Hit & Run. Now Dealing w/ Aftermath

[caideN]

Woke up this morning to find a note on my windshield.

A neighbor heard a loud pop early in the morning and ran outside to see what happened. He saw a white car almost underneath the driver side of my van. The guy in the car was revving his engine hard to back out. Well, when he did, he decided to just drive off with his car barely able to drive straight. He got away.

My neighbor got the license plate and called the police but they didn't respond because its non-injury (Understandable. They have real police work to do).

So it looks like his car hit my driver side rear wheel almost square on. Luckily my wheel offset is negative enough that it sticks out about an inch from the van's body. The impact pushed my van into the curb and the passenger rear tire exploded. That's the explosion my neighbor heard.

The wheel was sitting on the curb but I just jacked it up to relieve the pressure/weight on the suspension and wheel.

From the looks of things, it looks like there's no real suspension damage, but of course it's hard to tell. I imagine an impact that would push my van 3-4 inches to one side may have been decently hard.

I guess this is a good time to get a lift or 4WD conversion or just refresh the suspension. I'm not sure if the wheel is salvageable. I might play it safe and just get a new 1 or set.

I don't really want to deal with insurance because the damage is minimal and an adjuster will not see any damage except for the blown tire and scratches on the driver rear wheel.

So the question... I can't put my spare on because the curb is in the way. The stock axle jack is in place right now and it won't go much higher. I don't have anything else to jack it even higher. What are my options here? Do I need to just suck it up and buy a high lift heavy duty jack?

Sorry for long story.

[gcvt]

Can you put some wood under the jack to get it up high enough to change out?

Oh and, lousy bastards!

[Jack K]

I'd suggest using wood blocks to add height to the stock jack you have to get it lifted enough to change the wheel. Of course a high lift jack or heavy duty bottle jack are not bad things to have, but you'd not need them for your task at hand.

A drag that an asshat would do that to you.

[carringb]

I would just use wood (2x6s, 2x8s etc) to crib up the inside of the curb, and slowly drive it down until its on pavement. Or better yet a piece of plywood.

Or just call AAA if you have it, and let them left the van off.

Looks like you have semi-float axles, which could easily be bent from a collision like that. Even just slight bending of the flanges will make your van shimmy and shake from now on.

I woud recommend filing an insurance claim ASAP. If it turns out there's no real damage, it then you aren't really out anything. If you do have unexpected damage, you'll only be out your deductible. Low-frequency comprehensive claims have little to no affect you your premiums. If you don't file right away, and you do find damage later, filing a claim at that point will be much harder.

[caideN]

Almost forgot I had AAA. I'll be calling them tomorrow.

[shenrie]

garbage. sorry to hear and see this. people these days suck. hope that the total of damage is the amount of hassle its going to take to get your spare on did either of the rims get damaged by the impact?

we got hit and ran a few weeks ago. I chased the asshat down with my wife on the phone with police dispatch. after about 10 minutes of him trying to evade me he realized he wasn't going to outrun me and just stopped. we stayed in our van until police showed up. there was no damage to my vehicle and I wasn't allowed to inspect his. I was told that no citations were going to be handed out even though my wife did a play by play as she was on the phone. they said the only way any citations would be distributed was if I took him to court because nothing was witnessed by any officers. he said he ran cause he was intimidated. which is total bs cause I didn't even have time to exit my vehicle before he took off. last time I got ran off the road by a lady on her phone I was ticketed for reckless driving, even though no officers witnessed the series of events...you go boise police dept!

[TeleSteve]

I would definitely file a claim with your insurance. This a no fault accident for you, and considering there was a witness who has the license plate of the other vehicle your insurance will go after them. It is very likely you have more damage than you think.
I had a very similar incident happen, but with more body damage.

[Bbasso]

Time to hire Chuck Norris and let him loose on the squid lol
I'd file a claim just to protect yourself...

[caideN]

AAA came out and jacked it up high. Got the spare on and drove it around the block. Felt completely fine but I will be taking it in for an alignment to make sure it's good to go.

It looks like the tire that exploded is still okay. It is surprising but only the bead separated from the wheel.

I'm happy it's very minimal. I filed a police report but don't think insurance need to know about this and have an excuse to raise my premium.

[EmMay]

Its worth a call to the insurance and make an inquiry about that: we have had USAA insurance for 26 years, we have had a few times to use it and have never had our rate go up. Even when it seemed like a sure thing, our solid record of being responsible drivers and long time customers must have weighed in.
By the way, did the cops find the dude that hit then ran?!