On my way home from the Dolphins game today...

Driving about 80 in the fast lane through a construction area on the highway, a large and heavy "something" came bounding over the concrete barrier wall and hit the driver's side rear "hip" of my car just behind the door above the rear wheel. It left a major ding and 4 nasty 1 to 2 inch scrape marks down to the metal. I'm sick about this.

Later in the drive, I got pulled over for speeding. The trooper informed me I was going 78 in a 55 zone. I said nothing in my defense, only nodding in acknowledgement. He took my license, registration, etc and went back to his car to do the paperwork. 5 or 10 minutes later, he walks up to my window, hands me a computer print-out of his report, and said...

"This is a warning notice. Please watch your speed in the future."

I said, "Only a warning?"

He said, "If you'd prefer a ticket..."

I quickly said "No, thank you very much" and scurried home knowing I had somehow just avoided a $300+ ticket, points, and possible insurance issues.
I've gotta believe it was because I have a very good driving record (by luck) and that I made no excuses for my actions.

Unfortunately, the dents and scrapes look like they won't be cheap to fix.

 

hey, you can at least be happy that the dolphins won!! heh.

off topic- GO CHARGERS!!!

 

80 MPH in a construction zone??? Not cool...

 

Sorry to hear about your bad fortune, the things that happen to these cars just seem to sting a lot harder. But getting a warning is super, usually in that case the less said, the better. The old days of a small fine and court costs are gone, many other factors come into play with points and insurance.

 

You were extremely lucky he only gave you a warning. Too bad about the damage to your car though.

 

Perhaps I should clarify regarding the construction thing...

First off, I was simply going with the flow of traffic leaving the game. The stadium exits directly onto the turnpike and I was going no faster than virtually all the other cars around me and hardly being reckless.

Secondly, I called it a construction area by virtue of the fact that there was a concrete median separating north/south traffic, but no actual evidence of any sort of construction going on in the area. On each side of the median is a small shoulder about half the width of a car. Whether it is an official construction zone, I don't know.

Lastly, keep in mind that it is a Sunday afternoon (4:30-ish). I don't know about other places, but here in South Florida, good luck finding any sign of highway construction crews on a Sunday afternoon.

 

Don, I'm really glad you got off with only a warning, and as terrible as it sounds, I'm glad that flying piece of metal hit your car, and it didn't come crashing thru your side window and strike you. It's bad enough it damaged your car, but we don't want to lose any forum members. (We need your Dues)!
Just take it to the best body shop you know of and hopefully they can match your paint. If you get it back, and it doesn't match to your liking, have them paint the whole side of your car. Good Luck.

 

Tickets usually don't affect your current insurance policy, only if you try and switch companies will they underwrite for tickets. As for what hit your car it was a flying object. Should be covered by your comprehensive coverage. depends on your comp deductible how much it will cost you. Comp claims do NOT go against you.
Bad as it was, not as bad as it could have been.
Good luck with your repair.

Pat

 

It's true that this could have been much worse had the same object (which was clearly quite heavy and solid) hit my windshield or side window. In that sense, I do consider myself lucky.

Unfortunately, I have a $500 deductible and worse yet, my baby is now blemished and will never be factory new again.

No one I know seems to know of a GOOD repair shop in the area. Not sure how to find one I can trust to do a top-notch job in West Palm Beach. I'll keep asking around, I guess.

 

midnightman sorry to hear about your car the dent removal would concern me the most I am not a fan of bondo. Depending on the size of the dent I think I would try a paint-less dent removal service first then find a quality paint shop. I had some rock chip that I need taken care of before I installed my 3M bra and used a shop that local BMW and Mercedes dealerships used and was happy with the result maybe you can find the same in your area.
patpur it all depends on your insurance company whether they monitor their clients traffic records.

I can tell you from experience that Farmers does and on your third ticket classifies you as high risk. Nothing is more embarrassing then telling your teenagers to do as I say and not as I do, and by the way we switching insurance companies because dad is a high risk. I will say that it was enlighten when switched to GEICO to discover that my high risk insurance was lower then what my supposedly previously low risk insurance by Farmers had been.

 

Hey midnightman, there's a good body shop near southern and dixie, I think it's called southern auto body or southeast, I forget which. They've been around for years and have a great reputation.

 

Thanks John. I'll check it out.