The other day I was driving through my grocery store parking lot and someone backed into my passenger quarter panel and bumper. When I got out they took off. I jumped back in the car and got behind them and my wife got a picture of the back of their car including their license plate.

So obviously it would be a no brainer to report this to the police right, but the damage turned out to be pretty minor, some minor scuffing of the paint which I don't think will buff out but isn't totally incongruent with rest of the condition of the car and a quarter size ding which I'm sure can be addressed with PDR. My concern is that I all I going to achieve is get a mark on the Carfax against the car so I will be in effect losing twice. Of course there is the possibility that they will brought to heal and have to pay for the repairs. What the police said that if I file the report a letter would be sent to the owner of the car that the plate is assigned to requesting them to provide insurance information and if they didn't comply then their license could be suspended.

The car is in good condition but with 150K miles it may not be worth worrying about the carfax. I know as a good citizen I should turn in the report.

Thoughts?

 

Tough call, I have been hit twice by uninsured motorists, filed against them and never received anything, my insurance company didn't either, but as you say, I lost twice as now I had accidents on my record and the cars. But I believe you need to follow through, they will do this to someone else soon enough if you don't, very likely they had outstanding warrants,a suspended license or registration,or no insurance, which is why they fled. so in my opinion, you might be saving someone else from a similar fate, with much more damage or liability only, in which case they're screwed if this happened to them.

 

My wife said pretty much the same.

 

Sorry to hear about that , I don't know what to say . I had scraped my fender off during parking against the pole and didn't report it to the insurance . Instead I had paid it off my pocket otherwise I could loose a discount or deductable when renewing the insurance . In my other car was hit by a stupid driver while he was backing up . I didn't report it but he was so scared but I told him to check the environment and drive carefully . However , sometimes it might be better to teach such guys their lessons albeit car record or history could receive a dent

 

Imo file the report. Judging by how quick the other driver dipped, it's my feeling that this isn't the first time they did something like this. They need to be held accountable for this. I'm surprised that the police couldn't issue a "leaving the scene of an accident" citation as well.

 

With 150k miles your car does not have enough value ti worry about minor accident report in the history.

You should absolutely go after the “criminal” with full police report. Hey, it is a hit-and-run that should bring them some sort of a penalty on top of you getting the right to take them in court if you like. Police report is free.

If they don’t have insurance your uninsured insurance covers and this by rules does not harm your insurance premium. And you can still make decision later if you file it with insurance at all. Some paint damage is so small it cost less than your deductible in insurance.

The main thing here is to get the *******s for what they did!!!

 

I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to report it and hold them responsible. It matters not the condition of your car, the miles....this has nothing to do with you feeling the way you do about your car, get it fixed of course but definitely report this to police. Also remember police are not your friend and are merely doing a job.
GL and let us know how it pans out.

 

Forgot to mention: Little fender benders on parking lots are not traffic violations as they happened on private property but a hit-and-run is a crime also on private property that police should be looking after if you report it.

If the damage is small you can take them to the small claims court but without police report it is more difficult.

 

I live in CA, I filed a police report for a homeless guy vandalizing my E550 kicking in the fender, while the guy in question was standing right there, wearing the exact shoes that matched the shoe print. This happened two weeks ago.

They didn't arrest him on the spot because "they didn't see him do it" We'll see what happens I have a case number.

Another time my Arlo caught my neighbor hitting me, and bailing, did the police report, called my insurance, everything lined up, and they're probably not too happy with their situation. Hilariously I've yet to get the car fixed even on their dime because I've been lazy and I use my car every day and for some reason I have an irrational distrust of body shops.

HILARIOUSLY, I also used my car having 150k miles as an excuse to not care about it.