I was involved in a very minor collision today in the grocery store parking lot.
Here's what happened, from my perspective: It was snowing, there were a number of pedestrians about, since apparently everyone decided to go to the store at the same time today.
I pulled into a parking spot, and found there was a cart part way out into it that kept me from straightening out as I pulled my SUV into the spot. I decided to back out a bit and then straighten out so the people on either side of me would have space to get into their vehicles and easily back out.
I had got just a little bit out of the spot when a pedestrian decided to run behind me. So I stopped for him, double checked there was no one else near and slowly started backing out again. A woman in a bright green coat almost walked into my driver's side back door, because she was watching her phone and not the cars in the lot.
After seeing her stop, I checked the other direction and slowly let off the brake to let my SUV roll about 3/4 out of the spot so I could maneuver back in around the grocery cart. That's when I felt the thump and my SUV came to a full stop without me applying more pressure to the brake.
I looked out the rear window, and see a little red hatchback that had come from my driver's side just zipping along, but clearly I had struck the vehicle. I pull back in, mostly straight, and hopped out. The woman in the green coat was off like a shot, when I called out to stop her she yelled 'I didn't see anything!' and kept going. Subtle, lady, real subtle.
I checked my rear bumper. I have roughly 4 feet of red paint scraped across the length of it, from the initial point of impact to where contact broke. Since I was backing straight out, the entire scrape is clearly from the speed of the hatchback.
I walked up the hatchback and waited for the driver to get out so I could get a name, contact info, etc. While I was waiting, I looked at the damage to the car. It was a single point of impact on the very edge of the rear well about the size of a quarter where all the paint was scraped away.
In a veritable cliche, the driver was a little old woman who can't be more than 5ft tall and weighs somewhere around 90 lbs. It was like confronting someone's sweet old grandma. I verified she was OK - she didn't even realize there was an impact - and we looked at the damage to both vehicles.
She didn't seem concerned and headed off to do her shopping after I had her name & phone number. I took down here license plate, and called my wife to let her know about the accident. By the time I was done with that phone call, the little old lady had already come back out and left the parking lot.
So now, with basically no real damage to my car at all, should I contact the police and report the accident? Or just let it go, since the other driver doesn't seem to care and there was really nothing but a touch of cosmetic damage to both vehicles?
The last accident I was in required the police to be called because there was serious damage to my vehicle. That was 22 years ago, so I don't have a lot of experience with stuff like this.
Here's what happened, from my perspective: It was snowing, there were a number of pedestrians about, since apparently everyone decided to go to the store at the same time today.
I pulled into a parking spot, and found there was a cart part way out into it that kept me from straightening out as I pulled my SUV into the spot. I decided to back out a bit and then straighten out so the people on either side of me would have space to get into their vehicles and easily back out.
I had got just a little bit out of the spot when a pedestrian decided to run behind me. So I stopped for him, double checked there was no one else near and slowly started backing out again. A woman in a bright green coat almost walked into my driver's side back door, because she was watching her phone and not the cars in the lot.
After seeing her stop, I checked the other direction and slowly let off the brake to let my SUV roll about 3/4 out of the spot so I could maneuver back in around the grocery cart. That's when I felt the thump and my SUV came to a full stop without me applying more pressure to the brake.
I looked out the rear window, and see a little red hatchback that had come from my driver's side just zipping along, but clearly I had struck the vehicle. I pull back in, mostly straight, and hopped out. The woman in the green coat was off like a shot, when I called out to stop her she yelled 'I didn't see anything!' and kept going. Subtle, lady, real subtle.
I checked my rear bumper. I have roughly 4 feet of red paint scraped across the length of it, from the initial point of impact to where contact broke. Since I was backing straight out, the entire scrape is clearly from the speed of the hatchback.
I walked up the hatchback and waited for the driver to get out so I could get a name, contact info, etc. While I was waiting, I looked at the damage to the car. It was a single point of impact on the very edge of the rear well about the size of a quarter where all the paint was scraped away.
In a veritable cliche, the driver was a little old woman who can't be more than 5ft tall and weighs somewhere around 90 lbs. It was like confronting someone's sweet old grandma. I verified she was OK - she didn't even realize there was an impact - and we looked at the damage to both vehicles.
She didn't seem concerned and headed off to do her shopping after I had her name & phone number. I took down here license plate, and called my wife to let her know about the accident. By the time I was done with that phone call, the little old lady had already come back out and left the parking lot.
So now, with basically no real damage to my car at all, should I contact the police and report the accident? Or just let it go, since the other driver doesn't seem to care and there was really nothing but a touch of cosmetic damage to both vehicles?
The last accident I was in required the police to be called because there was serious damage to my vehicle. That was 22 years ago, so I don't have a lot of experience with stuff like this.
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