Someone hit my car!

[buckeev]

One of my Florida customer "affectionately" calls his home state "The Door Ding Capital of America:
Smallest parking spaces in the country!

 

[Haley]

Are you sure it was stolen and didnt fall off? Was it a vanity plate or something? One time my side view mirror was missing - just the glass, not the encasement attached to the car. I noticed it gone while I was in a parking lot and thought for sure someone who had my car took it because they needed one. But when i got home I found it cracked on my driveway Apparently it just fell off!

lol that's totally something that would happen to me!

 

[WVMomof3]

My car was recently hit in a parking lot. The person took off so it was considered a hit and run. My deductible was $500, but apperantly the non-insured deductible is $300. I had to have a police report for it to fall under this. All states are different, but check your insurance, may have a lower deductible for hit and run.

 

[MrsDuck]

I'm so sorry to hear that!

 

[bumbershoot]

Wouldn't that be hit and run? I can't believe they would advocate just driving away, leaving the person you hit with the bill.

I agree.

They told me the difference is it was in a private parking lot which is not the same as hit & run. Totally went against everything that I thought I knew.

I can't help but wonder if maybe you were right and the officer was drastically confused.

Because maybe Michigan is different, but I've been involved in a couple parking lot problems, and insurance has always paid. Even without a police report. Because insurance companies, at least in my situations, understand that parking lots don't get police reports (or often even a response).


I was hit by a kid on a bike while coming into my townhouse once in VA (I saw him but he didn't see me, and I had come to a complete stop b/c I knew I couldn't move out of his way in time and had almost no place to go anyway) and his parent's insurance paid without any police response at all (his parent's homeowners insurance, but still, insurance).

My MIL and a gentleman backed right into each other in a parking lot the other month, and if we hadn't realized the cost to fix her car was less than the deductible, allstate would have paid.

A Suburban backed into my parked Beetle once, and her (really, OUR, as we both had Geico) insurance paid it all, without a police report.


So I'm really confused that this officer said that you shouldn't even claim responsibility b/c you don't have to b/c police won't write a report, or the other person's report that their insurance didn't cover a parking lot accident. It's pretty well known that police don't respond to parking lot problems, and my insurances at least have always understood that!

 

[ccgirl]

In Michigan, you don't have to report it. Many years ago, I tried to file a police report when I accidentally hit a car in a very tight parking lot. They thought I was nuts and didn't take the report. I had left a note on the car I hit but the police told me I didn't even need to do that.I'm sorry that it happened. Try to forget about it as best you can while you are enjoying your trip.

Man...remind me never to go to Michigan if that is the advise from law enforcement. That would be against the law to just hit a car and not give your information.

I agree with you about trying to forget about it.

OP - I sympathize. It really burns me up when people do that. Just about every car I own has been hit in a parking lot and the person never gave the info. Hope the rest of your trip is magical.

 

[angierae]

Michigan has weird insurance laws that are different from most states. It is referred to as "no fault" because your insurance company pays for your car, regardless of fault. What will happen if you have a certain kind of insurance is that if there is another driver more than 50% at fault, their insurance pays your deductible. If it's a hit and run, you are responsible for your deductible.

 

[ccgirl]

Michigan has weird insurance laws that are different from most states. It is referred to as "no fault" because your insurance company pays for your car, regardless of fault. What will happen if you have a certain kind of insurance is that if there is another driver more than 50% at fault, their insurance pays your deductible. If it's a hit and run, you are responsible for your deductible.

But, if you hit someone that was parked that is fault. I may be mistaken but if they were parked legally they didn't do anything wrong. Because of the hit and run, they had to pay their deductible where is a claim was filed they would not have and your insurance would have paid. So, even if I am at a stop light in Michigan, or parked, and someone smashes into my car to no fault of my own, I would still be responsible? I am way behind in caffeine consumption today so I may just be slow to understand.

 

[kaligal]

OP, sorry about your car, but that is not that unusual on Disney property.

Or anywhere else on the planet.

OP, when you talk to your insurance company, they will have heard this story before...many, many times. I promise.

It sucks, but it is very common. I'd wager that it is far more common for people to not leave the note than to leave it.

Sorry it happened. I recently got dinged, too. Dealer wants like $1200 to replace the whole "bumper" area...which is, of course, not a bumper, but just another area of the car.

They should bring bumpers back. They were very handy.

 

[disnut8]

The best and probably only thing you can do is report it to the police so there is a record. Then report it to your insurance company with the police record number. Then enjoy the rest of your vacation. The vehicle is still drivable and I highly doubt you will ever find out who did the damage.

Yes, it does suck, and yes, the person who hit you should have left a note. But that didn't happen and will never happen and you can't turn back the hands of time.

 

[disney david]

Here the number to the orange county sherif disney world sub division call them if you want to fill out a report.

Sector VI Substation - Walt Disney World Area
1920 East Lake Buena Vista Drive
Orlando, Florida 32830
407.939.3200

 

[andyman8]

They told me the difference is it was in a private parking lot which is not the same as hit & run. Totally went against everything that I thought I knew.

OP, sorry that happened. I don't know how someone could just do that and not know nor report it. The only thing I could think of if it was dark at Epcot and they didn't notice, although how do you not notice hitting the car? I feel so bad for you, but I hope you can still have a fun trip!

FYI: Legally (at least in Florida), things like stop signs on private roads (i.e. shopping centers, country clubs, Disney World) are only encouraging people to stop. Legally, they don't have to. I just think that is stupid.

Hope your trip turns out alright. Happy Holidays and have a great trip!

 

[aubriee]

One of my Florida customer "affectionately" calls his home state "The Door Ding Capital of America:
Smallest parking spaces in the country!

A couple of months ago I took my mom to have a cataract removed. We had to see the doctor on Monday to get everything set up, then again on Thursday for the surgery, then again on Friday for the follow up check. I drove my mom's car down there for all three visits. It has a handicapped plaquard, but there were no handicapped spaces available that first day, so we parked in a regular one. That parking space was so tiny we could both barely get out of the car without our doors bumping the cars on either side of us. We managed though. When I took her back down that Thursday for her surgery, I parked in a big handicapped space right up front. It was one of those designed for a van, so had the stripes painted on each side of it, giving us lots of room. After her surgery I went outside to drive the car to the front door to pick her up and found we had been the victim of a hit and run. Someone had sideswiped her car. It was scratched and dented all the way down the passenger side. The nurse that escorted us out to the car, said it happens all the time. Parking in the little tiny parking space, we didn't get a scratch, but parking in the huge handicapped van space, (where we had a mile on each side), someone side swiped the entire side of the car. It was parked right up against the side of the building, so I still can't figure out how someone got close enough to do the damage they did.

 

[seashoreCM]

About 10 years ago I backed up and hit a car in the HS parking lot. I totally freaked and there was obviously no way to contact the owner of the car. I put a note on the car and since I had my camera I took pictures of all of the damage. (cell phones didn't have cameras at that time)

We never heard from the owner of the car until three years later. One day we received a phone call from the owner of the car. They wanted us to fix he car. My husband asked them to get an estimate and told them that we would like to just pay for it instead of going through insurance. Towards the end of the conversation my husband told them that I had taken pictures of all of the damage. Well, we never heard from the car owner again. We think they had been in another accident and wanted us to fix their car.

If/when you leave a note be sure that you have pictures of the damage. Otherwise you never know what kind of bill you may end up getting.

NOt all of us have cameras or camera phones in hand ready to use.

Report it to your own insurance company and (for non-trivial damage) make a police report right away. This way, your insurance company will return calls to the other party right away and will take care of any dispute as to how much damage was done. Also, if the other party fails to respond promptly your insurance company might refuse to pay and the other cannot collect from you directly.

The insurance company won't broach the conversation by researching the license plate number. Rather the other party has to make the next move by reading the note you left on the windshield and contact you or the police to get the name of your insurance company.

OPWhenOnce, while parked at DTD, I saw a guy open his car door and slam it into my door hard enough that it left a dent in my door. I was on my way back to my car. I confronted him about it. He just laughed and walked away..

Shoulda' at least copied down the license plate number.

 

[cvjw]

Try and get a police report. We are in Georgia, and someone ran into my 2 day old minivan at the soccer field a few years ago. Totally scraped up the whole left side. Of course the offender was gone after my son's soccer game. We didn't get a police report - didn't know that we needed one. When I talked to my insurance agent, he said I needed a police report so that the claim could be filed under "uninsured motorist", and use the smaller deductible. Our police dept very reluctantly issued me one after the fact, but you would certainly want to try and get one before leaving Florida.

 

[manhattan]

I feel your pain - my car and DH's car were both hit when we have gone to Orlando - one time it was at AK - person never left a note, other time we stayed at one of the hotels right outside and we knew that there were a few drinking places around, but never thought we would get hit in the parking lot. I like to think that while my damage was minor - theirs will be major....huge believer in Karma, so I don't stress too much

 

[bear_mom]

Michigan has weird insurance laws that are different from most states. It is referred to as "no fault" because your insurance company pays for your car, regardless of fault. What will happen if you have a certain kind of insurance is that if there is another driver more than 50% at fault, their insurance pays your deductible. If it's a hit and run, you are responsible for your deductible.

Not necessarily. We have had our car hit in the mall parking lot and went to the police department to get a report (they wouldn't come to the scene) and then filed with our insurance company. We did not pay anything for our repairs.

Then I hit someone in a parking lot. I stayed and waited for the woman to come out of the bank. After all was said and done, her insurance sued my insurance and my insurance ended up paying for her repairs. She was not responsible for paying her deductible.

Yes, if you are in an accident, your insurance company pays you for your repairs. But, they will often go after the owner's insurance for repayment to them. The benefit is that you only deal with your insurance company and you don't have to wait for the other person's insurance before you can get payment.

But, if you hit someone that was parked that is fault. I may be mistaken but if they were parked legally they didn't do anything wrong. Because of the hit and run, they had to pay their deductible where is a claim was filed they would not have and your insurance would have paid. So, even if I am at a stop light in Michigan, or parked, and someone smashes into my car to no fault of my own, I would still be responsible? I am way behind in caffeine consumption today so I may just be slow to understand.

No, you are not.

Okay, I have had bad luck with cars and had two parking lot incidents (as described above) and been rear-ended twice while at red lights . Both of those resulted in the car being totaled.

In all those instances, I would have only been responsible for my deducitble in the one time I hit the woman in the parking lot (if I had choosen to get my car fixed, which it was just a small ding and not worth it).

Emily

 

[OldsDr]

Yeah, I was in an accident last year in a shopping center here (Orlando). It was a 4-way stop, and another driver didn't stop and ran into the side of my car. The police did come, but basically said he couldn't do anything because it had happened on private property. That made no sense to me. The other driver *did* still go through a stop sign!

A stop sign on private property a lot of times has no real meaning other than to tell you you are coming to some sort of intersection. It varys by state, but Not all stop signs are real. I new a guy here in CT who suposedly got out of a Stop sign ticket, because he ran a Stop Sign on State Property, but the stop sign was not put there by the State Traffic Commision. You will see some stop signs ion CT say STC(State Traffic Commision) on the bottom and some do not. This one did not so the ticket was thrown out. This was back in 1994. I do not if it was true then, but it does make a certain amount of sense.

 

[johnGorski]

Sorry this happened to you!, samething happened to us two years ago. We just bought a new ford edge and I was wanted to make the 1500 mile to FL in it.

We did stay on the beach club and drove to the parks Half way thought the trip after a day of EMH at the MK, last auto in the lot, got in started the car and the rear sensor keeped beeping. Got out the car and checked the bumper thinking somthing is blocking that sensor. Guess what bumper smashed in!

We drove up to the TCC and talked to a CM who got security. When the sercurity officer showed up very nice got a few peice of info from us such as where are we staying what time did we arrive at the park ect. The did call the next morning and said no one reported a hit and run but they are reviewing video and will let us know either way. Well they did let us know they did not see anything on video and where sorry. I had $250 out of pocket expense.


As other stated let them know.