French generosity - amazing!

[Mick Kennedy]

My wife and I recently had a heartwarming experience in Fontainebleau.............upon leaving our aire near Fontainebleau in the morning, we came across a tree fallen across the road so had to do a u-turn and go through the little town nearby with narrow streets that we'd been trying to avoid. Cut a long story shorter, as we took a tight corner we sideswiped a little parked car with our long overhang at the back (photo attached). I parked up around the corner and went back to knock on doors to find the owner - but he wasn't at home., so I left an aplogetic message on his car with our contact details and then his neighbour came out to us with his phone number, so I also sent him a text (after getting no answer) apologising again and explaining that what had happened and that I'd prefer to just pay him for repairing the damage rather than involve the insurance companies and lose our no-claims. So I asked him to get a quote for the damage and I'd send him the money. We then continued with our journey south but later got to talk to him and I said it all again in my laboured French and he said he'd call me back. He then texted us saying ''no charge, he'd repair it himself and for us just to enjoy our time in France! We were astonished. Attached is a photo of the text we sent friends and family at the time, plus a photo of the damage to his car. We thanked him profusely, as you can imagaine, but we still can't get over it.

 

[Landy Andy]

Wow. What a nice person.

 

[jongood]

A lot of them are very nice folk. More often than not we feel welcome there.

It does hell if like the OP you ve made a little effort to learn the language of your host country.

 

[The Wino]

I think there are nice people in every country and a lot more than there are nasty people. I do think that in some countries they are less car proud than we are I don't think most have age related plates so there's probably less new car snobbery and a few battle scars seem quite acceptable!

 

[Ingwe]

Not wishing to generalise but we have found that the French have a much healthier attitude towards their cars than us. A car is a means of conveyance not an object to idolise. On a Sunday in summer, you won't see many French men (or woman) outside lovingly washing, waxing and generally titivating their cars.
In fact, when in Paris, we used to play a game of spotting a car that didn't have dents, scrapes or missing mirrors.

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[Spriddler]

When I worked in Paris it was acceptable to nudge a car along a bit with your own to make space to park.
A colleague said that many don't put the handbrake on to make it easier to be nudged and avoid damage.

 

[BreweryDave]

Ah but maybe it wasn’t even his car......maybe it was his ex wife’s

 

[Ingwe]

Reminds me of the tale of a motorist who prangs into a parked car right next to a lengthy bus queue. The driver gets out, writes a note and puts it under the parked car's wiper. He then drives off.
A curious person in the bus queue reads the note:
"I'm sorry but I've bashed your car. I'm being watched by an entire bus queue who think I'm leaving you my contact and insurance details. I'm not. Sorry! "

 

[Jev88]

I have some lovely ex colleagues from France and all over Europe and they were generally a nice bunch so glad to hear of your good experience.
Can't help wondering if the car owner had no insurance or valid licence though, hence happy to fix himself?

A car rear ended my company car some years back and as he was a mechanic offered to inspect mine and repair..... Turned down the offer and later found out it was a customer's car in for repair and he had no authority to be driving it (it wasn't a booked test run for example).

 

[Spriddler]

Ah but maybe it wasn’t even his car......maybe it was his ex wife’s

Or he was visiting his mistress.

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[Ingwe]

Ah but maybe it wasn’t even his car......maybe it was his ex wife’s

Like the Peter Sellers' sketch.
"Does your dog bite?"
"No"
Pets dog which bites his hand.
"Thought you said your dog doesn't bite!"
"It's not my dog!"

 

[KiwiKampers]

That's a heart-warming story.
I had a very similar experience in Australia. I damaged a car as I manoeuvred a rental motorhome in a car park. I managed to find the owner of the car and offered to pay for the repair. He refused to accept my offer and said "Carry on with your holiday. Don't give it another moments thought 'cos when you get back to the rental company they'll sure as hell remind you of the damage you've done to their van!"

 

[Spriddler]

Like the Peter Sellers' sketch.
"Does your dog bite?"
"No"
Pets dog which bites his hand.
"Thought you said your dog doesn't bite!"
"It's not my dog!"

A few years ago I caught a dog that was wandering around my garden without a collar. A neighbour knew it and described its home up my road so I put one of my dog's collars on it and took it back. When the guy opened the door I lost grip on the lead when the dog saw a cat in the hall and shot inside. All Hell broke loose as it chased the cat upstairs, back down again and round and round the downstairs.
"Good gracious" I said above the racket "Is it always like that?" To which the chap replied "I don't have a bloody dog!"

 

[63720]

Similar here...we have received more random acts of kindness in France than here at home - lovely forgiving people who are always willing to help.

 

[Podney]

Always found the french to be very helpful and friendly.

Many years ago we were at an unattended filling station in France,trying to buy some diesel,but the machine wouldn’t take our card. We asked the chap behind to help..............he put his own card in the machine,and we wrote him a cheque in exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mind you,it was a French bank account and was in the days when it was illegal to write a cheque when you had insufficient funds in the account in France. Probably still is. But the guy didn’t have to do it,and I can’t imagine it happening here.

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[Coastal Cruiser.]

Bit of T-Cut and it will buff out

 

[Parrot Face]

Been hit twice by French drivers. Both simply got out and asked how much. Then paid my asking price in cash.

 

[chaser]

My attitude to motors as well, just for riding in not looking at, I usually buy cars with more damage than that to start with,

 

[maison]

We had our car hit, while parked, by a reversing lorry while in France.

The village policeman witnessed the incident, rang the company who owned the vehicle, got them to agree to pay for the repairs, and took us and introduced us to a garage who then carried out the repairs for us.

All handled for us, no insurance claims, no-one fined, everyone happy. Result!

We have always found the French to be helpful whenever we have needed it. We stopped our motorhome to ask for directions after being diverted off the SatNav route. The gentleman warned us of some unsuitable roads in front of us, then got his car out of his drive and led us around the road closure for about 12km before wishing us Bon Vacance.