Actually, jz, I think we reside in the same state (although I am a troll, I think you are a yooper (?).
mmm
When I hit someone’s car in a parking garage last spring, I left a note on the windshield with my name, the name of my insurance co, and their phone number. I also said “Sorry!” The damage wasn’t major–I knocked off the little plastic framing thing that holds the license plate to the bumper. Then I phoned my insurance co and told them all about it, including the car’s license number.
I never heard directly from the car’s owner; I assume they contacted my insurance and the repairs were taken care of. The police never came into it.
Well, hey! Maybe she’ll fix your car and haul your oats! 
Absolutely. That wouldn’t be awkward at all.
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Not necessarily. In the nearby Big City, they take stolen car reports over the phone (meaning PD can’t give you a ride home/nearest public transit station) & non-reportable* MVAs like this are low-priority calls, meaning it could take some time for an officer to show up.
- Accidents are considered “non-reportable” (to the state) if everyone can drive away. Only if any vehicles need to be towed or anyone goes to the hospital are they considered reportable even though a police report is made out for every MVA.
Um, neither. Turns out my daughter (who lives across the street from her) knows her better than I first thought. Per daughter, she is a super nice person and will make it right.
She left a note with her full name and phone number. Not everyone is drunk or on the lam.
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Wow, who would have thought there are still decent people in the world? mmm, you have really been a class act through this. Thank you for being such a good role model. Thank you for sharing your journey through this speed-bump on your road through life. There are some good lessons here.
This seems like an overreaction. People who leave you notes with their contact information when they hit your car are clearly trying to do the right thing.
I knocked down part of someone’s fence once with my car. No one was home, so I left a note with my phone number.
It didn’t occur to me to call the police. Was a crime committed?
When the guy called me he told me it was the fourth time his fence had been knocked down and the first time anyone left a note. I ended up writing him a check for a few hundred and there you go.
Thank you, Lurker.
I am getting the estimate Wednesday, I’ll keep you all posted.
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We had a mailbox that got knocked down five times in 12 years, and only one time did the person come to the door. We said, just give us $20, or get us a new one in the next couple of days. They got us a new box, and sank the post for us. It turned out later we had a friend in common, and these were really stand-up people. They were also vegetarians.
I once hit a guy and cracked his taillight cover. I left a note. He called me, and I told him I could mail him a check, or if he wanted to come by the place where I showed movies, I’d pay him cash and let him in free to the movie, plus a guest. I had it clear with my boss that I could let up to three guests in every night, so that was OK. It was my one perk. He chose to come by the movie. Turned out the new taillight cover was only $20, and he installed it himself, so I just gave him the cash, and let him into the show. It could have been so much worse.
In addition to what everyone has already said… take pictures, if you haven’t already.
Someone once hit my parked car and I had to file a police report because they didn’t leave any information. I took a picture of the damage just because it seemed like the right thing to do. My insurance gave me a check for the cost of the damage, and I quickly put the thing behind me. Seven months later, the state police contact me and accuse me of being a part of an insurance scam (it’s a long ass story). Being able to show them that photo (with the time and date stamped on it) helped to get them off my back.
Inconceivable. Everyone is always either drunk or on the lam. Sometimes both.
Estimate obtained: $1112, including 2-day rental car.
We’ll see how that is received.
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Yeah, let us know. I’m curious.
I did a few summers as an insurance adjuster a while ago, for a semi-large insurer in NJ/PA.
Couple suggestions:
(1) Check with the mechanic to find out if they’re expecting additional supplemental estimates. It was by no means unusual for us to get additional estimates/bills for more work found “after they got into the repair”. That might drive up the $1112 and you don’t want to be on the hook!
(2) Not sure how it works in MI, but in NJ/PA, you had two choices when you were not-at-fault (and it was obvious, like in this case). If you wanted to avoid putting out the deductible, you could go directly through the other person’s insurance company, but depending on which company, that could be easy or a nightmare. Or you could go through your insurance, put out the deductible, and your insurance would subrogate with the other driver’s insurance to get their money (and your deductible) back. They’d then send you a check for the deductible.
When a similar thing happened to my wife’s car (parked in front of our house, someone came down the street and nailed the back corner pretty bad), we went through our insurance because the other driver was an older woman (mother of a neighbor) who apparently had blacked out momentarily and had to go to the hospital. I was worried about getting insurance info from her, so figured it’d be easier to let our insurance company take care of it. They did (about $4000 in damage iirc) and about 6 months later sent us our deductible back. We had no increase to our insurance because the accident was completely not our fault.
Anyway, really hope it works out for you and this doesn’t just start to stretch out. Good luck!
Another thing about calling the police: Very best case, they take some info from you over the phone and probably tell you to leave a note (which you were going to do anyway). Not quite as good case, but still not that bad, you have to deal with a delay and some nonsense while an officer responds in person to take a report. Worst case, they decide to ruin your fucking day and maybe more with fines/charges/who knows what.
Calling the police when you are not the victim of a crime seems like a no-win move. The worst case hopefully isn’t very likely, but is there any upside for you, ever?
Yeah, why would anyone be reluctant to call the police?
I got into an accident last Thursday. Hit a pole in a parking lot. It used to be you called up the agent, they told you to take pictures and get an estimate, send them to the agent, get vehicle fixed, pay shop with insurance proceeds and done. Now the insurance companies have a whole fricking bureaucratic process that you have to go through with agents and ‘claims teams’ and estimators and crap. It’s been a week and I still haven’t got the go ahead to get it fixed.
Vehicle has been fixed. We are refunding $112 to the woman who hit us, turns out she overpaid by that much.
All is good.
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Wonderful!
Sometimes people are just genuinely good people.
Who knew?
Thanks for the update. I was curious how it would work out, and delighted you got the happy ending.