My car was hit while parked... and the aftermath is

[tbonesteak]

AWESOME!!

One good samaritan and one clue put it all together.

Was down in Cape May with the wife & kids for a few days late last week and early this week. Tuesday, we spent the day swimming, beach, hanging around and enjoying the summer. Came home at about 8pm, kids slept the whole ride, and honestly, by the time we got home around 11pm I was super tired too. Usually I park on an adjacent street (much wider), but I was exhausted, we had tons of luggage, and there was a spot right in front of my house (on a more narrow street).

Fast forward to yesterday, I came home to a note on our car; "Fedex truck swiped your car at 130pm, license plate xyxxyx truck number xyzxyz"

That was my clue which brought me to the promised land. I filed a police report, but all I had was a note, so a rather weak case. My car was parked in front of a school, who happen to have cameras on the street. This morning I went in there and asked for the tapes from both cameras between 115 & 145, I actually know the facilities manager from seeing him in the neighborhood and he was very helpful.

Security tapes:

Now, by the most amazing stroke of luck ever, these HD cameras have a perfect view of my car from front and back (although I'm parked on the right side of the street, and the cameras are on the right too, but they tell the story even though the car was hit on the left).

At 1:33, the Fedex truck tries sneaking through a narrow passageway, I see my car move a little, so I know that is the point of impact, he just drives off. Then, the car directly behind him pulls into a spot on the left side of the street. Two minutes later, my hero leaves the note.

Pretty awesome how this all came together. I filed a claim with them today, they better pay quick! This is open and shut!!

[superdog]

Hope they pay quick.

[cop414]

That doesn’t happen too often. Any idea who left the note? They’d get a steak dinner from me!

[PLNYC]

Good thing theres still good people around these days! From a fellow New Yorker as well!

[tbonesteak]

Originally Posted by cop414

That doesn’t happen too often. Any idea who left the note? They’d get a steak dinner from me!

No idea who he is, never seen him or his car before either... But I now know his car and sort of what he looks like, he will absolutely be taken care of if we cross paths!

[cop414]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

No idea who he is, never seen him or his car before either... But I now know his car and sort of what he looks like, he will absolutely be taken care of if we cross paths!

[Widows Son]

Wonder how the Fed Ex driver explained the damage to his vehicle??? Maybe he owns his own truck???

[c41006]

Originally Posted by Widows Son

Wonder how the Fed Ex driver explained the damage to his vehicle??? Maybe he owns his own truck???

Possibly. FedEx uses a lot of contractors for their ground service from what I understand.

[superstarmar]

Originally Posted by Widows Son

Wonder how the Fed Ex driver explained the damage to his vehicle??? Maybe he owns his own truck???

A lot of company trucks have dings and scratches that are
Barely noticeable. It might not even get reported unless or
until the police report by the other party comes in .

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by Widows Son

Wonder how the Fed Ex driver explained the damage to his vehicle??? Maybe he owns his own truck???

Originally Posted by c41006

Possibly. FedEx uses a lot of contractors for their ground service from what I understand.

FedEx Ground uses independent contractors who own their own trucks. IIRC, the Express trucks are company owned.

OP - Very cool that a stranger helped you out. Hopefully FedEx makes this right quickly.

[.brian.]

At least you enjoyed your time in Cape May! What places did you hit up while there?

[Zakalwe]

Good result.

This is why I have dash cams, front and rear, with parking mode. I have no faith either in my fellow human beings nor especially insurance companies.

[watchtabs]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Good result.

This is why I have dash cams, front and rear, with parking mode. I have no faith either in my fellow human beings nor especially insurance companies.

Mind linking us to those?

[Widows Son]

Originally Posted by Zakalwe

Good result.

This is why I have dash cams, front and rear, with parking mode. I have no faith either in my fellow human beings nor especially insurance companies.

In this case at least, looks like a fellow human being did the right thing!!!

[s14roller]

Originally Posted by watchtabs

Mind linking us to those?

Google blackboxmycar.com

I found the site pretty useful for reviews and product offerings.

[cvera]

What luck to have video of it. Hope it all gets taken care of quickly.

[Razorsedge1]

A little justice in the world. Great story! Surely, Fed Ex will pay up without any hassles.

[bdex75]

Originally Posted by Razorsedge1

A little justice in the world. Great story! Surely, Fed Ex will pay up without any hassles.

I can almost promise you this won’t be a claim against FedEx unless for some reason he has to sue someone for the repairs.

This truck is likely that of a contractor that was hired by FedEx and it will be their own insurance.

Got really lucky here!! Glad to see there are still some good people in the world.


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[Tri-Tip]

My coworkers pick up was hit by either Fed-Ex or UPS (I don't recall) in our driveway at work and he was able to settle quickly and for the right amount of money.

Hopefully, your claim works out the same.

[Rolex85]

Wow! Awesome to hear a great person took the time to stop and leave a note

[Larry302]

Trucks don’t often feel a slight impact, which may account for him , “ just driving off.” We’ve done that a time or two with our fire truck , never knew till dispatch had me call them by landline , and asked if we got in an accident ?

Good luck

[tbonesteak]

Aftermath just got a little crappier...

I mean, they're basically dead to rights, they know they did it, it's crystal clear, but they have a 3rd party that handles all of these claims. Claims adjuster needs an estimate, she doesn't work for Fedex, just handles all of these claims, I assume it is just baked into their cost of doing business (hitting cars in NYC). Anyways, she was nice enough to give me a thorough explanation. She saw the video, she has the police report, she said this should be approved relatively quickly, but I need to submit an estimate... Okay, fine, I'll do that, how do I collect? I'm told it takes them 4-6 weeks to submit payment, which is such garbage.

We basically only drive during the summer - we have a 2016 GLE and we put about 5k miles on it in the last year, of which prob 3-3,500 of that was from last summer. So now is our driving season, I don't want our car damaged for that.

So once this is approved, I have two options:

A) wait it out and collect my check, then repair
B) provide Fedex an interest free loan and pay out of my own pocket while waiting for reimbursement

Pretty unhappy with option B, but honestly, not sure what else can be done if I want this fixed... Anything?

[puppet]

Talk to your personal insurance agent. You should be able to provide them all the info, pay your deductible and get it fixed. Let your insurance fight FedEx. It should be easy enough since you literally have it on video for their lawyers to get it covered and they'll re-collect your deductible.

Better to be out $500/$1000, get it fixed, and let someone else deal with the headache of getting you reimbursed.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

Aftermath just got a little crappier...

I mean, they're basically dead to rights, they know they did it, it's crystal clear, but they have a 3rd party that handles all of these claims. Claims adjuster needs an estimate, she doesn't work for Fedex, just handles all of these claims, I assume it is just baked into their cost of doing business (hitting cars in NYC). Anyways, she was nice enough to give me a thorough explanation. She saw the video, she has the police report, she said this should be approved relatively quickly, but I need to submit an estimate... Okay, fine, I'll do that, how do I collect? I'm told it takes them 4-6 weeks to submit payment, which is such garbage.

We basically only drive during the summer - we have a 2016 GLE and we put about 5k miles on it in the last year, of which prob 3-3,500 of that was from last summer. So now is our driving season, I don't want our car damaged for that.

So once this is approved, I have two options:

A) wait it out and collect my check, then repair
B) provide Fedex an interest free loan and pay out of my own pocket while waiting for reimbursement

Pretty unhappy with option B, but honestly, not sure what else can be done if I want this fixed... Anything?

What does your insurance agent advise?

[droptopman]

Cool that a good samaritan left you a note. Bummer on the slow pay. Not sure how damaged it is. Personally, I would fix it now and replace the funds when the check comes. Or, if you can live with it during the summer when you use it, you can get it fixed in the winter when you do not need it. Hard telling how long it will take to fix. Generally German cars take a while as the parts usually take time. My Audi was in the shop for 3 months last year. Parts came from Germany.

[GoingPlaces]

Why don't you let your insurance company deal with this? I've always done it this way and started on the repairs immediately. Your body shop and insurance company should know what to do. You shouldn't be chasing this.

[tbonesteak]

A few reasons I don’t want to get my insurance involved:

- I don’t want to pay my deductible, why should I be liable for that?

- I don’t trust insurance companies. Filing a claim under my insurance, regardless if my car was parked, I’m worried they would raise my premium. I understand that sounds neurotic, but whatever.

- Honestly, I can handle this better. Time consuming, obviously... But I will get absolute top dollar for these repairs, zero corners will be cut and repairs will be done at my shop of choice.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by tbonesteak

A few reasons I don’t want to get my insurance involved:

- I don’t want to pay my deductible, why should I be liable for that?

- I don’t trust insurance companies. Filing a claim under my insurance, regardless if my car was parked, I’m worried they would raise my premium. I understand that sounds neurotic, but whatever.

- Honestly, I can handle this better. Time consuming, obviously... But I will get absolute top dollar for these repairs, zero corners will be cut and repairs will be done at my shop of choice.

Hopefully they estimate using OEM parts, that's where they usually cut corners.

[cdmorenot]

Go through your insurance. Don’t deal with this directly. Please.

This will be covered under the “Comprehensive” portion of your policy so there will be absolutely no increase in premium.

You will need to pay the deductible but you will be reimbursed as soon as Fedex or insurance company pays. So you’ll be floating it for a few weeks.

Bring it to a MB dealership that has an in-house body shop or contracts a body shop that uses a FULLY approved MB shop for repairs - Try to deal with the service advisor and make sure the parts will be ordered through the dealership. You still have the option of bringing this repair to the shop of your choice. No matter what your insurance or adjuster say.

Sure an adjuster will likely give you a hard time but let the insurance companies duke it out.

I don’t know what color your car is, but make sure the paint matches. If they’re going to refinish an area make sure the blending is where it needs to be. Quite often, on silver or grey cars, a whole side needs to be repainted.

Good luck OP.

EDIT: Option of waiting for check is the worst idea. There will likely be issues that come up during tear down / prep. If there needs to be a “supplement” or “sup” Payment as they’re called, you’ll have to file another claim, get more paperwork and play the waiting game again.

(At some point my family owned a body shop where I washed cars and helped prep cars)


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[GoingPlaces]

Originally Posted by cdmorenot

Go through your insurance. Don’t deal with this directly. Please.

This will be covered under the “Comprehensive” portion of your policy so there will be absolutely no increase in premium.

You will need to pay the deductible but you will be reimbursed as soon as Fedex or insurance company pays. So you’ll be floating it for a few weeks.

Bring it to a MB dealership that has an in-house body shop or contracts a body shop that uses a FULLY approved MB shop for repairs - Try to deal with the service advisor and make sure the parts will be ordered through the dealership. You still have the option of bringing this repair to the shop of your choice. No matter what your insurance or adjuster say.

Sure an adjuster will likely give you a hard time but let the insurance companies duke it out.

I don’t know what color your car is, but make sure the paint matches. If they’re going to refinish an area make sure the blending is where it needs to be. Quite often, on silver or grey cars, a whole side needs to be repainted.

Good luck OP.


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This 100%. Why don't you trust your insurance company? If you don't trust them then perhaps a your need a new one?

The accident was clearly not your fault, based on evidence there is not a shred of doubt. You are not liable for the deductible. At worse, you float the deductible and get it back when payment is made, but this remains unlikely.