So I was in a hit and run / high speed chase!

Some joy riding asshats decided to side swipe my car on the freeway on the way to work.  They then decided it'd be a good idea to not stop and drive about 80 mph through a very busy stretch of highway while I followed them.  The car had no license plate... which is why I kept up while on the phone with 911.  We took an exit from the middle lane at about 65 mph.  At that point they got stuck in traffic and the sheriffs were behind me, and they pulled over.  I didn't even talk to them as they were promptly escorted to the back of the squads.  They apparently tried to say that they were chasing someone that hit them, but a very nice lady kept up with us and let them know that they were full of crap.  

I knew as soon as they didn't act surprised and had no plate that it was no longer about money.  It was about getting these guys off the road and in the hands of the police.  I wanted to just get a plate number and call it a day, but unfortunately that wasn't an option.

Someone hit my truck and ran off in the late fall this past year. I wish I chased them out of spite. Good for you.

What was their story for having no plates? Did they steal the car?

If you hadn't chased them, you would have had to claim it on your insurance, and your rates would go up eventually...

Glad no one was hurt, that's why I have a dash cam.

RoboCop wrote: I bought a dash cam and am going to install it soon. Don't want to need it before I have it. Could have used one on my girl's new car. She hit something on the road in the dark and it banged up the front bumper, put a hole in the radiator, smashed the oil pan (not leaking), and broke lots of undercarriage plastics from the splash guards all the way to the rear. Insurance is covering it as not at fault. Luckily it was where when we were pulling into the turn lane for her house, but her house is off a highway so we were traveling around 50 mph when we hit it. Made the car jump up. No one is hurt, and I'm lucky it happened yesterday night and not today, because I have a flight out 2 hours away.

I ran over what was a full tire or a mostly in-tact retread that had blown out on the NYS thruway one night. Thankfully I was in my old forester, which had a good bit of ground clearance. The 'front bits' of the car were fine, but it tore the holy hell out of the exhaust system which was hanging a smidge low. The car grumbled and growled until if finally died a pathetic death on my way to a job interview last summer.

I searched for what she may have hit immediately after and the next morning. I couldn't find anything. I found all the broken plastic pieces on the road from her splash guards, but no sign of anything else. Where she lives is extremely dark (I had to use my phone flashlight to see where I was stepping), and there were cars going both ways, so she would have had to slam her brakes to try to avoid it. She isn't the type of person that would react so quickly or aggressively. I was looking at her phone when she hit it, so I never saw it. She always keeps her eyes on the road. She gets angry with me if I even look at my phone while at a red light.

Edited by RoboCop - 29 March 2015 at 9:12pm

Thats pish PCF, Here we have the MIB (motor insurers bureau) basically insurers all chip in to a pot relative to their market share and you can claim from this if you are hit by an uninsured or even untraced driver. Handy system but they are a pain in the arse to deal with as an insurer. Also from what I can tell claimants don't have much of a better time. But it could be handy to protect your rates and excess.

That's not bad Robocop, The way things work here is your at fault unless your insurer can make a full recovery of their outlay (normally from the third party at fault or their insurer) So if a deer runs in front of your car you better hope it has insurance or drops it's wallet. Also if I was gonna be a dick about it and had your wifes situation on my desk I would say "yeah I do know how dark it is, and so do you. Don't drive if you can't see". but as I said that's 9-5 scotchy. Off the clock I'm glad there's some thought has gone into the case itself.

procarbinefreak wrote: He's going to dig himself into a big ol' hole too because if he just ignores my insurance company they'll send it to collections.

Usually they'll go after him for the full amount, not just the deductible. That means that your insurance company will lawyer up and nail this kid to the wall piling legal fees on top of what they'll already recoup legally from him hitting you. The courts will order him to pay and then they'll sell it off to collections knowing he probably won't be able to do so.

If I was you, I'd argue against having to pay the deductible since it wasn't your fault AND they're going to most likely go after this kid.

When I had a wheel come off my car due to the negligence of the tire shop where I had them changed, my insurance company went after them in a mediated case (it did nearly 3k of damage to the car). Ultimately the shop settled for a third of that, but even before they went to the mediator, I wasn't required to pay a deductible.