Rant! Holes in our justice system!

[Hogleg 44]

Saturday afternoon I was in a friends place of business with my car parked in his parking lot.
Some Dude attempts to pull into a parking space next to my car, but he can't judge distance, and sideswipes my left rear quarter panel. Crushing it inward an inch or two scraping the paint in two streaks the length of the panel.
He calls the police dept (Ft. Worth). The police come and fill out a report. I get the all of the guy's info from his DL and from his insurance certificate. The certificate indicates he has insurance effective from 6-22 until 7-22. (Monthly Pay...Red Flag!)
Today I call his issuing agent. The agent tells me his insurance canceled 6-22 because they did not receive installment. So...This dude is driving without insurance!!!
I call the Guy. His wife cuts me off after asking me to hold, then won't answer when I call back.

Here's the rant! I call the police dept. After getting shuffled around from one dept to another and getting cut off, so that I had to start over again, I finally get a detective who tells me they won't do anything because it was on a private parking lot and not on a city street! And, the detective added, the guy may have bought more insurance today! So, as the police dept is concerned, The dude didn't break any law when he hit my car and I am SOL! The Ft. Worth Police Dept won't do anything. The Dude did no wrong!

So...With our legal system, It is perfectly OK to Drive your car into someone else's car, do all the damage you want, insured or not, just as long as you don't do it on a public street!!!

Holes in our justice system!!!

[Michelle Allmon]

You need to take him to small claims court. Hopefully the max isn't lower than your damage estimate.

[srwatters]

Take him to small claims court. Get a judgment. Have his wages garnished, credit ruined (even more), & vehicle repossessed. Yes it's a pain, but unfortunately it's about the only way to get justice.

[jerrykr]

Carry Un-insured Motorist on your policy.

It's the only way, there are way too many people out there uninsured just like that guy, and it's almost guaranteed, they are the one's who will hit you.

You can take him to court, but he doesn't have money to buy insurance, so he won't have any to give you when you win either.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. I'd be PO'd too.

[sbp]

Agree with Jerry, there are 20 million out there who can't even buy insurance, 20 million more out here they can't afford it. Either way who ever works hard is screwed.

uninsured guy hit my car as well. nothing happen to him. my insurance pay me some $$ but my insurance went high because of that. either way we are screwed.

[Michelle Allmon]

Even if you have uninsured motorist you take him to court anyway, because it will still cost you.

[kenw]

find a guy named Bruno......

[CobyPhoto]

Right with you on this one. Last four accidents have been uninsured on my car. Ugh.

I think they ought to be able to confiscate the person's car and sell it to pay off claims etc. If you can't abide byt the law, you don't need to drive.

I really don't understand how the DFW police said he wasn't breaking any law! He didn't have insurance!

Man I feel your pain!

CJ

[JamesB]

sorry to hear that, I bet if you try to find this guy to take him to court, they will have a hard time finding him.

It took about 6 months to find the guy who hit me (no insurance). What makes me mad on this is the cops arrested him that night for DWI and when he got out a few days later he could not be found. Every address they had for him turned up a reply of "he does not live here".

even then all I got was $250 from the deal (half of my deductable) and he had to pay the court cost. Oh and he payed me $20 a month until it was paid off.

James

[Tim-in-TX]

Go with the small claims court. Unfortunately, the Police have no jurisdiction in regards to private property accidents. As a matter of fact, in most cases, they are under no obligation to even respond to private property accident calls.

Originally Posted by Hogleg 44

So...With our legal system, It is perfectly OK to Drive your car into someone else's car, do all the damage you want, insured or not, just as long as you don't do it on a public street!!!

Sad to say that this is a true statement, unless the individual does so intentionally, then he could be charged with Reckless Conduct, Vandalism or some other minor charge.

[Gildersleeve]

If you file a civil suit (justice suit or small claims suit) remember to ask for your damages "and all costs of suit". That way the court can give you everything you spend from filing the suit all the way through the execution process including simple interest on all of the above $. In spite of the way you feel about the damage to your car, this execution has nothing to do with Huntsville, but with the court ordered selling of assets and releasing the proceeds to satisfy debt.

[Hogleg 44]

Yes. Small claims court is most surely the way to go. We do have a subscribed legal service at hand if it comes down to that!

But what burns me more than the damage to the car is the ho hum attitude I got from the police. They seemed to have the attitude that I was annoying them with my petty problem. No one seemed interested in being of any help. The detective seemed more interested in telling me what I already knew, about how many uninsured vehicles were on the road. His troubles! He made it seem that I, as victim, had NO recourse since it wasn't on the street. Totally uninterested in the fact that this Dude with DL#xxxx....xxxx and no insurance, damaged my property. No suggestions...No interest...no help!

I feel like I have been Victimized twice! Once by the Dude who defaced my car, then again by the system that is supposed to protect my rights!

[Roadrnr]

Actually, you can't take him to court if you file an Uninsured motorist claim. But you will only have a $250 ded (that they will refund you if they (the insurance company) can subrogate for the damages) Now, if you don't have UM then you can file on you collision coverage. Same thing applies, you have a deductible and the ins co subrogates for the damages.

If you have none of the above (just liability on your car) then small claims court is your only other avenue.

I have seen where the Texas Department of Insurance has made a law (of some type) that will require insurance companies to report if a persons insurance cancels due to non payment. That way, they can get fines for not carrying insurance, not register a car or renew their drivers license.

To elaborate on what Scott said, they can't force a person to sell their car or house, but they could put a judgement against it.

FWIW sorry this happened to you. It always sucks when things like that happen.

[Torrey]

If the police won't do anything about collisions on private property, then get an old uninsured clunker and drive over to his house and play destruction-derby with his car.

[jerrykr]

My son got re-ended by an UM. State Farm paid us, and it took a long time, but they went after the UM and when they got the judgement the first $$ went to us to recover our deductable. I don't know how much State Farm ended up with. Make sure your insurance co. has the UM's information.

again, sorry for your bad luck.