Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 12/13/2011

Question
I'm not exactly sure what to do in my case. I was the victim of a hit and run by a drunk driver. My truck was sitting on the side of the road in front of my friends house and at 12:30 it was side swiped. It smashed the tail light out and the bed of the truck is bent into parallelogram shape, not bad but that's the shape. The left rear wheel is not straight. and my exhaust is bent too. It doesn't drive straight and runs weird now too. I called the police when i woke up and made a report, and they told me the state police had arrested the guy. I was called by them and made a report through them too. I can not file a claim for 5 to 7 business days. The man has insurance and was arrested for DUI and Hit and Run. I guess i just would like to know what my legal options are. The truck is a 1988 GMC C1500 if that makes a difference and i also live in Kentucky too. I would appreciate any advice you think relevant.

Answer
Hi Jacob,

You need to obtain a copy of the police report. Then you need to file a claim with the responsible persons insurance company by calling their claims office.

Based on the damage you described and the age of the vehicle, you should be prepared for the fact that they will likely total your truck out. That means they will pay you the value of the truck and that will take it and sell the salvage to recover some of their money. You should start checking the value by searching on www.autotrader.com for similiar vehicle for sale so you know the approximate value before the insurance company makes you an offer. You may also want to go ahead and take the truck to a body shop for an estimate. If the repair cost is more than 70% of the value of the truck then it will be considerd to be a total loss.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh