Possible to hit a parked car and not realise?

[IwantanewPC]

Hey guys,

Just been told by my girlfriend that she's had a man knock on her door tonight claiming his car was knocked by a vauxhall (I drive one) and since he knows what everyone else drives (she lives in a block of flats with private parking) he assumed it was hers.

She was half asleep when she answered the door and a bit peeved about how late and angrily he'd knocked so she was pretty short with him, and just told him she doesn't even drive without getting any further details i.e when he wa supposedly hit, how he thinks he knows it was an astra etc etc.

So now I'm wondering whether I may have accidentally clipped someone whilst backing out? Having never been in any sort of car incident before, I'm not sure if you'd feel it for sure? I was last over there on Sunday afternoon.

My gf reckons she's seen plenty of vauxhalls parked around so this could just be a coincidence but it's got me a bit worried! I've checked my car for any tell-tale damage but the thing is, my car is second hand and over 10 years old, it actually already had minor scuffs on both left and right corners of the rear bumper so it's hard to tell. I certainly can't see anything that jumps out at me as definitely not being there before..

 

[On Holiday]

If it's fresh / very recent then I'm pretty sure there would be some flaking on the offending scratches/scuffs etc?

 

[bremen1874]

If you hit anything hard enough to do any damage you'll know about it.

Even a minor paint scuff should be easy enough to spot.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I think you need a bit more information. Why does he think his car was hit by a Vauxhall in particular? Does that mean he saw the accident happen? If it does then surely he can say it was a blue Vauxhall Astra or whatever. Or has he looked at the scuffed paint and decided that type of paint could only have come from a Vauxhall?

As the others have said you'd have to be very unobservant not to notice hitting a car if you'd hit it hard enough to cause damage.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Unless you have the radio on loudly, you should both hear and feel even a very slight grazing contact with another vehicle at low speed.

 

[Semple]

Yeah i'd echo the above about being about to feel the collision.

I was in a minor accident a couple of years ago where a Van had gone into the rear at very low speeds. Luckily the back bumper is pretty much all plastic, so it just flexed and resulted in no scrapes/scuffs/cracks/dents. But being at the wheel when it happened, it felt like a bus had drove straight into the back. So despite the complete lack of damage, you knew something had hit.

 

[new boy]

I easily felt it when I was very very slowly creaping up trying to park in a small space in a new car and tapped the car in front at 0.001MPH causing no damage, so I'm sure she would have noticed.

 

[Jamesyboyjim]

Tapped a few cars trying to get out of tight spaces, (I'm an oaf, I know ) going very slowly, like 1 - 2mph and I've always heard and felt it so I'd say if it happened, you'd know it.

Some people just like to assume and point the finger, people they think they know.

It could have been anyone who hit his car, tell him that you'd have told him if you had and to do one basically.

 

[Glanza]

You know when you hit something even at parking speeds.

How does he know it's a Vauxhall that's hit him, any cctv covering the carpark? and Vauxhall wouldn't be enough to go on considering the vast range it covers.

 

[swain90]

Just ask the guy for the reg of the car that hit it.

If it matches yours then it was you, if not then not your problem.

 

[ttaskmaster]

I supposes it's possible, if you're a new driver and you're bumping down a kurb on an uneven, unlevel road at the point where you also hit the other vehicle.... Just highly unlikely.
Yours doesn't look newly damaged, you obviously didn't set off any alarms and you don't recall hitting anything, so I'd say it was someone else.