r2i forum

Hello,
Recently in costco while backing out one car brushed against my new car while i was putting my kid to the car seat. Basically his mirror scratched against my rear car door and bonnet. Those were minor scratches. I asked the guy to stop. He was a desi. I looked at the scratches on my car and i told him if the damage/repair is more then only i will call him. I took his driver's license and his cell phone number. I then took my car to the body shop. They said they will have to take the door out, repaint and put it back. Also i would have to keep the car in the body shop for 3 days. I called up that guy and told him this. I also told him i will let him know when we could meet. But now he doesn't pick up my calls at all. His phone is permanently switched off. I didn't take his insurance card. Now what are my options.

1. Since i have his driver's license i can go to the police station to lodge a complaint. Will this qualify as a hit and run ?

2. Call up my insurance. Tell them the situation and try to go through uninsured motorist claim. But the problem is my deductible will come into play even though it wasn't my fault. But insurance may even refuse the claim if i tell them the whole thing since this happened around 1.5 weeks back. Basically i did not have the time to go the body shop and get the estimate and i was also trying to get this done through him rather than insurance.

3. Call up my insurance and tell them i see a scratch but don't know how it happened. I noticed it today.

I am pissed at the guy who hit me since i even told him that his insurance deductible could be high and so i would rather take the money from him and finish off the matter. I trusted this guy thinking he is a desi and usually desis are scared of the law, etc.

You should have got his insurance details instead of driver's license. That is the most one and only important information needed in any accident. Now that he knows you cannot claim without his insurance he is not responding and you were in the scene at the time of incident, you cannot change the story now. It will back fire you. So pretty much you lost your case here.

You might go to local police office and talk to them about this and ask them if they can do anything to help (no harm in trying). You do have the ID so they might be able to give you his official address or something ?

We all do something like this trusting strangers one time or the other. Put it down to experience.

Looks like you don't have any witnesses other than you and that guy, so insurance might be hard put to believe your version. And probably you didn't take any pictures of the scene either.

It is difficult to ignore scratches when one's car is new. From my limited knowledge of getting car's body repaired, body shops charge more than "free lancers" charge. In my area, there are often guys roaming in the parking lot who offer to work on paint damage while one is gone shopping. They are pretty good too (as long as the work needed is mostly paint and not much of dents).

Another option is to do it yourself. Car dealerships sell paints in small jars. Though if the body shop guy said door needs to be taken out, then probably your DIY effort will leave some unpainted area. Also, many "scratches" are often paint from the other car, and go away when some liquid is used. Googling might return some results like this one.

I know one friend who went to Police and got the issue resolved quicky. This happened in the bay area where one of the neighbor(in the next parking lot) hit my friend's car when no one was around and then to hide it, he started parking his car outside the apartment complex. (Not that it matters but the neighbor was a Desi too) My friend saw the scratch and also found the neighbor's car not parked near anymore. He went and discovered that the neighbor's also had a scratch. Then he confronted the neighbor but the neighbor denied it. After some more talkings, my friend just walked into a Police station and gave a compliant. All that did the trick was a friendly call from the local Police men to make the neighbor to come around :)

In the above case, all my friend had was the apartment number and that's it. The Police did the rest of work. So, in your case, you have the license number which is good enough. You should not let this go without a fight because it's absolutely disgusting.

Also, if he is not picking the phone, leave a message that you are going to Police and ask him to get back to you soon.

Call your insurance company and tell them the whole story. Give them the license number and the license plate number and see if your insurance company is able to track down the other party. Also, file an official police complaint.

A few years back a car backing out of a parking spot had hit my car. There was no damage to the other car. We exchanged insurance information, I called my insurance company and gave them the info. It turned out that the guy had given me wrong information. My insurance company was still able to track down the guy from the License number and the license plate number. I used to be with Ameriprise Auto insurance (Amex Auto) at that time. It took them almost 5 months to settle everything.

You can also try going to some local/desi body shoppers and tell them upfront that you will be paying for it out of your own pocket without going through the insurance. Their rates will be very different from if you are not going through an insurance.

oasis138;378542You might go to local police office and talk to them about this and ask them if they can do anything to help (no harm in trying). You do have the ID so they might be able to give you his official address or something ?

what exactly you are suggesting to do with the official address. do you want the person to go to his/her house. if that person calls the cops for trespassing then this person is in more trouble.
IMO you have lost when you left the scene without calling cops. there is no proof this person has hit your car other than you said and he said.he will deny it and if there is no scratch on his car and even if there is a scratch what is the proof that he did to your car. he might say he did not give the driver's license.
all said and done there are lot of free lancers or small body shops who do for much cheaper when you say i cannot afford as my insurance won't pay this.

dotnetguru;378553what exactly you are suggesting to do with the official address. do you want the person to go to his/her house. if that person calls the cops for trespassing then this person is in more trouble.
IMO you have lost when you left the scene without calling cops. there is no proof this person has hit your car other than you said and he said.he will deny it and if there is no scratch on his car and even if there is a scratch what is the proof that he did to your car. he might say he did not give the driver's license.
all said and done there are lot of free lancers or small body shops who do for much cheaper when you say i cannot afford as my insurance won't pay this.

He has the DL of this person....you wont have the DL for no reason right? Also this happened in a parking lot....so the other person had his car parked there...maybe this was a shopping mall? perhaps he shopped at that mall? His credit cards might have been used to prove he was close to that parking lot on that day...
all i've said is go to police station and speak to them...i didnt ask him to get a pack of goons and go to his house to confront after finding address....go to station and take their advice. ...maybe nothing happens....but my sense is something will happen....also the other guy is desi...you can scare him by leaving a message on his voice mail that you are going to police.

What ever may be scratch/dent size, one has to call the police and lodge complaint. There is no shortcut to it. Even if you take DL/insurance info with out police complaint, it won't work.
Now one option you have is to claim from your insurance saying that some one has scratched your car when it was parked. Even for this, one needs police complaint.

OP,

Agree with other posters that without a police report there's very slim chance that you will get compensated for the damages.

Actually, I'd go one step further and say that you should file a police complaint without delay as there's a chance the guy who hit your car might file a police complaint against you claiming damages stating that it was your fault.