How Auto Insurance Works When Your Parked Car Gets Damaged By Hit-And-Run?

Have you ever experienced where your parked car got damaged by a hit-and-run driver or found it with scratches, broken parts, and dents? Believe it or not, it is a common scenario everywhere involving parked cars. Oftentimes, that situation can even be more difficult given the fact that many of these cases do not produce any witnesses to the accident or the owner of the damaged car wasn’t able to get the driver’s license plate number.

Results from a recent survey by a private insurance company shows that over 50 percent of hit-and-run cases involve parked cars. When it’s your own car that’s involved, obviously it’s a different story particularly when the individual who did it is nowhere to be found. Read on the following tips on what to do when you’re faced with this situation.

Once you find out what has happened, call the cops immediately and wait for them until they arrive to the place where the accident happened. File a report with the police and present to them your evidence. Ask if there are any witnesses to the hit-and-run. If they’re in a hurry, at least take their names and means on how contact them so that your insurance company will be able to reach them to get their testimony. Otherwise, if they’re available right there and then, they can surely help in giving their account of the incident to the police.

When the incident has been reported to your auto insurance company, check if your auto insurance allows you to make this type of claim. Having a full coverage is likely going to have your vehicle covered for hit-and-run accident. Therefore, you may able to recoup all your repair expenses.

You’ll still be able to file a claim with the insurance company of the person that hit your car even though your insurance does not have full comprehensive coverage. When you already know the person that caused the damage to your car, check if he has auto insurance and if so does the insurance have adequate liability limits. Otherwise, it’s less of a hassle if you’ll just work with your insurance company. They can either write a check for you or provide a lawyer and enable you to recover your expenses from the insurance firm of the hit-and-run driver.

Hit-and-run claims are relatively difficult cases especially if the driver that caused the damage is never identified, uninsured or underinsured. If you cannot possibly make a claim under normal circumstances, you may opt to visit the District Attorney’s office in your area and file a complaint there. You can also file a lawsuit against the driver, if his identity in known, in the Small Claims Court.

Written by Roxana Zander. Check out Auto Insurance Quotes.