So my parked car got creamed in Friday's wee hours.

[moriah]

I didn't post yesterday because I was dealing with insurance and police and trying to cope.

Got woken up at 5 AM to an officer at my door. He got my car then somehow got into my next door neighbor's yard and driveway, hit her SUV and got much more damage from her towing hitch, but still shoved her several feet. Blue transfer paint on my vehicle, parts of his headlights all over.

A guy in a blue SUVish vehicle is on a video camera from across the street, not hitting us, but coming out of her yard and barely getting back on the road, stopping briefing, then going to the corner stop sign and making a right turn.

The officers said they towed a vehicle (and seemed pretty convinced it was the one towed because they commented on the transfer paint being blue) that didn't make it to the nearest cross-street from there, and questioned a guy claiming his car was out of gas but had no justification to detain him at the time.

From the video it looks like he was drunk. So I'm hoping he ran because he realized a hit and run involving only property damage was better than a DUI and that he actually does have liability insurance. The only question is if they can confirm the owner and see if the owner reported it stolen. The person they questioned wasn't a kid, so unlikely it was just a joyride if it was stolen.

There is some light at the end of my $1000 deductible I've got to somehow pull out of my ass to get my car on the road again -- and my neighbor's SUV getting creamed, though, even if it was stolen or there was no insurance....

Looking at the video trajectory, if he hadn't hit my neighbor's SUV he would have went straight into the next neighbor's house. Instead he barely missed HER vehicle getting back on the road. She's elderly and a car plowing through her house is the last thing she needed in her life. I'm glad our cars were in the way instead.

[Angry Dragon]

1. They should not allow republicans to drive

[moriah]

2. I'm in Arkansas. Would definitely make for less traffic. ;) nt

[Laffy Kat]

3. So sorry.

I know how horrible this makes you feel, how violated. We had similar thing happen many years ago. At least you're ok and have insurance. Hang in there.

[moriah]

6. And my neighbors are!

Seriously, that idiot could have plowed into a house. I would rather have to try to come up with money than my neighbors getting hurt.

Again, just praying they had liability insurance and were figuring that avoiding an immediate field sobriety test was more advantageous than fleeing the scene when it was only parked cars, even if he got caught.

[NNadir]

4. One night my wife were in bed in the apartment we shared in West LA when we were young...

...and we heard this terrible crash, looked out the window and saw a car overturned in the middle of our street.

We went downstairs and saw my wife's car, this tiny little Honda Civic they had in the late 70's, early 80's and been shoved across our tiny lawn and compressed into a ball of metal about 3 feet thick.

Incredibly, witnesses said there were about five guys in the overturned car, and they all got out and ran away. They were never found to my knowledge.

In California in those days, people had uninsured drivers insurance - we had it - and they replaced the car, but boy...

It sucked and was terribly inconvenient.

[moriah]

5. It's not quite that creamed, fortunately....

... but still, not able to be driven.

I could have elected it, or a lower deductible, but being broke left me with little room for full coverage. I always carry uninsured and underinsured if I'm not making payments, because they're a lot cheaper than comp/collision and have lower deductibles.

I know I'm lucky, my insurance company was very happy the neighbors had video of the car in question. You can't see the driver, but it'll be a lot easier to prove in court the vehicle they found damaged was the same vehicle that hit me. They can sue the owner if they have any assets, and I know insurance companies -- they will.