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Sorry to see that, I was following all your other problems and was glad you got them solved. To bad your in Cali on the other side of the country or I'd gladly fix that damage for you. Hope tou can find a good shop that will do it reasonable for you. Seems to be alot of hit & runs to SC's out there.
Meghan, for what it's worth I am careful about my car wherever I go. I went to get lunch early last month and parked next to a crookedly placed car. Later when I came out another vehicle had taken its place but was parked like THIS. Miraculously there was no damage and since I was still waiting on my tags to come in at the time I did not press the issue. I credit my stock ride height for saving me in this situation. His fender JUST tucked under my fender. Unbelievable.
The owner came out and we very, very slowly and carefully dislodged both vehicles. Again, in my case this did not even result in a scratch. If there had been I'd have filed a report. The owner of the Eclipse claimed to have had no idea he'd made contact with my car. I did not buy that BS for a second.
If someone does this and truthfully does not have a concept that they've basically hit another car then they really should not be driving. This was NOT a new young driver fresh out of driver's ed. It is not hard to park a car. Really... it isn't.
This person and the person before him just did not try. Careless idiots are everywhere. I try to avoid them whenever possible.
Nope. Vin ends in 777, just like my license plate. You would think it was lucky. But unfortunately, not so much. Thanks for the heads up though.
That explains it. If you've ever seen the Denzel movie with the runaway freight train that caused a ton of damage (based on a true story) IIRC the number on the train was 777.
Some people are just so inconsiderate, and most should not be driving. I think insurance or not, anyone that does that should be forced have to serve time working on fixing some dented up car in a community college type class just to see what its like to fix messes they cause.
Thank you everyone for your kind words. It always makes me feel better to know that there are people out there who really do care.
So, here is the update:
I paid $12 to get the police report. Which told me nothing I didn't already know. Since the driver left the vehicle and fled on foot I had the license plate number and my I insurance company provided me with the name of the other vehicles owner. But my insurance adjuster said that the car hadn't had insurance since 2013. (Not sure if I mentioned that already) I found this odd because the car had up to date registration tags. So then I called DMV. From them I managed to find out that the car was, in fact, insured. However, the dmv was unable to disclose the insurance information. . . . . SO FRUSTRATING!!
So then, I decided to send a certified letter to this chic, return receipt and all, requesting that she provide me with her insurance info since her car had been involved in an accident with mine on said date. I provided my return address and paid $10 to send the stupid thing! But I figured it was worth it since I would have proof of my request in case I ended up having to take her to small claims court. (I have the minimum coverage on my car. Just enough to be legal. Since it is such an old car, I am such a good driver, and I can't afford to pay any more than the minimum anyway)
I decided in the mean time I would research some repair facilities on Yelp, etc. and one in particular stood out as being very reasonably priced and doing exceptional work. So, dispite the somewhat shady neighborhood (which would never deture me anyway) I stopped by to get an estimate. The guy/ kid that helped me was very nice and sympathetic! He knew all about my car (big plus) and even mentioned how when he heard his mom was getting an sc he was SO excited! Until she brought it home and he realized she had purchased a sc430. He was like, "MOM! YOU GOT THE WRONG ONE!!" Lol. Gotta love that!
Anywho, he sent me the bid like the next day. I don't have the number in front of me at the moment. But needless to say it was a good bit over $7,000!
Yikes!!
Yeah, that's probably not going to happen!! Definitely a total loss!! Unfortunately. :'-(
So, a week and a half goes by. By now the accident had occurred about a month ago and finally I receive a letter. Not the return receipt or response from the culprit, as I expected. But from the police department providing me with the insurance info I was trying to obtain. Hallelujah!
Luckily she has AAA and the lady I spoke with was very nice and very helpful! Even more so than my insurance adjuster! She said that the insured claimed her car had been taken without her knowledge and she had no idea how the damage to her car got there. (Yeah right!) The lady even said, "she was probably drunk and was just trying to avoid a dui" (uh, yea)
She asked that I fax her the police report. Which I did. And I made an appointment to get an estimate from their repair facility.
Sorry for the lengthy read, but this is where it gets kinda fishy.
So on the day I'm about to get this estimate I had just washed my car and cleaned it out the night before. Right?! So it looked it's best and hopefully will result in a higher value payout so I can get my car fixed. I walk out the door and find a letter on my doorstep. Guess who it is from! The other driver. The letter gave me her insurance info along with the same story she had given her insurance company. It was not sent in the mail. It was simply left on my doorstep. Weird!
The next thing I know I'm trying to drive to the repair shop and my car is idling horrible! Very rough even at low speeds the car is like shaking. On my way home the check engine light comes on. I check it and it's giving me codes 25 & 26. Lean air to fuel ratio and rich air to fuel ratio. Great! My car was running fine. Actually it was running perfect! I was even getting great gas mileage. And now this?! Really?!
I can't help but wonder if Something may have been done to my car when the letter was dropped off. I just replaced o2 sensors and spark plugs. egnition wires done. The only thing I can think of is my front cat may need to be replaced. Does that seem like a possibility? Or do you suspect foul play?
I am generally a pretty paranoid guy, so I say foul play, but good luck proving it. At the same time though, it would be weird for her to wait such a long time before doing something to the car. Unless she didn't know your address before and then got it because it was the return address on the letter you sent her. If that's the case that's exactly why I use a p.o. box 99.9% of the time. Honestly, I would be pretty creeped out if I were in your shoes. The person you're going after is chilling outside your house, walking up to your front door, and dropping off a fictitious letter. Then, on top of that, they're clearly not very rational or intelligent since they side swiped your car and fled the scene. Who knows though, maybe it was just a coincidence.
eh, if she can't park her car correctly the chances of her being able to "foul play" and make your car throw codes for the o2 sensor is I would say, borderline dangerously paranoid, especially since you just changed them there is a chance those are bad right off the bat or even the ecu could going bad, or the new o2's are picking up on your clogged cat. I would reset the ecu and see if it comes back (pull negative battery cable for 10 seconds). Take a deep breath and start looking for another one, you know, one that isn't throwing any codes and doesn't need as much wok. once her insurance pays out you will most likely end up on top in the end, pull all the new parts of your old one and keep them as spares. If insurance gives you a low quote fight it and have comparisons of ones for sale ready to go.
07-06-16, 07:09 PM
