Here we go again. Last night my parents had a Christmas party. I parked my car across the street.

A few people (including myself) stayed the night, but most of the guests left. I got out to my car at 0545 to discover that someone had plowed into my driver's side door and just left. No note, nobody came back into the house to admit their mistake, nothing.

Right now paint is flaking off the door and I can't open my window more than 25% of the way down tops, and I get a nice whistling sound when I drive. Sonuvabitch.

This is why I carry full coverage on my car.

I’ve had Parked cars hit 3 times over the years. Only one honest person left a note on my windshield. There’s more and more of this crap happening these days.

This is another good reason to have front and rear dash cams. The ones I use will auto-record once the vehicle is hit by another car.

I have a huge dent in the passenger door on my car. Someone pulling in or out of a parking stop must-have nail me and just left.

Two weeks ago someone ran into one of our work vehicles and took off. Guess they didn't realize their rear bumper was in the road with license plate attached.

I hope they have fun explaining that to their insurance. Unfortunately, police said they couldn't do anything to the driver since there is no way to prove who was driving. They did write a report and told us the person had insurance.

Vulrath, Do your parents or any of their neighbors have outdoor security cameras? Might be worth it to check as perhaps you can then find the guilty party and have the claim go against their versus your insurance.

I plan on going to the neighbors and asking if anyone has cameras. What chaps my hide is that I have a Blackvue dash cam that's been out of commission for a couple of weeks because it doesn't recognize the card and I haven't had a chance to replace it.

The adjuster came out to the parking lot at work and gave me an estimate. They did a whopping estimated $2150 in damages.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:
I plan on going to the neighbors and asking if anyone has cameras.

I have 360 degrees of coverage with cameras and have assisted the PD in a couple capers with my footage. It is amazing what people do when they think no one is watching.

Ranks right up there with Thieves! Hope you pinch the perp.

quote:

Originally posted by Sailor1911:
Ranks right up there with Thieves! Hope you pinch the perp.

It's actually worse than thieves because they also rob you of your time dealing with it and you can't just replace your car with a new one. Resale value is impacted as well and there is a chance the repairs won't be done correctly.

Back in Sept of 2000 I bought the only brand new vehicle I have ever owned, a 2000 Dodge Durango. 10 days after I bought it, hit and run. I was parked on the street and I think someone was turning around in the driveway across from my vehicle. I came out about 10 minutes after I parked and my entire drivers side door was caved in. Bastards.

I watched some angry woman back into a car and try to leave unoticed a few years ago.
I was able to run out and get the license plate before she got too far away.
I left it on the windshield of the bent car.

I came out of the doctors office once and my fairly new grey car had a bright green mark on the back bumper (luckily it was able to be buffed out and no lasting marks, but still ridiculous)

When I was 21 I was pulling a truck I had into a spot I shouldn't have been pulling into. Ran it right into another pickup in the parking lot I was at for a driving job interview (face palm that didn't go so well). Left them a note on their windshield and the guy legitimately seemed surprised someone would actually leave a note instead of just leaving. I was young and didn't realize how common it was for people to hit other people's shit and bail without saying anything.

Purchased a new Mustang GT in 87' and while standing in the line at the local Dunkin' Donuts I saw a sedan pull into the spot next to my car and the little kid in the back seat opened the back seat door and kicked it open with both legs. It hit my car with enough impact to set off the car alarm. I went outside and approached the woman driver about the damage caused. She denied her son even caused the damage until I opened her rear door and it met perfectly with the deep ding in my car. She immediately apologized and said her husband owned the State Farm Insurance a few doors away from the donut shop and we exchanged info and my car was repaired in the next few days.

I'm thankful that I saw it happen and at least the alarm went off with everybody now looking at what happened, and having the sense to open her rear door immediately to match the dented area. If there were no alarm triggered, or if the cause and damage wasn't immediately checked, I would have been left with the damages as the Mother immediately denied her son wouldn't have done that sort of thing!

The repair was top notch but that first ding hurts the most

Ughh. We were at a friends house a few weeks ago watching the Steelers game. Friend’s sister comes in, and asks us if our car had a dent in it. We go outside, and the driver side front corner was caved it. Wife’s leased car, 1.5yrs old with 15k on the odo.

I could tell it was caused by a large vehicle backing out of the driveway across the street. No debris on the ground, impact was fairly high on the vehicle, and even though the headlamp was scratched, it wasn’t broken. I’m thinking the driver backed up, his vehicle stopped, so he gave it more throttle. We could also tell by the movement in the house, something was up. People constantly looking out their window.

Cops were called, and by that point we had a phone number for the person who lives there, who also drove a 15 passenger van. LEO spoke with him on my phone, and said he will be charged with a hit and run, due to the severity of the damage, and he didn’t practice “due diligence” in trying to find the owners (my family) who were in the house that the vehicle was parked in front of. The owner returned about 2hrs later, with insurance paperwork and his license. Luckily I took a pic of the vehicle license plate, since it was a company vehicle, and wouldn’t have tied the vehicle to the driver, delaying the insurance process.

3 weeks later, and a rental car the entire time, we got my wife’s car back. I’m guessing the final bill was close to $7,000 on their insurance. Frustrating experience, as I am not sure if the driver was a legal US citizen, but he had no intention of coming clean until the cops got involved. Only reason I parked on the street is because our friends kids were playing in the driveway. I don’t understand if your car is in the driveway, and you go to back out, how do you not notice a vehicle, legally parked on the street when you walk to your vehicle?

Luckily it was just a car that got hit, and not one of the kids.

Good follow through on your part. You should be promoted to postal inspector.

Good cooperation from law enforcement as well.

A quick update: I've been talking to a former coworker who owns a body shop. As soon as I can get a copy of the insurance company's assessment I'll bring it over to him to look over.

My wife hit a German national's car in Germany in 1980. She left a note. He called, we met and I paid him 600 DM. He then proceeded to spend it by taking us both out for dinner, dancing and drinking. He was genuinely surprised my wife left the note.

As I read this thread I can't help but grin, thankfully my fellow Sigforumites can't see that....

Try living in the land of Illegal Aliens who are allowed Drivers Licenses, but don't have auto insurance, and being 30 miles from the border of Mexico and ICE Agents who are by California law not allowed to work with local Police. Hit and run's? You have no idea what we deal with here in the land of Failure.

So, I absolutely do sympathize with those hit and run victims out there.

Be safe.

I was driving through the lot of one of our stop and robs when some dingbat backed directly into me, then peeled and squealed, obviously knowing full well what they had done.

Fortunately for them I couldn't catch the plate.

Unfortunately for them I was driving my unmarked police car and it was about a block of lukewarm pursuit joined by 2 marked cars before they got smart and pulled over, facing multiple charges for what turned out to be relatively minor damage.

quote:

Originally posted by kidcop:
I was driving through the lot of one of our stop and robs when some dingbat backed directly into me, then peeled and squealed, obviously knowing full well what they had done.

Fortunately for them I couldn't catch the plate.

Unfortunately for them I was driving my unmarked police car and it was about a block of lukewarm pursuit joined by 2 marked cars before they got smart and pulled over, facing multiple charges for what turned out to be relatively minor damage.

This makes me smile.