Well, it happened to me

Leaving the local grocery, a car backed into us. Just a gentle bump, but still enough to piss me off. Got, the other driver was super apologetic, offered to pay for everything, just don't call the cops. Ahh, red flag there. So, call the troopers and wait. Driver very polite but scared. Suspended license. Sorry, but too bad. Then the passenger, scruffy looking dude, slides over and drives off. Cop arrives takes info. Turns out the temp tag was stolen in Missouri. Car was probably stolen. It was the passengers car, driver did not even know his name (he said) Cop did not bother the driver too much, no ticket, no cuffs. I had no problem with that. Have an appointment with a Geico connected shop, but doubt the damage will be much more than my deductible. Rear quarter panel, right side, scraped and dented, bumper cover scraped, but should buff out. Passenger rear door pooched in but not too bad. Argghh. A strange type of hit and run.

With a title like that I expected, "dear Penthouse Forum, I never thought it would happen to me..."

I guess you got the same action just in the negative sense and not the pleasurable sense.

More like a hit and walk amiright?

Sorry for the issue there as I have had this issue before, 2 days after buying Mrs.84FSP a new truck. I did expect a penthouse forum story based on the title, mild dissapointment

Get a lawyer. The insurance company will screw you, and they won't even use Vaseline.

Just saving everyone some time and jumping right to the end.

cwh wrote: Cop did not bother the driver too much, no ticket, no cuffs.

The no ticket part may come back to haunt you. Did the police make a report? I'm just thinking that the insurance company may not let you claim with your uninsured motorist coverage without a police report.

I had an incident where I was on the other end. Terrible rainstorm, Im backing out of my spot one evening at work, and a kid in a lowered Stratus (a Stratus!...seriously?) with 1.21 jiggawaat ZOMFGBASSWOOFERS is speeding thru the lot with no lights on. I bump him. Scuff his stock passenger rear wheel, and put a curl in his rear wheel arch.

We hop out into the rain, and he takes a quick look, and says dont worry about it. I ask him if hes sure, I dont mind waiting for the cops, and he says again, NBD, its all good. I think he just didnt want to wait around in the rain.

Next day, he finds me at work, and says his brother, who works at a body shop, says its actually gonna cost a few hundred to repaint the wheel, and repair the wheel arch. I told him too bad. He says that it really is my fault. I told him I didnt care, and good luck getting anything out of me.

The big deal here, and how this is relevant to the OP, (well, in Ohio at least, so maybe this doesnt apply to the OP) DOT regs dont apply in parking lots unless the infraction would be considered a high degree misdemeanor. What Stratus Boy didnt know was I had called my ins the night before, and asked a bunch of "im asking for a friend" questions about accidents in a parking lot. From what I remember, the act would have to lead to severe physical harm to another person before it would be a matter for blame to be assigned, thereby placing the responsibility on the driver. Which means, assigning blame in fender benders really doesnt fall under the jurisdiction of the police when it occurs in a private parking lot.

Since it sounds like theyre probably going to be out of pocket anyway, it doesnt seem like theres a big argument in the OPs situation. But, if I remember correctly (this was 10 years ago at this point), OP wouldve been paying to fix their car, even if the other car werent stolen.

I was afraid that this was going to be a cancer diagnosis. Excellent call on getting the police involved as referring to them (or having an attorney do so) will assist in dealing with insurance a bit.

slefain wrote:

cwh wrote: Cop did not bother the driver too much, no ticket, no cuffs.

The no ticket part may come back to haunt you. Did the police make a report? I'm just thinking that the insurance company may not let you claim with your uninsured motorist coverage without a police report.

Actually, in a lot of cases, it's not the insurance policy that dictates it, it's state law. The state law for hit and run cases varies widely, some are pretty strict.

Klayfish wrote: Get a lawyer. The insurance company will screw you, and they won't even use Vaseline. Just saving everyone some time and jumping right to the end.

Good summary!

Just to share my experience, we were hit and ran, reported to police and the LEO's screwed it up - didn't bother looking into it for over a month. We tracked down witnesses and a suspect vehicle. Owner of suspect vehicle simply denied it and the local PD said okay.

Insurance company was sympathetic to our plight and we provided them and the PD so much information that they waived the $1K deductible.

So as Klayfish points out, the Insurance company isn't looking to screw you.

In reply to 4cylndrfury:

So you hit a guy, damage his car, and are proud that you made him pay for it? Wow.

In reply to MDJeepGuy:

But he was driving a lowered Stratus.

In the accidents I've been involved without serious injuries or fatalities the police didn't assign blame in the reports but the took information and made observations of the scene. The insurance companies then took the info and motorist statements and determined the amount of liability each party had.

MDJeepGuy wrote: In reply to 4cylndrfury: So you hit a guy, damage his car, and are proud that you made him pay for it? Wow.

Well...there's that, and the fact that none of it makes sense or has any factual basis (except for perhaps the fact that the accident happened).

I got hit by a guy who ran, so I called the police and followed him. This happened in Pittsburgh, so I called the Pittsburgh Police. I did not want to confront the perp for safety reasons, so I follow him to a house where he stops and ask the cops to get there ASAP. They arrive a full hour later! But not to worry, the guy is still at the house. They take my story and then tell me...they can't help. The stretch of road that the incident happened on is under State jurisdiction, so I have to call the Troopers. (The Fort Pitt Tunnels and bridge: state police, not Pittsburgh) Then they leave, driving right past the guy's van. The troopers cannot come to the house, it is not in their jurisdiction. UGH!

So in the end, I took photos of the damage to my car and the front of the van, plus I had photos of the van in the tunnel proving that it was at least where I claimed it was. The van was owned by a painting company and I have a feeling the driver was an illegal, so they just paid for my repairs to avoid any further police inquiry.

I had this happen to me back when I was 19 or so.

I was in my E36, at Starbucks, with a lucky little lady in the passenger seat. I was gawking at an E34 M5 in the parking lot, telling her how cool they where, as I was backing out. I ended up backing into an Indian guy in his little Sentra while the Sentra was also backing up. It was a very light tap, didn't leave a mark on my car. If I remember right, he had a hairline scratch on his bumper. We both get out, both inspect and both try and blame the other for the incident. We both call the police and the waiting game begins. The special lady friend and I sit on the curb, laughing that this guy who is getting irate that his 1996 Sentra has a scratch in the bumper. About an hour later, a Cop finally shows up, but to get a cup of coffee! We both tell the Cop what had happened, Cop deemed that both of us were reversing at the same time that nobody was at fault and for us to have a nice night.

About a week later, the guy tracks me down at Lamborghini, and says he is demanding that I pay for the scratch in his bumper. He failed to understand that the Cop let us both go. After about two weeks of him calling up there and me hanging up on him, he finally gave up.

I had a parking lot incident last week too. A young mom with her kids backed into my right quarter panel while my car was parked. I wasn't there but she was good enough to stick around and wait for me. She admitted fault and wanted to pay the repair bill directly. The car got a sizeable dent but it's still drivable. The quote is almost $4000! Apparently the construction of a 2010 Suzuki Grand Vitara starts at the right rear quarter panel, and a team of experts need to rebuild the car from scratch. It's now an insurance repair. It'll take 11 days in the shop to repair.

eastpark wrote: I had a parking lot incident last week too. A young mom with her kids backed into my right quarter panel while my car was parked. I wasn't there but she was good enough to stick around and wait for me. She admitted fault and wanted to pay the repair bill directly. The car got a sizeable dent but it's still drivable. The quote is almost $4000! Apparently the construction of a 2010 Suzuki Grand Vitara starts at the right rear quarter panel, and a team of experts need to rebuild the car from scratch. It's now an insurance repair. It'll take 11 days in the shop to repair.

If you damage a quarter panel to the point where it needs to be replaced, it's never cheap. Roughly $750 +/- for the part, 14-18 hours of labor to install, several hours of paint, blending adjacent panels, materials cost, etc...that's assuming there's no damage to the inner structure.

My wife was out running errands in my e46 last week and the car was hit by a pest control truck while parked. Luckily the guy left his card and his boss's card on the windshield. The company is self insured and sent out an inspector within a few days.

I got an email from the company within hours of getting the estimate that they are sending the check to me. $3500 plus rental!

Let's just say I'm doing most of the work myself and upgrading to the M Tech II bumper while I'm at it