Hit and run in the Roadmaster - need some advice

[pimpin88]

Posted this over on ISSF a while ago, but figured it couldnt hurt to post here since I still am not getting anywhere. So here is all the info.

Originally Posted by pimpin88

Alright guys, I need some direction. I was at school (Kettering in Flint, MI) and went to the Flint Back to the Bricks cruise. At that point my car was perfect.
Looked like this

Got back to school, parked it at 12 midnight, car was still perfect. Woke up at 6am the next morning to go to the Woodward Dream Cruise and found my car looking like this.

Found the car that hit me parked one spot over in the row in front of me. Black paint from his car and mine, Gray paint from my bumper on his. Everything matched up perfect, talked to campus safety and learned they had an incident with him that night being drunk and "stumbling" around the parking lot.
Got his insurance info from him, and he said "it isnt going to be more than $500 is it, I'll just pay in cash instead of going through insurance" I said no way since estimates were in the $1500-1700. Went through all the garbage, police complaint, campus safety report got the estimator from AIG to come out and then they send me a letter saying
"Please note we have completed our investigation of this claim and hereby deny liability for any and all claims that may arise out of this automobile incident. We have concluded that our insured's vehicle was not involved in the accident reported."
They said damage was from a previous accident on the other guys car and the
"The other vehicle involved in a previous loss was a white vehicle, which caused the white paint transfer on the '99 Bravada"

Looks like gray paint to me
"Impact to the Buick was to the front grill and hood. This damage does not line up with the height of damages on the 99 Bravada's rear bumper."

Looks like the heights line up to me.
Check out this picture, my gray paint on the left, and then the rub from my bumperette on my Roadie to the right of it, I have pictures with a ruler in the picture that shows the distance apart and they match up perfectly. There were also tiny bits of chrome in his bumper where he tore it off my bumperette but I couldnt get them to show in the picture.

Paint at 7, 6, and 5 inch mark, bumperette rub at 1/2 to 1.5


Ruler is the other way, but bumperette ruined at 6 and 7 inches, paint rub at 1, 2 and 3



Campus safety has a video of me pulling into the lot at approx 12am and then 12:30ish a car comes super close to mine and parks. 10 minutes after that car parks the camera zooms in on the kid with the suspected car as campus safety sends him back to the dorms since he was stumbling around the parking lot.
Sorry for the huge book, but I'm just kinda fired up right now about this and was looking for some help on what to do next. Since you cant tell what car it was in the video when they were basically on top of mine.

Originally Posted by pimpin88

Still havent got anywhere with this. Campus safety magically, "lost" the video. I do have some pictures that are supposedly from his last accident which they are saying caused all of the damage to his rear bumper. I cant find the date on them besides the one that says 3/24/08 to prove that they are actually from the last one. It looks to me like my paint isnt on his car at this time. What do the gurus think? I'm meeting up with campus safety when I get back to school tomorrow and we are going to have a chat with the insurance companies.
Here are the pictures from his agent. (these are supposed to be after his last accident (which would be before he backed into me))


Here are the pictures I took after he backed into me.


There isnt actually more damage to his bumper, but there is more paint (from my car) in the second set of pictures
If you look under the big white line that goes accross his the drivers side corner of his bumper you'll see that my paint is there in mine, and not there in the ones from his agent. If somebody wants to look closer for me and tell me what you think, pm me and I can e-mail you the original files.

Originally Posted by pimpin88

Ohh, and my other question was, who has gone to small claims court before?
How do I go about doing that if I end up not getting anywhere with the insurance company this time around?

[Caddy Man]

1500 -1700 to fix the damage to your car? dude, those estimates sound mighty steep for a cracked grill and two paint scrapes.

[pimpin88]

Originally Posted by Caddy Man

1500 -1700 to fix the damage to your car? dude, those estimates sound mighty steep for a cracked grill and two paint scrapes.

He got the grill, drivers headlight, both bumperettes, the bumper cover, the hood is bent and tweaked where it meets up with the grill, the grill supports are bent up. I dont have the estimate in front of me, but I know most of it was the hood.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

To my relatively untrained eyes, the only real significant damage seen is the grille. If it were me, I'd have him buy me a new grille and leave it at that, instead of trying to sort through all this paperwork and red tape. Don't mean to sound offensive, but that's how I see it.

[pimpin88]

Originally Posted by I~LUV~Caddys8792

To my relatively untrained eyes, the only real significant damage seen is the grille. If it were me, I'd have him buy me a new grille and leave it at that, instead of trying to sort through all this paperwork and red tape. Don't mean to sound offensive, but that's how I see it.

The last pic I put up shows the hood a little better, and its right in the spot where the curved part of the hood meets the flat part, so that makes it a little tougher to work out. Trust me, it looks much much worse in person. And I always take this car to shows, so I like it looking nice, kinda like this.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Originally Posted by pimpin88

The last pic I put up shows the hood a little better, and its right in the spot where the curved part of the hood meets the flat part, so that makes it a little tougher to work out. Trust me, it looks much much worse in person. And I always take this car to shows, so I like it looking nice, kinda like this.

Ohhh...yup yup I see it now.

[orconn]

I'd take him and his insurance company to Small Claims Court. Get Campus Security to testify on your behalf. That actually is alot of damage to your car. The circumstatial evidence seems strong ....... and remember in civil litigation you don't need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. His insurance company is jerking you around, they will probably pay up when they get the summons from the court. I'd think you would benefit more than just monetarily from following through and pursuing your right to sue for damages.

[dkozloski]

Have it fixed by your insurance company and let them fight it out with his company. You get your rig fixed the way you want it and your insurance company hounds him with lawyers on retainer.

[Caddy Man]

Wait, I am a bit confused here. You are in Michigan and we use no fault insurance. You make a police report, and your company will reimburse you. Why are you necessarily going after his insurance company to pay for the damages? Maybe I'm missing something here...

[CadillacSTS2003]

deductible probably...

[billc83]

The estimates he's gotten seem perfectly in line from a body shop, considering the damage.

I'm with dkozloski on this one. Also, make sure to explain the situation and provide your photos to them.

[pimpin88]

I'm trying to stay away from claiming it on my insurance so that my rates dont go up. So far I have a clean record, and I'm only 20. So I would think my rates would go up a good bit if I did that.

Also, I live in Ohio so the Michigan no fault thingy doesnt apply. I just go to school there.

[orconn]

dkoz's solution probably the best one under the circumstances

[csosteve]

sucks being a victem, fine looking car you have, small cliams court the way to go, maybe you'll get judge judy to handle it

[Rodya234]

I admire your patience. If it was me I would have skipped over the law offices of Swindle & Shyster and gone straight to Sturm & Ruger.