Nailed! And Need Advice

mosborn9 · 04-03-08, 07:04

I got home from work today and saw someone had hit the left corner of my bumper pushing it into the body. I'm sure it happened in down town (Columbia SC) today while parking along the street in metered parking over the course of a little over of an hour. I was attending the annual RCPL banquet where my daughter was recognized as the Jr Volunteer of the Year.

The vehicle is my Daily Driver with ~188,000 miles on it that I've had for 12 1/2 years. Needless to say I do not carry Comp or Collision on it. I hate to falsely accuse anyone but I realized there was an old brown van behind me with the right wheel on the curb. After I parked and saw him I got back in the vehicle and even pulled forward more to give him room to navigate out of his space. My vehicle was clearly in the box in a forward position. So my guess is that it was this van that hit me. On the one hand I know this is on old vehicle that I plan on keeping until it gives up the ghost but I'll admit I'm bummed that someone would hit your vehicle and drive off with no note or anything.

So here's the question am I required to report this? I'm not asking this from the viewpoint of seeking compensation or even trying to catch or prosecute whoever did it. I just want to know if I am required by law to report this.

Jscort98 · 04-04-08, 12:43

I can't believe some people. I'm not quite sure on this but someone will chime in.

bunkeroo26 · 04-04-08, 01:56

I do not think that you have to report this for several reasons.
1) You do not know when or how this happened
2) You have no chance of tracking down the culprit

Unless you want to put a claim in on your insurance, then I think there would be no reason to report the damage. Just my 2 cents

mhadden · 04-04-08, 05:13

bunkeroo said it. You weren't at fault, so unless you want to, you don't have to file by law. The A-hole that hit you should've done something, but I'm guessing it did little to no damage to hi car, and that's all he cared about (or he didn't have insurance). Since you don't have insurance, its not even worth reporting either (I'm assuming SC is one of those States you don't have to have insurance).

Way2SSlow · 04-04-08, 05:56

I hate to hear about stuff like this. Take satisfaction in knowing what goes around comes around. He (or most likely SHE....we're talking about parking here

) will get his/hers.

If you're only carrying liability on the car, I'd just let it go. How bad is the damage? Any pics? It may be something you could have spot repaired.

mosborn9 · 04-04-08, 07:07

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm going to just let it go. SC does require all vehicles to carry Liability Insurance and I do. I just don't have the optional Comp and Collision overages. Typically a DD this old it's just not worth it to carry these overages.

On the one hand it's not all that bad. The vinyl grip cover on top of the chrome bumper is pulled loose where the left side is caved in. Over time this will probably continue to pull loose. I'll probably take some pics tomorrow and post up. The worst part of it is to own something 12 1/2 years and never put a dent in it and someone that can’t drive bangs you and doesn't have the decency to say anything about it. What's worse is I partly blame myself when I got out of my vehicle and I saw the right front of that van on the curb where we were parallel parked along the street; I knew the person couldn't drive\park. I thought I would be safe by getting back in and pulling forward to give them more room to navigate out of their parking space. Oh well some things you just can't change; best to let it go and move on.

The way she was:

mhadden · 04-05-08, 05:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by mosborn9

...The worst part of it is to own something 12 1/2 years and never put a dent in it and someone that can’t drive bangs you and doesn't have the decency to say anything about it.

I know what you're saying. Read my thread about my accident yesterday. I haven't had it 12 1/2 year (only 3 months actually!) but because of a road raged lady that couldn't wait her turn, I gotta deal with the same stuff.

I'll be interested to see how bad the dent is. 2 months after buying my Tundra, my wife happily backed it into a pier pole down by the lake

I attempted to smack the chrome back into place, but the dent was still noticeable...oh well, now I don't have the truck so I don't have to stare at it! I got her a CR-V with some "plastic" un-painted bumpers, so now I just have to worry about scratches in the plastic

mosborn9 · 04-05-08, 02:23

It's rained off and on here all day so this isn't the best picture but you can get the idea...