So i bought my car on Thanksgiving weekend. That next Monday was the first day i drove it, and i brought it to work [ Sam's Club]. After working for about 2 hours i noticed two shopping carts right next to it, which immediately pissed me off. However there was snow blowing by the windows sideways and it was about -5 with windchill. I go outside my first available chance to survey the damage if any, and i find this:





The car was hit by TWO Petsmart shopping carts, which is two stores down from ours. One went into the driver side fender and the other went up on the bumper leaving deep scratches in it.

After work a few hours later i went to Petsmart to file an incident report. The manager there who handled it was very defensive and rude. IN a nutshell, she denied it happening and said she wasn't responsible. In the PETSMART parking lot are signs stating "We do our best to coral our carts but are not responsible as they are provided for shopper convenience" or somethign to that effect. So then an officer was called and he made police incident report which was what the "victim stated...".

So since the damage was as much as it was...I wanted to fully hold Petsmart liable for it. Seeing i was parked in my designated parking spot as far as way as possible 2 stores down. Also spoke with a fellow coworker who had the same thing happen and she gave me the letter from Petsmarts insurance carrier that her check was in the mail - NO HASSLE. So I went through Petsmarts insurance company for about 2 months....at first the manager gave me a bogus number...then eventually got the right one and played phone tag for a month.

I then decided to take Petsmart to small claims court as a last resort. I filed the paper work and a date was set for june 4th, about 6 weeks later. We go there and are called up to the stand. I state "my" story, then Petsmart states theres. she claimed that I had the day and time wrong, when in fact had a police report in my hand supporting my claim. However, the judge didnt wanna hear anymore and set up a trial for July 27th........AFTER THE 10TH ANNUAL NIAGARA MEET >:0

So what do i do? I really want to have my car fixed asap because i cant stand to look at it anymore. I am suing them for the amount of $1010 which is one estimate i had written up. I have a guy that does his own thing in his garage but had done body work for 20 years who did some touchup work on my previous car and it came out good. He said he would paint the whole front end and doors for ~300 with a lil body work. If i did get the money though, i think i might rather have it done at the shop where i got the estimate...or maybe even pick up a jdm front and have it sprayed?

What do you guys think? Think i have a good case seeing i had no association with petsmart and received damage outside of their property?

Sorry for the longness, and if it confusing...

 

I'm gonna go ahead and say you have no case. Despite the fact they are Petsmart's carts. You were on private property and they cannot control what their customer's do with the carts.

 

I wasn't on THEIR property. I was 2 stores down at MY JOB. Wasnt shopping at petsmart, wasnt parked there, had nothing to do with those dicks. I also have evidence of this being a reocccuring pattern, damage being down to my fellow coworkers cars with no association to petsmart and they payed out for it without a hiccup.

 

good luck, but weird a dx w/fogs?

 

Yeah i bought it from original owner, the type that has the original window sticker...she had the thing loaded.

 

You sure a shopping cart did that? Thats a huge *** dent, looks more like a golf cart hit it. Anyway good luck getting your car fixed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B16_madman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good luck, but weird a dx w/fogs?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The 91 DX parts car I bought came with factory fogs.

 

Yes i'm sure it was a shopping cart. If you could understand how far away I was parked on that day and how blustery windy cold it was you woudlnt doubt it. Also when you put a petsmart shopping cart up to the dent the deepest part of the dent lines up perfect with the corner of a petsmart shopping cart, where as a sams club cart probably would have cleared my hood.

 

$1,000 estimate!!?!?! Holy crap.

The ONLY thing that car needs is a fender! I don't even see any scratches on the bumper.

More power to you though. If an estimate is high, it's high. I'm not knocking you; just wondering what kind of shop gave that estimate.

As far as the case, I don't think it's Petsmart fault. Instead, it would be their customers fault...who you would not be able to track down. The fact that it was a Petsmart shopping cart means nothing, and has little value.

When I run my Honda into a Ford, does the owner of the Ford sue Honda? No! They would sue me..the person who let the damage occur. Your case seems to run along this same line of thinking.

That's not the issue at hand though...you can present your case to the judge.

I'd say go for the JDM front end. You can get it for $700-800 shipped and then spend the other $200-300 [if you win] getting it painted.

 

The parts alone came to 400 i think, maybe a bit more (oem honda$$$ ) . I didnt take a pic showing the scratches on thebumper. But then another 500 to do the prepping and blend fender into door and hood and blend bumper... **** aint cheap.

So in this case I should take the hit for the damage? Theres nobody liable for it before me? I wasnt near the car or driving it. Somebody elses property caused damage to my property, that has to hold them partly responsible...? I have no idea how the judge is going to look at it. But if the manager's case is me claiming it happened on the wrong day and time, i think i'm off to a good start

 

I know labor isn't cheap.

But that's just a fender and a bumper.

If it were me, I'd buy them used and get them repainted, and then keep that other cash.

Seriously......$1,000 for a BUMPER and a FENDER? Did you get that estimate straight from Honda?

 

actually it would be petsmarts fault for the cart hitting his car...they have cart pushers who should be doing their job they are paid to do, if they did there job, this wouldnt have happened...

just like walmart, sams club, etc...

 

Fender was like 350? The corner lense i think was 80? so on and so forth... Estimate was done at a very reputable body shop in the area.

Yes if it is up to me, the most i woudl do is probably buy a used fender and have it sprayed. Otherwise i'll probably try to bang it out the best i can and leave it at that No money this year.

 

looks like some 1 just pushed the cart hard to hit the car on purpose

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxgator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">actually it would be petsmarts fault for the cart hitting his car...they have cart pushers who should be doing their job they are paid to do, if they did there job, this wouldnt have happened...

just like walmart, sams club, etc... </TD></TR></TABLE>

These teenagers cannot be held responsible for every cart in the surrounding neighborhood that comes from Petsmart; it's their job to get all the carts they see in.

What if somebody took the cart off of the Petsmart parking lot [like people do ALL the time] and just left it in another one? The cartpushes would never see this.

What if somebody then pushed this cart away from his or her car and just let it go rolling [again, I see this all the time]. If it then hit the car in question....you honestly believe Petsmart should be held accountable for this?

 

IT sounds like you are saying two different things. Nobody would expect the teenage cartpushers to be held responsible for damage done, unless intentional? Thats the beauty of a corporation....they take the hits and are held responsible as a whole. However, this petsmart does not have designated cartpushers, but rather people they send out however often to bring some carts in.

Do you think I am more responsible for damage done by their property than Petsmart?

 

dude, they had a sign, get over it. If you go to court, you are planning on showing the $1000 estimate right? What if you win the case, and get your $1000? I sincerely hope you would use it for the specific estimate you showed them. Otherwise your integrity may be in question.

 

Yes, thats my whole issue. I dont wanna have some joe smo paint my car and do a half *** job. I am very **** about my car because it took me two years to find one in this condition.

I dont want to have the car look like it does for another 6 weeks at least, but i dont have the money to pay and have it done right. So i was considering having a family friend do it, but i'm worried about the quality. Then if i win the case i would have had done a less than perfect job but gotten the money to have it fixed at a reputable shop had i just waited.

 

Integrity be damned, any time you're in an accident you have the option to go with whichever estimate you want to use, and you're not required to follow up and spend the money at that shop. If it were me, I'd just buy an aftermarket fender and get it painted and spend the rest of the money making the car less DX.

 

Less dx is already done...trust me But i could see if i was suing for a grand, got the settlement, and went with a set of volks, that'd be BS. Either way i shoudl be entitled to the money it costs to have the car repaired to its original condition using new or like new oem parts. In this case though, i want my car to look as original as it did

 

I understand you're **** about the car, most people are, but let's be realistic here:

your car's kbb is like $2300.

your estimate is for $1000

does it make sense to spend HALF the value of the car on a tiny tiny little bit of damage?

take it to your family friend. Price will be realistic, work will more than likely end up fine, and more importantly, you will probably learn something since he will be doing the work in front of you.

 

90Zcrx:

I pray I never do business with you.

 

do you know where i can get factory fogs for a 91 LX sedan?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JC18 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you know where i can get factory fogs for a 91 LX sedan?</TD></TR></TABLE>

they will be with a leprochan...

thats how rare they are to find...

 

Hmm... sounds like the manager is hard to deal with.
Maybe try calling somebody up the food chain at petsmart? Can you get any info from their website?