Like most stores, ROSS, offers shopping carts for the convenience of their customers. This is so they can get their shopping easily from the store to their car parked in the parking lot. Offering shopping carts does require a certain amount of supervision from the store's employees in order to prevent hazards occurring because the shopping cart has been left to roll around in the parking lot hitting parked cars and damaging them at will.
Like any department store, if ROSS fails to control its fleet of shopping carts and damage is done to parked cars, owners will be looking for compensation to cover the coast of the damage. As long as fault or negligence can be proved it should be possible to file a PI claim with the insurer of the person found to be at-fault.
Causes of Shopping Cart Accidents
Damage to parked cars from shopping carts is not a laughing matter as a repair bill could run into thousands of dollars. Typically, it is quite safe to say that a shopping cart accident is likely to have been caused by somebody’s negligence. This could be by an employee who is paid to manage the shopping carts when relocating them from the parking lot to the store’s entrance but does not do a good job and shopping carts are unexpectedly released causing damage to your car.
A second cause is if ROSS, or any department store, hasn’t employed sufficient staff to take care of the shopping carts so the store itself could be held responsible for any damage done by an out of control shopping cart. On occasions a shopper could be to blame if s/he has just left a shopping cart to its own devices after unloading the cart’s goods into his/her car.
Types of Damage That Can Happen to You from a Shopping Cart Accident
If you tell someone your car has been damaged by a runaway shopping cart in a parking lot they might just laugh thinking that the damage could not be too serious. It might come as quite a surprise that a shopping cart that is left to roll down even a gentle slope in a parking lot could cause some quite serious damage to a parked car, even though its impact is unlikely to total a parked car. The damage could include any of the following, depending which part of the car is hit:
- damage to the rear of the car including the bumper, reversing and brake light lenses as well as scratches to the paint work;
- damage to the front bumper if the shopping cart is involved in a head on collision with your parked car;
- serious, nasty looking scratches and dents if the shopping cart side swipes your car.
All repairs to cars are expensive, even panel beating and fixing scratches, which could involve a full re-spray of the car in order to return it to its normal state prior to the accident. You should be able to file a PI compensation claim to recoup the cost of repairs to your car from the insurer of the negligent person.
Why You Need a PI Attorney and What He or She Can Do to Help You
An experienced PI attorney will ensure that all the required evidence to prove negligence is provided to the insurer so that you get the PI settlement you are entitled to.
Additional Resources
Disclaimer:
The content of this article serves only to provide information and should not be construed as legal advice. If you file a claim against ROSS, or any other party, you may not be entitled to any compensation.
