[greenyoda]

"It ended up costing him $13K, although clearly his fault I felt bad for the guy."

Wouldn't his liability insurance have paid for damage to another vehicle? I'd expect that the only cost to the driver might be an increase on his insurance premium for having been at fault in a collision.

[tolien]

A $13k claim would make that increase in premium quite significant, though, for a <4 mph ding that would normally be settled by both parties without any insurance involvement.

For comparison, the average "newer used" (1-3 years old) car in 2017 sold for $15374, so a low speed car park ding cost almost as much as destroying a nearly-new car.

1: http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2016/12/5_things_to_...

[Spooky23]

In New York, the state minimum is $10k for property damage. Good luck suing the guy carrying that low level of coverage!