My eagle-eyed landlady noted yesterday morning that the people across the street (with the driveway that was most likely the launching spot of the truck that hit my car) have a pickup, and she's noticed that suddenly this week they have been parking it nose-out rather than nose-in, as they've done in the past. Plus, they'd gone from parking it nose-out in the driveway and had moved it nose-out into a small space between the garage and the fence. Suspicious behavior, don't you think? So -- armed with the big piece of lens I went over to check, and sure enough, the driver's side tail light was demolished!
So -- lots of phone calls to my insurance company and to follow up on the hit-and-run police report. Three very nice young police came out, took my story, took photos, went over and checked out the car and then talked to the folks inside the house. Before they did the latter, they asked me what resolution I'd like to see. Hit and Run, even without injury, can be a serious charge, after all. I told them I just wanted to see the other party be financially responsible for the damage to my car, not trying to get anybody in trouble. In talking to the others, he got them to fill out an official accident exchange form with ownership and insurance info, and I did the same, then he did the form exchange. I suspect it was fairly easy to get this form -- given the option of offering it up or facing charges for a hit and run, I think most sane people would cop to the plea. I did find it interesting that the woman who owns the truck told the officer that she'd been out of town and her friend had been driving the truck, but on the form she filled out, the name of the owner and driver were the same. Not my problem. That big piece of lens I grabbed was a good find -- it was marked inside with 'Toyota', which is who made the pickup, and of course it matched the lens on the other side of the truck. Hard to argue.
So -- now it's going to be in the hands of State Farm vs. Progressive, and I doubt there will be much of an issue under the circumstances. I had to go to DMV (nearby) to fill out an accident report form, and since the repair shop was also nearby, I stopped there and made an appointment for the work to be done. State Farm's repair service is pretty nice, so far. If you use one of their approved shops, you don't have to get estimates. They will accept whatever estimate the shop sends them. This place was booked until the end of the month, but that's OK. And it should only take about 4 days to get it done. That's good, too. And I can drive it in the meantime, according to the police officer, as long as I feel I can do so safely.
We have a storm coming in today, and I hope the power stays on since both heat and cooking and everything else in this house runs on electricity! The old 'Pineapple Express' has kept day and night temps quite moderate all week, which is a nice by-product.
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