my own car? I didn’t report it to anyone since their wasn’t damage to the wall from what I could see (it looked like I scraped past a rubber post thing on the corner of the wall - clearly happened many times before!). I really can’t be dealing with legal matters on top of repairing my car!

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Do you know what the likelihood is that I’ll get reported or that the police will even take notice of it?
If you’ve had a scrape like this before, with a few deep scratches to the front left bumper and a few scuff marks, how much did you have to spend to get it fixed?
Feeling majorly anxious about this all and I can’t believe I managed to do that!

OP posts:
FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 06:14

Oh, I should also mention that the parking garage in question is a city council run one! Not sure if that makes any difference!
And no other cars were involved, just my daft self!

OP posts:
Stupiddriver1 · 23/11/2019 06:15

It wouldn’t cross my mind to report such an incident. The car park people won’t notice or care about a scrape on a wall.

Stupiddriver1 · 23/11/2019 06:16

And if it’s just the bumper you’ve damaged I wouldn’t fix it. They’re plastic not metal so you don’t need to worry about rust, etc.

PenelopeFlintstone · 23/11/2019 06:19

You might be able to buy a whole new bumper in the right colour and just switch them over. YouTube will tell you how to do it.
I know this because I have to do the same to replace a broken light on my car.
Looks easy.

FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 06:23

I really hope so!
I know I wouldn’t be reporting anyone for that mistake, I’d be feeling sorry for them more than anything!
I’ve spent the last couple of days terrified I’m about to get a letter through the door for such a silly accident Blush
That’s good to know about the bumper too! It looks a bit silly with a crack down it, but it’s better than no car!

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FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 06:24

Ooh! That’s good to know! My dad is pretty good with cars so I’ll get him to come over and take a look at it for me! Grin

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coconuttelegraph · 23/11/2019 06:26

While you can never say never I can't imagine a passerby has ever reported someone to the council for this. Possibly if a car park employee saw it happen they might be obliged to but that doesn't seem to have been the case.

One thought though, are you in England, you say parking garage/lot rather than car park so if you live somewhere else the rules might be different.

FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 06:42

By the time I had checked all the damage on my car, everyone else had vanished (I also spent a good few minutes checking everywhere so I know there wasn’t a hidden parking employee...I hope!)
I could understand reporting to the police/council etc if another car had been involved, but since it was just me I’m hoping I’ll slide by on this one, since I’ve learned my lesson the hard way Blush

I’m from England! I normally say parking lot, unless it’s a multi storey garage like this one was (I wasn’t quite sure what to call it!)

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Collaborate · 23/11/2019 08:27

You would only have to pay them damages if you had damaged their wall. If it was already heavily scraped against they have suffered no further loss.

OverByYer · 23/11/2019 08:31

You don’t need to report to police if you’re in a car park, I really wouldn’t worry about it. Sounds like a poorly designed lay out

AuntieDolly · 23/11/2019 08:35

Wouldn't even cross my mind to report it x

SoupDragon · 23/11/2019 08:38

Check out the franchises like Chips Away (there are several with different names though). They come to you and repair scuffs and scratches.

I agree with everyone else that you don't need to report this at all.

FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 08:47

Thank you so much everyone for putting my mind at ease!!
My worst fears were having to explain to the police what happened (and even worse, then not believing me!)
I’ll be happy to deal with the repair costs if that’s the most I have to worry about Grin

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spanieleyes · 23/11/2019 08:53

Anyone watching you was probably looking on in sympathy rather than collecting details to report you. Just don't worry and get the car sorted, check out the price and insurance if needed, that's what it's there for!

IndefatigableMouse · 23/11/2019 20:53

If there’s loads of scrapes I would be wondering if the car park isn’t really fit for purpose though!

Ariela · 23/11/2019 21:05

If there’s loads of scrapes I would be wondering if the car park isn’t really fit for purpose though!

If it's an old car park from the 60s/70s, these were a lot smaller, spaces were smaller as cars were smaller - cars now are wider due to the safety measures in the doors etc.

FlowerChild19 · 23/11/2019 21:31

I wondered the same thing, honestly! I certainly won’t ever be using that car park again Sad

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