Hit and run claim - When do we file such a claim?

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 07:24 am Post Subject:

There are a couple options.

You can try calling your son's insurance company and see if they tried subrogating against the other party for repayment of what they paid out for the injuries. Many times, if the person receives notice of subrogation(and they HAVE insurance), they'll fess up on who their carrier is.

If they have not had any luck, you can have the person served. Depending on the value of the car, you may be able to file suit for such a hit and run claim in a small claims court. If not, an attorney will be your best bet.

A lawsuit is usually the best way to grab someone's attention.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:53 am Post Subject:

Good morning LookingForAnswers, and welcome to the community, I'm so sorry this happen and glad to read your son wasn't seriously injured...

Apparently your son did not have collision coverage on his vehicle correct? Because that would've taken care of his damage......

Here is the problem...

Is there any other way to find out if this car is insured?...and if so, who it is insured by?

Our son's insurance company took care of his medical bills through his uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage,

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:36 pm Post Subject:

This is unbelievable that the local police will not help, are they even chasing the guys down for the hit and run or are they getting away with it too?
This is not the usual kind of hit and run claim incidents.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 04:20 pm Post Subject: Hit & Run Street Racer will not reveal insurance coverag

I am completely blown away and extremely grateful for the respones to our frustrating situation. Trying to keep my first post as brief as possible, I didn't mention certain steps already taken by us. My husband and I went up to Washington state to try to help our son with some of the footwork (since the police were doing nothing to help him). We sat down with his present Allstate insurance agent (who was extremely welcoming and nice to us). When we told her there was no stolen car report, she immediately called the adjuster in charge of the hit and run claim filed. The adjuster had NO stolen car report, and said, because the accident report (taken at the scene) had stated that the car was being reported stolen (third hand information) at the same time of the accident, they were not going to pursue the owner of the car for any damages. Remeber, the hit & run driver and his two buddies fled the scene and had plenty of opportunity to call in a stolen car claim. All they had to do was contact the police records department to learn there was NO stolen car report filed. My husband was THE auto theft detective in Tacoma, Washington, for 6 years. He knows how to find out if there was a stolen car report; and there was none. But the insurance company chose to rely on the WSP accident report written by someone who, obviously, didn't care about the accident (judging by the WSP officer's actions after the fact). THIS WAS VERY FRUSTRATING. Because of this decision, we can't get any help from Allstate. About my son's collision insurance coverage: He had full coverage and was an Allstate "Gold Member" when he moved to Arizona from Washington two years earlier. His car was paid for but still elected to continue the collision coverage for damage to his vehicle. He had his Gold coverage transferred to an agent in Tucson. The ONLY change he requested involved his limits of liability. He signed the papers in Tucson without reading them. (A BIG mistake on his part.) He didn't notice that the agent had left out the collision coverage for his car. And that change was NOT made known to him by this agent. He found it out after the accident. That was his fault, and we feel, also the agent's fault. His agent in Washington also found it odd since he had the full coverage in WA BEFORE he moved to Tucson, and maintained it again (at the same office) after he moved back to WA, and BEFORE this accident. Because he failed to notice the mistake and signed the papers in the first place, there doesn't appear any where we can go with this. A very hard life lesson to learn! His current agent also mentioned that without the collision coverage on his car, the Gold coverage (which is still what the AZ company called it on his paperwork) was not really Gold coverage. The WA Allatate agent had nothing to show if the hit & run car was insured or not insured. Small claims court seems to be a viable direction to go. We'll also try contacting the WA state DMV. Arizona maintains proof of insurance information; I fear WA state doesn't. But we'll certainly check. We'll also see if we can figure out what towing company towed that car. When my son went to claim his car at the towing yard, he asked to see the other car. He wanted to see if there were signs of someone "hot wiring" it. The tow company said the other car wasn't there. Later he learned the auto theft "victim" claimed the keys were in the car when it was stolen. How convenient! With no stolen car report and no help from all three police agencies, I don't know how we'll get anywhere. However, I'm angry enough to call every tow company in Pierce County to get some information. Anger is a great motivator!. Even though I'm angry, I totally agree that it is very important to keep your head and be "authentically" nice when making such inquiries. Trust me to do just that. I thought a hit & hit was a criminal offense. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't understand why the police are not doing SOMETHING about this. Believe me, I know, from being married to a police officer and then police detective for all 25 years of his career, that the police department can't drop everything to address YOUR problem; but come on. I expected SOMETHING from them...And we have received NOTHING. In closing, I want to address one more thing. That is the question: If the reporting WSP officer was given the information over her radio at the scene that the offending car was stolen, why wasn't a stolen car report filed? From experience, my husband suggests that the initial call claiming the car was stolen was questionable, because of the timing; so they would not, at that time, accept the car was actually stolen without further investigation. In the end, no report was filed. I feel like a just wrote a book! Sorry.

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:35 am Post Subject:

A very hard life lesson to learn!

I thought a hit & hit was a criminal offense. Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't understand why the police are not doing SOMETHING about this

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 01:08 pm Post Subject:

What a sad story. I too feel for you and your son. The police seem to really let you guys down here. This is even more upsetting cause of your husband being in law enforcement. If you could find out anything on the driver and maybe your son could recoup some of his losses in small claim but the police would have to get interested in this matter so they can help you. Stop back and let us know how everything is working out for your family and let us know if we can further assist you with this hit and run claim.

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:48 pm Post Subject:

There are two key points I wanted to be sure I understood...

The police are not doing much on a hit and run accident, when they know what vehicle was in the accident? Also, any report they completed does not contain the insurance insurance of the owner of that vehicle? If this is correct... it's crap. I'd highly recommend your son move up the chain of command at the police dept. They should take a hit and run seriously (if they can identify the vehicle) as it's a criminal offense (felony as injuries are involved)! A report needs to be turned over to the DA for possible prosecution. Also, anytime a vehicle is involved in an accident, the police need to confirm the vehicle has a valid registration and insurance. There is no reason why this information should not be on the police report. If the car was stolen, then the owner's carrier can deny the hit and run claim right there. Which leads me to my second question...

If I understood correctly, the owner of the vehicle is simply stating that the vehicle was stolen. This was reported to the police after the accident happened. The owner then claimed that they keys were left in the vehicle. The adjuster for the owner carrier is accepting this information and denying the claim as the vehicle was "stolen". Is this correct? Unfortunately, this is a problem as it really relies on the adjuster doing a good job and knowing what to do in this type of situation. Bottom line is that the adjuster could just go by their insureds statement and the fact that a theft report was turned into the police and deny the claim. But a good adjuster will obtain a recorded statement from their insured and know what questions to ask. I'd ask where the car was parked that the owner left the keys in it. Where was the owner at the time. Does the owner usually just leave the keys in the car. Who else lives in the household (I'd first ask your son to describe the driver of the other vehicle to see if it matches anyone in the owners house). Who else has driven the vehicle in the last 3 months. The adjuster can also see if the driver of the vehicle matches the owners description and where the owner was at the time of the accident. There are many more questions that can be thrown at the owner to see if they have good answers. But the police _really_ need to be doing this as well! They can let the owner know that it's a _serious_ crime to file a false police report. They then ask the owner some hard questions and can see of he/she falls apart.

People cause an accident and run all the time. People them claim that the vehicle was stolen all the time. If someone crashes into a car and then runs, they are pretty much scum and it's like scum to lie to the police and their insurance company.

I'd highly recommend you son contact the PD and speak to the officers supervisor to make sure they they do the job they are getting paid for. If they won't, perhaps the majors office or the news stations would like to know about the situation.

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:18 am Post Subject:

Thanks for helping the OP out here Tscope. I really felt bad when I read this post. I never knew that if someone said their car was stolen that their insurance company didn't have to pay. I always wondered why people would bother flleeing an accident sceen. I thought it was just to avoid prosecution but after reading this hit and run claim incident I see there are more reasons they may be doing it. I feel like you do..these people are scums and can really mess up someone else's life over stupidity.

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:20 am Post Subject:

This reminds me of a situation I had with an insured. Someone had run into him one night and took off. When the police arrived, my insured gave them his statement and while surveying the seen, my insured had noticed the other party's bumper had fallen off.

The police allowed him to keep the bumper(which he was lucky since it comes into play later) but they had to keep the LICENSE PLATE!

My insured called me to ask what he should do. I went over his options, having collision and uninsured motorist. As the discussion drew to a close, he decided to wait and see what the police found out.

He would call me each week to let me know he still had not heard anything after calling once or twice a week. After about 3 weeks, I started really pushing for him to set the hit and run claim up on his policy so we can go ahead and get it fixed. He wanted to wait a little longer to see if the police would call back with anything.

At this time, I decided to see what I could find out. He had written down the license plate number and gave it to me. I had a site that I could verify vehicles registered at an address and all drivers licensed at the address by it's license plate number or address. I found the car involved and it's VIN and the owner's name and address. I was then able to run a claim check on the VIN and a claim showed up on that date. It listed the carrier and that's when I knew we had this one figured out.

I had gathered this information over a time frame of about 2 weeks and kept the insured informed each step of the way. As I found out more, he decided to see if I could get it taken care of since he still had not heard anything from the police.

Well, I gave him the carrier name and told him to call the claims office and try and speak with the adjuster. He was able to get through to the adjuster and the adjuster confirmed the claim paid out under their uninsured motorist because they were a victim of HIT AND RUN!

He gave his version of the story and asked the adjuster...if they were victim of hit and run, why does the other party involved have their bumper?

The adjuster agreed to meet with my insured and look at the damage to his vehicle and ask that he bring the bumper. The adjuster took the bumper and paid for my customer's damages.

In the end, the police never did anything. After a month and a half, my insured called and they still did not even have the report turned over to an investigator.

It seems they only tend to care if there are substantial bodily injuries, but this one was so cut and dry it's rediculous. They could have ran the license plate they had in their hand, and went to that address that night. They may have even found that the driver had been drinking.

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:22 am Post Subject:

(if they can identify the vehicle)