Bumper Wars Etiquette ?
 

So here's one on bumper wars for the brain trust.

Say you park on city streets, come out of work and find the front end of your car mangled by an SUV. Bumper is dented, paint cracked, trim ripped out, 2 foot long scratch.

The Offending SUV is still there. You can tell with absolute certainty it's that guy because his bumper is actually still making contact with the damaged area, he's got your paint on it, and your partially ripped out trim is *embedded* into his bumper.

What do you do ? (and how do you not notice, or care if you are that SUV driver?)

It's not a 911 deal. Local cops will not bother to come for hours... Owner is nowhere to be found, and didn't leave a note. Do you camp there for hours ? What if you got things to do ? Do you take pics, and take the chance your insurance will not be able to prove he did it and still tag you at renewal time ? Do you engrave "FU" in his paint ? (not my style). Do you test your new glass breaking tool you just bought thanks to this forum? (probably too loud, also not my style but tempting ;-)

I decided to adopt the law of the jungle, and extricated myself from the parking spot into which he squeezed me the same way he did, with zero regards to his bumper, and to inflict as much damage on his bumper as was inflicted on mine with the already mangled part. (not possible, I lose) Still, I slept well...

Lots of pictures and a video if you can, leave a note for the offender. There is still a chance they really didn't notice and will make things right, just be prepared if they do not.

My guess is your insurance will fix it without even caring about going after the other car.

My guess too, but historically that's an excuse for them to raise rates... I'm just gonna replace the trim bits that are an eyesore out of pocket and live with it, it's the city...it will happen again ! Not cool but I'm pretty sure the insurance co. would raise rates by the same amount as a repair...

I once got dropped by a famous ins for 5 glass claims in 5 years (rock chips, glass claims are free in theory and didn't cost them more than $50 each, still they dumped me). I don't trust them...

You'll find some good answers in the Jo mamma sub-forum on ADV ;)
Jim

This^^^

Call the police, wait 5 minutes, call them back and tell them you shot the offender...they will be there in 30 seconds.

I would call the police (non-911 call) and report a hit and run. Technically the car is still there but the perp is gone. Still counts.

G

I wonder if someone witnessed this and recorded your license plate, and reported you for hit and run? I sure would.

I would have called a couple of big friends to join me in waiting on the offender (the more tattoos and leather apparel the better). I would then have a friendly chat and exchanged information while one of my buddys takes pictures of him, his car, and my car. Record his license plate number, and description if he chooses unwisely to flee.

I very much doubt it... But nice of you, wish you had been there when my car was trashed instead... He boxed me in so tight I could not leave without scrapping him or the car behind, so I chose him, since he'd already trashed my car and the guy behind was innocent. I still lose, I doubt he has anything more than what he did himseldf while hitting my car, whereas mine's definitely worse off... Last time something like that happened and I called the local PD (non-emergency) they never showed (waited 90m)... And I did not have burly friends or the time to wait... Still not sure what the best course might have been, but I sure don't feel sorry for my extrication maneuvers.

Let the air out of all his tires.

Ooh, that's good, I should have thought of that... I'm not good at revenge I guess..

Make it a little more fun. Yank all of the valve stems...

This was my thought. Not actually damaging, but darn inconvenient. I've never actually done it, but then, I've also never been in this situation, who knows.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...YL._SY300_.jpg

I like this. No damage done, just inconvenienced. Unless they drive off - then they're an idiot.

Seems like the best option in a case like this would always be to call your insurance agent/company and lay it all out for them and ask what they think you should do.

If you have a smart phone and can take a few pics, they may ask you to do that and send to them.

I think once you extricate yourself the way you did, you lose the opportunity to file a claim on the full/extra damage (which you already know), some of which you caused, because there's no way to prove to your insurance company that it wasn't all done when you hit something.

Take plenty of pictures, call your insurance co right away. Leave a note.

Or, set his rig on fire and set denotation charges for 2:30.

I always carry some C4 for just these occasions

It's very easy to make some thermite and keep it on hand with a few magnesium ribbon strips for just such occasions.

A friend of mine *cough cough* told me that a softball size pile of thermite ignited with a magnesium ribbon will burn hot and long enough to go right through a hood and engine block, down to the ground.

"Provided for informational purposes only".

:)

Lots of pictures
Camp and wait
give them ONE chance to fess up
Open up a can of whoop ass