ptiemann

Yes, you should definitely take *bunch* of photos showing the damage on the truck and the license plate, preferably both in one photos.

(Or is the truck gone right now?)

My RX-8 got hit-n-run in a parking lot at work, but I couldn't find the offending SUV (or truck.. must've been one of those big ones).
Luckily my damage was just the rear bumper panel.

Keep us updated...

DreamWarrior

Truck is gone, he is conveniently only there at nights and trying to take a picture of the damage with a flash at night seemed to be impossible . I was hoping that he'd be there in the morning so I could call the cops and have them look at it directly...but no go. No call back from the cops from this morning when I told them about the noticable damage...which probably means they don't care any f-ing way .

Hard 8

As you have already seen, this is not something the cops are going to get too excited about: Except for the possible hit and run issue, it's really a civil matter with the other dude. And the cops will probably decide the guy may not even have noticed hitting you, or that it would be too hard to prove intent and too little damage to warrant intervention.

I would not wait for their help.

ptiemann

Sounds like you will need to confront the truck driver in person.

renaldo

Taking a picture of the damage at night is easy, just shine a brigth flashlight or spotlight on the truck and take the picture w/ out the flash on

Ned M

iTrader: (2)

Looking at the truck and its add-ons, it may as well have a bumper sticker reading "******* is my Lifestyle."

Our thread starter may have a chance trying to recover damages by approaching the pickup driver in a reasonable manner, but with assigned parking spaces and both vehicles sharing the same lot there's lots of potential for future trouble with this guy. That kind of parking says the guy either drinks a lot or he's just an inconsiderate jerk likely willing to back up his right to be a jerk with his fists. Be careful, take your pictures, and provide them and your police report to your insurance company. They may be able to find out his insurance co. with his plate numbers. Unfortunately on non-public property, these kinds of property damage issues are hard to get law enforcement involved in. If the guy really is in law enforcement a call to his employer might help you. Best of luck.

This reminds me of a story about younger brother who is hotter-tempered than I. One day he parked his new Mustang SVO by itself out in the Bufu Egypt end of some parking lot only to come back and find a jerk parked so close to his driver door that he couldn't open it, and no other cars parked anywhere around. Clearly intentional. Gary calmly got his valve-stem removal tool from the glove compartment, took the valve stems out of all 4 of the offender's tires, and left them in an envelope under his wiper with a note to think twice about trying it again. No damage done to either car, just four flat but undamaged tires for the offender.

doccable

Either that or "If you had a ***** as small as mine, you'd drive a truck this big, too!"

In all honesty, sorry to hear about your 8, Dream. I hope you took or can take, clear pix of the plates and other damage. Have you thought about trying to slip out to the location where it happened at say, around sunrise? If he parks there only at night, does he leave before sunrise? Or is there a window of opportunity here?
Just a thought.

DreamWarrior

Ned: LOL at the valve stems...I don't think I'd be that calm...if I end up paying a $500 dedudable, I'll be very pissed off to the tune of more than that. But you're right, the guy is consistently parking like an ***, and he's built like a brick ****-house so I'm sure he'd be raring for a fight if the opportunity presented itself.

Doccable: Happened at my appt. complex, can't do anything here it'd be too obvious.

As for an update: The cops came out tonight and said that the damage on his truck is not proof without blue paint transfer. Looks like I'm out a deductable unless he "confesses" to the investigating officer. Pretty much, I'm feeling pretty screwed here to the tune of a $500 deductable to get this fixed.

sferrett

How about you tell the police officer the guy is built like a tank and you're concerned he'll be confrontative, so would he mind coming along with you while you ask the guy about it. Then take the cop along with you while you nicely ask the guy why he didn't leave a note after dinging up your car?

steven975

My suggestion:
take measurements of the location(s) of the damage. If they match up, then that is at least some evidence; it'll narrow it down to the model of the hitter.

is there NO paint of yours/his on his/your cars?

I wouldn't involve the cops unless you have ABSOULUTE proof.

I advise you just go over and ask him about it. CALMLY first. wear a wire (but make sure yer in public, not his residence). Maybe he'll do the traditional redneck comeback: "so i did it, what ya gonna do?"

If he's ignorant AND hasn't seen a cop, show the pics and measurement data and threaten police action. that may scare him.

DreamWarrior

I measured this morning, definately feasable that his brush guard was what hit my mirror and his front bumper left paint on my car. Of course, his front bumper is so messed up in that area that its hard to tell...he's probably hit a lot of people though because that part of his bumper is pretty scuffed up.

Anyway, no there's no paint of mine on his car but there is white paint on mine. Of course, the cops keep saying that in order to prove it there has to be paint from mine to his also...which IMO is bull because it doesn't have to transfer both ways. And paint transfer is easily removed...hell most of what is on mine is gone with the heavy rain from last night...he could have spit and rubbed the bumper and any potential blue paint would have been wiped away. The scuffs underneath, however, would stay...but that's not "conclusive" to this dimwits.

My take, I have:

Pictures of his **** park job and no damage on my car, yet

Damage the very next morning

White paint on my car that lines up with scuff marks on his truck (but no "conclusive" blue paint to be seen)

Scuffs on my mirror lining up with his brush guard (which is the only thing that juts out on the front end of his truck thats low enough to be capable of clipping my mirror).

I don't know what else they want. Their damn conclusive evidence is so easily washed/brushed away and they are going to let this a$$ get away with it because that's probably exactly what he did IF there was any paint transfer.

ARGH the frustration. I might as well just conceed to losing $500 for my deductable.... Maybe I'll just stop paying my state income taxes to recup it, obviously the part that pays the cops doesn't get me anything.

steven975

There is always CIVIL court.

a RATIONAL person would conclude that it is VERY likely he did it. the test in civil court is different than criminal court. Talk with this guy about it and state your facts (his paint on your car...document it). If he tells you to F off, threaten to file suit, and DO IT if he still won't work with you.

If it is concluded that he did it and left the scene in civil court, it is likely criminal proceedings could start. I doubt you'd even need a lawyer in small claims court. You seem intelligent enough to argue your case.

jayhawkeye2

just go to small claims court

kbull

What a pain... Do some research on how long you actually have to spend on a small claims court case, see if it's worth it. Maybe those things only take a couple hours, I don't know. $500, plus any insurance rate hike, might be worth your time in court.

beachdog

FYI, small claims court is an automatic loss for the party that no-shows, which is obviously what this jerk would do. Then you get a judgement against him which is pretty much worthless. You can hire bigger and bigger private investigators to serve the judgement paper but it will probably cost more than the repair.

When's your lease up? Borrow a dump truck the night you leave and drop about 10 yards of gravel on his truck. Everyone at the apartment complex will thank you.

Hard 8

It just seems to me that you're still shadow-boxing: You're wringing your hands, just assuming he won't admit it or pay up. Why not ask him first? I doubt it will work, but you won't know until you try. (See my post further above regarding a note with photos.) If he tells you to **** off, THEN you can decide whether to sue him. (I'd be sorely tempted, if I were you.)

mamccubbin

I actually used small claims court earlier this year and was pleased. It's pretty cheap, simple and effective. As for serving the judgement papers, in some jurisdictions, you can actually pay the sheriff a small fee to do it.

But as Hard 8 said, you could also just try the direct approach first.

beachdog

The off-duty sheriff has to be polite and legal. I got much better results with the big scary private investigator.

RX-Nut

Oh man, youre way calmer than I would be. Which is a good thing.. I'd bash the crap outta his truck!! Which would not be good. Then I'd go to his place and beat the crap outta him.. that also wouldnt be good.

I guess you're taking the right steps to try to do the right thing.

JERCS

i think also if he parked illegally and you hit his truck it's his fault. you were legally parked he wasn't.