SOMEBODY HIT MY CAR & RAN!!!!

[Solo2driver]

Don't wait. Take the photos and measurements and do it now. If you are confronted by anyone or the alleged owner of the truck, politely inform them that it is believed that the vehicle may have been involved in an incident and you are taking documentation. You can hand them a local police department report # and a detective's name for further information if they get crazy on you. You're not going to get jumped or harassed. Just get what you need and send it along.

The longer you wait, the less opportunity you have to file properly. Just do it!

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Thanks for the advice. I'll go look around tomorrow between classes. It was just my luck today that the batteries ran out on my camera and I didn't have new ones on hand.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

I would expect this to be a collision claim, but your agent can confirm or deny. Since this was a not your fault accident, your premiums may not go up as a direct cause of this accident. Allstate also has "accident forgiveness" that you may have qualified for that may come into play here, although I doubt it, also (You were not the cause of the damage nor negligent). Talking frankly to your agent on this is probably the best way to find out ramifications. I nearly always advocate using insurance you pay for rather than pay for the full fix. As you get older, especially, there are plenty of insurance companies who will insure you. I have found that nearly any damage is now about $1K in body shop estimates. If Allstate has a preferred vendor program, you may want to use it if you don't know a good shop to go to.

 

[hr1940]

Last December I was parked in front of my son's house and came out to find my drivers door and front fender damaged. The fender, door and mirror had to be replaced. I called the police and they filed a report for me and tried to contact the people across the street. The police made 3 trips trying to get the people to answer their door. I sent a copy of the police report to my insurance company. I had to pay the deductable. Later I saw a SUV the same color as the paint on my door parked in the their garage. I gave the plate number to the insurance company and they did the work and sent me a check for the deductable. My insurance did not go up. I hope things work out as well for you. Since I live in Arkansas and in a small town (25,000) things are a little different.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I just compared the paint chip to the Tundra and the damage doesn't match so that rules it out. Now I'm hoping it wasn't someone who lives here's friend who doesn't live here.

I didn't see other cars that match in color but I'll have to check later when people come back.

 

[Canawler]

I just went thru almost the exact same scenario a few months ago. Our Xterra was parked in a nearly empty parking lot while we ran inside for 10 minutes to pick up a few things. When we came out every panel on the passenger side had been scraped, dented, or creased. Amazingly, there was no deposited paint and with the height of the damage, I assume it was a mirror?? No other cars any where near us and no surveillance video. I called our agent and she asked me to get a police report to satisfy the insurance company. The police took down the info and took a few pictures and said good luck. In PA this actually falls under collision because the damage was done by another vehicle. It would only be comprehensive if done by a person, or say, by a shopping cart rolling into the vehicle.

About a month before this, my wife had slid off the road on some ice and hit a mailbox with the front passenger side (basic cheap aluminum mailbox with 4x4 post that owner wanted, and our insurance company paid, $350 to replace

.) Two days before the parking lot incident we received the check for the first repairs so even though they were not performed yet the matter was closed as far as the insurance company was concerned. The parking lot damage would have been a second "incident." The first one qualified as our accident forgiveness deal and would not have raised our rates. The problem though, was that according to our insurance agent, if we would have submitted the parking lot damage, a second incident within a year, even if not our fault, would have resulted in our insurance not being renewed the next year. Remember, the insurance companies don't care who was at fault, only that they have to pay out money. We have a $500 deductible so were looking at $1000 out of pocket anyway. Once the dealer body shop found out they didn't have to deal with insurance they agreed to do all the work for a rate that still had us only paying the $1000 we would have been paying anyway if we had turned it in.
The whole auto insurance thing just absolutely sucks. You pay in for years with no claims then when you need to use a small fraction of what you have paid in, they raise your rates or just drop you.

Bye the way, the dealer body shop did terrible work (sags, a run, sanded area not buffed out, paint chip on A-pillar that wasn't there before entering the shop) and wouldn't fix it even after we contacted the owners and Nissan district mgr. I didn't want to use the dealer but it made my wife happy.

 

[Audi Junkie]

'Cuda.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

So is it better to contact the agent or the national claim center?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

One more question. On the 'delayed accident' form where it says driver, am I suppose to put in anything even though I wasn't driving the car?

I'm new to this so any help is appreciated.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
In PA this actually falls under collision because the damage was done by another vehicle.


My agent told me that it falls under the collision deductible ..but not that it is in any way counted as an accident claim. I'll recheck ..but I'm fairly confident he said comprehensive.

If you've got a long enough accident free record, you should get an assured renewal document from your carrier. I can't be dropped, regardless of what occurs ..at least until after the renewal of next year's policy.

Our last claim was from a human head denting the cowl section of my jeep. My son was driving downtown ...a slightly intoxicated dark man in dark clothing left the bar and j-walked into the side of the jeep. The only thing my son realized is that a cigar flew at him through the window. He wasn't seriously injured (thankfully) and the cops issued no citation to my son since they concluded there was on negligence on his part.

It cost us $250 ..and never a rate change or surcharge levied.

 

[Canawler]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
So is it better to contact the agent or the national claim center?


I'm not sure what the correct answer to this is. I've always had a good relationship with my agent so I always let them be my contact with the insurance company. I figure that's what they get paid for.

 

[mrsilv04]

Contact your agent. If he's a good one, he'll help with that police report as well.

Not only should he be your agent, he should be your advocate as well.

 

[Canawler]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
In PA this actually falls under collision because the damage was done by another vehicle.


My agent told me that it falls under the collision deductible ..but not that it is in any way counted as an accident claim. I'll recheck ..but I'm fairly confident he said comprehensive.

Our deductible is the same for comp. and collision. I was also told it wouldn't count as an at fault accident, but the insurance is still paying out money so there will be repercussions.


Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
If you've got a long enough accident free record, you should get an assured renewal document from your carrier. I can't be dropped, regardless of what occurs ..at least until after the renewal of next year's policy.

We've never had an accident with this ins. company and I've been using them for about 10 years. I've never heard of an assured renewal document, I'll have to look into it. Maybe my agent was talking about getting dropped after the next renewal. She said that not every case with more than 1 claim in a year results in a non-renewal but it is very common with Erie Insurance and it seems like it only doesn't happen if they make a mistake and miss it.



Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
It cost us $250 ..and never a rate change or surcharge levied.

First accident forgiveness??

 

[Canawler]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
One more question. On the 'delayed accident' form where it says driver, am I suppose to put in anything even though I wasn't driving the car?

I'm new to this so any help is appreciated.


Another question I can't answer but in my case the police officer just took down all my info and he filled out the report.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Ask your agent how to file your claim. That is why he gets a commission off every insurance dollar you pay.

Under "driver", I would scratch thru and put car owner. And explain car was parked.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

Not all insurance companies offer assured or guaranteed renewal. Of course the guarantee doesn't extend to the price. They can make it uneconomical for you to continue coverage by providing you with an extremely high rate. State Farm and several other companies have been promoting assured renewal for many years. It is not a regulatory requirement to do so, so you particular insurance company doesn't have to have such a program.

 

[McKittrick]

Same thing happened to me.

Car was parked in parking lot, came out passenger quarter panel crushed in above tire.

The store next to the store I was in said they saw a white work truck with a couple of hispanic fellows back up and then drive off.

I called the police and they just laughed, white work truck with a couple of hispanic fellows would match thousands of trucks in the local area.

Insurance paid for it, but the paint never matched and began to fade after a couple of years.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Thank You so much for all the responses.

Allstate better hold to their "You're in Good Hands" slogan. We've been with them for at least six years. I'll get a hold of our agent after class today.

 

[demarpaint]

In NY if your car was hit while legally parked they can't raise your insurance (unless some new law went into place that I'm not aware of), the rule is probably the same in most other states as well. So filing a claim won't raise your rates.

Get pictures of the truck you think hit your vehicle along with the plate #'s give that to the insurance as well as the police.

Years ago some A-hole hit me while driving in and out of lanes to get nowhere fast. I managed to get a plate #, and the police were able to track this [censored]-head down and tell by paint transfer that he had hit me.

Good luck,
Frank D

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Canawler
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Quote:
In PA this actually falls under collision because the damage was done by another vehicle.


My agent told me that it falls under the collision deductible ..but not that it is in any way counted as an accident claim. I'll recheck ..but I'm fairly confident he said comprehensive.

Our deductible is the same for comp. and collision. I was also told it wouldn't count as an at fault accident, but the insurance is still paying out money so there will be repercussions.


Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
If you've got a long enough accident free record, you should get an assured renewal document from your carrier. I can't be dropped, regardless of what occurs ..at least until after the renewal of next year's policy.

We've never had an accident with this ins. company and I've been using them for about 10 years. I've never heard of an assured renewal document, I'll have to look into it. Maybe my agent was talking about getting dropped after the next renewal. She said that not every case with more than 1 claim in a year results in a non-renewal but it is very common with Erie Insurance and it seems like it only doesn't happen if they make a mistake and miss it.



Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
It cost us $250 ..and never a rate change or surcharge levied.

First accident forgiveness??


It wasn't an "at fault" accident. As far as the pedestrian's injuries ..in PA if you're on a bike ..on foot ..driving a tow motor ..or in a PUBLIC BUS ..if you're involved in a vehicular accident ..your medical bills are endured by YOUR carrier if you're an insured driver.

He hit my jeep while j-walking. What part is "my fault"? I mean ..you feel bad ..but involvement doesn't assure liability even in our litigious society.

I've been with State Farm for over 25 years. I've never had a surcharge in that time ..even though several (relatively) minor claims have been filed. I can't see them "cutting me slack" just because I carry my homeowners and "umbrella" $1M personal liability policy with them. Auto insurance appears to be a very sterile thing.


In regard to the "assured renewal" ..one would assume that most insurance companies offer comparable services for varied prices in a competitive market. One would assume that a given customer with a long trend of no claims or tickets ..that may experience a bout of random claims in the future, would be a safe bet ..and offer them the same assurance. Apparently not.