Hit and run...

[Trinity]

Ok...long rant, so sorry in advance. Earlier this week, while pulling out of a gas station, a complete idiot in a little Mitsubishi Eclipse decided that he wants to pass me up leaving the parking lot to merge into traffic. Mind you that he tried to fit between my passenger side front tire and the 2 foot curb, which is a space of about 4 feet. Needless to say, he didn't make it.

He gets stuck behind my front passenger tire and removable running board. I hear the crunch, look over into my passenger side mirror, and can see the top of his car only.

I get out, instruct him to back up slowly, and then I back up and inspect the damage. My front removable running board is now removed, the plastic trim piece above the rock rails is squashed and scraped, and there is some paint on the very bottom of the H2 just above the rock rail, but thankfully, no dents. I asked him what the heck was he thinking, and that is when he tells me that it is my fault for running over his car.


Ummm, I don't think so, and I ask for his insurance card. He tells me he doesn't have insurance, and then jumps back into the car and speeds out of the parking lot, across 3 lanes of traffic, nearly causing about 3 other wrecks. Believe me, if it was remotely my fault, he would have started yelling 'whiplash' and would not have fled the scene.

I wrote down the license plate and called the cops. No, I didn't chase him. The way he took off out of the lot, he is lucky that he didn't kill someone. Anyway, I don't need that on my conscience.

The cops came, wrote the report, took a witness statement, and ran the plate. Since it came back to a woman out of state (I think she was the passenger and it was her boyfriend driving), they told me that the chances of catching the guy are pretty slim. But if they do, they will drop fleeing an accident and failure to report an accident charges on him, and a few others as well.

I went to the dealer later that day and ordered a new plastic trim piece ($110) and the parts manager found an old step which was a take off from a trade-in and gave it to me for free. I took it home, cleaned it up, and spray painted it, and now you can't even tell the difference. The trim part came in today and I just replaced it. I was able to rub the paint mark off of the lower panel with some wax, and believe it or not, you can't even tell that I was ever hit. Talk about lucky.

Mind you, this was on a vehicle that is not even a month old yet. Moral of the story: calmer head prevailed, always be nice to the parts guy, and patronize you local dealer. I pay a little more for basic service and parts, but they just saved me $200 on a new step, so you can bet that they will make that back and then some from me on some other accessories that I am considering buying.