dizzysn

Well I was attending a party for some people I used to work and I came out to find this:





The hood is cracked, the bumper is cracked, the headlight assembly is shattered, the headlight cover is cracked, the fender is cracked and the wheel well is cracked as well.

There were only 12 people in attendance, and there was only one person driving a Ford SUV (part of his car that was stamped with the Ford logo was stuck in the light assembly). Luckily I know where he works and I'll be going up there tomorrow to have a very VERY heated chat with him. Cops were called but said it'd be a few hours before they could come out and being that it was 1am I decided to go home and call them tomorrow to file the report. Going to see if they can get the guy as well being as we know who it was. I'm livid. I've seen Vettes with this amount of damage done get totaled out which means I'd loose my cold air intake, cam/valve springs/pushrods/timing chain/oil pump, LS7 clutch, DBA rotors, Hawk Pads, American Racing headers, XS Power exhaust and my new diff and trans. I seriously hope that doesn't happen because I will not have the money to get all that again.

Chilliwack vettes

Seriously? What is wrong with people...
I'd be livid too. Hope you can calm down a little before you talk to the driver - don't want to make things worse. Then again... maybe you do!

I hope you can get everything fixed properly.

dizzysn

Well the hit and run penalties in Delaware are pretty harsh. He's going to pay my deductible, and I'm getting his insurance and then getting the police involved, if they even do anything. I just don't want the car to get totaled out and lose the $8k+ I've spent on after market stuff.

Mickeyrx70

That sucks. Hope you get the guilty jerk to pay damages. If you can prove your case Civil Court may be an option.

OneCylinder

That's really sad that someone would do that and drive away. I hope that they compensate you for the damage without too much trouble. It doesn't look like a total to me.

dizzysn

I don't understand the thought process. It was 12 people at the party and I was one of two people who no longer worked there. So everyone is going to know that it was him that did it. I'm also VERY good friends with all the people at the party except for this guy that I just met tonight as he joined the company after I left.

I've backed into two people in my life. Both times there was no damage, except for a small scuff on one of the cars. I left my name, number, address and insurance info. Never heard anything from the one person and the other person that I scuffed their car called and I offered to use my buffer to try to fix it and if that didn't work I'd pay their deductible. They brought it over, I buffed it out and they were amazed that it came right out and looked brand new. They thanked me for leaving my info, said they'd never have noticed if I didn't leave the note, I apologized again and that was that. I don't know what happened to common courtesy in this world. I'm only 25 but my parents made sure to teach me to do the right thing.

El original

Wow, lucky the ford emblem was recovered and you know who damaged your Corvette. I would just go to the police and insurance co. and let them deal with this guy. He probably had a few drinks and thought better of hanging around after backing into your vehicle. Imagine the shock when he is charged with hit and run. What a low life, good luck and keep us posted. Sorry about your Corvette.

dizzysn

Thanks. It's not an emblem, but a plastic pop clip that goes in the bumper , but the Ford logo is stamped on it, and there's rusted metal that was in the drive way in front of my car, and on the car itself which I've got in a bag. Normally I'd just get the car fixed and let bygones be bygones, but I'd like to go to small claims court and get my diminished value back. I don't know how likely that is though.

flaagan

Sounds like a good reason to have some shmuck shell out for flared fenders, a tigershark front bumper, carbon fiber hood, and some radioflyer non-popups... that'd what I'd be going after, that is, after I'd pounded said shmuck in the face a few times.

SCM_Crash

Since it's not your fault and it's a hit and run, you may actually be able to recover the money invested into your upgrades as long as you have all the receipts.

If their insurance company wants to total your car, and your insurance company isn't arguing it, make sure you demand that if they're going to total your car, they pay you for the upgrades. That's important because your own insurance company won't cover the those upgrades if it was your fault, but since it is not, they are obligated to cover the cost of whatever it takes to put you back to where you were.

This same scenario happened with me. I had HRE wheels on my 02 Z06. After a lady ran a red and totalled my car, I demanded that her insurance company pays for my wheels. After a bit of arguing, they indeed added $7K to the total payout.

You just have to be aggressive about it. It's not your fault your car is getting totalled out and it's the insurance company's gain when that happens because they sell your car as a salvage later to gain back some of that money.

OKZ06

I know angry is about as nice as a way to explain how your feeling right now, however i would tread lightly on how you handle confronting this individual.

Vetteman Jack

Might be best to let the police handle the face to face with this guy. You sure don't want to lose your temper and end up doing something that you may regret. The guy is a jerk for the hit and run and hope you can make him pay dearly for that.

calvins

First off, sorry about your car and if they total it out, ask about buying it back possibly.

As for the other stuff;

- maybe he'd imbibed enough that he didn't know he'd hit anything

- maybe he'd imbibed enough that he thought he may of hit something but didn't see your car in the rearview mirror and shrugged it off

- maybe he'd imbibed enough that, as previously said, he wanted no part of the police

- maybe he's just a azzhole and a supportive datapoint for retroactive abortion

All that said, it matters not. If you do anything that you'd like to, such as beating the hell out of him, you'll be looking at the world through bars for a while. Not good.

Anyhow, you should have called and waited for the police before your car was moved. Yes it may take a while for them to show up but pictures and details of the scene which come from a LEO are worth their weight in gold from an evidence point of view. Pictures you took before the scene was changed would also be valuable, but not as much as if a cop documented it.

I have a disposable camera in every one of our cars for just such occasion. Thankfully, they haven't had to be used, yet. You may "know" who did it but proving it may be a different story.

Good luck

dizzysn

Well unfortunately I couldn't stay there until 5am (it was 1am at the time). Luckily I've got part of the car so proving it won't be too hard.

calvins

Just playing devils advocate here; a few hours of my time is worth 8G's to me... YMMV. At a minimum, I hope you took pictures of the scene before anything was disturbed.

dizzysn

Sure did!

TheRadioFlyer

Doesn't look like significant enough damage to total out Replace/repaint the fender/bumper cover and headlight cover plus blending into the hood shouldn't be enough to consider it a total loss.

Let me know if the insurance is going to replace the headlight as well....I can work you a deal on a set of projector headlights for similar cost as OEM replacements.

Marine One

If the guy had been drinking [and it seems he has] it's too bad there isn't some way to add DUI to the charges.

Hanlon's Law

I would just go to where he works, take pictures of his car where the damage was done (without confronting him), and file the police report. You might also ask some of your friends from the party if they know when he left and remember where he was parked. Who knows, someone might even have a picture with your cars in the background. At the very least having someone to corroborate his presence at the party could help.

peter pan

Good luck with the redo