Fender Bender Rant

[Lawrence]

<Begin rant>

I was in a parking lot with the wife?s FJ, hit the brakes a little too hard, and some guy grazed the rear bumper as he tried to swoop around me. The damage to the FJ is minimal, the rear passenger plastic corner piece paint is scratched a little. The damage to his BMW is worse, his front driver?s side fender has a huge dent in it and he claims it is from the accident. Mind you this was a 1-2 mph snafu.

Anyway, we exchanged insurance info and went on our way. Now he called my insurance and said that he was parked and that I had the FJ in reverse and hit him, he heard a noise and came out of the store. Yeah right. I told them that the guy?s version didn?t make sense, that if I had backed into him, for one my parking sensor would have beeped like crazy, and two I would have hit the front or rear of his car, not the side fender. I told them, bottom line is that I have rear damage, he has front damage.

Anyway, my insurance agent is the lamest, as they told me it sounds like it?s a 50/50 and to work it out with him outside the claim, blah, blah, blah. Makes me wonder if State Farm is really on my side? Mind you, it's the same company who didn't do squat when my wife was rear ended at 40 mph while sitting at a light not too long ago. Where has customer service gone?

<End rant>