We are now in what I think of as “the crazy season”. People are shopping for Christmas gifts, parking lots are fuller than usual, and drivers are stressed out and making impulsive driving decisions. There is potential that you could be involved in a car accident that takes place in a parking lot. Here are some tips about what to do (and what not to do) after the unfortunate happens.
Oops! You weren’t paying attention and you backed your car out of the parking space and into someone else’s vehicle. What are you supposed to do now? State Farm has some advice that can help you.
The car you hit was parked in another space. No one was in it, and no one was around when you hit it. You might be tempted to just drive away. Don’t do that! The store might have a surveillance camera watching over their parking lot. Maybe there was someone around when you hit the car, and you didn’t notice. If you drive away you could end up charged with a “hit-and-run”.
Try to find the person who owns that car. Go into the store and speak to a manager. Explain that you hit someone’s car in the parking lot and you need help finding the driver. The manager might be able to make an announcement that the driver will hear. Can’t find the driver? Go leave a note on his or her car. Write down your contact information. If you did serious damage to the person’s car, you might want to call the police and let them document the damage.
Hopefully you have auto insurance coverage. It can help cover the cost of the damages that you did to the other guy’s vehicle. What if you don’t have it? Do not attempt to get car insurance now, after the accident has already happened, and think that you can get away with sending in a claim for the accident after the fact. If you did that, you would be committing insurance fraud.
After spending a few hours fighting the crowds in the mall, you return to your car with several shopping bags that are filled with Christmas gifts for your loved ones. Oh, no! Some foolish person has hit your car and caused some damage to it! What should you do?
Use your phone to take photos of the damage. Hopefully, the driver who did it stuck around. Get that person’s name, address, phone number, driver’s license number, and the name of her insurance company. If there are witnesses around, talk to them, and ask them what they saw. Call your car insurance company to let them know about the accident as soon as possible.
Image by meddygarnet on Flickr