Upsetting experience

[Cookielady]

We are traveling in our 40 foot motorhome and pulling a Saturn Vue. We stopped for an overnighter near Kansas City, MO the other night. The site they gave us was impossible to level our coach so they moved us to a back in. No big deal. We parked our car in front of our coach, a good 4 feet from the gravel road.
Sometime during the wee hours, we heard a loud noise and by the time we got to the front of the coach to look out the window, we saw a neighbor leaving in their fifth wheel. We thought nothing more of it until we got up and went to our car. It appears that the older couple in the fifth wheel hit our car while making the turn to the campground exit. We now have a huge scrap from the back door to the back light. Several smaller scratches and even the wheel has scrapes and a dent.
We spoke to this couple the night before and they seemed so sweet. Why would anyone hit someone like that and not stop?

[noe-place]

You may be able to file what is called an "individual accident report" form you can get from the local law enforcement agencies. Take pictures of the damage at the site it happened, fill out the report completely and give it to your insurance agent. If the offender can't be located this report should keep your rates from going up at least.

[md2lgyk]

powderman426 wrote:
I would file a police report. Guaranteed they will be able to get the info you need. I would imagine your insurance co would require one also.

It depends on where this took place. Where I was a police officer, such things happening on private property were strictly a civil matter. We would not even respond, let alone write a report, unless someone was injured.

[jims1]

I once backed a boat trailer with boat that I could not see behind into a lamp pole. I thought I had just hit a rut and goosed the throttle a little. Only when I got out did I see the boattrailer axles on top of the bent pole.

[B_s_Bunch]

Old man asked old woman Did you feel that? Old woman answers Did I feel what? Old man answers HUH??

[stickdog]

All I can add is that it wasn't me, we've been stationary the last six weeks.

[rockhillmanor]

My bet is they never felt it scrape your car.
It's a big difference between hitting something with your MH and a fifth wheel. You can not feel every single thing a towed vehicle touches.

[westernrvparkow]

Cookielady wrote:
We were hooked up and ready to leave when we found the damage. We told the owners and they never even got up off their seats where they were drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes with a couple of their friends by the pool. They did suggest that we call the police but we decided that we just wanted to get away from that park. We will get the car fixed when we get home. Sadly, we rather not deal with the insurance as it just makes the rates go up.

The owners probably should have shown a little more concern, but what could they actually do? They have no knowledge of what really happened. They weren't going to go chase down the guests you think hit your rig. They surely didn't cause the damage, so they won't be calling in their insurance.
I would never, ever give out another guest's contact information to anyone but the authorities. For all I know, someone requesting another person's contact information have nefarious intentions. They were right, contacting the police was the proper course of action and contacting them before you moved would be the proper time.

[I_am_still_wayn]

powderman426 wrote:
I would file a police report. Guaranteed they will be able to get the info you need. I would imagine your insurance co would require one also.

In many jurisdictions, the police will not report to or file an accident report for any collision occurring on private property. Even if they did, it is very doubtful they would obtain search warrants to obtain registration information for a camper whose implication in causing the damage is the fact they were close when it may have occurred. The police have much bigger issues than this.

[Cookielady]

We were hooked up and ready to leave when we found the damage. We told the owners and they never even got up off their seats where they were drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes with a couple of their friends by the pool. They did suggest that we call the police but we decided that we just wanted to get away from that park. We will get the car fixed when we get home. Sadly, we rather not deal with the insurance as it just makes the rates go up.

[powderman426]

I would file a police report. Guaranteed they will be able to get the info you need. I would imagine your insurance co would require one also.

[CentralCoastCam]

Did you go to the office to report the collision and obtain the contact information for them from their registration? Like others, I would bet they didn't know the hit your car, and if contacted will probably make good on it.

If the office won't give you their info, ask them to contact them and provide them with your contact info.

[ReneeG]

downtheroad wrote:
They will probably get to their next stop and see damage to their rig and ask themselves the same thing you are asking...." Why would anyone hit someone like that and not stop?"

I agree, they probably didn't even know they hit you.

My thoughts exactly!

[downtheroad]

They will probably get to their next stop and see damage to their rig and ask themselves the same thing you are asking...." Why would anyone hit someone like that and not stop?"

I agree, they probably didn't even know they hit you.

[tvfrfireman]

I got to close to a gate operation switch mounted on two inch by two inch tubular steel in concrete. I put a big scratch on the fiberglass side of the rear of the trailer and bent the post over without feeling a thing. I found out later and repaired both the trailer and the post.