Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: Pennsylvania
My pick-up truck was struck by a large commercial straight truck while in a loading zone. I was inside the building at the time. I had only noticed it was hit later in the day. Due to the circumstances, I easily deduced it was hit at that location and who hit it. I filed a police report the next day and my suspicions were confirmed when I went out to their place of business afterward and located and photographed the vehicle that hit mine. The photos show evidence of scrapings on their rim and black marks from my bumper.
The owner, the driver, and eventually the company's insurance are denying any blame. The owner of the company said the driver denies hitting anything and he did not see any damage to his truck when he looked at it. He was not able to view the vehicle until 4 days after the incident due to a snowstorm, during which the truck had been making deliveries, so all or most prominent evidence was probably washed off- and that wasn't much to begin with. The truck is 28000 lbs and he grazed the fender, bumper, and wheel of my truck with his tire and rim as he was pulling straight into a tight space on a narrow street
Their insurance company basically has the attitude that because there were no witnesses, then I can not say their insured was responsible. Their position is that just because there's damage on my truck doesn't mean they did it. They can't deny the truck wasn't at the location. The driver admitted to the owner that he remembered seeing my truck there
What they do not know is I have photos of the rim of their truck showing the evidence. There is also paint from their rim on my truck on several places as well as rubber high on my fender and on my bumper from their tire.
I am 100% certain they were responsible, have the evidence, but don't know how to proceed from here. Do I need to hire a private investigator, lawyer, independent lab to get paint samples, or what? The conclusive evidence is the transfer of paint. There's probably about 1500-2000 worth of damage to my truck. I dropped full coverage last year due to the age of the vehicle, so can't file a claim through my insurance.
I'm concerned they might try to hide the evidence by changing the tire or rim.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
You can sue in small claims court, present your evidence, and see what the court decides.
You have good, clear photographs, right? You can establish by measurement from the ground to the point of impact on both vehicles that the damage is at the same level, right?
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
Thanks VERY much for your help. Someone else I spoke with said the same. Got an estimate from body shop today and just searched the Secretary of State for party to serve.
Yes, I have good photos including measurements with a yardstick showing point of impact on my vehicle. Have several pictures of their vehicle and tire, but will be going back to get more with the same yardstick by their tire to establish the corresponding height.
Thanks again
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
Another way to go would be to call your insurance company.
They have lawyers and insurance investigators. They also do this for a living and know what may or what may not be valid to present in court.
Also, the other insurance company will take them seriously.
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
Normally, I would have done that
But I dropped collision coverage last year due to the age of the vehicle.
So I am going the small claims route.
Thx
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
Don't know how this will post, but here are some photos
Tire that brushed my vehicle. This has scraping and was taken the next morning
This was washed off by snowstorm two days later, so owner never saw this
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/s...g?t=1237637055
This is full shot of tire that hit me. It was brightened to enhance scuff marks
Notice the scuff above scraping
http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/s...g?t=1237637202
This is my vehicle showing damage. Estimate was $2100
Two weeks later, I did get additional photos showing same yardstick against the tire that hit mine. They had also since washed the tires and vehicle.
The rubber at about 33" does match up with their tire, but I have since noticed most commercial tires are very similar, even with white protruding rims.
http://s562.photobucket.com/albums/s...2282009021.jpg
Re: Hit and Run, No Witnesses, but I Have Physical Evidence
Someone correct me if I"m wrong but collision insurance is used when you are at fault.
Liability is when someone hits you. Or you hit someone else.
Since the guy hit you and damaged you, your insurance company will go after their insurance company so you should still talk to them.
Collision is for coverage when you hit something and it's YOUR fault. Liability covers the other persons car. So this company would pay from their Liability side for your damage.
My son was in an accident that was his fault, our liability insurance paid for the damages on the other car, but because we didn't have collision on this car (also older) our car wasn't fixed becuase we didn't have collision on it. If we had collision on it they would have paid to fix it.