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Hit and run caught by sentry mode

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eab6287

Member
Oct 8, 2018
74
32
New York, NY
#1
Noticed some pretty bad scratches to the driver's side corner of our Model 3 today; checked the sentry video and sure enough someone sideswiped the car while trying (poorly) to parallel park recently. License plate is clearly visible.

Any advance re: how to proceed? Do folks typically bring video directly to the driver's insurance company after obtaining that info from the police? Contact a lawyer (can they then pursue compensation from the other party for their time)? I would very much like for my insurance rates to not go up given that I wasn't even in the vehicle. In NJ which is no-fault but I understand that applies only to bodily injury, not property damage.

Video clearly demonstrates vehicle being hit as you can see the video wiggle, and it shows the parking of the other car as well as the driver getting out and looking at the damage, but of course since it's the front and side repeater and car was hit on the front-side, you can't actually see the impact itself. I would think this would still be sufficient evidence?

 
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#3
Were it me, I'd take it up with my insurance agent. After all, that's what you're paying them for. If the plate is visible, they have the resources to track them down. What can get problematic is if the driver of the car that hit you is not clearly identifiable. That could give them an out by saying it wasn't he/she who hit you; it must have been somebody else because your video does not explicitly show the collision. If it goes that far, that's when I'd bring the lawyers into the mix.
 
#4
Wow, that sucks!

Both the result and the parking (why do so many people think they're supposed to nose in to a parallel parking space?). Does the enlarged front camera show any damage to her right rear or was all the damage to your car? I don't know if that would make any difference to how you pursue it but I wonder if she's already started something with her insurance. Probably not since it doesn't even look the driver bothered inspecting the damage in that hit and park.

Sorry I'm not much help but glad sentry was on and she went ahead and parked rather than high tailing it before you could catch the plate. Good luck!
 
#5
Upon further review.... in my opinion, it looks like the passenger was more concerned about the Jeep being too far out into the street, than looking for any damage to their (right rear) bumper. That's what looked like hit your car to me. The driver did not even approach that corner.

If they both thought that their left rear corner hit you, then they need to take some spatial awareness classes.
 
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#6
RayK said:
Upon further review.... in my opinion, it looks like the passenger was more concerned about the Jeep being too far out into the street, than looking for any damage to their (right rear) bumper. That's what looked like hit your car to me. The driver did not even approach that corner.

If they both thought that their left rear corner hit you, then they need to take some spatial awareness classes.
Click to expand...
Ha agree
 
#8
What he said. Looks like daddy bought her a nice Jeep and she has very little idea how to park and no respect for other people’s property. If that were my daughter and I saw this video we would have words, unpleasant words. Please let us know how this turns out as you seem to have all the video needed to force her insurance to pay for the damage.
 
#10
Sorry this happened to you! She definitely hit you. I don't think she knew about the impact/damage but if she did and didn't even bother to park somewhere else she would have to be the dumbest hit and runner ever. Like everyone says file a police report and talk to your insurance. Give them the video and they will track her insurance down and get you your deductible back from her later.
 
#11
Like already mentioned, talk to your insurance company. I think it's reasonable to assume a vehicle that size would cause some kind of surface damage at the very least.

There was enough space there to park a tractor trailer. Her parents should have started her off with a kid's jeep wrangler.
 
#12
Note that your car didn't move even the slightest bit during the impact so it's pretty unlikely they would have felt anything in that big rumbling Jeep. Your side repeater camera is the only one indicating any motion and it's simply because the fender wiggled. Looks like an honest mistake to me, not a poorly executed hit and run. Your insurance company will track them down and work it out from there.
 
#13
This happened to me. The video clearly shows the collision (motion of the camera), so there’s not any wiggle room for them to say they didn’t do it.

Just contact your insurance company. They can usually look up the license plate and give you the name, insurance company, and policy number of the insured. Your insurance company can deal with it (you would be out deductible but would get it back later most likely), or you can go through the insured’s company (there are a variety of considerations here which may impact that decision - you should discuss the best course of action with your insurance agent - lots of details which differ in every circumstance - property damage limits, etc.).

Hopefully they don’t have a $5k PD limit like the driver in my situation did. I got lucky that the damage was minor. Going to be more pricey in your case.
 
#14
Gauss Guzzler said:
Note that your car didn't move even the slightest bit during the impact so it's pretty unlikely they would have felt anything in that big rumbling Jeep. Your side repeater camera is the only one indicating any motion and it's simply because the fender wiggled. Looks like an honest mistake to me, not a poorly executed hit and run. Your insurance company will track them down and work it out from there.
Click to expand...
The other cameras actually do also show a teeny bit of wiggle, but you have to view them full screen and be staring at a straight surface in view like one of the buildings to notice it. I suppose I can send that over to the insurance if they argue for whatever reason
 
#19
eab6287 said:
Noticed some pretty bad scratches to the driver's side corner of our Model 3 today; checked the sentry video and sure enough someone sideswiped the car while trying (poorly) to parallel park recently. License plate is clearly visible.
Click to expand...

Dude - you call this a "hit and run" !?!?
What are you - from midWest or something?
This is an average garden variety parking job in 'da City.
Any surface areas of your car that are exposed to contact with other cars' bumpers will, inevitably, take damage from parallel parking encounters. Some bumper-car encounters will be initiated by others, some by yourself. It's a cost of owning and parallel parking a car in 'da City.

It is how it is.

eab6287 said:
I would very much like for my insurance rates to not go up given that I wasn't even in the vehicle. In NJ which is no-fault but I understand that applies only to bodily injury, not property damage.
Click to expand...

No fault applies to property damage as well.
Last December, a parking jockey bumped the nose of my TM3P while retrieving it from the lot. Exterior damage was cosmetic, but the impact managed to kill the front radar in the nose of the car, and soon discombobulated the jigsaw puzzle of plastic bits and pieces under the nose of the car.
I filed an insurance claim, got it repaired, and got back the deductible after the lot settled. No impact to the rates.

eab6287 said:
Video clearly demonstrates vehicle being hit as you can see the video wiggle [...] I would think this would still be sufficient evidence?
Click to expand...

A hit? Neah. More like a parking love tap.
But the video can help your insurance company find the driver of the car. Who is semi-cute. And will help you get your deductible back, if there is enough "something" to repair. Maybe you might even get her # out of all this excitement.

BTW, where are pics of the damage?
Is it something, or just a superficial bumper scrape that will either buff out, or get covered by a fresh set of bumper scrapes in a few weeks?
 
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#20
afadeev said:
Dude - you call this a "hit and run" !?!?
What are you - from midWest or something?
This is an average garden variety parking job in 'da City.
Any surface areas of your car that are exposed to contact with other cars' bumpers will, inevitably, take damage from parallel parking encounters. Some bumper-car encounters will be initiated by others, some by yourself. It's a cost of owning and parallel parking a car in 'da City.

It is how it is.
Click to expand...
It's a hit and run under NY law (VTL 600-1a). Injury to a person is not required to qualify as a hit and run, nor is it required for the owner/driver of the damaged vehicle to be present.
New York Consolidated Laws, Vehicle and Traffic Law - VAT § 600 | FindLaw
Person who did it is required to leave information.
If it's over $1000 in damage it also needs to be reported to the DMV.
Non-Injury Vehicle Collisions
Of course whether people follow that is a different matter, but doesn't change it from being defined as a "hit and run".
afadeev said:
No fault applies to property damage as well.
Last December, a parking jockey bumped the nose of my TM3P while retrieving it from the lot. Exterior damage was cosmetic, but the impact managed to kill the front radar in the nose of the car, and soon discombobulated the jigsaw puzzle of plastic bits and pieces under the nose of the car.
I filed an insurance claim, got it repaired, and got back the deductible after the lot settled. No impact to the rates.

A hit? Neah. More like a parking love tap.
But the video can help your insurance company find the driver of the car. Who is semi-cute. And will help you get your deductible back, if there is enough "something" to repair. Maybe you might even get her # out of all this excitement.

BTW, where are pics of the damage?
Is it something, or just a superficial bumper scrape that will either buff out, or get covered by a fresh set of bumper scrapes in a few weeks?
Click to expand...
Parallel parking is common here in SF and it's common to expect bumper tapping straight on to front or rear bumper (which is why a lot of people use Bumper Bully, usually visible damage is from license plate hitting rear), but side scrapes are pretty much out of line. If a rear bumper touching the front is enough to cause visible scrapes of the car in the back, it's not your typical parking tap (which would tend to leave no visible damage on the car in the back, especially given the rear bumper would mainly be touching the front license plate or if no plate, would be touching straight on).
 
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