My vehicle was hit-and-run, what to do next?

[ineedanother]

I just found out from a neighbour that someone hit my vehicle. By his description of the vehicle and driver, I know who the culprit is. I have the person’s contact info, he says to get it repaired and he will pay the charges. I am curious what actions I need to go through to get my vehicle fixed.

Car is a 2018 Nissan Rogue
Damage is front driver’s side, no damage to the headlight or signal light.
Looks like it can still be driven.

Anybody know of a good auto-body repair shop in NE Calgary, for a quote?

[PsYcNeT]

Report it to the cops to get a case #, then call your insurance. jfc

[Lumby Lager]

Originally Posted by ineedanother

I just found out from a neighbour that someone hit my vehicle. By his description of the vehicle and driver, I know who the culprit is. I have the person’s contact info, he says to get it repaired and he will pay the charges. I am curious what actions I need to go through to get my vehicle fixed.

Car is a 2018 Nissan Rogue
Damage is front driver’s side, no damage to the headlight or signal light.
Looks like it can still be driven.

Anybody know of a good auto-body repair shop in NE Calgary, for a quote?

I would report it to the Police. Anybody that leaves an accident can’t be trusted with anything especially his word that he will pay! And yes as already stated contact your insurance provider.

[BlackArcher101]

ALWAYS report to the police and go through insurance. Never let them talk you out of doing it through the proper channels. Odds are you will need a police report and a sticker on the windshield, as body shops won't touch it without one if it's over a certain dollar amount. And damage adds up quick these days.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Report it to the cops to get a case #, then call your insurance. jfc

I don’t understand why people pay hundreds of dollars a year for Insurance and then refuse to call them when needed.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I don’t understand why people pay hundreds of dollars a year for Insurance and then refuse to call them when needed.

Exactly, I pay a company a stupid amount of money specifically so when this kind of things happen I bring my car to a body shop and they give me a rental and fix my car and I don’t have to worry about anything.

[PepsiFree]

I’m just echoing what’s been said here but you’re being a class A idiot if you don’t go through insurance and the police. By not doing that, you’re making it harder for yourself and doing a favour for the person who hit your car, and they can still refuse to pay.

Be smart, call your insurance and the police. And let the process go smoothly from there. Ask your neighbour to be available for a call from the insurance company, as they’ll probably like a statement from a witness to confirm what happened.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I'm pretty sure if it is over a certain damage threshold you're actually required to report it to police and many shops won't work on it until you prove you did.

[jmac98]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I'm pretty sure if it is over a certain damage threshold you're actually required to report it to police and many shops won't work on it until you prove you did.

Greater than $2000 requires a damage sticker with police for body shops to work on it. Typically for a non injury accident the parties would each head to a district office as such. For the thread starter here however, it’s a hit and run with a suspect so we would send police out. A damage sticker can be issued at the same time.

[Titan]

I would also walk up and down your block and see if anyone has a doorbell camera and if they may have caught the accident. Not sure how long until it get written over so should be done asap.

[MoneyGuy]

Similar thing happened to me years ago except I was the offending driver. It was late so I left a note on the car’s windshield. We arranged to have the car repaired at a shop I know and I paid the bill.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

ALWAYS report to the police and go through insurance. Never let them talk you out of doing it through the proper channels. Odds are you will need a police report and a sticker on the windshield, as body shops won't touch it without one if it's over a certain dollar amount. And damage adds up quick these days.

I had the tiniest parking lot scrape where somebody hit my parked car at about 2km/hr. Over $2,000 in damage to repair a tiny scrape. Costs are insane.

If you're 100% not at fault (and if you weren't in the car that's generally pretty clear cut) it shouldn't impact your premiums in the future, or at least that's what my insurance told me.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by ineedanother

I just found out from a neighbour that someone hit my vehicle. By his description of the vehicle and driver, I know who the culprit is. I have the person’s contact info, he says to get it repaired and he will pay the charges. I am curious what actions I need to go through to get my vehicle fixed.

Car is a 2018 Nissan Rogue
Damage is front driver’s side, no damage to the headlight or signal light.
Looks like it can still be driven.

Anybody know of a good auto-body repair shop in NE Calgary, for a quote?

So, just so I understand. The Hit and Runner is paying because luckily your neighbour saw it happen and told you who did it? Yeah, call the cops and your insurance.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I don’t understand why people pay hundreds of dollars a year for Insurance and then refuse to call them when needed.

No kidding. Even if it's minor damage you should be on the phone with your insurance immediately as you pay them monthly for situations like this. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with circumventing insurance if the repairs aren't satisfactory or other issues arise when repairs are being done or shortly after. Never, ever feel sorry for drivers that; a) don't have insurance, b) have insurance but can't afford another accident claim because they are bad drivers, c) get caught commiting a hit and run. These people need to learn the hard way that they need to get their act together.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I’m just echoing what’s been said here but you’re being a class A idiot if you don’t go through insurance and the police. By not doing that, you’re making it harder for yourself and doing a favour for the person who hit your car, and they can still refuse to pay.

I am one of those class A idiot's who was trying to cut the kid (and his dad) a break... and while it worked out alright for me, it was still such a hassle compared to what it needed to be.

Don't be a bleeding heart and listen to any of the sob stories, trust me, people who don't want to go through insurance will have MANY of them.

[PepsiFree]

Yeah, I only comfortably call people who try to cut the other guy slack and avoid insurance a “class A idiot” because I’ve been that guy myself. Just so much hassle and run around, and my person seemed to forget along the way that I was the one doing them a favour, and they were doing me no favours by simply paying for the repairs. Thankfully when things turned sour I was still able to go through insurance and I had a witness, so it worked out for me in the end, but the process took 10x longer for nothing.

I’ll never avoid insurance as a favour to someone again. Lesson learned.

[CalgaryFan1988]

And don't forget to tell the cops that the person in question left the scene of an accident. He/she deserves a fine.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Torture

If you're 100% not at fault (and if you weren't in the car that's generally pretty clear cut) it shouldn't impact your premiums in the future, or at least that's what my insurance told me.

And yet how often do premiums go down.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

And yet how often do premiums go down.

Never but that's the reality of bearing the burden of all the poor drivers on the roads. IMO there should be bigger breaks for drivers that never get into accidents as there seems to be no reward for being a good driver.

[Mazrim]

I agree that you have to avoid giving the offending party a break or a chance on the hope that they'll do good by it. When I was rear-ended once, the driver sounded legit and admitted everything at the scene so I agreed to only report it but not go through insurance.

After that it became a nightmare. Slow to respond to my calls and emails, being super picky on repair shops, many excuses somehow all coming up in the next 4 months for not being able to pay for the repairs (got sick, family member now sick, another family member passing away, job hours being cut), and a random email asking me to write a statement that there were no injuries in the collision. At this point I was ready to get insurance involved and warned them about that, and ended having to meet them at their house on the other side of the city just to get the damn money.

Never again. I can't trust people to do the right thing in these situations anymore.