Leaving insurance info after dinging cars?

[Rageaholic]

I found this video on youtube. Basically, the woman accidently dings the car next to her when she opens her car door. Yeah... not the most exciting video, but you wouldn't get that from the comments. Everyone there is saying she is the love child of Hitler and Stalin because she didn't leave insurance info. I've read some of the most over dramatic comments I've ever seen on the net. Below is a response to one of the few people who defended the woman and admitted he had done the same (one of the reasons being his safety).

It sounds to me like YOU'RE the nut-case, you may have a shitty car - which is why you have damaged other vehicles 'several times' and then fled the scene, failing to take responsibility for YOUR carelessness.
You obviously have no respect for other people's property which they may have worked hard to afford.
Your lack of money may well be due to your lack of appreciation for the education system, it's not rocket science - good qualifications result in good careers equating to a rewarding income and all that it provides.

Your 'logic' is utterly disgusting, you are basically a coward with no sense of responsibility who somehow justifies your lawlessness with imaginary perceptions - demonising the victims of YOUR stupidity and recklessness. You are a selfish, stupid, weak-minded disgrace - and I hope that one day an equally despicable person fucks up your car or other property stupendously...before escaping like a cowardly rat in order to avoid retribution.....but of course - they only ran off, fearing that YOU might be a 'nut-case' !

Well, that's news to me. I didn't think little dings left from a car door bumping it were even covered by insurance, let alone needing to be. How do you even calculate the cost of the damage at this point? I think it's safe to say the comments are being waaaaaayyyyy too melodramatic about this, but I'm wondering if it's considered a norm to leave insurance information over little dings.

[Andara Bledin]

It's YouTube.

Everything is the devil if someone happens to notice it exists.

By the way, any damage to another vehicle should be, at the very least, discussed with the owner of the car. Honestly, if they're that scared of other people that they fear being harmed over dinging their paint job, it would behoove them to not freaking ding other people's cars.

[s_stabeler]

it depends. if there is damage that would need repair- in other words, if there is damage beyond a simple marj on the paintwork- you really should either fess up to the owner of the car, or leave insurance info, because even the smallest dent can actually cost more than you would think to fix- and you don't know if they have a choice ( it could be a rental, for example, in which case they would be charged for the damage.) If, on the other had, the door merely bumped into the other car w/o leaving any damage- as has occasionally happened to me- then don't bother mentioning it.

And if you are really that concerned about being attacked for damaging someone's car, then don't park so close to another car in the first place.

[TheHuckster]

What I've been told is anything that leaves a mark requires a transaction of insurance info. I don't know what the damage was to the car, but it's clear from the fact that they looked at the damage and then drove away means something was visible on the car. Yes, it could be something that could be buffed out, but it could also have been a visible dent, in which case if the owner of the other car wanted to, and they had collision coverage, they could claim it.

Now, this is a US state law I'm talking about, and this incident appears to have happened in another country, judging by the license plates, so YMMV. I don't know the car insurance laws in other countries.

But the hyperbole in the comments is still ridiculous. They dinged a car. They didn't microwave a kitten or set fire to a baby. These people need to friggen calm down. But as Andara says, that's YouTube. I have come to expect this kind of stuff in pretty much every video.

[s_stabeler]

that's mainly to stop quibbling over what constitutes a bad enough mark to justify an exchange of insurance info, though. ( for example, if the "mark" was just dirt, then a) it's difficult to say for certain it was caused by the doro hitting the car and b) it really doesn't justify an insurance claim when five minutes with a sponge and a bucket of water can deal with it. ( or a couple of quid and one of those car washes)

[Rageaholic]

And if you are really that concerned about being attacked for damaging someone's car, then don't park so close to another car in the first place.

That's not always easy. Particularly when there are limited places to park and people park their cars so close to the line.

I'm not sure what kind of damage was done in the OP video. I'd say at worst, it's a small dent that most people wouldn't notice. I guess it technically qualifies as damage, but I wouldn't fault people for not feeling like they need to bother leaving their info over something so small.

[TheHuckster]

Well, they clearly thought it was noticeable enough for them to hightail it out of that parking spot and find another one.

[Rageaholic]

^

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. Perhaps they've had people flip out at them in the past and wanted to avoid a confrontation. Either way, I don't think they did anything that bad.