I was involved in a hit and run this morning. Whats my next step? Liability insurance only

I was involved in a hit and run.

I hope I don't have to say goodbye to all my friends here. (Meaning I won't get my baby back, or I end up with a different car completely)

Unfortunately the ass hat that hit me ran off. I do have a dash camera, but a eye witness said they didn't even have a tag. So I feel hopeless the police will be able to find the suspect.

I'm kicking myself in the but because I have dirt cheap car insurance, liability, not full coverage. Since the accident was not my fault in no way at all, what should my next steps be.

My mom is helping me through this, but neither of us have been involved in a car accident.

I'm afraid I won't get any money to fix our replace my car because the person who caused it probably won't have insurance. And that's if I'm lucky enough to get them identified.

Hopefully someone can chime in that has experience or knowledge of this.

*I know the best thing to do is probably call my insurance company, but I'm very afraid they will try to take advantage of me and deny my claim being that I only had liability and we can't identify the liable party*

 

Liability only means no coverage for your vehicle, only damage you cause to other vehicles and property. Make sure you don't have uninsured motorists also, it may cover some damages. Unfortunately, if they can't find the responsible party and get them to pay for the damages, you're on your own. I think it looks worse than it probably is. The bumper and fender are cosmetic. Some zipties and hammer love will get that back into proper position. The front wheel appears to have left the chat from the rest of the suspension. Might need new control arms, spindle, LBJ, UBJ, brakes etc. depending on what got damaged. Probably just popped the LBJ. Shoot some pics under there if you get a chance.

 

If liability only, you're pretty much on your own with this one. You can call them for sure, I would, but they will more than likely say there is nothing they can do. I've had a car stolen with only liability. Guess how much I got? $0
Assuming you actually find the other driver, your best bet is to lawyer up to get them to pay for the damages, but looking at that wheel, the age and condition, my money goes to a pretty close total loss on that. Sorry to see that honestly. People suck these days overall.

 

Just great ... I need a vacation... From life... Why didn't anyone tell me being an adult sucks

 

Get out your tools, start fixing.

Unless you have uninsured motorist on your policy, in which case your company will total it out, give you a few thousand.

THEN buy it back from them as scrap, and THEN fix it.

 

That so sucks, thats how I lost my first vehicle. Some chucklehead hit me and wrote it off, being a cheap junker, I got like $800 from the insurance company even though it was in great shape mechanically. Here's hoping you find the degenerate responsible.

 

If I don't end up being behind the wheel of my/a sequoia, I am really going to miss all my friends here. This community has treated me like family, and has gotten me through some rough times in life. I'm just as sad about losing this community of friends as I am about losing my car

 

You hung in there tough in the beginning. First gen can be a tough crowd! Sad to see the damage to a vehicle you've poured so much time and effort into. If you decide to keep it and fix it back up, you know where to get some helpful advice from.

 

Was it parked or where you driving?

 

For starters... sorry to hear it. Secondly, you're probably right that the hit-and-run asshat is worthless. Even if your insurance company cannot offer you compensation perhaps they can refer you to a company that buys wrecked vehicles. Lastly, a 2002 Sequoia that causes ya endless grief is no vehicle for a college girl. If it was my daughter I'd say forget about trying to get it back on the road and let's look at this as an opportunity to get something smaller and less expensive on gas. Think used Corolla. Good luck.

Cheers.

 

Pretty bold statement for one of the most reliable vehicles ever made. My 16 year old drives one with 255k miles and he would probably cry if i told him he is getting a Corolla

 

cooked

 

I agree - its All about how much you like - desire this vehicle - this will not be very expensive compared to new or newer car payments - 3 or 4 of those and this is on the road again. Luck deciding.

 

Sad, but true. I’d see what broke before you write it off.

 

Unless you have the means to fix this, you might as well be shopping for a replacement vehicle. This is the gamble with liability insurance unfortunately. It's for disposable vehicles. If I were you I'd go pick up a $2000 Camry to get rolling again.

 

Unfortunately liability is about useless.

 

I don't dive into the 1st gen threads, but you don't have to leave because you don't have a Tundra. There's Tesla, GM and even Nissan drivers here.

 

Liability is legally required, and it covers damage you cause to others vehicles and property. It’s not useless. It’s not for repairing your own vehicle, that’s what comprehensive is for. If you cause an accident, your insurance will pay out for damage you caused to others up to the limits you’ve paid for with liability coverage.

 

I would at least get the damage properly evaluated. if it was mine, I'd probably fix it. It's RWD, so the front end is fairly basic, especially if the steering rack was unscathed. Cosmetic damage can be done later.
But, that's based on my own circumstances. I can use one of our other vehicles in the interim and paying for the parts is not an issue. If the vehicle is in otherwise decent shape, then fixing it is a definite option.

Any other used vehicle you buy is going to come with it's own set of problems. With all due respect to other members, there really are no reliable $2000 Corollas any more. Any vehicles like that are handed down to family members or snapped up by curb-stoners. Anything else is going to need money put into it and could well be a complete shed. Though parts for Corollas are reasonably cheap and plentiful.

Now if the Sequoia is giving you other problems already (I haven't worked my way through your other threads), that does change the balance. But anything you buy is going to have something you will need to address, so the adage of 'better the devil you know' may be accurate.

 

Yeah, no such thing as a decent, cheap, reliable beater anymore. Anything under $5k will be someone else's headache unless you have a friend/family member that has something kicking around.

 

I hear what you're saying, but the thing is, I only really make a post when I have an issue. it's very rare you see someone make a post on the first gen forum just simply to brag about how great their trucks been treating them.

Truth be told, If I decided to make a post every time my truck treated me right, you guys would see thousands of posts from be

The truck has never truly left me stranded, and I've driven all across America

But I get what your saying about the gas, I hate filling my truck up, these things can drink through a gallon of gas faster than you can say the words "I just filled up my gas tank" (haha, trying to lighten the mood a bit)

 

It can save you from financial ruine, if you're at fault.

 

Yeah unfortunately I'm gonna have to rely on my mom to take me to school and work for a while. I might even get a bus pass for a bit. This is going to be a learning experience

 

Sorry for your situation, unfortunately the guy or gal that hit you probably wasn't insured and not currently registered, and they don't have a pot to piss in anyway, even if the police locate them. Probably why they didn't stick around. I still keep full coverage on my 25 year old Tundra, especially driving in Socal. See what the police can do in finding them, at least that is step 1, and do call your insurance company and tell them what happened. Good luck.

 

Pictures of the underside and close ups of the damaged parts. What part of the country are you in? some of us have spare parts, but shipping kills the intention of cheap. Sounds like it was parked and hit while you weren’t driving, if not hope you’re ok.

 

Adulting sucks.

We all suffer from setbacks. Make the best lemonade you can out of these lemons. A shot of the front behind the wheel will unvocer whether the UBJ or LBJ snapped. I'm guessing LBJ, and potentially bent LCA, but it could be LBJ too.

Sorry this shit befell you.

 

I got hit and runned twice in Texas. Surprisingly, DUI is a more serious offense than hit and run so those drunk drivers did the strategically clever move in running.

 

For those that keep asking, I was hit while driving.

 

why does this liability opinion keep getting parroted? It’s crazy.

KBB on a 2002 sequoia with over 200k miles is like $3.5k Last time I checked in around the same situation full coverage with a high deductable was $100 more a month. In 3 years of “disposable vehicle” insurance, you have worst case pocketed enough to buy a new one, best case, saved yourself $3k. Edit, changed the KBB.

Hit and run sucks no matter what, but if you do the math, running liability on this is usually the right call.


Sorry for the loss.

 

Where about are you located in the country?

Liability insurance is to cover damage you do to others and their property. For instance if you hit a telephone pole, or T-Bone a minivan full of kids you would be ruined without it, and they would be in the situation you’re in now so it’s a socially and fiscally responsible thing to have.

As for comprehensive insurance, that’s to cover your basic Acts of God, ie: a tree falling on it or the damage done to it by others or yourself. Depending on where you are in the country, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is another rider onto the comprehensive insurance. These are questions to ask your insurance rep.

So if you had both of those, coverage would be to repair or give replacement value, at the insurance companies discretion, based on the value of the vehicle and the cost of repairs.

I don’t know the condition, mileage or history of your vehicle, but I would say they probably wouldn’t fix it anyway due to the age. shitty as this is, you accepted the off chance that this could happen and self insured. I also don’t know what you pay for insurance or what you paid for the car, but if you have had the vehicle for a few years and weren’t paying another “X” amount extra you may have broken even on the self insuring. So while you may get derided for having liability only it “may” have been a prudent decision. Without looking at the numbers I don’t know.

if you’re looking to fix it, take some pics of the suspension where the wheel was hit and we may be able to give you a better idea of what repair costs might look like. At cursory glance however, I would guess the lower control arm is toast and may have taken the mount with it, along with the shock, and possibly the steering rack. You won’t know for sure until you have someone qualified look at it.