Check your contract, see if there is any kind of coverage for parking your car there. $8.5k? If only the estimate could go up a few grand and you'd have a total loss on your hands.

 

Oh sorry, my car doesn't have that amount of damage I was just talking about RDVT4ME. I'll ask the leasing office to see if there's any coverage for parking there, thanks for the suggestion. I really don't want to get a total loss though, the car is still running great and only has 13k miles on it lol.

 

Ohh damn you have a virgin C230, your car stick or auto?

 

damn 13k miles thats nothing, pretty much brand new!

that sux that a$$hole said he wouldnt pay for it. definitely look into the insurance thing, i think he can get in some serious trouble for not having insurance. at least if he doesnt pay for it you can get him back that way.

 

I would also say follow up on the police side, because he might actually have insurance on the car and just be lying about it because he doesn't want to deal with you. Since it is still drivable, you could also try the long way and take him to court, should be pretty straight forward.

I would suggest stalking him in dark alleys and just taking it from his wallet over and over until you had it all covered -- but someone might think I was actually serious about that. (OK, really, I am just kidding -- don't go serial mug him!!!)

 

I would get a rental car from your insurance or just pay out of pocket till you get it the insurance sorted out (then get reimbursed). Don't want to damage your car more. I had a friend that got hit in a parking lot while he was in the car he was able to corner the guy until the cops came lol. He did not have insurance and got in huge trouble over that (deported for other reasons lol). My friend ended up getting like $500 to cover the deductible after he took the guy to court before the guy was deported. But in the end my friend said he should have just went through his insurance and moved on because of the hassles of going to court and everything else.

 

I genuinely feel for you as I've in in a similar situation. I got into my parked GM vehicle and noticed a note on the dashboard. I read it and the note indicated a hit-and-run occurred and the witness took down the plate number.

Reported it to the West Australian Police. Nothing happened for about three months and called up the police to followed up. The police officer, who was very nice by the way, indicated there are TWO officers in the entire state who investigate non-urgent hit & runs. They got the address from the plate, visited the house but no one home. Part of their procedures was to put it on the bottom of the pile and try again.

Six month later the police got a hold of the owner, found out he lent his car to a younger woman in the family who drove it that day.

Took six months but his insurance paid for it in the end.

Good thing was the damage was not too bad so I could still drive. I didnt want to get it fixed sooner as I would have been out of pocket until the police tracked the driver down.

 

From limited knowledge of American law; perhaps you need to take them to a civil court to get damages, unless they pay free-willing. But as you now have the police report and the owner admitting, I guess you would win the case.

 

If the chap cant pay for the repairs, you may need to bite the bullet and claim it through your insurance. But dont let him off the hook, I'd still look at taking him to the civil court. Make sure you keep all receipts and out-of-pocket expenses related. Even keep a diary of events. Even if you need to hire a car and if your insurance deductible/premium goes up in future. Hopefully a judge will give order the chap to pay.

Plus it may be an interesting life experience to take someone to court if your sure you will win and of course if it wont cost you an arm and a leg to take the person there. I'm not sure how expensive court fee's are in the USA.

Or just take it to Judge Judy and the TV station will pay his fee if he looses LOL

 

Ah, so many possibilities to take care of this. I'm going to bring it to some bodyshops and get estimates of how much to get it fixed. I don't really care how I get the money to fix it as long as I get it lol. I don't think I have the time and money to take this to court though, I'm a college student.

 

You'd be shooting yourself in the foot if you don't at least look into it. Here in Australia we have courts for small disputes which don't cost much at all, I think its about $50 to get your case heard. Maybe your USA-State has similar? Worth looking into is all I'm saying [if the guy doesn't pay up].

 

If only you lived here, I could get a friend to have it repaired for 3K (parts included) ;P


I made 1k after my last accident. Insurance gave 3.8k, I fixed with 2.8k (quarter panel, rear tail lights, and other parts included)

 

Our Australian insurance companies pay the repair agent direct. I dont think we can get the estimate in cash.

 

what i would say is first of all, i agree that you should at least look into it, because a $50 court fee is much better than a $300 deductible AND

if you tell the guy you are going to take him to court, it goes both ways, he doesn't want to go to court any more than you do, and on his end, he KNOWS he is going to loose, especially because he admitted it and you have the police report. Just the threat of going to court will force people into making a settlement.

I was involved in a civil court case against me(much larger scale than this, six figures) and it was obvious that the whole intention of them filing against me was to get my insurance money, it went for almost a year and they finally agreed to settle within the limits of my liability so i wouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket. it's a really f**ked up system in this country.

in the US we have an option, the insurance company will automatically want to take it to THEIR body shop and pay them because they have some sort of deal and they will always want to provide a used part if possible. it is possible to get an estimate and get the cash but they usually won't give you more than what it would have cost through their repair guy. it's just a PITA to go through the paperwork of getting the money.

 

most of the time with any accidents. You will have to foot your own deductible so the repairs can be done and when there internal investigation is done and if the person/party is at fault you either have to sue for your deductible back or sometimes the insurance handles it for you.

 

 

Always go through insurance. That's why you have it. They even have lawyers to represent you if needed. Avoid the headache just tell your insurance company especially because its a comphrensive claim. Dont believe everyone when they say that if you tell the insurance company they will jack up your rates. I have 2 friends who are injury claim adjusters for Geico and I work in the ER. Insurance companies dont care if a tree falls on your car etc etc. They write you a check for the value end of story... They care if you get into accidents because if you come into any ER with a high speed accident you are considered a trama which is a minimum bill f 20K plus lawsuits..physical therapy etc etc.

And you plan on keeping your car for a long time go to a reputable repair shop. Who cares if they report it to Carfax or not at that point. Your car is probably worth 21,000 i'm assuming and its 4 years old on its way to 5 so a minor repair assuming its only the quarter panel and not suspension really wont hurt the value down the road

 

Please tell me that the first thing that you did was file a police report. I was a victim of a hit and run not too long ago and the first thing I did was file a police report. They will investigate the matter and give you a case number that you can give to your insurance. My insurance covered the damage full with only a VERY small dedutible FTW!

 

I agree, however, I think it is worth the $50 or so filing fee for the civil claim, even if you do it just for your deductible. If you don't, the idiot walks away scott free to do it again, with no repercussions for his actions. Although it is a hassle for you to have to go through, and you may not even get anything out of it.

 

funny thing you mention that. My friend had a car accident while he was applying for the Police Department. Even though it was 70/30 and he was the 30 he ended up paying 250 for the other parties deductible because the PD wouldnt hire him until the civil case was closed

 

Some insurance agencies do that here too. AllState although a little bit more expensive is the best. Go in and they check out your car they estimate the damages and boom you just got a check made out to you. I believe farmers does this as well, although I hate their annoying commercial "we are farmers, bum bum bum bum, bum bum bum"

 

Never heard of these companies. Are they east coast insurers? We in the West Coast are a bit slow to catchup with everything. Been to Perth lately? Our CBD is decades behind Melbourne and Sydney.

 

Thanks for all the inputs guys! I will update once I get something new, I'll try and get estimates on repair costs tomorrow since I have a day off.

 

It's been a while... but I just got a couple of estimates today. One shop gave me an estimate of $2800, one $3100 for best case scenario and $4100 if they need to replace the bumper, and another shop gave $3300. These pricing are without the cost for a rental car while I wait for it to be fix in a week. Never thought it would be this expensive lol.

The shop that gave me two estimate is a Mercedes Certified repair center so I'm leaning more toward that. Anyone have experience with Haury's Auto Repair, Pacific Auto Body, or Metro Auto Rebuild in Seattle that would recommend one over the others? Thanks

 

You have proof, you have police statement and the guy admitted to it. You won theres not question about it, it would be terribly sad if the guy didnt at least pay the deductible for insurance because otherwise he could pay more and get in a lot of trouble.