1FSTBRD
Registered User
Sorry if this is a bit long, but I have to get it out.
I was shopping at the local grocery store tonight, and my alarm pager had gone off on my SC. There's been times where there's been a false alarm, so I didn't think too much of it. Anyways, I came out of the store and was about to put my groceries in the car and a guy came up and asked, "is this your car?". I said "yeah". He said, "there was someone who hit your car and then went into the store". I looked at the front fender/ bumper, and my corner marker light was lying on the ground (intact!), and the front driver's side bumper corner had a big scrape on it. The other driver must have scraped the whole side of their car, or at least a good portion of it. It's not too bad--it didn't crack the bumper. And the damage was almost exclusively relegated to the front bumper.....didn't transfer to the front headlight, nor the hood, and there is a small, barely visible scrape on the driver's front fender. But still, you know......I keep my things in great condition and take care of them. The most frustrating thing for me is that I always park at the back of the parking lot, to avoid these sorts of fender benders.
Another witness came forward and said that he had seen the whole thing. I took both of their names and numbers, and thanked them profusely for coming forward.....AND waiting around to see who belonged to the parked car. They both said that there was significant damage to the other vehicle, whereas my car was almost unscathed. There was a note left on my windshield with a phone number to call.
When I called the number, I left a message on the person's voice mail. She said that she wasn't in any accident, nor did she know anything about it, but was willing to co-operate with the police or insurance company in that it was NOT her that did it. Right now, i'm giving the other party the benefit of the doubt in that they gave a phone number that had a wrong digit in it or something.
Here's where the importance of telling the truth and doing the right thing come in. Louie, the second witness, had taken a picture of the offending vehicle, right next to mine, including the licence plate in clear day! A white Nissan Rogue. When I called him back tonight, I said that the phone number that was left on my windshield was an invalid one, and that I need the picture so that I can submit it to the police. Here, any hit and run needs to be reported to the police. I'm not really sure how tough they are on parking lot fender benders, but still, a hit and run is a hit and run where you're not exchanging licenses and particulars. I suppose you can't wait there forever, but still......you should wait there for a little while, at least.
My second witness saw them put the phone number there, and then go into the store and shop and then come out and leave the scene. They didn't try at all to stick around.
I'll keep you all posted after I go to the cop shop tonight with the license plate number and the picture. Still, i'm worried that the insurance company may try to write the car off. It does have a rebuilt status (my guess is rebuilt salvage--I didn't ask, though I knew it had a rebuilt status), and i've heard of some cases where they write off perfectly good cars that have light cosmetic damage because they've been in an accident before. I'm going to go into it fighting it and say, "look, my car was parked and someone damaged it in a hit and run. I park at the back of the parking lot to avoid the typical fender bender things. These cars are rare, and becoming rarer by the year"
Does anyone have any advice here on any facet of this?
I was shopping at the local grocery store tonight, and my alarm pager had gone off on my SC. There's been times where there's been a false alarm, so I didn't think too much of it. Anyways, I came out of the store and was about to put my groceries in the car and a guy came up and asked, "is this your car?". I said "yeah". He said, "there was someone who hit your car and then went into the store". I looked at the front fender/ bumper, and my corner marker light was lying on the ground (intact!), and the front driver's side bumper corner had a big scrape on it. The other driver must have scraped the whole side of their car, or at least a good portion of it. It's not too bad--it didn't crack the bumper. And the damage was almost exclusively relegated to the front bumper.....didn't transfer to the front headlight, nor the hood, and there is a small, barely visible scrape on the driver's front fender. But still, you know......I keep my things in great condition and take care of them. The most frustrating thing for me is that I always park at the back of the parking lot, to avoid these sorts of fender benders.
Another witness came forward and said that he had seen the whole thing. I took both of their names and numbers, and thanked them profusely for coming forward.....AND waiting around to see who belonged to the parked car. They both said that there was significant damage to the other vehicle, whereas my car was almost unscathed. There was a note left on my windshield with a phone number to call.
When I called the number, I left a message on the person's voice mail. She said that she wasn't in any accident, nor did she know anything about it, but was willing to co-operate with the police or insurance company in that it was NOT her that did it. Right now, i'm giving the other party the benefit of the doubt in that they gave a phone number that had a wrong digit in it or something.
Here's where the importance of telling the truth and doing the right thing come in. Louie, the second witness, had taken a picture of the offending vehicle, right next to mine, including the licence plate in clear day! A white Nissan Rogue. When I called him back tonight, I said that the phone number that was left on my windshield was an invalid one, and that I need the picture so that I can submit it to the police. Here, any hit and run needs to be reported to the police. I'm not really sure how tough they are on parking lot fender benders, but still, a hit and run is a hit and run where you're not exchanging licenses and particulars. I suppose you can't wait there forever, but still......you should wait there for a little while, at least.
My second witness saw them put the phone number there, and then go into the store and shop and then come out and leave the scene. They didn't try at all to stick around.
I'll keep you all posted after I go to the cop shop tonight with the license plate number and the picture. Still, i'm worried that the insurance company may try to write the car off. It does have a rebuilt status (my guess is rebuilt salvage--I didn't ask, though I knew it had a rebuilt status), and i've heard of some cases where they write off perfectly good cars that have light cosmetic damage because they've been in an accident before. I'm going to go into it fighting it and say, "look, my car was parked and someone damaged it in a hit and run. I park at the back of the parking lot to avoid the typical fender bender things. These cars are rare, and becoming rarer by the year"
Does anyone have any advice here on any facet of this?