SW17LS

I wouldn't think so

tex2670

True in most places. But now in Philadelphia, if no one's hurt and it's a minor accident (and there's no road rage), they don't come out to the scene.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

prtuc2

Just call my insurance agency that set up my plan. They told me since I never report the accident and the other motorist and I didn't file a claim, pretends it never happen.

Johnhav430

Interesting, I was walking my dog like 5 yrs. ago so I would be out at odd hours, saw this Toyota Corolla hit a large dog. It kept driving, then reversed, then sped away. Pretty sure he wasn't supposed to do that. He left this blanking plate for a fog lamp behind. The dog limped away.

When things are optional, then, imho that's where the shadiness begins. Back in our college days my richey rich buddy used to get into it a lot. He kicked in the window of a guy at the MASS Turnpike toll booths. Got arrested etc., he didn't care about the money, it was always about the principle. The guy offered to not press charges if he paid $10,000. He refused and spent way more than that on his legal defense but as I said he didn't care about the money.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Johnhav430

You obviously don't watch much TV, or you would know by the commercials, that insurance has our best interests in mind. They are very forgiving people.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

yeah and casinos say everyone's a winner.

Johnhav430

Even though Casino games are such that the odds are with the house, there are some very nice people running them. That is why say at a roulette wheel, they provide a display board which will show you what all the previous spins yielded. They are trying to help you see the pattern so you can place some good bets and win some money. Pay no mind that the board is showing unreliable and statistically invalid information, kind of like CR and JD Power.

FatherTo1

I am sorry, just so much of this story doesn't make sense to me.

1. You are driving along, minding your own business, and another car makes contact with you.
2. You catch it on your dashcam.
3. You drive a luxury brand vehicle and now have the other party's paint smeared all over your car.
4. You are not at fault but are behaving/paranoid like the fault was yours.

I can understand the lack of experience, but in this day and age I would have used my phone to document everything, taken dozens of photos from all angles and captured the other person's license plate if they were not willing to offer up personal information, or just use my phone to call a family member for help/advice. I find it odd that you're "not too worried about the appearance of it". If I'm driving a shiny Lexus I would be PO'd that some idiot swiped my car. You gotta wonder how distracted the other driver must have been to allow their car to side-swipe you going straight. Just so much of this story doesn't make sense to me and seems your concerns are placed in the wrong areas. Now you're stressed out about how to handle something that was completely not your fault to begin with.

Is there any chance you're driving on a stretch of road that is monitored by public cameras? Maybe that may help your case, or any witnesses that you can possibly solicit help from through social media? I don't mean to make you feel worse than you already do, but this is a great learning opportunity for others on all the wrong things to do after an accident. I will definitely reference this experience when teaching our daughter how to handle an accident once she reaches driving age. Would you be willing to upload the dashcam video? Perhaps some of us may be able to help you decipher the license plate. I know my dashcam clearly captures license plates from adjacent lanes, but nothing beyond two lanes over. In this case, the other party had to be in your adjacent lane. We can't do Hollywood special FX and make a pixelated plate suddenly appear clear but let's see what we have to work with first. Wish you the best of luck.

Also, to one of your earlier points about not knowing how expensive a little dent can be, just realize that for years vehicles have moved to unibody construction and increased crumple zones. This means cars are designed to crush like a can and dissipate the crash energy around the shell of the car to protect the occupants. This also means that a minor fender bender can deform body panels further away from the point of impact. This leads to more expensive repairs and higher insurance premiums overall. Just something to keep in mind for next time, but hopefully there won't be a next time.

prtuc2

Dash cam footage:

FatherTo1

prtuc2, which car was it that hit you? The SUV with the yellow license plate or another car that ends up passing you? How many seconds into the video does the responsible car/party appear? From the footage I can't tell which car we're supposed to be focused on. Upon further review, the SUV with the yellow license plate does eventually appear to pull over to the right side of the road. Is that the party in question?

prtuc2

Yes, the car with the yellow plate in the middle lane I believed it was a Jeep and as for color is dark reddish If I remembered correctly?

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

If viewed by insurance, you might end up being the one partially at fault from the video as you changed lanes over the solid white line and the other driver might have had some (faulty) expectation there wasn't a vehicle there from his/her last look in their mirror. Clearly they should have looked again when the dotted lane opened up and they came over, but there was that violation on your part just prior to the accident.

Also in an accident - always move to the shoulder for your and other's safety!

Did your camera catch the other vehicles plates later when you pulled up behind them?

prtuc2

No, I wasn't able to capture the license as I pull up all the way from the left lane.