Shannon, sorry to hear about the jerk who hit your car at the gym and then left without leaving a note.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Call the police and make a police report, as soon as possible. You may ultimately have to go to the police station, but do not skip this step.
- If this ever happens again, without moving your car, take photos of your car damage at the scene.
- If your gym does have surveillance cameras and the vehicle damage is over $1,000, the police will likely request the surveillance videos of the parking lot to hopefully identify the vehicle that scraped against your car and then drove off without leaving a note. If this ever happens again, you also want to take photos of the other cars parked on both sides of your car for potential witnesses. Make sure to get their license plates in the photos. If someone tells you that they recorded the incident or has a dash cam in their car that may have recorded the hit and run, get a copy of the footage. If they cannot easily give it to you, have them play it back while you record it on your cell phone.
- Report the accident to the manager of your gym. Ask them to preserve whatever surveillance video they have for the police to review. Call occasionally to see if anyone reported seeing the incident. You may also want to ask the gym manager if you can post a notice in your gym as to the circumstances of your accident with your first name and phone number as the contact information.
- If this ever happens again, you always want to see if there are cameras taking video or photos of the parking lot. If so, contact those businesses or send a letter giving the details of your hit and run accident and request that they preserve any and all surveillance related to that entire day.
- Here’s the most important part: if you have collision coverage, get the car repaired and report any and all of the information you have gathered to your insurance company. Your insurance company will have an interest in getting reimbursed from the at fault party or their insurance company.
Here is more information on your legal rights when someone hits your parked car.
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