Burnside Body Shop

What to Do if You're the Victim of Hit and Run

Let's say you're tooling along, minding your own business in Modesto, CA and an SUV comes out of nowhere, rams your car and takes off, disappearing over the horizon. Or, let's say you come out of the supermarket with a week's worth of groceries only to discover someone's mangled your parked car and left no note. We have seen it happen more than once here at Burnside Body Shop.

In either case, you have been the victim of a hit and run, which is defined as any accident where a driver intentionally flees the scene without providing contact information.

Experts say that if you're the victim of a hit and run, there are some things you should do and other things you definitely should not do, to make recovering as painless as possible.

If the driver who hits you doesn't stick around to exchange information like they're supposed to, there are a few things you should be aware of, like, pull over to a safe area, if possible, obtain a license plate number if you can, call the police to report the crash, complete an accident report, to include any available witnesses and report the accident to your insurance company.

If the police can't come right away, take photos of the scene and the damage to your car, especially if paint from the other vehicle is visible. Note the time and location of the crash and try getting written statements from any witnesses, along with their names, addresses and contact information, and write your own version of events, including all calls made to police for help.

Besides the license plate number, other details officials can use include the color of the vehicle that hit you along with the make, model and approximate year as well as the direction it was going.

Some experts suggest keeping a small pen and notebook in your glove box, just in case. Having a written record of everything ensures you remember the details and gives police information to work with.

Almost as important as the things you should do in these incidents, are the things you should not do, like leaving the scene to try and confront the other driver.

Try not to block traffic, and don't wait in your vehicle in a traffic lane.

Also, don't flee the scene yourself, experts say.

People tend to flee the scene of an accident if they're not properly licensed or insured -- conditions that up the financial responsibility ante. Make sure to have proper insurance.

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Sources: dmv.org, Infinityauto.com, Coverhound.com