Hit and killed a neighbor's loose dog this morning

[jigen]

Everyone is jumping on how it's the owner's fault for not training their dog. We don't know the full story, and I honestly don't think it's important. The OP asked for advice on how to proceed. Me personally? I wouldn't like to keep something like this going on with the family who owned the dog. It's a lousy scenario but like others said, accidents happen. I believe a comp claim for me is $100. I would pay the deductible and get on with it.

 

[Bladecutter]

Originally Posted By: Cristobal

The accident was the fault of the dog owner. But man, you must have been going awfully fast for that much damage.

I wasn't speeding, nor was I was texting on a cell phone, or talking on said phone, or drunk, or changing the radio station, or anything that would have been a distraction. I was driving down my residential street, which is a 25 mph zone, at 20 mph. I took the car out to warm up the oil so that I could change it. I had the PYB and Purolator One filter sitting in the garage, waiting for me to come back, and make with the change. I was just finishing my 9.5 mile loop, and not once during the drive did I exceed the speed limit. In fact, on the 40 and 45 mph stretches of road, I was locking the cruise control on, with the transmission in 5th gear (manual transmission on the PT Cruiser). I was going slow in my neighborhood, not only for safety, but to cool the oil a whee bit more. As for the situation with the neighbor who's dog I hit, we haven't decided what we are going to do as of yet. We had an unpleasant experience with another neighbor who felt it was her job to scream "DOG KILLER" at the top of her lungs just as my fiancee and I returned home from a small grocery run. That really didn't go over well with my fiancee, and she started screaming back at her. That didn't go well at all. I went over, and defused the situation to the best of my ability, but I am pretty much going to expect to receive more of this abuse over time, there's nothing that I can do about it, and honestly, I really don't care what people like these are thinking. If we decide not to pursue an insurance claim, I will inform the officer, and ask him to relay the information to the dog's family. BC.

 

[yucca]

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter

If we decide not to pursue an insurance claim, I will inform the officer, and ask him to relay the information to the dog's family. BC.

Since they are already offended you might as well add insult to running over and killing their pet by suing your neighbor for damage. You will be the most popular neighbors in the hood for years to come.

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted By: yucca

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter

If we decide not to pursue an insurance claim, I will inform the officer, and ask him to relay the information to the dog's family. BC.

Since they are already offended you might as well add insult to running over and killing their pet by suing your neighbor for damage. You will be the most popular neighbors in the hood for years to come.

He didn't kill their dog, the dog owner did. It is entirely the dog owners fault that their dog was killed, either through negligence or just a horrible accident. Either way they should accept responsibility for their actions or inaction, that let the dog run free on a public road, and be hit. They should also pay for the damage to the OP's car. That's probably the biggest problem with society today. People that are unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Aaaah, the joys of driving! This is why we have insurance. It's an unfortunate confluence of events, but doo doo happens. Despite everyone's 'feelings' the dog was being neglected by its owner. That is not the drivers fault. So give the info to your insurance company, send some flowers to the neighbor with a nice card and move on. I hit a kid on a bike once. Actually he hit me, but the emotions were high and folks almost got violent. I was not charged and there was a ruckus, but we got over it and moved on. Good luck to you, but just know this can happen at ANY TIME!

 

[Bladecutter]

Well, after the screaming match yesterday with neighbors who live between us and the dog's family (who live 13 houses up the opposite side of the street), and the fact that I went into the garage last night and started mitigating damage to the car, it looks like all we're going to come out with is the need to someday, replace and repaint the bumper cover (I popped out the huge dent on the driver's side, but it's still a bit deformed, and there's spider cracks in the paint above where the dent was), and to buy a new house in a different neighborhood. So, I'm not going forward with filing an insurance claim of any form, either with our insurance, or with the neighbor's insurance. What I will do, is tell the officer today that we aren't going to request compensation, but if his DA wants to press charges for the loose dog that caused property damage, then we will support the City in court, fully. Now, we get to start looking at houses with a three car garage, but that's a different thread for a different time. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help. You've really helped us out during a difficult time. BC.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: 02SE

Originally Posted By: yucca

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter

If we decide not to pursue an insurance claim, I will inform the officer, and ask him to relay the information to the dog's family. BC.

Since they are already offended you might as well add insult to running over and killing their pet by suing your neighbor for damage. You will be the most popular neighbors in the hood for years to come.

He didn't kill their dog, the dog owner did. It is entirely the dog owners fault that their dog was killed, either through negligence or just a horrible accident. Either way they should accept responsibility for their actions or inaction, that let the dog run free on a public road, and be hit. They should also pay for the damage to the OP's car. That's probably the biggest problem with society today. People that are unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions.

I 100% agree. The "dog killer"-yelling neighbor was out of line and probably did not have all of the facts. So, while I agree that the dog owner should be fully responsible for the damage, it might not be that simple. It might be that, if the OP knocks on the dog owner's door and asks to come in and have a discussion about what happened, he'll end up walking away in a better position, regardless of whether he decides to claim repairs on his own insurance or against the dog owner's home owner's. In other words, hearing from you what happened, that it was an unavoidable, tragic accident, may alleviate some pain. It doesn't matter if she's an idiot who lets her dog roam freely around the neighborhood or some one who's dog behaves at all times, but got it into himself to chase some phantom cat that day, defusing the situation and making sure that future relations with his neighbors is more important. The neighbor should relay the positive outcome from the meeting. That is, unless the OTHER neighbor simply took it upon herself to lose it knowing nothing at all about the situation or either family involved, and it just a nut job screaming things that makes her feel better.

 

[FZ1]

My Allstate agent told me a Comp claim doesn't increase my premium. Why don't you check with another insurance company re the claim and check prices with Allstate(Cheaper than my previous insurer).If you can get insured with another company,going forward,then file the insurance claim with your current insurer and switch to the new(cheaper)insurer after the current insurer fixes your car. You paid for the insurance:You should get to use it.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: 02SE

Originally Posted By: yucca

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter

If we decide not to pursue an insurance claim, I will inform the officer, and ask him to relay the information to the dog's family. BC.

Since they are already offended you might as well add insult to running over and killing their pet by suing your neighbor for damage. You will be the most popular neighbors in the hood for years to come.

He didn't kill their dog, the dog owner did. It is entirely the dog owners fault that their dog was killed, either through negligence or just a horrible accident. Either way they should accept responsibility for their actions or inaction, that let the dog run free on a public road, and be hit. They should also pay for the damage to the OP's car. That's probably the biggest problem with society today. People that are unwilling to accept responsibility for their own actions.

+1 The dog owner could have easily put a shock collar on the dog preventing it from running into the road. People in our world seriously need to grow a pair and take responsibility for their own actions. It reminds me of the car accident I was involved in 4 years ago. I was at a stop sign in a snow storm and a lady from the other side slid into me while I was stopped. She was clearly driving too fast for the conditions and lost control. She immediately got out and started saying it was my fault. Luckily there were witnesses who saw it was her fault, and calmed her down. First she totals my vehicle, then gets out yelling at me. It took everything I had not to beat her silly.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Quote:

I took the car out to warm up the oil so that I could change it.

No need to drive the vehicle, in order to warm the oil. Just let it idle until warm.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Bladecutter

Well, after the screaming match yesterday with neighbors who live between us and the dog's family (who live 13 houses up the opposite side of the street), and the fact that I went into the garage last night and started mitigating damage to the car, it looks like all we're going to come out with is the need to someday, replace and repaint the bumper cover (I popped out the huge dent on the driver's side, but it's still a bit deformed, and there's spider cracks in the paint above where the dent was), and to buy a new house in a different neighborhood. So, I'm not going forward with filing an insurance claim of any form, either with our insurance, or with the neighbor's insurance. What I will do, is tell the officer today that we aren't going to request compensation, but if his DA wants to press charges for the loose dog that caused property damage, then we will support the City in court, fully. Now, we get to start looking at houses with a three car garage, but that's a different thread for a different time. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help. You've really helped us out during a difficult time. BC.

You've got class. I hope this decision enables sleeping dogs to lie.

 

[daves87rs]

Judging by what I am reading here, I'd agree with the OP. Sounds more like neighborhood issues than the dog issue... I get the feeling the PT is going to get replaced anyways. Plus, I wouldn't count that neighbor from inflicting more damage to the car for revenge anyways.. This is one of the reasons I recently chose not to get a "nice" car. It's not that I do not have a garage to park it in, but all the roads and wild parking lots...I just had to fix yet another dent on my Cobalt yesterday....

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint

Man that sucks!!

+1. Sorry man, that is gonna be a hard thing to forget the sight of. Best wishes.

 

[Bladecutter]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs

Judging by what I am reading here, I'd agree with the OP. Sounds more like neighborhood issues than the dog issue... I get the feeling the PT is going to get replaced anyways. Plus, I wouldn't count that neighbor from inflicting more damage to the car for revenge anyways.. This is one of the reasons I recently chose not to get a "nice" car. It's not that I do not have a garage to park it in, but all the roads and wild parking lots...I just had to fix yet another dent on my Cobalt yesterday....

The PT Cruiser, the Fiat 500 Abarth, and my Ducati 848 all live inside of the 2 car garage. The CX-5 stays in the driveway. So I'm not worried about more damage to the PT Cruiser happening. And yes, one day the PT Cruiser might wind up sold. But, not anytime soon. My fiancee has way too much of an emotional attachment to it to let it go. She bought it brand new, and has taken great care of it. It's in fantastic shape, with the exception of the front bumper, now. BC.

 

[NHHEMI]

Why does this sad event have to be someone's fault? No one here, and it seems even the OP, knows how or why the dog was loose? Maybe the dog simply got away and ran into the street and the owner couldn't stop it or didn't know it had got loose? Dogs are animals with free will. My Brother lost his Springer Spaniel a few years ago when it somehow pushed the back door open( screen door - we think to go play with the cat )and got out. My Brother and his wife were getting ready for work( shower and getting dressed )and didn't know the dog was out. Only later did they realize what happened when they heard tires screech and a dog yelp. The dog was dead by the time my Brother got there. The driver was a wreck and full of guilt even though it was really no one's fault. As SteveSRT8 said doo doo happens. My brother's dogs are NEVER let outside unattended. The dog just figured out a way to get outside. Once outside it did what dogs do and that is run and romp. Sadly it ran into the road in front of a car that had no time to stop. The OP wasn't speeding he says so bottom line is this was just an accident. Bad things happen at times where no one is at fault. This sounds like that may be the case here. People need to stop assigning blame. It gets really old here at this site how someone always has to be at fault in every situation.

 

[cchase]

The problem here is not the dead dog, but the reaction of the neighbors to accuse him of wrongdoing somehow.