Home Depot Parking Lot – El Cajon, CA

Boots went out to get the truck from its parking place and pick up Ruthi at Home Depot’s exit. When she pulled out of the space she heard loud clanging on her right (passenger side). She stopped the truck and got out to see what had happened. The front bumper and grill on the car next to the truck had fallen off and crashed to the ground. Initially, Boots assumed that she must have hit the car getting out of the parking space.

She called Ruthi to let her know that there was a delay and she would need to walk out to the truck. Meanwhile, Boots asked people approaching the area if the car was theirs. She even went into Home Depot and had them do a PA announcement. When Ruthi got there they began to seriously examine the car and related damage. Since the truck was blocking traffic in the lane, Boots moved the truck to another slot.

We waited and waited for the owner to show up and no one did. We took numerous photos (for evidence, you know). Upon further examination of all the parts and pieces of the car; it became apparent that the truck did not cause the damage. It clearly showed that the damage was old and the pieces had debris where there used to be connectors between the pieces.

So, now the dilemma – what do we do: 1) leave a note or 2) just drive off. Luckily, a Home Depot security guard arrived on the scene and helped us make the decision to just leave. He agreed with us that the damage was old and not caused by anything our truck did today. He even suggested that sometimes these cars are set up to fall apart as a scam for money. PHEW!