Have you ever been the victim of a hit and run?

Did the police make a hit and run accident report? Was this on private property? No matter. if you have a witness and a license plate number, the police will act on it. most police departments have hit and run officers that are assigned to this type of investigation.

Last December, someone hit the front of my car as it sat on the street in front of my house. The front bumper and right front fender was torn off. I had to use our insurance to pay to have it fixed. Luckily, I have a relatively low deductible.

@john65pennington Yes, there was a police report. It took them over two hours to show up, and they acted like they were annoyed and didn’t want to be there. This was in NYC. I’m not sure they will bother to follow up on it, even though they have a license plate number. They sure didn’t act like they even slightly cared. I think it was private property. My husband’s SUV was legally parked in an unloading area for a large building.

Make sure that your insurance company gets a copy of the accident report with the witness’ name and the plate number of the vehicle that hit your husband’s SUV.

Not really, but kind of. When i was about 18 years old a car hit me as i was walking down a road that had no pavements. and he stopped, but i got angry and started throwing stones and trying to open his door so he drove off.

If you have license plates, the police must act on it. it will be plain to see how his car also has damage that corresponds to your damage. get a lawyer to give the cops a phone call and push them.

@MissAusten I think a lot of cops think these sort of reports are a waste of time and underneath them. I’ve been in a ancident where i was parked and the driver of the other car hit the back of my car. They responded quickly but I think they were disappointed that there was only car damage.
After that little fact they took our statements quickly and then sped off to the nearest donut shop.
After that it took a week to get the police report. They said it was because the secretary was on vacation and she needed to copy the report on the copy machine. Obviously it was too difficult for dudley doo rights.
Anyhow, the insurance companies will fight it out with the other persons insurance company or be the ones to decide whether to persue the issue.

I haven’t been a direct victim of a hit and run, but both my parents have on separate occasions (though neither incident involved a parked vehicle.) My mother’s car was totaled by a drunk driver on the freeway when she was pregnant with my older brother. The other driver fled the scene, but was eventually caught. They took him to court and won.

A year ago, my dad was sideswiped by a drunk driver when he was taking my older brother to work. The car was wasted, but neither sustained injuries. Again, the other driver sped off. It wasn’t hard for the police to catch him, but he was such a mess of a human being that my dad wasn’t sure whether it would even be worth taking him to court.

The police were more than cooperative in the first instance but not the second. I think it has to do with the severity of damages and location more than anything else (... we get a lot of drunk driving reports in my area.)

Sorry to hear about the hit and run, @MissAusten. I think it’s always worth contacting the police, whether they seem eager to help or not. Anything that will get you closer to catching whoever did this.

I have been the victim of two rather unique hit and runs.

The first was at the hands of a drunk driver who stole a car down the street, ran into my car, drove off, and hit another car head on up the street and around the corner (she was injured but survived with no permanent effects). The thief left the bumper of the car he was driving in front of my house and was apprehended after the collision. He went to court and was found guilty of stealing the car, drunk driving, hit and run, and something to do with the accident that ended his joy ride. He was given jail time and ordered to pay restitution but, as predicted by the prosecutor who handled the case, I never saw a cent.

The second time a guy backed into my car and actually stopped. When he got out I told him I needed his contact and insurance information and to file a police report. When I mentioned the police Dude freaked out and said he was driving on a restricted license and if the cops found out he would go to jail. I told him I really didn’t have a choice but to call the police. He begged and begged and promised me the moon if I would keep the police out of it. I had been burned before by not getting a police report in a similar situation, so as far as I was concerned it was not negotiable. I grabbed my phone and as soon as I began dialing 911 he jumped in his car and as he pulled away squealing the tires he screamed “I’m not going to jail tonight!” The police showed up and took a report and I never heard another word about it. To answer the obvious question, no we did not take his license number because it never even crossed our minds that he would drive off the way he did.

Two hit and runs, two totaled cars, not a penny of compensation.

@SuperMouse Wow. I’m hoping in our case the other driver’s insurance will have to pay for the damage to our car. Not only do we have a plate number, but the truck that hit our car was a big delivery truck for a well-known party supply company in NYC. Should make it easy enough to track down…I hope!

@poisonedantidote I’m sorry to say that the image of you throwing stones and trying to open the door of the car that hit you kind of made me laugh. I’d probably drive off too! I hope you weren’t hurt, but if you were able to be that physically angry you probably weren’t on death’s doorstep.

@MissAusten Oh, Noooo, I’m so sorry.

No, the three times I have gotten damage were not collisions. One, someone keyed my car, two, someone egged my car, and three, just this week, apparently a shopping basket hit my car door.

About 6 months ago in Wegman’s parking lot, an elderly woman hit my leg from behind causing my knee to buckle and knocking me against her car. She was mortified and petrified. I told her I was fine and that she should leave.
It only hurt for about an hour. No big deal.