How to proceed with possible hit and run situation

June 28, 2023 8:32 PM

I need help with figuring out next steps and options in what seems like a hit-and-run car accident (my car was parked at the time) with some weird additional details.

This is in NJ, US. My car was parked at a gated apartment complex (my partner's home). I used my car to run an errand and realized there was some folded paper under my windshield wiper - it was a person's contact info and a note saying 'we think our cart may have hit your car' (damage occurred in apartment parking lot, not a shopping center). I asked the police non-emerg # what to do and they said they could not produce a police report if the car was not in the place where the damage occurred. They gave me the link to fill out my own Motor Vehicle Commission accident report that I can file.

Note: I am extremely suspect of the 'shopping cart' story as the damage is more significant than what even a metal cart could do, and I'm worried that they're trying to get out of an at-fault accident on their record.

I tried to contact the person listed on the note (they gave first/last name, email address, and phone number) but they have not responded to any of my contact attempts over 4 days. They did not leave a physical address. The person and the info seem legit based on Google searches, but they are not responsive.

What is the best path forward at this point?

Tried:
Contacting person - no dice
Police report - couldn't get due to car being moved
Security cameras - none on apartment property that showed this lot

Not yet done:
Formal repair estimate(s) - informal estimate places it at $800-1000
Contact car insurance and file claim?
File Motor Vehicle Commission accident report?
Small claims court?

At this point my main concerns are my costs (this person admits to being at fault, but I don't know how to get them to pay) - I have comprehensive insurance but the deductible is high and I don't feel like I should be on the hook for any of it. Plus the fact that they seem to be lying about the damage cause (if it really was a car that did it, I want them to be held responsible - is there any way to prove this?) Can I even hold them accountable at all without a mailing address?

I feel out of my depth and dumb that I didn't see the damage right away and call the police. Thanks for any advice.

posted by rachaelfaith to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

File a claim with your insurance, and let people who get paid to figure these things out figure it out.
posted by kevinbelt at 9:00 PM on June 28, 2023 [33 favorites]

Absolutely 100% file a claim with your insurance. They will either take over or give you next steps.

(Edit: after a parked hit and run situation of my own where I was deemed not responsible, I ended up paying nothing and not seeing any rate increase.)
posted by eschatfische at 9:02 PM on June 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

I don't think you are going to get around making an insurance claim unfortunately. If they aren't answering the phone there's a good chance they are uninsured and/or don't have any money.

Not sure what the motor vehicle commission thing is but I'd probably do that before calling insurance. They always want to know if you have a police report case number. If the self reporting doesn't give you a case number I'd park the car back in apartment lot and call the police again.
posted by MadMadam at 9:06 PM on June 28, 2023

Definitely get onto the insurance company sooner rather than later. Not only is it their job to sort out the issue of the other owner, but they are better equipped to do it than you are. This is what you pay your premiums for.
posted by dg at 9:30 PM on June 28, 2023

This is why you have car insurance. Reach out to them and let them deal with it.
posted by bendy at 10:11 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Hey - FWIW, they are probably scared and also scared. Is there a chance they are an uninsured motorist (not cool)? Or undocumented?

You could make an effort to contact them and say that you really need them to cover the cost of the repair promptly, or you're going to have to file for insurance and let the insurance company do their own adjustment, and it might be hard to convince the insurance company that this was a shopping cart incident.

That's up to you. Of course, if they don't respond in a reasonable amount of time, filing with your insurance company makes sense.
posted by amtho at 10:58 PM on June 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

So perhaps this cart was not a shopping cart? This thought occurs to me because damage did not occure at shopping center and is not consistent with a shopping cart. So perhaps it occured in the parking lot at the appartement complex and it was a golf cart, or mobility scooter or gardeners cart, etc.
posted by 15L06 at 1:28 AM on June 29, 2023 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: Yeah, I had that thought as well (what kind of 'cart' might it have been, if it wasn't a car) - I have no idea how a claim gets handled when it's undetermined what type of moving item caused the damage, but as advised, I've started the claim with my insurance.

Thanks all.
posted by rachaelfaith at 6:31 AM on June 29, 2023

Response by poster: Providing a second update to say that:
1. It was a shopping cart after all
2. The hit did not did not occur at the location I thought it did - the note left under my windshield was folded small enough that I didn't see it when I left the grocery store parking lot where it DID happen, I only noticed it later that night back home.
3. The person on the note finally called back another day or two after I posted this.
4. I canceled my claim with my insurance and opened a 3rd party claim against their insurance.
5. Almost three months later, my car is finally fixed to the tune of $2,700.00 (nothing out of my pocket, rental car paid for the repair duration as well) and I will never ever be a customer of State Farm due to my exhausting experience with them. Whew!
posted by rachaelfaith at 9:31 PM on September 13, 2023