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Drunk guy hit my parked car.
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tightsocks
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Nov 25, 2011, 01:41 PM
 
A drunk guy hit my car while it was parked in the parking lot of my apartment building.
He stumbled away and hid in his apartment.
The police towed his car and took down my info, but I don't have any of his specifics (name, plate).

I realize that this is not the crime of the century and that stuff like this happens a thousand times a day.
But, I have very little life experience and I just muddle through.

How to I handle this?

My main concerns are: (if anybody cares)
-How do I make sure it is ok for me to drive the car? It looks like probably just body damage above the drivers side tire, but I don't want to drive it and then have someone say that I made things worse by driving it around.

-The guy might have been driving a random car from the dealership where he works (not sure about this, just a rumor amongst the neighbors.) That seems like it could potentially make the insurance more complicated.

-I'm worried I will be stuck with a deductible even though this is totally not my fault.

-My car has a slight 'pre-existing condition' that I was planning to have fixed in the coming days. (the hood is stuck closed/hood release doesn't work).
     
Waragainstsleep
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Nov 25, 2011, 01:52 PM
 
If you are unsure about causing more damage, then you need to get an expert to look at it. A friend is cheaper than a mechanic you don't know.

Does he work for this dealership? It might be possible that they are liable for the damage or maybe you could just threaten to sue them. A car dealership will have the facilities to fix your car up though so that might work out for the best. I don't even know how car insurance works over there.

If you end up claiming on his insurance or the dealership, make out that there was no pre-existing condition and it was caused by the impact. Sounds feasible and you get it fixed for free. Win! Also if you claim on insurance, make sure you claim for the cost of any mechanic inspection from point one.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 02:00 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
If you end up claiming on his insurance or the dealership, make out that there was no pre-existing condition and it was caused by the impact. Sounds feasible and you get it fixed for free. Win!
The one thing I know for sure is that I will definitely not say that the existing hood problem is part of his damage.

I'm mainly concerned that not being able to open the hood will make it harder for them to assess/estimate the damage. I guess I'll need to get the hood fixed and then have the estimates done.
     
andi*pandi
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Nov 25, 2011, 02:22 PM
 
You need to have an adjuster come out and take pix where it sits right now. Any mechanic can probably open the hood even if you can't so I wouldn't wait for that. I'm surprised the cops didn't give you any insurance info or a form to fill out.
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 02:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
I'm surprised the cops didn't give you any insurance info or a form to fill out.
Me too.
He said they would release their report to the insurance companies...
He didn't even give me a reference number, just their main phone number for the police office.

Turns out my agents office is closed today, but I could call the company directly and use their emergency claim line I suppose.
     
Waragainstsleep
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Nov 25, 2011, 02:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by tightsocks View Post
The one thing I know for sure is that I will definitely not say that the existing hood problem is part of his damage.
People do it all the time. Insurance companies are evil and deserve to be punished. They'd screw you over in a heartbeat.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
boy8cookie
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Nov 25, 2011, 03:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by tightsocks View Post
The one thing I know for sure is that I will definitely not say that the existing hood problem is part of his damage.
Why not?
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 03:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by boy8cookie View Post
Why not?
Because it's not.
I refuse to be involved in that type of fraud.
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 03:22 PM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
People do it all the time. Insurance companies are evil and deserve to be punished. They'd screw you over in a heartbeat.
If the company screws me then I will deal with that directly. (I have no idea how...)
Not by preemptively trying to get them to pay for something that is not related to my current issue.
     
Big Mac
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Nov 25, 2011, 03:53 PM
 
Good for you tightscoks for being honest. I'm very sorry that happened to you-it's terrible when reckless drivers harm our cars. It happened to me last year when I was at a friend's house for the weekend and my car was parked on the street near his house. Many hundreds in damage, and I never knew who was responsible, either.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 04:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Good for you tightscoks for being honest. I'm very sorry that happened to you-it's terrible when reckless drivers harm our cars. It happened to me last year when I was at a friend's house for the weekend and my car was parked on the street near his house. Many hundreds in damage, and I never knew who was responsible, either.
Yikes!
So how does that work since you don't have a responsible party to deal with? Does your insurance treat it the same as if a tree or something fell on it?

I'm not trying to make a big deal out if this. It's just a car. The damage probably isn't even that major.
My main reason for posting is for advice and handholding through the insurance process...
( Last edited by tightsocks; Nov 25, 2011 at 04:03 PM. Reason: spelling)
     
Big Mac
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Nov 25, 2011, 04:38 PM
 
Yeah, it sucked indeed. I didn't even have much more than liability coverage (no comprehensive/collision at the time) so the way it worked was. . . I paid out of pocket to fix my car. Pretty upsetting. But I figured that I benefited financially from lower premiums for many years, but the downside was I had to pay up when something bad happened. Now I have somewhat better coverage and an alarm.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 05:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Now I have somewhat better coverage and an alarm.
I was surprised my alarm didn't go off. Hopefully that means he didn't hit it particularly hard.
(fender area above driver front tire, with back passr. side corner of his rear bumper)
     
Teronzhul
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Nov 25, 2011, 05:16 PM
 
Originally Posted by tightsocks View Post
Because it's not.
I refuse to be involved in that type of fraud.
I felt the exact same way the last time I was hit. I was extremely specific about what damage was pre-existing and what was caused by the accident. The dealership fixed everything anyway and billed it to the insurance company. Now I just don't care.
     
subego
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Nov 25, 2011, 06:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
You need to have an adjuster come out and take pix where it sits right now.
This is correct.
     
imitchellg5
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Nov 25, 2011, 07:36 PM
 
Insurance adjusters know what was there before and after, somehow. It's like a 6th sense. When my car was totalled by hail, he could tell which major dents weren't caused by hail or not. HOWEVER, because a lot of dents did occur during a shelf falling on my car in our garage, which we reported to the homeowner's insurance (same as car insurance), they added that damage onto the total damage for the car.
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 08:07 PM
 
My agents office is closed today, so I called the ins co directly to see if they could send someone over to look at it. He said no need--indicated that it was okay to drive it until I was able to get in-touch with my agent. Was he trying to set me up for them to decline to pay? Who knows...

He also seemed to lay out 2 scenarios from what I could discern:
Have my agent/ins co handle it and likely be out my deductible .
Or, go it alone and contact the guys ins co directly and hopefully they pay for the entire bill.

Frankly, I don't understand why my ins co won't contact his and get them to pay for the whole thing...
     
imitchellg5
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Nov 25, 2011, 08:16 PM
 
Originally Posted by tightsocks View Post
Frankly, I don't understand why my ins co won't contact his and get them to pay for the whole thing...
They will.
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 08:26 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
They will.
Including my deductible?
     
imitchellg5
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Nov 25, 2011, 08:29 PM
 
Oh, no, you'll have to pay your deductible of course. I was referring to the damage itself.
     
tightsocks  (op)
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Nov 25, 2011, 08:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
Oh, no, you'll have to pay your deductible of course. I was referring to the damage itself.
But, if go directly to his ins co is there a chance they will pay for everything and I won't have to pay my deductible?

I don't see why I should have to incur any cost when there is a clear responsible party.
     
imitchellg5
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Nov 25, 2011, 09:08 PM
 
Wait, I'm sorry, it's been a long day.

No, you won't have to pay your deductible for anything. He will have to pay his deductible.
     
   
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