Inattentive rookie driver mistake

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martin2340

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 6, 2014
Posts
402
Location
Sanatoga, PA
I was parked at a diesel pump next to a van and travel trailer when the rookie driver, borrowed his brother-in-laws camper, decided to try and back out of the pump area to no avail. I told him he would need to pull forward to exit and I would be done pumping soon. He must have been in a big hurry and left pulling straight ahead and the turning left watching only that he did not hit the pumps. As he turned left and the rear end started coming towards the back of my truck I began to yell as loud as possible, DW jumped out of the passenger seat and began to yell stop. I was banging on side of his camper but he continued on until he heard all of us plus other patrons yelling to stop. Bottom line close to $4,000.00 damage to my "17 Ford 250 lariat 6.7L diesel. Sick to my stomach. :mad:
 

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Man, that sucks.

Here's hoping you can get to a point of relaxing about it very soon.  Tough, I know.

A JA was so busy lighting a smoke he went right through a stop sign in front of me and our 250 and 5er punted his Cherokee about 20ft.  From then on, even though his insurance paid for repairs MY truck was a truck that had been "wrecked".  It's hard to get over.
 
Saw almost that happen. Brand new and I mean New cedar Creek 5er bought 38 feet, Gas (I think) pick up.. pulled out of the isle and turned too soon. He did not hit anybody's car. Just the Concrete and steel "Bumper" post.. Tore the back half off his trailer.  No Stop. No slow down. Just hit the freeway with the rear cap a flapping in the breeze.. Hope he did not loose it and cause an incident.
 
How awful.  It is annoying when you had given him guidance and he ignored you.  I don't know how you refrained from punching him on the nose....

Hope it gets repaired soon and you are not too inconvenienced.
 
jackiemac said:
How awful.  It is annoying when you had given him guidance and he ignored you.  I don't know how you refrained from punching him on the nose....
:)) :D :D

Sorry for the accident, darn those things make me mad.  Maybe something good will come of it  :-\

I'm also a motorcycle enthusiast, and I like to have a dollar for every stupid maneuver by another driver that almost took me out.  Awful lot of them I'd like to punch in the nose,  but occasionally just give them a wave with the middle finger.  ::)
 
spencerpj said:
:)) :D :D

Sorry for the accident, darn those things make me mad.  Maybe something good will come of it  :-\

I'm also a motorcycle enthusiast, and I like to have a dollar for every stupid maneuver by another driver that almost took me out.  Awful lot of them I'd like to punch in the nose,  but occasionally just give them a wave with the middle finger.  ::)

Right?  It is a great way to communicate your displeasure and let them know they messed up.  I also salute the OP's self control.

That said, I have worked very hard at retiring the ol' one-finger salute.  Many reasons for that and I'm not 100% successful.  Sometimes I let the old me out and immediately regret it.
 
Bill N said:
Please tell us he was insured!

Bill
Both the owner of the TV and TT and driver were both insured, and when I called they pretty much assured me it would be taken care of. If not I am fully insured although a $1,000.00 collision deductible. I reported it to my agent but did not file a claim with them.
 
jackiemac said:
How awful.  It is annoying when you had given him guidance and he ignored you.  I don't know how you refrained from punching him on the nose....

Hope it gets repaired soon and you are not too inconvenienced.
DW was the one ready to punch him in the nose, I had a cooler attitude but still let him know that he should have waited or at least had his DW watch his blind side but both were rookies and stuff happens. Just hoping it is not noticeable after repairing. Body Shop said I will never know (we'll see). I was wondering if that would go onto Carfax as an accident.
 
martin2340 said:
DW was the one ready to punch him in the nose, I had a cooler attitude but still let him know that he should have waited or at least had his DW watch his blind side but both were rookies and stuff happens. Just hoping it is not noticeable after repairing. Body Shop said I will never know (we'll see). I was wondering if that would go onto Carfax as an accident.

If it will put your mind at ease my truck was a LOT worse than yours after t-boning the bonehead and when the shop got done you could never tell it was wrecked.  All shops differ, of course.

I never checked Carfax, though.  I just sold the truck recently.
 
martin2340 said:
DW was the one ready to punch him in the nose, I had a cooler attitude but still let him know that he should have waited or at least had his DW watch his blind side but both were rookies and stuff happens. Just hoping it is not noticeable after repairing. Body Shop said I will never know (we'll see). I was wondering if that would go onto Carfax as an accident.
I was told anything over 500.00 is reported to carfax
 
FenderP said:
Right?  It is a great way to communicate your displeasure and let them know they messed up.  I also salute the OP's self control.

That said, I have worked very hard at retiring the ol' one-finger salute.  Many reasons for that and I'm not 100% successful.  Sometimes I let the old me out and immediately regret it.

  When I worked for the county gummit using the single finger salute or any finger was strictly forbidden so when I was "saluted" I would simply wave with a full open hand, smile and mouth Bless your heart" It sometimes made them even madder which would get them another wave with a ....thank you..occasionally someone would chill out and wave back. 
  Try just waving next time you are "saluted" you might be pleased with the response
 
catblaster said:
  When I worked for the county gummit using the single finger salute or any finger was strictly forbidden so when I was "saluted" I would simply wave with a full open hand, smile and mouth Bless your heart" It sometimes made them even madder which would get them another wave with a ....thank you..occasionally someone would chill out and wave back. 
  Try just waving next time you are "saluted" you might be pleased with the response

Very nice. I will do that.
 
It's pretty incredible to think that what looks like pretty minor damage can cost so much.  But I understand.  I sure hope the inexperienced driver becomes more experienced after this experience!
 
What makes a lot of body work so expensive these days is the work that's needed to properly paint the finished body work. In the "old days", we used to blend painted repairs into the surrounding paint pretty much invisibly.  Since the wide spread use of clear coating though, that's nearly impossible to do. In some locations the blend may not be that noticeable, but in most cases, the entire repaired panel must be painted and clear coated, which may call for removing windows, roof racks, trim, etc., to do the job correctly. The proliferation of plastic body panels is another factor. Where metal panels could often be repaired, damaged plastic panels nearly always need to be replaced.
 
Good luck on getting it fixed for $4,000, I had similar size scrape on my Dodge Challenger SRT-8 last year, just over $7,500 and almost 7 weeks to repair. Someone backed into it as I was turning to pull into my driveway.
 

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That is the exact reason I don't go into big truck stops. Too many idiots. I pick my stations based on access and lack of vehicles filling up. I don't care what it costs because in the end you will wind up paying more in repairs and frustration.

I know most of the area gas stations in many of the western states where we travel frequently and actually all the fuel stops to Florida and back on I10. 

 
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