It'll never happen to you

[Ebag333]

Or so I thought.


Found out this morning that something was wrong when I heard a knock on my front door then my wife yelling for me. Turns out I was the victim of a hit and run. For those who just want to view the carnage, scroll down.


The story, as near as I can tell:

• The gal was driving to work, and dropped her phone (or lost it, or was messing around with it, or something, it wasn't clear).
• She hits my truck.
• Another lady sees this and stops to make sure she's okay.
• Hit-n-Run-Gal assures Concerned-Citizen that she is fine and she needs to go and report this.
• Concerned-Citizen waits around a while, when Hit-n-Run-Gal never comes back she calls the police. (Yay, Concerned-Citizen! I never found out who she was. )
• The police show up, and start driving around looking for Hit-n-Run-Gal. They find her less than a block away from my house. She had driven home, and evidentially a flatbed tow truck was there picking up her truck.
• Hit-n-Run-Gal claims she left a note on my truck (no note) and that she knocked on my door. Later she denied knocking on my door, but still maintained she had left a note.
• Reports were filed, Hit-n-Run-Gal was cited with Reckless Endangerment and Hit-and-Run.

The really sad part is that if she had just let me know it would have been an insurance swap and no big deal. I wasn't mad over it at all (though the was rather upset).

Monday I go have an insurance adjuster coming to look at the vehicle, and will be hitting up places getting repair quotes. A friend who works for a body shop looked at it and said "expensive," especially if I want to fix it completely and correctly.


Damage done:

• Rear quarter panel and body cladding (obviously).
• Rear cross member is tweaked pretty good. Looks like the frame horns are still in good shape.
• Rear tire and rim is fairly scuffed up. Tire sidewall is scrapped pretty bad. Frankly I'm a bit surprised I don't have a flat.
• Front tire (but not the rim) is a bit scuffed up. It looks like she hit the rear quarter panel, bounced past the doors eek and then tagged the front tire.
• Small scuff mark on the front bumper corner where she barely scraped it.
• Steering wheel is cocked over about 15* to drivers side. (Drives straight and true, nothing obviously bent in the front end.)
• Idle is low, about 400 RPM (AC on/off doesn't seem to matter).

Anyone got any ideas on the last two? The last one especially seems odd, but this is something that occurred only after I fired it up today. Any other places to check for damage?


And so now for what you all really want, pictures of the damage. Buncha jerks.

 

[Ebag333]

And here's what hit me.

Maybe that's the problem with the idle. My truck got a Nissan STD!

(Hit-n-Run-Gal is the one with dark hair.)

I didn't get a good look at her rig, but the passenger side tire is about 30* more passenger than the drivers side. I guess the racket she was making trying to drive home brought out some neighbors. I didn't get a good look at the damage to her vehicle (I got the distinct impression that the cops didn't want me anywhere near her), but from what I heard she took a lot more damage than I did.

 

[sdog]

Wow! Truly sux, there's something to be said for parking in a driveway, tho. Not trying to be a smartie...

 

[DA MN]

That sucks. Sounds like it is going to be a lot of red tape involved too.

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

I'd be pissed. But maybe something good can come from this. I got an ARB front fairly cheap the time I hit black ice and put my front end in the ditch.

 

[sdog]

Ooh, now it's all starting to make sense. I've known some REAL classless people who have and are still driving that generation of Pathfinder. Seriously.

 

[Walking Eagle]

that's one method of flare removal I hadn't seen before...

 

[Rusty Phillips]

one of two things

either "it will buff right out"

or - "frrame is bent - total writeoff, buy it back cheap"

 

[96r50]

That sucks man! At least they found the hit-n-run gal. This reinforces my OCD tendencies to park in the driveway every night.

One of my buddies here in town with a JDM was rear-ended last winter in a similar manner. The local Toyota body shop wanted to replace the whole rear quarter and D-pillar panel, plus all the other necessary parts. He ended up getting it fixed somewhere else (with less work involved) and managed to get a Kaymar bumper out of the deal.

Low idle: maybe one of the hoses on the filler neck came off and is causing it?

Steering: check the pitman arm and the sector shaft closely. They have been known to get bent with an impact on one of the front tires. Your tie rod ends, drag link and tie rod might also be tweaked.

Good luck getting it all fixed up!

 

[cody c]

t'is a mere flesh wound.

i would try and hustle the replacement value of a rear bumper towards an aftermarket.....

actually maybe trya nd get replacement value of fender trim, after body work is done, then do a fender removal and try and get cash value towards said rear bumper. Cant hurt to ask...

 

[CJF]

Bummer Gabe.

Hang in there...

 

[arndog123]

That sucks. It looks like you're taking it pretty well. I on the other hand would be pissed.

 

[d0ubledown]

wow...unreal. id be über pissed. good thing for concerned citizen doing the right thing. hopefully the douche that hit ya will get hers...maybe a total loss on her nissan, and some really big insurance premium increases!

damage doesnt look to bad. mostly cladding & plastic bits that can be replaced. hopefully they wont have to do significant body work, except maybe pull the one dent by the gas cap (or is that just funky reflections?). that might mean a respray, and having 3/4 pinstriped body and 1/4 fresh paint sucks.

good luck to ya...hope it all gets sorted out.

 

[onewhippedpuppy]

People suck. On that same thread, good luck with the insurance adjuster. They're right up there with d-bag hit and run drivers.

 

[AJLFJ80]

I wsa sjoui fucjking diurnk whn I wssa driuvng hiome thgs morjing tahtt landcuirsher cmame oitutta nwohere!!! Pthfinder wuin!

In all seriousness though, that sucks. You just never know what could happen to your rig when it's parked out on the street like that. Here's to a quick recovery!

 

[Ebag333]

Wow! Truly sux, there's something to be said for parking in a driveway, tho. Not trying to be a smartie...

That sucks man! At least they found the hit-n-run gal. This reinforces my OCD tendencies to park in the driveway every night.

In all seriousness though, that sucks. You just never know what could happen to your rig when it's parked out on the street like that. Here's to a quick recovery!

According to the officer I talked to, a week ago there was a hit and run where the vehicle hit was in someones driveway. So even that is no guarantee.

You could see her tire tracks and after she left after hitting my truck she went right past the truck and missed it by mere feet.

Low idle: maybe one of the hoses on the filler neck came off and is causing it?

Steering: check the pitman arm and the sector shaft closely. They have been known to get bent with an impact on one of the front tires. Your tie rod ends, drag link and tie rod might also be tweaked.

Good luck getting it all fixed up!

Good tips, I'll check 'em out.

 

[lndcruz]

I'm sorry man.

The main reason I refuse to ever park on the street.

 

[Dave 2000]

Sorry to see this happen, love the "I left a note and knocked on the door" story. My motor was hit a number of times but not on that kind of scale just cracking a bumper here and the odd scratch. I fitted iron heavy bumpers and just laugh when people bump in to me.

Hope you get it all sorted,

regards

Dave

 

[addicted56]

Looks like you live right next to a school. So not only do you have regular traffic but you get every stressed out brainless stay at home mom and or stressed out work aholic mom for each of those kids driving by your car at least twice a day. Odds are high with you getting taken out.

Doesn't look to bad though. Depending on what you do with the truck hopefully it gets totaled you can fix it yourself (bodywork isn't rocket science) make it a dedicated off-road vehicle and get yourself another rig. But really it doesnt' look all that bad. I think you are going to be fine.

 

[ALCO]

That really blows. I have been the victim of a hit and run, while driving! Not in my LC though. It's no fun.

Hit and run seems to be quite popular here in the PHX area for some reason. Not sure if it's tweakers or drivers from other places with virtually no driving laws whatsoever who don't bother to get car insurance.