Apologies in advance for the long post...
WHAT HAPPENED...
While working a night shift at the hospital, my car was hit in the parking lot. I went out to check the car when my phone alerted me that something set off my alarm. It was dark and at the time I didn't notice anything obvious (like broken windows or scratches or dents). I viewed the footage from sentry and it showed a car backed into the right rear side of my car. From the footage, the car looked like it hit my car pretty hard, shaking the car and possibly even shifting the car's position! However, what was weird was that when I went to look at the area where it was hit, I couldn't see any obvious damage to the car... I went to the hospital Security office to see if they could get footage from their security surveillance to maybe get a better view of the person's plates but they said their camera was facing the wrong way that night
. Because I had to get back to work, I tried not to worry about it too much especially since I didn't see any obvious damage to the car.
The next morning I went out to check the car in better lighting to evaluate the damage of my car. I could tell that the car had been hit directly on the rim/wheel. I'm worried that there might be some internal damage that I can't see and won't know about until later in the future where it might be too late to do anything about it.
WHAT I KNOW AND CAN POSSIBLY DO...
1) Since I don't have the plate, I can try and figure out what the car make and model is that hit my car from the Sentry footage.
2) I can go back to Security and try and request to see footage from a few minutes before my car got hit of the guy and his friend from inside the hospital entrance/exit as they walked out to the parking lot to their cars to figure out if he is an employee there or just a patient/visitor.
3) If he's a employee there, I may be able to figure out who it is and hold them accountable.
MY QUESTION IS...
1) If I can identify him as an employee that works at the hospital, should I file a police report on him and then get his insurance info?
2) Should I just contact my insurance either way just to let them know what happened? Not sure if I need to open a new claim since I don't see any really bad damage worth repairing?
3) Not sure how to proceed with this. I just don't want have to pay for hidden damage I don't see right now because I didn't take the necessary proactive steps to holding the guy accountable. I'm just thinking, what if my alignment is messed up now since he hit my rear right side wheel pretty hard. Not sure what damage it could have done to the car frame, suspension, or anything else.
SENTRY MODE FOOTAGE OF HIT AND RUN...
Footage of guy walking to his car and then reversing into my car (right camera view)
Footage of guy walking to his car and then reversing into my car - 53 seconds into video (rear camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run (rear camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run - 15 seconds into video (right camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run - 20 seconds into video (left camera view)
WHAT HAPPENED...
While working a night shift at the hospital, my car was hit in the parking lot. I went out to check the car when my phone alerted me that something set off my alarm. It was dark and at the time I didn't notice anything obvious (like broken windows or scratches or dents). I viewed the footage from sentry and it showed a car backed into the right rear side of my car. From the footage, the car looked like it hit my car pretty hard, shaking the car and possibly even shifting the car's position! However, what was weird was that when I went to look at the area where it was hit, I couldn't see any obvious damage to the car... I went to the hospital Security office to see if they could get footage from their security surveillance to maybe get a better view of the person's plates but they said their camera was facing the wrong way that night
. Because I had to get back to work, I tried not to worry about it too much especially since I didn't see any obvious damage to the car.The next morning I went out to check the car in better lighting to evaluate the damage of my car. I could tell that the car had been hit directly on the rim/wheel. I'm worried that there might be some internal damage that I can't see and won't know about until later in the future where it might be too late to do anything about it.
WHAT I KNOW AND CAN POSSIBLY DO...
1) Since I don't have the plate, I can try and figure out what the car make and model is that hit my car from the Sentry footage.
2) I can go back to Security and try and request to see footage from a few minutes before my car got hit of the guy and his friend from inside the hospital entrance/exit as they walked out to the parking lot to their cars to figure out if he is an employee there or just a patient/visitor.
3) If he's a employee there, I may be able to figure out who it is and hold them accountable.
MY QUESTION IS...
1) If I can identify him as an employee that works at the hospital, should I file a police report on him and then get his insurance info?
2) Should I just contact my insurance either way just to let them know what happened? Not sure if I need to open a new claim since I don't see any really bad damage worth repairing?
3) Not sure how to proceed with this. I just don't want have to pay for hidden damage I don't see right now because I didn't take the necessary proactive steps to holding the guy accountable. I'm just thinking, what if my alignment is messed up now since he hit my rear right side wheel pretty hard. Not sure what damage it could have done to the car frame, suspension, or anything else.
SENTRY MODE FOOTAGE OF HIT AND RUN...
Footage of guy walking to his car and then reversing into my car (right camera view)
Footage of guy walking to his car and then reversing into my car - 53 seconds into video (rear camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run (rear camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run - 15 seconds into video (right camera view)
Footage of car driving away after hit and run - 20 seconds into video (left camera view)
