Carpark Scrape - I drove off...

[MaryPoppinsMassiveSack]

Hello,

Marginally late for the school run this morning I managed to touch the car parked next to me whilst maneuvering. I checked and there was very little damage / no dent and (being a bit late) I think no one saw.

So I drove off smartly.

But what if the school has cameras or someone did see, touching another car is just one of those things, isn't it?

It'll be up to the teacher if the police are involved or not. Private school is more likely to have CCTV as well.

So you can afford school fees but you can't afford to be an honest person and hold your hands up to your mistakes. Nice example you're setting your kids. If your kids damaged something in the house and didn't admit to it wouldn't you be mad with them for their dishonesty?

Zen if you have damaged another car and that damage is clearly visible, as is the case with the OP's, then it is a criminal offence to drive away without leaving details. That is the point here. Not the degree of damage and whether the OP thinks it is worth owning up or not. The law is very clear.

Viva she is probably one of those parents with a huge sense of entitlement who thinks that paying school fees enables her to treat the teachers and others at the school as skivvies and lesser mortals than her.

I realise that cars cost a lot but serious question - how do people deal with the knowledge that at some point, their car is really likely to sustain a few tiny scratches here and there? I mean park in any car park and you'll be too close for comfort to someone else's car. Surely it's time manufacturers made the finish a bit stronger on cars.

Also how on earth do people not scratch their OWN cars to buggery, or is that just me with my trip tips and roofing sheets

I take it your car isn't very new then? As presumably you damaged yours a little and appear not to mind? It wouldn't surprise me if the owner of the car looks at peoples bumpers for weeks to come, to try and figure out who did it. Even if there is no CCTV, they may still realise it was you, if they see damage on yours or the same colour paint as their scrape as there maybe transfer.

I'm now finding as mine is ten years old that people think it's ok to bang their doors into it as well, you know, it already has marks on it (I've watched people bang their car door into it, in a supermarket and just shrug). Drives me mad. I now have rust in one scrape because I didn't have the money to fix it on my income and no one owned up. MY car maybe old but it should still be treated and driven with respect.

It's courtesy to leave a note if you damage a car and plain bad manners not to imo.

Why would a private school be so reluctant to inform the police?
Leaving the scene of an accident is a police matter.

Chub may well be right but it is pretty pathetic if it is.

Someone did this to my car today and drove off.

It's ok though, my office does have CCTV and I will know tomorrow who did it. And I will report it.

I hope there's CCTV at the place where you scraped the car and you are prosecuted for leaving the scene of an accident.

I don't understand Chub's message. Am I being thick?

Read it upwards

No, it's not 'just one of those things'. And you can't spell, OP. I'm not sure which is the greater crime.

Seriously, what a repulsive attitude.

What is with all the ads at the top of this page? I don't want to be 'in association with what car' and have a button that asks if I want to go to 'mumsnet.com' funnily enough that's where I though I was

I have google adblocker so I see no ads

Thanks Chubfuddler. I think you're right.

Quak

People are sooooo precious about their cars. I don't get it.

My previous car cost me a year's wages; I scrimped and saved and sweated to earn that. Driving it gave me pleasure, just looking at it gave me pleasure, the way it sounded at full chat was superb; it made me feel good when I was at a very very low point in my life.

The last thing I want is some idiot with no spacial awareness putting a scrape on something that I put a lot of myself into, just because they have no empathy, nor respect for other people's property.

I don't care that you "don't get it", I don't "get" the need for fifty pairs of shoes, football, drinking alcohol and shitty soap operas - I don't piss on others' passions, and I expect people not to piss on my (pretty much only) passion in life.

Tantrumsandballons - I hope you don't work at Haberrdashers school and drive a silver 4x4!

I AM precious about my car.

He is no longer made (Rover)
My grandad had him from new and did 67k in him
He was my wedding car
Two months later he was decorated as a funeral car.

I take him to the Pride of Longbridge show
He is my Grandads legacy to me.
I will keep him til the day he dies as he is part of my family and after 97k has developed his own personality.

I have to drive him, I have no other car.

That car you bumped could have someone who loves it as much as I love mine.

Assuming this isn't a wind up, I'm shocked that anyone would do this.

It's just about being a decent person, isn't it?

I think you should confess ...
but having said that I do think people are too precious about their cars - a minor scratch that hasn't broken the paint (so won't rust) is not the end of the world...I have one on mine where someone has obviously opened their car door into it ...(no note)
Years ago my DP managed to put a huge dent in the wing of my car..I was dithering about whether to get it fixed or not ...
It stayed like that for a couple of months - then someone bumped into it on my work car park (good few hundred people work there -little chance I would have found out who'd done it) - they sent an e-mail round to trace the owner. They had made the dent a bit worse so would have caused the same amount of damage ...but they had been honest -so I was too ....and left it (dent was still there 8 years later when I sold it on - didn't look great but never caused a problem)...
If I had found out cos someone saw them do it (unlikely) ...I wouldn't have been so honest...
Finally insurance repairs - are so expensive just cos the insurance companies are paying ...DP (worst driver in the world) backed into a car (private parking area, 2am just finishing work, dark, unlit, normally empty then, other car shouldn't have been parked there) - DP got a quote for repair to his car from insurance company repairer - £700 - went to local body shop and had it done there for £120 - (less than his £250 excess...) -other party claimed £6000 for their repair -this is backing round a corner on a car park - how hard could the impact have been???

so, you won't mind if I send a link to this thread to Habs Boys and Girls (as you don't specify which) so that the school can follow this up?

Do you suppose that a teacher wouldn't take this up with you because you are a fee-paying parent?

It's totally OK to knock into cars in private school car parks, dontchaknow. If I can't find a space I regularly side swipe ds's teacher's car out of my way. She always smiles and tugs her forelock, as she should.