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Yesterday was a fairly busy day for me. After class I took a trip up to Boeing-StL for an interview with the Department of Defense. Totally nailed the interview and was offered the job on the spot. The internship goes from now until I graduate. I'll be part-time during the semester and allowed to work 40 hrs a week when class isn't in session.

When I get back to campus, I go help move some race equipment over from StL Downtown Airport back to campus. My friend's car battery was dead, so while the others worked on loading up the truck he and I head over to Autozone quickly to get a new battery using his mom's car that she lent to him. Turns out it just needs a charge (and turns out my friend's car has more issues than just a dead battery), so we let them recharge it while we go to the gas station down the street to fill up and get something to eat (keep in mind we're in a rough part of Cahokia). When we're leaving, we start backing out and then put it into drive so that we can leave, but then we notice the car next to us starts backing out as well. We're pretty much unable to avoid anything at this point since we're in drive, so my friend lays on the horn, but she keeps backing up. So frantically he throws it into reverse to get out of the way of this poor driver, but by the time he gets it in gear she slams into us. He pulls back and I get out to assess the damage. Turns out it wasn't that bad, not a single scratch or dent on his car except the license plate and plate frame are bent. All the while the lady is still talking on her phone. She doesn't seem to care what happened, no damage on our car and it was obviously her fault, and combine that with the fact we were in a rough area, my friend decides we should just leave. So I get in the car and we start driving when all of a sudden the lady runs out of her car and smacks her fist against my window. At this point we're thinking "We need to get the f out of here". Right after we pull out she flags down a cop and he starts coming after us, I tell my friend I see him coming so we pulled off to wait for him. He comes up to our window and explains that we shouldn't leave the scene of an incident and that the crazy lady back there is accusing us of hitting her. We go back and this lady is livid. I can't believe somebody can be so dense as to fully believe that we hit them while they were backing up while on their phone and we're honking at them. I get into it with this lady and the cop stops us and tells us to go to our cars. I shut up and we start walking to our car while this lady is screaming at us, so the cop screams at her, "SHUT UP! I'M SICK OF LISTENING TO YOUR COMPLAINING!" Then the lady tells us, "I have multiple witnesses here that claim you hit me." Oh, did I mention my friend and I were the only white individuals at this gas station? I don't mean to sound racist, but the truth is where ever you go, if you're an outsider, chances are the locals will stand against you no matter how inconceivably stupid their story is. In the end the police officer seamed pretty aggravated with this lady (whose car had only a scuff) and told us to fill out a form and send it in and let the insurance companies decide who's at fault. Worst case scenerio she has $50 worth of damage and my friend's insurance company gives in and pays it so his rate goes up a few bucks, not really a big deal, plus his mom didn't mind the bent plate. Stupid people anger me.

Beware, minor cosmetic bodywork can run in the hundreds. You may end up having to fight this thing.

heyzeus wrote:Beware, minor cosmetic bodywork can run in the hundreds. You may end up having to fight this thing.

I was just gonna say the same thing. I accidently bumped someone in a parking lot once. totally my fault. Absolutely no visible damage could be seen on her explorer. One of my tow hooks on the front of my blazer bumped her hub cap. 1700 dollars was what my insurance paid this woman. I am absolutely certain they never actually had anything done to the truck and just pocketed the money.

It'll be all on my friend to handle it. He said it sucks because his insurance company has a long history of "just pay it" attitude, so even though she was entirely at fault his insurance company will likely pay it and his rate will go up. Her corner panel tho was just scuffed, seriously looks like it can be buffed out.

Tell your friend to see if the store had outside video cameras that may have caught the accident,that'll shut her up.

Sounds like the lady was at fault and out of line... but man, leaving the scene (even if she wasn't paying attention) was a dumb thing for your friend to do. He's actually lucky a cop was there to stop him. Did you guys get out and go up to her car window?

Hopefully everything gets resolved easily for your buddy.

cards2468 wrote:It'll be all on my friend to handle it. He said it sucks because his insurance company has a long history of "just pay it" attitude, so even though she was entirely at fault his insurance company will likely pay it and his rate will go up. Her corner panel tho was just scuffed, seriously looks like it can be buffed out.

In the state of MO, the pay out must be over $500 in order to surcharge. I assume this was in MO.

cards2468 wrote:When I get back to campus, I go help move some race equipment over from StL Downtown Airport back to campus. My friend's car battery was dead, so while the others worked on loading up the truck he and I head over to Autozone quickly to get a new battery using his mom's car that she lent to him. Turns out it just needs a charge (and turns out my friend's car has more issues than just a dead battery), so we let them recharge it while we go to the gas station down the street to fill up and get something to eat (keep in mind we're in a rough part of Cahokia). When we're leaving, we start backing out and then put it into drive so that we can leave, but then we notice the car next to us starts backing out as well. We're pretty much unable to avoid anything at this point since we're in drive, so my friend lays on the horn, but she keeps backing up. So frantically he throws it into reverse to get out of the way of this poor driver, but by the time he gets it in gear she slams into us. He pulls back and I get out to assess the damage. Turns out it wasn't that bad, not a single scratch or dent on his car except the license plate and plate frame are bent. All the while the lady is still talking on her phone. She doesn't seem to care what happened, no damage on our car and it was obviously her fault, and combine that with the fact we were in a rough area, my friend decides we should just leave. So I get in the car and we start driving when all of a sudden the lady runs out of her car and smacks her fist against my window. At this point we're thinking "We need to get the f out of here". Right after we pull out she flags down a cop and he starts coming after us, I tell my friend I see him coming so we pulled off to wait for him. He comes up to our window and explains that we shouldn't leave the scene of an incident and that the crazy lady back there is accusing us of hitting her. We go back and this lady is livid. I can't believe somebody can be so dense as to fully believe that we hit them while they were backing up while on their phone and we're honking at them. I get into it with this lady and the cop stops us and tells us to go to our cars. I shut up and we start walking to our car while this lady is screaming at us, so the cop screams at her, "SHUT UP! I'M SICK OF LISTENING TO YOUR COMPLAINING!" Then the lady tells us, "I have multiple witnesses here that claim you hit me." Oh, did I mention my friend and I were the only white individuals at this gas station? I don't mean to sound racist, but the truth is where ever you go, if you're an outsider, chances are the locals will stand against you no matter how inconceivably stupid their story is. In the end the police officer seamed pretty aggravated with this lady (whose car had only a scuff) and told us to fill out a form and send it in and let the insurance companies decide who's at fault. Worst case scenerio she has $50 worth of damage and my friend's insurance company gives in and pays it so his rate goes up a few bucks, not really a big deal, plus his mom didn't mind the bent plate. Stupid people anger me.

That looks like a lot of words.

In the state of MO, the pay out must be over $500 in order to surcharge. I assume this was in MO.

Sounds like it happened in Illinois.

I would've been PISSED, of course I would've never driven off either. That just made you look guilty of something.

That sounds rough.

I had a huge, huge, HUGE overreaction by somebody else I dinged once going into the Galleria. In reality, I had barely bumped that and there was, in fact, damage to my car and none to the other driver's (a spherical metal tow-hitch let a little imprint in my front bumper), but she still jumped out, ran over to my car, hit the top of it with her hand and screamed "GET OUT OF THE [expletive] CAR!!!"

People are just strange. That's the lesson in all of this.