Hood dings
 

Across from my house lives a family with an 11 year old boy that loves sports. He plays a lot of baseball and hits the ball with his friends from his driveway across the street towards my house. The other day, as I was cleaning my car, I noticed about 10 little dents all over my hood and front fenders. I have to bring my car in for some other bodywork (I removed my antenna, roof rack, spoiler, and rear wiper) plus I have a few dents on the sides of my car from people opening their doors into me.

I am hoping for the best, but expect some problems when I talk to my neighbor about not allowing his kid to play ball near my car anymore. I dont want come off as unreasonable, but this has to stop-especially once I get my car repaired. I cant prove he did it, but where else could it have happened?

Don't envy you, that's gonna be a tough coversation without proof. Good luck.

Maybe an errant hailstorm.........without catching the little s**t red handed, you're going to be alone on that.

If the damage is above $ 1,000 in "most" states it could be considered a crime--probably a "felony vandalism" (which would allow the police to take a report based upon circumstantial evidence).. but it would be hard to prove "intent"--but with that many dings it seems that he should have stopped after 1 hit (reasonable).. At the least--his parents would be talked to by authorities...

The problem is we are very friendly with them. They have been playing ball all summer-started with wiffle but at some point they switched to a rubber ball. I never noticed before, so I dont know if it just happened or I was negligent. They are very small little indents, not very obvious unless you are really looking. Still, now that I know where they are I am very annoyed.

I say, When u see him do it.. Yell at him.. Regardless if his parents are around or not. Sometimes that enough to get the kid to stop.

O ya, Good way to keep the door dings down. Walk a little farther.

You aint gonna believe this, but most of the door dings are not from being in a parking lot. Since I have my handicap permit, there is plenty of room between the cars. It is from idiots double parking next to me and letting passangers out. I actually saw a cab stop next to my car to let out someone. I did not realize at the time he hit my car, but after he left I went over to check and saw a nice dent. By then it was too late. The sad part is, there was about 50 feet of empty space in front of my car (a large bus stop) but the cabbie chose not to pull in. They prefer to block traffic. (You should see how they drive, cut people off, and stop diagonal across 2 lanes of traffic just to pick up a fare).

If they're barely noticeable, it's not from a baseball. I parked my Blazer behind a college baseball field once and a homer put a very large ding in the hood that never came out. A soft rubber ball probably wouldn't do that kind of damage either.

Keep an eye on the car and be mindful of when the kids are out playing. If they're damaging the car, take it to your neighbor.

Thats what I will have to do. Still, it is a bit awkward. I dont want to be a bad neighbor-but the kids cant play ball and damage cars parked in the street or in their driveways, either.

I think a rubberball hit with a bat would have enough force to put a little dent in the thin metal on our cars. These arent foam rubber nerf balls-they are like the pinkie Spauldine we played with. They are pretty hard.

Have you ever leaned on the fender and noticed it push in a little? Or am I just that fat?

No they are that thin, Had key fob and a bic lighter in my hand when I took the fob to open the door the bic did a flip and hit the door. Just a 12" fall and put a finger tip size dent just below the window....