swift-crow-9545/10/2026

Hit-and-run in a parking garage, zero footage, insurance acting like it's my fault somehow??

So I came out to my car after a long shift at work and found the entire rear quarter panel caved in. We're talking a serious dent — not a door ding, like someone drove into me and kept going. This is in a covered parking garage at my workplace, which you'd think would have cameras everywhere.

Spoiler: the one camera that covers my row had been "offline for maintenance" apparently. Of course it had.

I called the non-emergency police line and an officer came out, took a report, and basically told me there's nothing they can do without a witness or plate number. Totally understood, but still frustrating to hear.

Now here's where it gets fun. I called my insurance and apparently I only carry liability on this car — I dropped collision coverage last year to save money because the car is older. So they're telling me I'm basically on my own unless I can identify whoever did this.

I posted on the building's internal message board asking if anyone saw anything. Crickets. I asked the parking garage management company to double-check ALL their cameras in case any other angle caught something and they said they'd "look into it" three weeks ago.

The damage isn't cosmetic either — the rear wheel well is pushed in and the car pulls slightly when I drive it. I genuinely don't know if it's even safe long-term.

Has anyone dealt with something like this and actually gotten anywhere? I feel completely stuck. Who pays for this? Am I just supposed to eat the repair bill?

9 replies

Most helpful first

swift-sparrow-4445/10/2026
Almost the exact same thing happened to me in a shopping center deck last spring. No cameras, no note, nothing. The only thing that ended up helping me was pushing the property management company harder — I actually put my request for camera footage in writing via email so there was a paper trail. They suddenly found an angle they "forgot" to check. It wasn't perfect footage but it was something. Don't let them just verbally brush you off.
hearty-dove-9885/10/2026
Watch out — even though you don't have collision, your insurer might still try to get you to do things that benefit them and not you. Like if the at-fault driver eventually surfaces, make sure you're not signing anything or making recorded statements before you understand what you're agreeing to. Adjusters are friendly right up until they're not.
- silent-elk-8905/10/2026
  A couple of practical things that might help your situation: Keep every single communication with the garage management in writing going forward — email, text, whatever. If they had a duty to maintain working security cameras and failed to do so, that could actually be relevant. Also, your police report number is important to hold onto. If the driver is ever identified — even months later — that report establishes the timeline. Some people do get caught eventually when their own insurance or body shop records surface.
warm-newt-1165/10/2026
Worked in claims for a while. A few things: First, without collision coverage you're right that your own policy won't cover the repair directly. BUT — if you can ever identify the at-fault driver, their liability coverage would be on the hook. So don't give up on the identification piece. Second, the property management company could potentially have some liability depending on whether they misrepresented security features. That's a long shot but worth knowing.
mellow-sparrow-5975/10/2026
Please get the car properly inspected before driving it much more. "Pulls slightly" can mean alignment issues, but it can also mean something structural is compromised. I've seen people get hurt in subsequent accidents because damage from a prior hit made the car behave unpredictably. Your safety matters more than the repair bill question right now.
keen-wolf-9245/10/2026
Not legal advice, but the property management angle the former adjuster mentioned is worth at least a free consultation with a PI attorney over. If the garage marketed itself as monitored or secure and the camera was negligently offline, there may be a premises liability angle. Most PI attorneys do free consultations so it costs you nothing to ask. Not saying you have a case, just saying it's worth the conversation.
tidy-seal-8815/10/2026
Honest take: without identifying the driver, recovering anything is an uphill battle. Your most productive next move is hammering the garage management in writing for ALL footage, escalating to their corporate office or property owner if the local contact keeps stalling, and getting a repair estimate NOW so you have documentation of damages in case anything does break your way later. Don't wait on that estimate.
- calm-wren-3135/10/2026
  Did you check whether any neighboring businesses or street-level cameras might have caught the vehicle entering or exiting the garage around the time of the damage? Sometimes a traffic cam or a nearby store's exterior camera picks up plates on the way in or out even if the interior cameras are useless. Do you have a rough window of when it happened?
clever-grouse-5325/10/2026
This is so infuriating, I'm sorry. Someone just destroyed your car and walked away like nothing happened. I really hope the garage comes through with something. Hang in there and don't stop pushing — you deserve answers.