Hooray, I was parked in the In'N'Out parking lot in Burbank last Monday and when I came out, my month old LS40 was laying on it's side with the kickstand still down.

There were two eye witnesses including the woman parked next to me who was in her car when it happened; despite the fact that the car was still in the parking lot when the Police Officer arrived, he told me that there was nothing he could do and I should just go home and file a claim with my insurance.

Fortunately, just the plastic on the rear left turn signal was broken and a few light scratches but now I'm paranoid everywhere I go that it's going to happen again.

Any tips on how to help prevent this in the future?

Parking in the middle of the space doesn't always help. I had my mom's TS250 and a Geo pulled in the same parking space behind me and blocked me in (cars on all sides). I had to sit and wait for someone to leave.

My advice is to stop eating at In 'n Out.


--Steve

Paraquat wrote on 07/07/12 at 23:00:32:


That's why I don't park deep down into parking spaces.  I park it towards the opening of the space, so some idiot in a small car doesn't block me in.

R.F.

Steampowered Boy wrote on 07/07/12 at 21:58:49:

You could file a complaint with the police department or speak with his supervisor. Police are not infallable (except in some countries).  

High_Plains_Thumpr wrote on 07/08/12 at 06:18:38:

+1- he should have been charged with leaving the scene. Just a lazy cop. And if you have his licence # he can still be charged. It has happened to me, and it took them 4 days to find the guy, and he was fined $700, and to pay my deductible. We have no fault insurance here.

The irony in the situation is he was trying to get into the space across from me and according the the witnesses he backed up to 'straighten up' and hit the bike backing up.  Then very quickly changed his mind, moved down 7-8 spaces and parked.

The car was there the entire time while the cop was talking to me, he was even a motorcycle cop and told me about his ride at home but since the cameras in the parking lot didn't record it since I parked "so far away" (to prevent this type of thing) he said he couldn't confront anyone.

The strange thing is: if he didn't know he hit my bike, why did he move 8 spaces away suddenly and the total length of time from when I noticed it to when the cop left was 2 and a half hours.  Who hangs out at an In 'N' Out for 3 hours on a Monday during lunch rush?  Someone who is waiting for the police officer in the parking lot to leave before they come outside to leave.

I pointed that out to the cop but it didn't seem to register.  So, $120 and an hour of work and "Argento" has a new turn signal now.

Something strange here. You said you had witnesses. Did the cop talk to them? If they left, did you get their phone numbers, and refer the cop to them? Cops won't do anything on one person's say, except talk to the other party. If you have corroborating witnesses he is pretty much obligated to follow through, and if he doesn't his supervisor should know about it.

There for 3 hours?...  He might work there...
...and with that being such a dangerous parking lot,... it wouldn't surprise me, if someone keyed his car,.. or broke off a couple of valve stems,... or spilled some brake fluid on his paint,.. or broke off a side mirror,... or,...
Gosh,.. anything could happen in such a dangerous parking lot...

Someone might even write,"Dumb A-hole" on his back window with white shoe polish...  

...or,.. maybe it's just a satisfying exercise to imagine that something bad could happen...
...

PS... Glad the damage ain't too bad  ...