Shopping Carts Hit Parked Car

So, I use my own personal car for my job that involves a lot of driving. My boss asked me to go to Home Depot to purchase something. I parked the car- far from the main entrance as there were a lot of snow mounds, etc. and I like to keep my car out of harms way as much as possible, since I am in and out of parking lots all day. I was getting my things together and getting ready to get out of the car when two shopping carts (that were quite a ways away) came rolling down slammed into my car, I assume due to gusty winds we were having today.

I got out of my car to look at the damage and then realized I now had locked my keys in the car! Had to wait 2 hours for a locksmith and pay $70. Obviously, not a good day.

My question is- is Home Depot responsible for my car damage? Is my employer? My husband thinks it will be about $500 worth of repairs (dented and scratched passenger door- 2013 Honda Fit-still paying my loan on it)

I did mention it to my employer. Not sure what he will do. My car insurance has a $1000 deductible and I think the comprehensive is $500, so I wouldn't put a claim in with them.

Anyone have any knowledge of this type of situation?

Years ago I had a shopping cart that I was using roll about 2 parking spaces and touched a truck. It didn't dent it but the guy in the truck claimed that it chipped the paint.

So..

We went into the store and the manager said they are only responsible for carts that their employees are handling. In other words, if I would have let the bag boy push the cart out then the store would have paid.

I told the store that the shopping cart had no brake and because of the incline could roll if unattended. He agreed and said it happens often but the policy was what it was.

Long story short, my homeowners insurance paid this $300 bill.

Bill

No experience, and Im no lawyer, but if the cause is what you say it is
"I assume due to gusty winds we were having today".
then neither Home Depot nor your employer is responsible. Its an accident and its why you buy insurance.

just my opinion, good luck

easyrider said:

Years ago I had a shopping cart that I was using roll about 2 parking spaces and touched a truck. It didn't dent it but the guy in the truck claimed that it chipped the paint.

So..

We went into the store and the manager said they are only responsible for carts that their employees are handling. In other words, if I would have let the bag boy push the cart out then the store would have paid.

I told the store that the shopping cart had no brake and because of the incline could roll if unattended. He agreed and said it happens often but the policy was what it was.

Long story short, my homeowners insurance paid this $300 bill.



Bill

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Homeowners insurance paid? Really?

I've seen signs at Home Depot and other stores that they are not responsible for damage by shopping carts. I suppose that if all their 'Cart Corrals' were full, you might stand a chance of proving neglect, but on private property it would be iffy. Your employer might cover it if you were 'dispatched' there on a specific, business related errand and no company vehicle was available to use for the errand.

I'd get a couple of estimates for the repair and take them into the boss' office and say something like, "Remember that shopping cart incident I told you about the other day, when I was on a company errand? Well here's what it will cost to fix. I don't feel right filing a claim on my insurance. How do you want to handle it?"

Don't wait. Get the estimates and present them while it's still fresh in his mind.

Good Luck.

Jim

ronparise said:

No experience, and Im no lawyer, but if the cause is what you say it is
"I assume due to gusty winds we were having today".
then neither Home Depot nor your employer is responsible. Its an accident and its why you buy insurance.

just my opinion, good luck

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I know, I thought- well it's an act of God. But, on the other hand I was on the job doing an errand my boss asked me to do. I would never had been there if I wasn't working. It's not like I was on lunch break. My car get's really beat to hell with this job. They don't pay extra auto insurance coverage for me. They reimburse me the government rate for gas and supposedly that includes wear and tear (.57.5 cents per mile). But this is beyond that. Just a few months ago I go rear ended while on the job, but the other drivers insurer paid everything in full since it was his fault.

I used to drive an old car for work for this very reason and my boss used to make fun of it. Then, the car had a mechanical problem and I decided it wasn't worth fixing and I, against my better judgement, decided to buy a new car- a 2013 Honda Fit. I didn't have the time to look for a used car. Since then I have had 3 incidents already, including this one today! I have to go in and out of parking lots of doctor's offices mainly all day! With the old car, I can't tell you how much maintenance, etc. it required. My key even wore out once because of the constant putting in and out of the ignition! And new brakes! I can't even tell you about how often those were needed.

On top of everything else, I haven't had a raise in 3 years due to the company capping certain full-time employees and industry issues, so- geez- would it be too much to ask my employer to help out with this? I really should have a company car, but good luck with that. Meanwhile, the doctor who owns the company has a collection of personal cars! What the?!

Considering the snow storm we had over night, I really should have stayed in bed today!

Passepartout said:

I've seen signs at Home Depot and other stores that they are not responsible for damage by shopping carts. I suppose that if all their 'Cart Corrals' were full, you might stand a chance of proving neglect, but on private property it would be iffy. Your employer might cover it if you were 'dispatched' there on a specific, business related errand and no company vehicle was available to use for the errand.

I'd get a couple of estimates for the repair and take them into the boss' office and say something like, "Remember that shopping cart incident I told you about the other day, when I was on a company errand? Well here's what it will cost to fix. I don't feel right filing a claim on my insurance. How do you want to handle it?"

Don't wait. Get the estimates and present them while it's still fresh in his mind.

Good Luck.

Jim

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That's what I thought I'd do, also, Jim. Get an estimate or two and present them to the CEO/boss, who I did text when this happened and told him I might ask him to pay for the repairs. He said to keep him posted, so he didn't flat our say 'no". But who knows what he will decide to do. We have no company cars. I have hinted for years.

Meanwhile, I will also see what Home Depot does, but I don't hold any hope there. The assistant manager said he would go to the manager with the info. and put the claim in with their insurance company and I would hear in a few days. He did come out to look at the car.

I would chalk it up to it happens and use the insurance if you wanted to. Maybe you should look at a better insurance plan.

Depending on how bad the dents are you may want to wait till the next incident and get two fixed at the same time.

57.5 cent a mile seems good but if it is a lot of stop and go not so much.

Best of luck in this.

Maybe you are some of the others should ask for a raise. If the owner values their employees then you may get lucky.

mpumilia said:

Homeowners insurance paid? Really?

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Yup. really ! My auto didn't cover it because my auto wasn't involved.

Bill

Most (smart) small businesses that have employees drive their own vehicles at any time will have "non owned auto" coverage as part of their general liability insurance. IANAL, though from what I've been told if one of my staff was driving due to business and had an issue, that's when the non owned auto coverage comes into play. FWIW, it's likely (and common, from what I understand) for business owners not to share with staff that they have this coverage. For my policy, it's a very minor expense and considered standard by my agent. Assuming your company has this, they should be covered. That said, the damage probably isn't greater than the policy deductible...


Sent from my iPad

If that does not work I would follow up with home depot to see if their cameras can tell who left the carts there. If they used a credit card to purchase or can get a plate number then they should be held liable if they did not return the cart to the proper spot. Home Depot may not want to go through the effort which may work in your favor.

Stores aren't responsible for their carts as the can't account for the lazy dimwits who leave carts on a hill instead of putting them in the cart garage. At Home Depot, with those heavy flats, it can result in a lot of damage.

So, am1, you would approach store security to watch the video of the parking lot so you can try and see who left the carts? Then you would have the store review their sales receipts to try and find out who used a charge card at that time so you could use that information to try and track them down?

See you on Judge Judy. :hysterical:

hvsteve1 said:

Stores aren't responsible for their carts as the can't account for the lazy dimwits who leave carts on a hill instead of putting them in the cart garage. At Home Depot, with those heavy flats, it can result in a lot of damage.

So, am1, you would approach store security to watch the video of the parking lot so you can try and see who left the carts? Then you would have the store review their sales receipts to try and find out who used a charge card at that time so you could use that information to try and track them down?

See you on Judge Judy. :hysterical:

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Are they not the people that are liable? I would put it back in Home Depots hands and hope they payout if they are actually liable or not. That is the end game. Even if you find out who left the cart there and then track them down by store purchase it would be hard to get a court to get them to pay along with a lot of effort.

am1 said:

Are they not the people that are liable? I would put it back in Home Depots hands and hope they payout if they are actually liable or not. That is the end game. Even if you find out who left the cart there and then track them down by store purchase it would be hard to get a court to get them to pay along with a lot of effort.

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Bottom line: It's private property and you enter it at your own risk. Thinking that H.D. is going to go through surveillance camera output and then link it to a specific customer/sale is about as ridiculous a comment as I've heard. The damage is fairly slight- less than most people's deductible. You're welcome to your fantasy, but it ain't happening in the real world.

am1 said:

I would chalk it up to it happens and use the insurance if you wanted to. Maybe you should look at a better insurance plan.

Depending on how bad the dents are you may want to wait till the next incident and get two fixed at the same time.

57.5 cent a mile seems good but if it is a lot of stop and go not so much.

Best of luck in this.

Maybe you are some of the others should ask for a raise. If the owner values their employees then you may get lucky.

Click to expand...

Doesn't make sense to put a claim in because I have a $500 deductible and my husband thinks it's about $500 worth of damage. And, of course, the insurance company will probably hold it against me premium wise. Seems like these days if you put a single claim in- even if it was something not your fault, insurance companies will drop you or increase your premiums.

As for raises- well- ain't going to happen. We are down to being lucky we haven;t been asked to just volunteer our services! They have taken away PTO time and capped it to what amounts to a week less of time. They decreased our lunch break to a half hour unpaid. No more XMAS parties. Have to attend meetings on a Saturday morning or in the evening, having to drive back to the office after leaving our shift. We all know what is going on with the outrageous health insurance premiums.They are lucky with me I don't take insurance through them as my husband has it with his job. Never has bought us lunch or anything like that. No fun. Thank goodness the employees are a great bunch of people and that helps. The powers that be are pleasant enough, but not interested in our happiness (to quote the boss). 8 more years in this job until I am 67. I don't think I am going to make it.....

Anyway, that's a whole 'nother story. LOL!

easyrider said:

Yup. really ! My auto didn't cover it because my auto wasn't involved.

Bill

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Oh, I get it. Your cart hit another vehicle. It wasn't your car. Yeah- that's different from my situation. Interesting to know though.

Ken555 said:

Most (smart) small businesses that have employees drive their own vehicles at any time will have "non owned auto" coverage as part of their general liability insurance. IANAL, though from what I've been told if one of my staff was driving due to business and had an issue, that's when the non owned auto coverage comes into play. FWIW, it's likely (and common, from what I understand) for business owners not to share with staff that they have this coverage. For my policy, it's a very minor expense and considered standard by my agent. Assuming your company has this, they should be covered. That said, the damage probably isn't greater than the policy deductible...


Sent from my iPad

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That's a good point. I didn't think of that. My employer might have this and I wouldn't know about it, so I guess I shouldn't feel guilty about asking for reimbursement. The CEO and Director, as well as the doctors at our Radiology Centers and even other personnel, sometimes have to use their cars to go back and forth from our different center locations, etc. Yeah- they probably have a deductible, too, but they could write this off as a business expense I would assume.

Passepartout said:

Bottom line: It's private property and you enter it at your own risk. Thinking that H.D. is going to go through surveillance camera output and then link it to a specific customer/sale is about as ridiculous a comment as I've heard. The damage is fairly slight- less than most people's deductible. You're welcome to your fantasy, but it ain't happening in the real world.

Click to expand...

Years ago I mistakenly left a bag of purchases I made at another store at a drug store counter. The person behind me took it and it was on camera, but the security and police said that although they had the video, they had no way of telling who the person was, so there was nothing they could do.

Passepartout said:

Bottom line: It's private property and you enter it at your own risk. Thinking that H.D. is going to go through surveillance camera output and then link it to a specific customer/sale is about as ridiculous a comment as I've heard. The damage is fairly slight- less than most people's deductible. You're welcome to your fantasy, but it ain't happening in the real world.

Click to expand...

I am just trying to help the OP out. The camera may have the proof of who left the cart there. Also if they made a purchase with a credit card it is easy to track who it was. Or the easy out is Home Depot just pays instead of going through the hassle of all of that. I am sorry that you are more interested in criticizing ideas then helping out the OP. That is what they are looking for.

Good Will

mpumilia said:

So, I use my own personal car for my job that involves a lot of driving. My boss asked me to go to Home Depot to purchase something. I parked the car- far from the main entrance as there were a lot of snow mounds, etc. and I like to keep my car out of harms way as much as possible, since I am in and out of parking lots all day. I was getting my things together and getting ready to get out of the car when two shopping carts (that were quite a ways away) came rolling down slammed into my car, I assume due to gusty winds we were having today.

I got out of my car to look at the damage and then realized I now had locked my keys in the car! Had to wait 2 hours for a locksmith and pay $70. Obviously, not a good day.

My question is- is Home Depot responsible for my car damage? Is my employer? My husband thinks it will be about $500 worth of repairs (dented and scratched passenger door- 2013 Honda Fit-still paying my loan on it)

I did mention it to my employer. Not sure what he will do. My car insurance has a $1000 deductible and I think the comprehensive is $500, so I wouldn't put a claim in with them.

Anyone have any knowledge of this type of situation?

Click to expand...

I worked for a grocery chain I California for almost 43 years. We also had up the standard not responsible signs. In most cases, for good will reasons in the end we paid for dents and scratching from carts. It was cheapest to pay and keep that customer then lose them and go to court.

Icc5 said:

I worked for a grocery chain I California for almost 43 years. We also had up the standard not responsible signs. In most cases, for good will reasons in the end we paid for dents and scratching from carts. It was cheapest to pay and keep that customer then lose them and go to court.

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Hope I am lucky in this regard. Will make me and my boss happy. We'll se what happens. I have an appt. for my first estimate on the damages this Friday.

mpumilia said:

I have an appt. for my first estimate on the damages this Friday.

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You must live in the boonies. We can just drop in at any of the local (dealer or independent) body shops for an on-the-spot estimate. Could easily get a handful of them in an afternoon.

That was heartening to read about (Icc5's) supermarket's policy. I think you'd have heard though, if H.D.'s policy was similar. If so, they wouldn't want it to be common knowledge.

some years ago, my son ran into this problem at a food lion. The wind pushed a shopping cart into his car and caused damage. Even though the signs said they don't pay, they did pay to fix the damage. Not sure of all the details, but they did pay. Lets not forget, shopping carts are their responsibility, and if they knew it was windy and could cause damage to property. They were irresponsible in not collecting the carts. Take them to small claims court if they refuse to pay. Also, without giving your name, call your insurance agent and as them this question. I will ask my son the details when he gets off work and post the details.

Passepartout said:

You must live in the boonies. We can just drop in at any of the local (dealer or independent) body shops for an on-the-spot estimate. Could easily get a handful of them in an afternoon.

That was heartening to read about (Icc5's) supermarket's policy. I think you'd have heard though, if H.D.'s policy was similar. If so, they wouldn't want it to be common knowledge.

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I do! One shop requires an appt. Says they use an "Off-street" estimator when not going through an insurance co., whatever that means. Another place I called, however, said I could just pop in, so I intend to do both this Friday.

If I don't hear from Home Depot by Friday, I will call the store manager. meanwhile, my boss just made a joke about my car today when I saw him, but did not respond to my text telling him I am getting estimates.

Putting up signs does not release a party if negligence is a factor. Putting up a sign at the zoo (not responsible for lion mauling if you put your hand thru the bars) does not release them from their responsibility to put a double cage up.