Epic2112

Final update on page 3. I ended up making out very well!

I figured I'd ask and see if anyone has any suggestions on what I can do other than the obvious; here's what happened:

I was parallel parking and a guy decided to drive around me instead of waiting for me to park. He hit my rear view mirror with the front door handle of his car, then with the rear door handle, and then scraped the front quarter panel with the rear of his car. He pulled over at first, my girlfriend called 911, and I got out to talk to him. He first told me that he didn't hit my car (although I can't figure out why he would have pulled over if he didn't think there was an accident), and then offered me a few dollars ($50 or so). It wasn't enough to fix the damage, so I told him we'll wait for the police. I asked for his insurance info, he said he would give it to the police, not to me. He sat in his car for a few minutes, and then without warning sped off.

I had taken down the license plate number, so I called my insurance company and waited for the police to arrive. When they did they took down an accident report, but explained that they don't pursue hit & runs unless there is an injury. According to my insurance company they can run the plate and contact the guy, but he has to admit responsibility for the accident, which I can't imagine he'll do.

The damage isn't too bad, just some scrapes, but it'll definitely need a bit more than just paint because the metal's a bit bent. My guess is that it's not going to exceed my deductible ($500), which means my insurance company isn't even going to subrogate the claim.

Is there anything I can do other than sit and cross my fingers or just give up and pay to fix it myself?

Will Feather

Hit and run, and you got his plate, he should be liable. Any cameras in the area or store front?\

If metal is dented it will probably go past your $500 deductible.. deff worth pursuing. And I would not touch it at all until it is all figured out with insurance. If you mess with it they will make it hard for you.

V2Rocket

license plate will get you a name and address usually. sue.

River

Wow. That is total bs. If that happened here, cops would be on it...Then again, I'm going to check,lol!

BeerBurner

Sorry to hear this happened.

You can go to the police and maybe they'll do something. Then again, maybe not because they didn't do dick when I went to them with that kind of information after being the victim of a hit and run. Unfortunately, without witnesses it is word v. word and odds are nothing will happen.

Good luck!

BB.

944Ross

I believe it is not "hit and run", but "leaving the scene of an accident", plus a few related charges. Since the damage is likely a couple of grand, it is likely in an elevated class of those related charges. Since you have two witnesses, and got his plate info, the cops should be all over it, at least to get his name and insurance company (if he has any, which I'd bet he doesn't). They good news may be that it falls under your uninsured motorist coverage which has different deductibles (usually).

F18Rep

No way I would bet against that.

Me and 4 other cars got rear-ended on HWY 270 a few years ago. There were injuries. He plowed into stopped traffic (4 lanes wide) I was like the forth car up, stopped in traffic so only lost a tail light on a beater Honda. Off duty cop took all the info. Guilty guy said his secretary must have forgot to put the paperwork in his truck. Right. If I had pulled that they would have arrested me but they let him go and he hasn't been seen since. I filed a claim but got nothing from my insurance (no collision) and the guys business vanished the next week. The state later sent me his address but it was bogus.

I suspect the no insurance is pretty common, there are even companies around here that sell short term insurance - just long enough to get a car registered. ...Bruce

xschop

If they are illegals, good luck. They have more rights than we do.

Epic2112

Well, the cops said they don't pursue these incidents, so I'm not counting on much help from them. They said the accident report will be available in a few days, so when I pick it up I'll find out if they have gotten any info from the guy's plate.

Obviously if there's no info that can be acquired via the plate I'm dead in the water. If there is, however, I'm not sure what to do next. I'll obviously give the info to my insurance company, however I'm assuming that he'll deny that anything happened, do I have any recourse?

I have no reason to believe that this guy was undocumented, nor any info that speaks to his insurance situation one way or the other.

Epic2112

Uninsured/underinsured coverage works a bit differently in NY than in most states, I think. I just checked with an insurance specialist friend, and it only covers bodily injury apparently.

rlets

And they wonder where vigilantism comes from. Bummer Man, good luck with your insurance company.

Rich

michael2e

I had a hit & run happen to me not long ago in Colorado ( not in the 51 fortunately). Got the plate and immediately looked for and got the names of 2 witnesses who offered to help. One of the witnesses saw the whole thing and actually followed the guy to a local bar! The witness then related the info to the cops who immediately went after the guy and arrested him . In the span of the perpetrators 5 second decision time to leave the scene the result was he ended up in jail, cited for DUI, no proof of insurance, charged with leaving the scene of an accident, and an impounded vehicle with my paint on his bumper. I went to file a small claims court suit ( $2000 damage) and was told to get hold of the police report which ultimately did have the drivers info incl address and insurance. Turned out he did have insurance so I called and informed his nice agent what their insured had just done. They dropped him immediately but not before paying off my damages in full and then some! $400 perfect door off ebay put it on and had some spare cash for 951 goodies!

Good news for you is you do have a witness ( the GF saw the whole thing ) the cops were on the scene and presumably made note of the damage on their report including the license plate number you gave them. It may benefit matters if you and your GF make a sworn testimony to a notary public ASAP so you have some kind of documentation as to what happened near the time of the incident while details are fresh. Just in case it does drag into a court matter. I'm not sure how NYPD treats drivers/vehicle info but they would be your source for pulling the plate so you can determine who the driver was and whether he had insurance. Presumably your insurance can help with that. Hopefully it doesnt take an atty to make that happen. Send a PM to Michelle on the 951 board and see if she has any further ideas as shes an atty. If you can get the info it should be a pretty solid case in small claims if the insurance routes dont pan out. Good luck HTH

seafeye

Your insurance company can put pressure on the cops to at least inspect his car.
Tell them you are going to file a claim and the will be more responsive.
Then call the local cop shop and speak to a supervisor. Squeeky wheel gets the grease. You pay taxes. They work for you.

Epic2112

Thanks, these are good suggestions. I'm going to see if we can get to a notary tonight.

f1rocks

My insurance company (State Farm) waived the deductable because I called the police and had a police report. You may ask them if they will do that as well.