sharp-heron-2381d ago

Driver hit me and fled — now she's claiming I backed into her in a parking lot??

I still can't believe this is happening.

A few weeks ago I was merging onto the highway during my morning commute and this SUV just drifted into my lane and clipped my front quarter panel. No signal, no warning. I immediately put my hazards on and pulled onto the shoulder. The other driver? Gone. Just kept going like nothing happened.

I was frustrated but honestly relieved I had my dashcam rolling. Sat there for a few minutes, took some photos of the damage and the road, then went on with my day. That night I backed up the footage to my laptop — just had a gut feeling I should.

Fast forward to this week. My insurance calls me saying someone filed a claim alleging that I reversed into their parked vehicle in a shopping center lot — on the exact same morning as the highway incident. I almost laughed out loud.

I told my adjuster I had dashcam footage from that morning showing the whole thing — the merge, the impact, everything. The second I said "footage" his whole energy shifted. Went from "we'll have to investigate both sides" to "please send that over as soon as possible."

Now I'm sitting here wondering:

Should I go ahead and file a hit-and-run report with the police now, or wait until her insurance formally responds?
Does filing that police report help me, or does it complicate anything with my own insurance?
Has anyone else dealt with someone literally flipping the script and claiming YOU hit THEM?

The audacity is unreal. Any advice from people who've been through something similar would genuinely help right now.

8 replies

Most helpful first

candid-owl-9611d ago
Oh wow. Someone tried to pull almost the exact same thing on my husband last year — he got sideswiped on an on-ramp and two weeks later got a letter saying he'd caused damage to a vehicle in a neighborhood he'd never even been to. It was incredibly stressful. The dashcam footage was what saved him. Send it to your adjuster immediately if you haven't already, and keep a personal copy somewhere safe.
cool-sparrow-7991d ago
Do NOT wait on the police report. File it today. Adjusters will sometimes use any delay to suggest you're not taking the hit-and-run seriously, or worse, they start treating both claims as equally credible the longer you sit on it. The police report creates an official timestamp that backs up your version of events. Your dashcam footage is gold, but paper trails matter too.
candid-raven-3301d ago
Former adjuster here. When you said you had footage, that adjuster's tone changed because fraudulent or exaggerated claims are a huge headache for the whole file — and video basically ends the debate before it starts. What you want to do is send the footage, file the police report for the hit-and-run separately, and then ask your adjuster to note in writing that you've disputed the other party's claim in full. Get everything in writing — even just a quick confirmation email after your calls. Don't assume verbal conversations are being documented the way you'd want.
calm-badger-0651d ago
Filing the hit-and-run report won't complicate your own claim — if anything, it supports it. It establishes that there was an actual incident on that date and that you were the victim, not the at-fault party. Some states also require hit-and-run reports to be filed within a certain window to preserve your rights under your own uninsured motorist coverage, so don't sit on it too long regardless of what the other insurance does.
clever-marmot-3291d ago
Not legal advice, but what you're describing — someone filing a claim that directly contradicts documented evidence — can have real consequences for that driver, potentially including insurance fraud referrals depending on your state. Your job right now is to protect yourself: get the police report filed, preserve all copies of your footage in multiple places, and document every call with dates and names. If her insurance pushes back despite the video, that's when you'd want to talk to an actual attorney.
quiet-marten-6051d ago
File the police report. Send the footage. Stop waiting. Every day you don't file the hit-and-run report is a day this person's story gets to sit there unopposed.
- sharp-beaver-6061d ago
  Quick question — does your dashcam footage clearly show her license plate? And does it have a GPS or timestamp overlay that places you on the highway at that exact time? Those details are going to matter a lot if this escalates. "I have footage" is powerful, but the specifics of what's actually visible on that footage will determine how airtight your case really is.
genuine-otter-6331d ago
The fact that she not only fled the scene but then turned around and blamed you is honestly shocking. I'm so sorry you're dealing with this on top of the actual accident stress. Hang in there — it sounds like you did everything right.