Involved in hit and run. What would you do?

So I changed lanes in traffic with out using a blinker in rush hour traffic. I know thats bad. The guy I merged in front of was severely displeased. He then cuts around to get in front of me and scrapes my front bumper in the process while flipping me the bird. I was made afraid by the show aggression that I wasn't certain if our vehicles made contact or not. I did have the presence of mind to make note of the plate.

 

When I got to my destination I checked the vehicle and saw the damage. Its very minor and most likely will buff out or at worst cost me $150 at maaco.

 

I called the state patrol to get the guy and when they called me back the patrolman subtly urged me to not file a report or else this could show up on my vehicle history as a collision and cost me some money if I ever resell.

 

I want this guy to lose his license, I don't want to have to lose money in the process. This bugs me even more so because I just got it painted in November. I don't even know if they have insurance or not to cover the damage.

 

What would you do?

I'm mostly incensed and want revenge.

I'm mostly incensed and want revenge. ��

 

Well, it's not at all uncommon for injuries to appear 24-48 hours after vehicles have made contact, no matter how lightly. I would take it up with your insurance company (a hit-and-run is not an at-fault, btw), and due to the show of aggression on his part (you mentioned that to the police, right?), you should explain that when you file your police report, which will allow you to make contact with the individual and pursue damages from his insurance company. Just so you know, injuries attributable to a particular motor-vehicle accident are covered by the at-fault party's insurance for up to 36months. Physical Therapy and Chiro appointments add up quickly.

 

In short, no, you won't be able to prevent him from driving. However, with enough persistence, you CAN make it so that it's very expensive for him to do so.

So I changed lanes in traffic with out using a blinker in rush hour traffic. I know thats bad. The guy I merged in front of was severely displeased. He then cuts around to get in front of me and scrapes my front bumper in the process while flipping me the bird. I was made afraid by the show aggression that I wasn't certain if our vehicles made contact or not. I did have the presence of mind to make note of the plate.

 

When I got to my destination I checked the vehicle and saw the damage. Its very minor and most likely will buff out or at worst cost me $150 at maaco.

 

I called the state patrol to get the guy and when they called me back the patrolman subtly urged me to not file a report or else this could show up on my vehicle history as a collision and cost me some money if I ever resell.

 

I want this guy to lose his license, I don't want to have to lose money in the process. This bugs me even more so because I just got it painted in November. I don't even know if they have insurance or not to cover the damage.

 

What would you do?

 

You can file a claim with your insurance for a hit and run (within 30 days to count as unisured motorists) depedning on what policy you have, you may still have an out of pocket expense(deductible) if this is more than what maaco will charge, then you're better off with maaco.

 

Also at fault accidents don't usually raise your rates in the form of surcharges (that's what the insurance company will tell you) but its been my experience that any claim paid out on your insurance policy, at fault or not, WILL raise your rate.

 

You can file a police report the guy will probably get a summons to appear in court and if he does show up he will probably deny being in any accident, especially if his damages are very minor or none at all. Then the state would have to prove that he was driving or that was even his car at the scene, very hard to do without any independent eye witnesses. Nonetheless if the state decides to pursue this, which most likley will not (unless you have some pull with the prosecutor), short of a confession from the said driver rarely result in a guilty verdict at which point if any claim filed with his insurance company will be denied and you will have a minor accident on your carfax.

 

3 to 9 months later(depending on how long the courts take to conclude the hit & run case against alleged perp), you wished you had just used your damn blinker and gone to maaco.

 

If it was me, I would buff the scratches off, if they can't buff off get my bumper redone and call it a day.

When a police report is filed and you've provided a description and license number of the suspected vehicle, they'll at least follow up, get the RO's name and address and go take a look. The RO denying the police access to view the vehicle, or having it freshly detailed is practically a confession and would be noted in their contact report. Likewise, if they see damage to the vehicle consistent with the complaint, they will usually take pictures, and, if necessary, paint samples from each vehicle to prove contact was made. Whether or not either says they were driving, ROs are still responsible for the actions.

You guys are dicks. Way to stand behind our members.

Where I live if you use a blinker you won't be let in in sime circumstances. But yeah Im

not losing money for revenge.

 

Here is my next question. Can I use the plate number to find the identity and file a civil suit? I do not expect this person will show up in court in which case I just get credit messed up, which is enough.

I highly doubt you will win either civilly or criminally. Do you have an independent witness to the event? Since you didn't mention one I'm guessing not.

 

He will say one or both:

1) He had no idea he touched your car. He didn't feel a thing and there's no damage to his car. Or the damage to BOTH your cars is so minimal that a reasonable person could believe he didn't know he hit your car.

And/Or

2) You struck his car. He is the victim. He didn't call the police because the damage was so minimal it wasn't worth it, but since you are suing him, he will answer with a counteresuit because you hit him.

 

In this case the best thing is buff out your car and get on with your life. Some things are worth sticking to your guns and going for it, this one is not. Life is too short to spend time seeking revenge in court for this.

$14 later I'm over it.

 

I just purchased some Quixx Scratch remover and I think it will be fine.

 

Thanks for the advice, I needed to cool down.

 

Thanks for having my back Tris.

So I'm gathering everyone is saying let it go.

Lets hope this asshole's road rage antics does not cause someone some physical harm or worst in the future. If it was me I would probably want to go to the police and file a hit and run complaint.

$14 later I'm over it.

 

I just purchased some Quixx Scratch remover and I think it will be fine.

 

Thanks for the advice, I needed to cool down.

 

Thanks for having my back Tris.

 

Right or wrong, you're a brother here, and I'll defend you.

 

. . Unless you're fighting for LED cupholders and plasti-dip, or some other shit I don't approve of. Then, you're on your own.

Every jurisdiction handles incidents like these differently.

 

In NYC, if you are involved in a hit and run involving only property damage, your report goes absolutely nowhere. No further investigation is conducted, and the case is automaticaly closed. Why? Because Leaving the Scene of an Accident is only a violation level offense, which means in order for some sort of enforcement action (arrest, summons) to be taken against the person that committed the offense, it must be committed in the presence and under the observation of a police officer.

 

Again, in NYC, you could've still filed two reports (a Complaint Report for Leaving the Scene, and a Police Accident Report) and at least placed his car on the report as the other involved vehicle. However, you didn't pull over at the scene. You actually continued to your destination before realizing that your cars had collided.

 

1) Police Accident Reports are usually NOT prepared for people (like you) that didn't remain at the scene. They are usually ONLY prepared when you stop, and call 911, and a cop responds.

 

2) And 2, by your own admission, you weren't even sure your cars were in a collision. You can NOT file a Complaint against another person for leaving the scene when you yourself didn't know you were in a collision and in fact just did the same thing.

 

In NYC, if you were to walk into a precinct right now to request a report, they would hand you a Civilian form from the DMV called an MV104 and you would just do the report yourself and mail it into the DMV. There is no offense that was committed based on your story.

 

This does not preclude you from calling your insurance company and filing a claim but I'm not sure of the specifics on how that works. If you had collisino coverage, you would call your own company, file a claim, and give them the other car's info. You would perform repairs on your car through your OWN insurance company while they conducted the investigation. If, during the investigation, they find the other vehicle and determine it was their fault, your insurance company will get money from the other party and that's pretty much it. You usually wouldn't take a hit on your premium for that.

 

If you don't have collision coverage, then you only have liability. Meaning your company would NOT pay for your repairs. In fact, I am not even sure if they would conduct an investigation to 'get' the other car. In other words, they wouldn't do anything for you. I believe your only option would probably be to hire an attorney to 'go after' the other car.

 

Set your wounded pride aside. Pick and choose your battles.