Vengeance

Someone in a white pickup (paint marks + height of dmg confirm it) backed into my civic and completely busted out my left tail light. There's also a 3 inch deep dent on the corner just above the now broken light.

I thought someone at school did it (I noticed it first there) but when I got home, I saw pieces of my tail light on the street where I usually park my car. I'm about 90% sure the person across the street was the culprit. Their driveway is right across from where I park my car and the angle of the damage would be about right. But since I'm not completely sure,  I don't know whether to confront them about it or not.

The cost to get it fixed will probably be at least $1500, which I can't afford, and there's no way I'm reporting it to my insurance company. So what would you do if you were me? I don't know the person who lives there or even if they own a white truck; and there's no way I could prove it was them since I didn't actually see it happen...

Call the cops and report the hit and run. Tell them you suspect it's your neighbor across the street and they'll go talk to them and check out their vehicles.

call amb imo, ill bet he's got an uncle that could take care of it no problem

Getting cops involved means you may lose some control over whether your insurance company gets involved, say, if neighbor decides to report it to their insurer, or, possibly if your insurance co. does a search under your license number when they are renewing your policy.

edit:
I don't know what i'd do if i were you.   I guess I'd call the local precinct cops (or even just find one on the street) and before I report anything specific, ask them a 'hypothetical' question about whether reporting something like that to them automatically means insurance companies get involved, or what.  Sometimes you can get a cop who offers real good practical advice. . .
 

(Edited by Foopei at 4:17 pm on Sep. 26, 2005)

it also depends on your state's insurance laws.  my state has "no-fault" which basically means your own insurance covers your own car, but we're able to go after the other drivers for our deductible if it's their fault.  Also, since your car was parked when the damage occurred, they likely won't count is as an accident (they keep track of how many you're in regardless of whether you're at fault), but instead it's treated similarly to vandalism or something.

i'd ask someone at your insurance company an anonymous and hypothetical question to see what would happen, but time is of the essence.  If you wait a couple of weeks, not only could your neighbor easily have their car fixed (plus the crap in the street is probably gone, the pieces of your car), but you lose some credibility because you'll have to answer all the questions about why you didn't report it right away.  It's probably important to at least make a police report ASAP even if you don't end up pursuing anything further.

The SA cops suck at everything except writing tickets and taking bribes from the mexican mafia; I'm not going to involve them unless I absolutely have to.

I'll give the person the benefit of the doubt and let them have tonight to come over and talk to me about it. They were probably just leaving for work when it happend and haven't had a chance to get home and look at the damage yet.

If I don't hear anything from them, then I'll go over there tomorrow and ask them if they know anything about it. I live in a decent neighborhood so they should fess up to it when they see the damage to my car. If not, I guess I really have no choice but to report it since I can't drive around with a busted tail light.

That sucks man. You could always put a flashlight in there and put some red tape over it. Pretty sure that's legal.

follow-up:

I talked to my neighbor across the street and she said she didn't know anything about it. The only car she owns is a silver lexus that had no obvious damage to it. None of my neighbors on either side of me saw anything either so I'm left to assume it had to have been one of the dozens of utility trucks that drive up and down our street all day.

Bottom line: I think I'm screwed.

if the parts aren't that expensive, I'd just fix it myself if I were you.  on the other hand, not knowing exactly who did it isn't a burden you normally have to bear if you submit a claim.  If your car is parked and it gets hit, wtf else can they expect you to do other than say "dang, my car got hit!"?

could still be reported as a hit and run.  and if you happen to see said white utility truck, get the plate #.  the cops reaaally don't like hit and run drivers.

There's dozens of those types of vehicles going up and down the street all day, I'd never be able to prove who did it. Time warner, CPS, AC guys, plumbers and lots of other home-service co's use the same generic white van or pickup. It could have been any of them.

I could claim it, I guess, but I have a $500 deductable and my rates will go up just because I filed a claim; even if it wasn't my fault.

I backed into a tree and my car's got a huge dent in the trunk.

people don't back into you when you have a wooden baseball bat in the backseat

Not while you're looking anyway...

Ross backed into his boss and they both got a raise! =P