Yeah, it's a serious crime--


a few hours ago, my brother (17, he's had his license since September 2007) was driving home from his art class and stopped at the red light, when some driver was about to turn and hit our car (I honestly do not understand how you can't mentally measure whether or not you can turn without hitting the car next to you, especially if you have your license/have a responsible driver next to you.) and drove off.
I guess my brother was in a state of shock and had no clue what to do, so he just got out and picked up the broken pieces (basically, there's ugly brown scratches along with a beautiful dent and the rear view mirror got knocked off) of the mirror and drove home. Honestly, I wouldn't blame him (even though he didn't call the police after it happened) because it's not like they teach what to do after you get hit (they probably assume you wouldn't, unless they do tell you. I don't know D:), so maybe he thought it was useless the call the police and tell them what happened if he didn't know the license plate number?


My mom's guessing repairs would probably cost $1000
D: would insurance even bother to cover this if we have no information on the hitter, even if it's not our fault?


Thanks~

he should have chased after him and called the cops

have you called the police now to file a police report?

well, after this incident.. your brother will learn the hard way. if you have full coverage... insurance will cover the damages (at the expense of raised premiums and deductables). next time, chase the guy down far enough to get his license plate. that way, he can get tried for criminal charges and pay for your damages plus more.

ive been in a similar situation.. it was raining hard one night and i got rear ended on the highway.. in a 5 car pile up starting with mine. when i pulled over to the side, the 2 cars directly behind me ran off. lucky for me, someone had called the cops and i was able to get a police report and a case number. after giving those info to my insurance, i was fully covered. even so, it was one of the worst days of my life. they did get away, and i wasnt able to obtain their lisence plate numbers. i remember when i got home i got so much crap from my parents for not comming home earlier blah blah...(before we knew insurance would cover it) i hate hit and runners... and yes, it is a serious crime. i hope that guy who hit me goes to hell. anyway, you should still contact your insurance company and see how things go. good luck

I wouldn't be surprised if the driver posts on soompi too.

He definitely learned the hard way. I was in a similar situation (but in a rental) where a drunk driver spun me out at an intersection and tried to run. I turned around and gunned it until I caught up to him, got him to pull over. He stumbled out of the car, and a few minutes later, panicked and took off again. Got his plate number and called the police.

If he didn't call the police, I highly doubt insurance will cover it.

Insurance will cover this but you guys will end up having to cough up the dedcutible. So you guys will end up paying for some of it out of pocket..

bah, sucky.


I think my brother was most worried about the broken pieces of the mirror getting killed or the car being jacked if he ran after the car (and he's a slow runner because he's lazy and sloth-like)
I just asked my mom and she said the insurance people are going to her office to check out the damages done and to estimate the damage costs (I thinks she mentioned something like they'll cover $500?) and then something about how if we found a garage that would repair for cheaper than what they estimated (she stopped talking to me at this point?)



thanks guys~
got really worried >__< and needed to vent out about how drivers who cannot properly drive in a lane that's probably 1.5x the size of your car should really NOT be allowed near the steering wheel.
Grr.

I think they mean that your brother should have drove after them to get the plates.

i got into a hit and run last year. it was raining, i was leaving a friends birthday. 3 in the morning. some guy clipped me pretty hard, but anyways, my ar couldnt move. i called insurance and told them what happened. played the waiting game. anyways insurance said my deductivle would get waived and my premium would stay the same

I remember a thread a while back where we asked fellow soompiers their opinion if they would stop or not if they got into a accident (smaller ones, like parked car accidents) and if memory serves me correct, many people said no.

My car had seen many numerous minor accidents, most of which are hit and runs leaving scratches, dents and even holes! Not much I can do as many times I don't know what or who's car did it and they're long gone, leaving me to repair the damage.

I always keep a camera, a film camera that is loaded (one with a date and time stamp), within reach of my driver's seat at all times. Just like my uncle (who has seen a fair share of hit and runs), I keep it loaded and ready so that as soon as something happens I can pull out my camera and shoot pics. I was even with my uncle once when some truck rear-ended us, bumping our bumper, which did knock it partially hanging. The guy started to panic and before we got out of our car, he did a U-Turn and we followed pursuit. Within one block we caught up to him and I pulled out the camera from his glove compartment and got pics of his car, his license plate and even the driver as we sped up to get see his face. I couldn't believe he still ran, even as we called the cops and later furnished all the pics to them.

My lesson learned here is to keep a camera at all times within reach in your car. Film cameras (disposables work well) are ideal with situation because digital cameras rely on batteries, which might not be ready for you when you need it.

Other lesson learned recently, I may start to consider collision and possibily comprehensive coverage on my next car. My current car was wrecked by some punk kid who somehow lost control coming down a hill... i don't know if he was going to leave a note on my parked car, in fact he didn't leave one, a neighbor who witnessed the accident did, because she interrogated the kid for the info and called the cops. Dealing with his insurance company isn't fun at all, even though they find him at fault and I deserve full comphensation. Turns out he maybe underinsured and the time that i'm fighting for this to be over with, i'm without a car. I checked with my own insurance company, looks like I cannot recieve any comphensation from them either, so because of this accident i'm left with two options: Take whatever they give me (which is less than what i'm supposed to get back) or sue him and drag this issue on for another month or two.

Honestly I should've bought collision damage coverage to save me from this nightmare.

Maybe they had cameras at the intersection... but a lot of people can get away from hit and runs unless there are eye witnesses. Your brother shouldn't of just driven home. He should of found out if there were any eye witnesses around who can tell the police what happened and be able to file a report with them. Your brother and his insurance will most likely end up paying for the damages.