Am I an a**hole? Why do I feel like one? (Reporting door ding to insurance)

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The other day I was picking up one of my kids from gymnastics and I parked in a 70%-full lot. I have a tendency to baby my CO Mach-E and strategically park my car for the most part. I'm a little early and waiting in the car with my other child.

In comes a Tesla Model 3 (yes, I'm making a point of this because the smugness of some drivers gets to me) choosing to park right next to me. The mom pops open the passenger-side door in one of the most careless manners I've seen and WHAM. That instant I knew there would be injury. :mad:

She jumps out of the car, looks and doesn't realize I'm actually still in my car. She kinda shrugs it off, and proceeds to run to the trunk I think to grab her purse, meanwhile leaving her door open. This prevents me from getting out of my car to even examine the damage. I roll down my window and ask her to closer her door. She goes "oh, oh"... and closes her door but doesn't even acknowledge that she might have damaged my car. No apologies, needless to say.

I get out of my car, making eye-contact with her husband who I believe recognizes that his wife had F-ed up. She has already run off to pick up her child I guess. At least he apologies, but it does little to comfort me. I felt the door (it wasn't well-lit in the area) and knew that it had left a small door ding. There was actually white paint from their Tesla, but I rubbed this off easily as I have PPF + Ceramic coating on my car.

At this point, I'm not angry as I'm just dumbstruck and incredulous at the callousness of what has transpired. I took down their contact information and told him that I'd likely report it to insurance and get an estimate. He acknowledged this was by the book, but added "It's okay, it happens to me all the time."

---

That's the backdrop. I did end up filing a claim for it and am waiting for the insurance company's approval to move forward with a PDR (pointless dent removal) estimate.

There was no fault of mine, but why I do I feel like the A-hole??? I imagine maybe 70% of the people out there would just accept that this happens and shrug it off. But I've loved my vehicle and have taken really good care of it in my nearly 1-year of ownership such that there's not a rock chip or a ding anywhere and this is the first one, of which I expect there may be more in the future.


TL;DR -- I got door-dinged while in my car. I was disappointed but didn't act poorly. Why do I feel like an A-hole for reporting it to insurance for a repair on something most people wouldn't notice?
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glenthompson

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NTA - Her attitude of trying to ignore the situation makes her the AH. I don't get that concerned about minor dings - they happen over time but this was beyond that. Don't feel bad about making them take responsibility for their actions.
 

hbirring01

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Youre not an a**hole. Everyone can do that but people just decide not to go that route because of the car being in the shop and dealing with insurance, its just a hassle. Im on your side though, I hate entitled tesla drivers so I would 100% go through with the claim too. Its not okay for ANYONE to damage your property, even if its a small ding. If you go to the jewelry store to have your jewelry cleaned or repaired you wouldnt find it acceptable to have them ding it.
 


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She thoughtlessly smacked your car and didnā€™t even apologize? Have her pay to fix the ding and donā€™t feel at all bad. End of story.
 

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If they had apologized for real I probably would have just let it off. The fact that she was about to just take off without saying anything makes the claim worth it. It wonā€™t hit anyoneā€™s deductible - the PDR guy should be able to take care of that for <$100 while you wait.
 

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If they had apologized for real I probably would have just let it off. The fact that she was about to just take off without saying anything makes the claim worth it. It wonā€™t hit anyoneā€™s deductible - the PDR guy should be able to take care of that for <$100 while you wait.
I hope sheā€™s the one who gets to write the check.
 

AKgrampy

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I recognize this will most likely happen to my car at some point but to prevent it I normally park away from the good parking spots. I also always remind my grandkids to open the doors slowly when parking close to someone is unavoidable. Sure it happens but for the most part due to careless behavior.
 

joebruin77

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I think your making an insurance claim is extremely appropriate. The same thing happened to me and I had no guilt about making a claim.

However, I would caution you not to judge others based on unfair stereotypes. It is not the case that ALL Tesla drivers are entitled and insensitive to others. I own a MME and a Tesla. I always treat others with respect and have taught my kids to do the same, especially when opening car doors in crowded parking lots.
 

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I donā€™t think youā€™re wrong for taking her info, but a $100 repair seems overkill for insurance (what if it goes up?), she wouldnā€™t just slip you a hundred?
 

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I would call that malicious destruction of private property. Sue the bitch for pain and anguish!
Well its a thought, not reasonable and I commend you on not "going off" it would have just made it worse.
As a suggestion, make sure the painless dent repair does not involve drilling into the door panel, my last car had that done and they put these black plugs in to cover the holes, eventually the chips inside the door started rusting. Thankfully the inspection when i dumped er sold the car nobody noticed.

Tony
 

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Regardless of whether sheā€™s in a Brand T, that is unacceptable for the woman to damage your car then pretend it didnā€™t happen. You are definitely not the @$$#ole. She (or her insurance) should be paying for the repair. šŸ¤”šŸ©
 

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I got a door ding on my 2 week old 4runner parking in the middle of nowhere, not sure why some people absolutely must park next to another car.
I waited, the other drive foolishly admitted to it (lucky me), $900 check in the mail from their insurance company, and Iā€™m perfectly okay with filing the claim against them haha. Door dings are 100% avoidable if people cared. Higher insurance premium might make them care a little more lol.
 

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The other day I was picking up one of my kids from gymnastics and I parked in a 70%-full lot. I have a tendency to baby my CO Mach-E and strategically park my car for the most part. I'm a little early and waiting in the car with my other child.

In comes a Tesla Model 3 (yes, I'm making a point of this because the smugness of some drivers gets to me) choosing to park right next to me. The mom pops open the passenger-side door in one of the most careless manners I've seen and WHAM. That instant I knew there would be injury. :mad:

She jumps out of the car, looks and doesn't realize I'm actually still in my car. She kinda shrugs it off, and proceeds to run to the trunk I think to grab her purse, meanwhile leaving her door open. This prevents me from getting out of my car to even examine the damage. I roll down my window and ask her to closer her door. She goes "oh, oh"... and closes her door but doesn't even acknowledge that she might have damaged my car. No apologies, needless to say.

I get out of my car, making eye-contact with her husband who I believe recognizes that his wife had F-ed up. She has already run off to pick up her child I guess. At least he apologies, but it does little to comfort me. I felt the door (it wasn't well-lit in the area) and knew that it had left a small door ding. There was actually white paint from their Tesla, but I rubbed this off easily as I have PPF + Ceramic coating on my car.

At this point, I'm not angry as I'm just dumbstruck and incredulous at the callousness of what has transpired. I took down their contact information and told him that I'd likely report it to insurance and get an estimate. He acknowledged this was by the book, but added "It's okay, it happens to me all the time."

---

That's the backdrop. I did end up filing a claim for it and am waiting for the insurance company's approval to move forward with a PDR (pointless dent removal) estimate.

There was no fault of mine, but why I do I feel like the A-hole??? I imagine maybe 70% of the people out there would just accept that this happens and shrug it off. But I've loved my vehicle and have taken really good care of it in my nearly 1-year of ownership such that there's not a rock chip or a ding anywhere and this is the first one, of which I expect there may be more in the future.


TL;DR -- I got door-dinged while in my car. I was disappointed but didn't act poorly. Why do I feel like an A-hole for reporting it to insurance for a repair on something most people wouldn't notice?
Sounds like you were calm compared to what I would have been like
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