Found your car damaged by hit-and-run or realized it has scratches, dents, and broken parts by the time you returned to it? It’s a common scene these days, believe it or not, for many parked cars anywhere. In many cases, the situation is even made worse when the owner wasn’t able to get hold of the driver’s license plate number or no witnesses have come forward.

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.

Call the police immediately after you find out what has happened and wait for them until they arrive to the scene. Present to them your evidence and file an incident report. Try to determine if there are any witnesses to the incident. If the witnesses say they need to be somewhere else, ask them for their names and contact information and your insurance company will get in touch with them soon for their testimony. But if they’re able to give their testimony right there and then, it would be helpful for your case as they can give their account to the police of what really happened.

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.

Claims for hit-and-run incidents are quite difficult to handle especially when you don’t know who did it and if the driver is either uninsured or underinsured. You can file a complaint at your local DA’s office if there’s no way for you to make a claim under normal circumstances. You can also go to the Small Claims Court and file a lawsuit against the driver when you’ve determined his identity.

Authored by Roxana Zander. Know more about Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes.

Incoming search terms for the article:

• auto insurance premium if parked car hit by hit-and-run