Somebody attacked my car, but...

Actinguy1

Hi all,

While I was at the grocery store today, I happened to notice a large dent in my driver's side car door. Looking closer, I could clearly make out a dirty footprint. It rained recently, making me think this must have happened in the past 24 hours, if not while I was actually parked at the grocery store.

I wasn't parked near anyone, there were empty spaces all around, so there's no clear motive...other than the fact that my wife gave me one of those "stick family" stickers for the back of my car, wearing Steelers jerseys. I put it on this morning. We live in Maryland, where the rival team is based.

So of course, call police for a police report and then file with my insurance company, right?

Well...

A) My car registration is expired
My license plate is still for Pennsylvania, even though we've lived here in Maryland for almost two years.
C) My driver's license is expired, and also for Pennsylvania.

So...do we just eat this? Or is there something that can be done?

Thanks!

tl;dr Car vandalized...but car inspection and driver's license not up to date.

BlindZenDriver

Best you can do is get the paperwork in order, so if it happen again you can use your insurance. Also I think you get in real trouble should you happen to be in an accident and I would not be too sure your insurance would cover you!

Now on the dent - is it a soft dent or does it have sharp edges. If it's a soft dent then there a companies which can do magic and make the dent go away which should be relatively cheap.

AgentBryant

Can your insurance even be valid if your registration is expired?

Karrmer

You should thank whoever kicked your car because hopefully they woke you up to the fact that you're being wildly irresponsible and need to get your registration and plates fixed, and ESPECIALLY need a drivers license to DRIVE.

Get your affairs in order and call up a paintless dent removal place or something.

MichaelLC

Karrmer wrote: »

You should thank whoever kicked your car because hopefully they woke you up to the fact that you're being wildly irresponsible

Yeah that.

Sorry about the dent, but driving without registration or a valid licence is really a bad idea. I think you're lucky they didn't stop and report it because of all the tickets you'd have received.

So I'm sure you know it's bad, so won't go on. As for the dent, as mentioned if it's 'round' with no breaks, it's relativity easy to fix. If there's cracks, it's going to be a lot more.

DevoutlyApathetic

I'm assuming you don't have insurance since the car is unregistered. In this case I assume you would file that police report and all in hopes of catching the guy? That pretty much won't happen. If you'd noticed it immediately you might have a chance of a security camera catching it, but otherwise they won't be able to do much.

On the insurance/registration/license thing....you know if a cop somehow finds this out you are royally fucked right? Like, for just the insurance in NY they will pull your license for six months. Six months of not driving. If you ignore that you're are talking a significant amount of time in jail. Can you afford six months without having a car to drive to work, school, shop, whatever?

If the answer is no, you are asking to be fucked in the way that looks like it saves money but ends up costing you much much more.

If the answer is yes, you should be doing that now and working toward removing this anchor dragging you down.

zagdrob

Get your shit in order. Plates, license, registration, probably insurance.

No point in filing an insurance claim for this even if your shit was in order, your deductible + the amount your rates go up is going to cost more than getting this repaired through a paintless dent repair place or even having actual bodywork done / replacing your entire door if they can't PDR it.

What's your deductible anyway? $500 or $1000? Call two shops and find out how much it will cost.

And again, get your shit in order. You said you've got a 'sticky family' sticker, so you are driving around your kids with no tags, wrong state plates, and no license? Your realize if you get pulled over, they will probably tow your car right from there. How the hell are you going to get your kids home? What if the cop decides to just bring you in? They can, and sometimes will, do that.

bowen

They definitely will in my area if it's been more than a year.

AspectVoid

If the cops catch you, you're going to be in for a world of hurt. Each item (driving with an expired license, driving with expired plates, and driving without insurance) would be brought up separately. Some quick google searching shows that you would be facing somewhere between $5000 and $10000 worth of fines and up to a year in jail.

Seriously, you need to get your shit in order and get this taken care of before you end up with a cop sitting behind you at a red light who decides to run your plates since he has nothing else to do.

Karrmer

Nowadays a lot of departments have plate readers that do that automatically while they drive around, too.

Donovan Puppyfucker

It'd be interesting to see what would happen if you rang your insurance company.

Would they just hang up on you when they found out that not only is your drivers license expired, but your car registration is expired and it's license plates are invalid, or would they laugh at you before they slammed the phone down?

bowen

They'd laugh, drop you, and then probably sue you for some level of fraud.

Derrick

Depending on the dent, you might be able to pop it out yourself. Maybe show us a picture of the door?

Obviously go to the court house and get yourself straightened out, like pronto.

Even though you shouldn't have to, it's probably smart to take the Steeler's crap off your car. There are a lot of people coming from rough areas in Maryland just looking for something like that to feel justified in fucking some things up. Don't paint a target on your car.

bowen

I also advise anyone with a darwin fish or political sticker on their car to remove it as well.

ceres

When I was little and asked my dad why we never put stickers on our cars he told me in not so many words that plenty of people out there are one excuse away from wrecking your shit, especially if they think no one is looking, so it's better not to give it to them.

bowen

Your dad is a smart man.

a5ehren

My parents always said "because it makes your car look bad and they're hard to take off when you go to sell it".

Also sound advice. I occasionally indulge in those static cling window stickers, though.

GnomeTank

As someone who had to deal with the ten year nightmare of being pulled over for driving with no license, registration and insurance: GO GET YOUR SHIT IN ORDER.

Seriously, whatever up front cash and time it costs you now will save you untold heartache when you do eventually get pulled over. And it's a when, not an if.

mrt144

a5ehren wrote: »

My parents always said "because it makes your car look bad and they're hard to take off when you go to sell it".

Also sound advice. I occasionally indulge in those static cling window stickers, though.

I do that at my office cube and luckily don't need license and tabs to operate a cube safely.

The Ender

I guess you must believe that everyone else on the road is an absolutely perfect driver, given that even a minor fender bender could completely ruin your life?

Honestly, don't even worry about the dent right now. Have you been driving uninsured / without a license because you can't afford either of those things, or is it just an issue of procrastination?

prfntbtr

I'm pretty shocked that at this point, the only advice you have been given so far has been "You are a moron, you pretty much deserve this."

From the tone of your post, you possibly do have insurance, but are perhaps afraid to report a claim because your tags are expired? Your vehicle was parked, and was vandalized. Your insurance company will pay for the repairs, less the cost of your deductible, if you have comprehensive coverage on your vehicle. You were not actually driving when this took place, your drivers license should never come into question. They may ask for you DL# during a statement over the phone but they are not going to run you through some kind of INSURANCEPOLICESUPERDATABASE and get after you about having an expired license. That said, don't be a fool, take the warning from everybody else who replied and get this squared away, like, pronto. But if the damage is over your deductible amount, I see no reason not to file a claim.

Xaquin

prfntbtr wrote: »

I'm pretty shocked that at this point, the only advice you have been given so far has been "You are a moron, you pretty much deserve this."

From the tone of your post, you possibly do have insurance, but are perhaps afraid to report a claim because your tags are expired? Your vehicle was parked, and was vandalized. Your insurance company will pay for the repairs, less the cost of your deductible, if you have comprehensive coverage on your vehicle. You were not actually driving when this took place, your drivers license should never come into question. They may ask for you DL# during a statement over the phone but they are not going to run you through some kind of INSURANCEPOLICESUPERDATABASE and get after you about having an expired license. That said, don't be a fool, take the warning from everybody else who replied and get this squared away, like, pronto. But if the damage is over your deductible amount, I see no reason not to file a claim.

yeah, but it was parked at the grocery store. So unless that's where it's always parked, he drove it there .... and if that's the case there's no point getting insurance involved because the first thing they'll notice is expired registration, expired license, and tags that should have been transferred over a year ago and may be expired. They won't pay a dime.

The Ender

Nobody called the OP a moron. The best advice in this case really is, "Don't worry about the dent - get your documentation / license current."

OP could go to jail, man. That's of slightly more pressing concern, I would think, than getting costs calculated for buffing-out a dent.

Dr. Frenchenstein

as people said, there is no way a superficial dent will be more than his deductible. hell, they sell kits at car stores that can probably pull it out.

zepherin

chrishallett83 wrote: »

It'd be interesting to see what would happen if you rang your insurance company.

Would they just hang up on you when they found out that not only is your drivers license expired, but your car registration is expired and it's license plates are invalid, or would they laugh at you before they slammed the phone down?

Raise your rates, they have costs for cars owned by people without drivers licenses, because you have to have an insured car to take the drivers test, generally you'd get your learners permit first, but the insurance company will simply adjust for risk and bill you accordingly, and then deny you coverage if you are in an accident, because you shouldn't have been driving the car. They are remarkably practical and shiesty about that sort of thing.