annoying car things

[fox]

So it turns out I nicked the paint on some teenager's brand-new Lexus in the parking lot this morning.  I looked when I got out of the car and didn't see any damage, so I didn't leave a note, but she apparently could see it when she emerged, and then couldn't find me, so there were police and gah.  No big deal now, because once I came out (she'd gone) and said yes, I own this car, what seems to be the trouble, they put us in touch and it's all going to be a pain in my ass but hey, that's why we have insurance, right?  (She's going to call me with the estimate, but who am I kidding, of course I'm going to let her insurance make a claim against my insurance -- I can't really afford to look at a Lexus, much less fix one.)

More crucially, before I realized the police wanted to talk to me I noticed that my front license plate was missing.  It was nowhere around, and it's not in my parking lot here at home, which pretty much maxes out the places I could expect to find it if it had fallen off there.  So I need to get a new one, obviously.  Trouble is, my registration expires in August, so I have to renew it to get a new plate at this point.  In order to renew the registration, I have to do the safety and emissions inspection.  I'm not worried about emissions, but until I get the windshield replaced, I won't be able to pass the safety.  In short:  at least using the online ordering system, I can't get new plates until I get the windshield fixed.  But I have to keep driving the car -- so tomorrow's first call is to the DMV to say hi, please can you send me a replacement plate, and also put me on a list of people not to give tickets for driving without one until it gets here?

God.  If I'd left work at five, only half of this would have happened.  :-P

Comments

[kmg-365.livejournal.com]

Can they actually send out replacement license plates?

Since I am so paranoid, I'd be worried that someone stole the plate and was up to no good!

RE: Your Lexus problem,

How bad is the nick? I had some scuff marks on my rear quarter panel compliments of our parking garage at work. The dealer was able to buff it out, making it look like new, for about $50.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Pretty soon, I'll have a new sticker, so anyone up to no good with my (one) license plate bearing a sticker that says "8-07" will come up as Not Me in their computers. I know they can send out replacement plates -- or at least, they have done in the past -- because five or six years ago some guy in an SUV backed into me in a parking lot, and the only damage was that his towing hitch punched a square-shaped hole in my front plate. Heh.

Re: the Fucking Lexus -- wouldn't that be nice? The nick was, as I say, so slight that I didn't even see it when I looked in the morning. It turns out I may also have been looking in the wrong place; the cop had digital pictures, which showed an almighty scuff on the left rear tire (the TIRE, dude) and also some action on the inside of the wheel well behind it. And there's certainly white paint on the right front fender of my (dark blue) car, no doubt about that. Me, I had a hard time seeing the "damage" even in the pictures. ("For this she called the police?!" "Well, ma'am, I'm sure she wouldn't have called us if she'd had an easier time finding you [note: in a complex with three buildings, restricting your efforts to just the one building seems like not-that-rigorous searching]. And -- well, it's an awfully nice car.") She's going to get an estimate on Saturday, and she's got it in her head that she'll have to leave the car to be fixed and get a rental to drive to and from work, so I'll be reimbursing everyone all over the place. I think that smacks of several kinds of delusion, but what do I know? I think if she's taking it in for it's 10K service, it should still be under fucking warranty and I shouldn't have to pay a dime. [shrug] We'll see. I do feel better than I felt last night; my brother is very calming. :-)

[kmg-365.livejournal.com]

That type of damage wouldn't be covered by any kind of warranty.

That said, if the damage is that minimal, she should be able to get it buffed out. She may or may not know that. As for rentals - my dealership (Pohanka Lexus) gives out free rental cars. The only out of pocket expense is a $5 cleaning fee, no matter how long your car is in the shop.

My guess is that if she did the damage herself, she would either not get it fixed, or would go the cheapest route possible. Since she has someone else who will pay for it, she may want to take it to a place that will repaint that part of the car.

However, what she wants to do and what the insurance adjuster will let her do may be two different things. The adjuster may look at it and say "this can be buffed out, and we'll give you $x for it."

If it turns out to be a small amount of money, it might be prudent if you paid for it yourself. That way your insurance premium won't go up.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

This is why she's calling me with it. I want to know how much we're looking at before I say sure, my insurance will handle it. If it turns out to be any amount less than my deductible, in fact, I'll just be writing her a check. :-)