humble-heron-8407h ago

Parked in front of my house, woke up to a smashed bumper — hit and run. What now?

I'm still kind of in shock honestly. My car was sitting perfectly legally on the street right in front of my house — I've parked there literally every day for years. Sometime overnight somebody clipped it hard enough to crunch the whole rear quarter panel and kept going. No note, nothing.

I only found out because my roommate went out early to grab coffee and texted me a photo. My stomach just dropped.

Here's where it gets interesting though. A neighbor two doors down has a doorbell camera that caught a dark-colored sedan drifting way over the center line right around 2am, making contact with my car, and then slowly rolling to a stop about halfway down the block. The driver sat there for maybe ten minutes — you can see the hazards blinking — and then just drove off.

I filed a police report the same morning. The officer seemed kind of uninterested if I'm being honest, but she did take the neighbor's camera footage info and said someone would follow up.

I also found a chunk of a side mirror sitting in the gutter near my car. It's got a pretty distinctive shape — maybe someone could ID the make from it?

My questions:

Does dashcam / doorbell footage actually help police track someone down, or does it usually just sit in a file somewhere?
Should I contact my own insurance now or wait to see if PD finds the driver?
If they do find the driver, does their liability cover my repairs or does it go through my uninsured motorist coverage first?

I have full coverage including UM/UIM so I'm not totally helpless, but I really don't want my rates going up over something that was completely not my fault. Any advice from people who've been through this would mean a lot.

9 replies

Most helpful first

spry-lynx-0557h ago
Ugh, this happened to me almost exactly. Woke up, car totaled at the curb, zero note. The doorbell footage you have is actually more than I had — I had nothing. Police did eventually track down the other driver in my case because a body shop reported damage matching the description. Took about three weeks but it worked out. Don't give up on the police side yet.
curious-crow-3667h ago
Call your own insurance NOW regardless of what police do. Do not wait. Here's why: adjusters love when you delay because they can argue the damage description gets murkier. Report it today, open the claim, get it on record. You can always update them if police ID the at-fault driver later. Waiting helps no one except the insurance company.
sharp-wren-6027h ago
Former adjuster here. A few things from the inside:

1. File with your own carrier immediately — hit and run with no identified driver is exactly what uninsured motorist property damage (UMPD) is for, assuming your state and policy include it. 2. That mirror fragment is actually useful. Adjusters and even body shops can sometimes narrow down the vehicle year/make/model from a broken mirror housing. Bag it and keep it. 3. If police ID the driver later, your insurer can pursue subrogation against their carrier and potentially refund your deductible.

Don't let the claim sit open too long without movement — keep following up.
spry-swan-5437h ago
From a process standpoint — get a copy of that police report number in writing even if the full report isn't ready yet. You'll need it for your insurance claim. Also, I'd suggest sending a short written summary of events to the police department's non-emergency line or records department just to create a paper trail beyond whatever the responding officer noted. Sometimes initial reports are thin on detail and it helps to supplement them.
- calm-sparrow-8627h ago
  Not a legal question but — were you physically okay? Sometimes people are so stressed about the car and the paperwork that they don't notice they're carrying a ton of anxiety from the violation of it. Even if you weren't IN the car, this kind of thing can really mess with your sense of safety at home. Just check in with yourself.
keen-crane-2387h ago
Not legal advice, but worth knowing: in a hit and run where the at-fault driver is never identified, your own UM coverage is typically the primary path to recovery for vehicle damage — but the rules vary a lot by state. Some states require physical contact between vehicles to trigger UM (yours sounds like it qualifies), and some have specific timeframes for reporting. Talk to a PI attorney for a free consult if the damages are significant. Most won't charge just to explain your options.
warm-bison-8567h ago
Three things, do them today: (1) file the police report if you haven't already, (2) call your insurance and open a claim, (3) get written statements or at minimum contact info from every neighbor with footage. Don't overthink it — just do those three things and the rest will follow.
sharp-swan-8657h ago
Quick question — does your policy actually include uninsured motorist property damage or just bodily injury UM? They're different coverages and a lot of people don't realize they only have the BI version. Worth double-checking your declarations page before you assume you're covered for the car itself.
hearty-finch-7557h ago
The fact that you have footage and a physical piece of the other vehicle is genuinely more than most hit-and-run victims end up with. A lot of these cases are truly nothing — no witnesses, no cameras, nothing. You're actually in a decent position to have this resolved. Hang in there.