Beware Windy Parking Lots
Feb 10th, 2007 by Alex
In the midst of running errands today a shopping cart decided to become unlodged from the sidewalk that it was perched on, falling over into my rear passenger-side door. There was a loud thump and a some cursing on my part. I parked my car and took a quick peek at the rear door; some scuffs and a spot where the paint was scaped off. Not a big deal. I went inside to run one of the previously-mentioned errands.
Upon coming back outside I decided to take a better look. Hidden behind caked road salt are several scratches to the paint, about seven to nine inches long. On the front passenger-side door there are additional scuffs, scrapes, and gouges where the paint is just not there anymore. Apparently the shopping cart landed on the car and then slid downwards on its trip back to Earth. Much worse than my initial take.
The pain in the ass part about it is that there’s no one to blame except the schmuck who propped the cart up, who was long gone by the time it hit my car. Him/her and the wind. It would have been better if someone had hit my car. At least I’d have someone to go after for the damages, even if only it was out of pocket cash. The damage is too much for touch up paint. Depending on the depth of the gouges, it’s either a fresh coat of paint or new door panels. Hell, maybe it’s just time for a new car.
Argh.
Update: It would appear that it may not be as bad as I thought, thanks to Kyle. A bit of the scuffing is from the shopping cart itself and is coming off. The rock salt inspired paint job may have helped absorb some of the impact (right…), which further reinforces my belief that I don’t need to wash my car anytime soon.
