<p>So i hit a parked car on accident and i left. yes i was dumb to leave (i had to go to an appointment since i was late). i went back to leave a note but the car was gone already. What’s the worst that can happen to me?</p>
<p>what do you mean whats the worst that can happen to you? </p>
<p>if nobody saw you how would they know you did it?</p>
<p>hopefully there were camera’s and they caught your license plate so the person doesn’t have to pay for the damage just because you were “late” and didn’t feel like taking 20 seconds to write down a note with even your phone number or contact info.</p>
<p>worst that could happen to you? you jerk, you should be concerned about how the person will pay for the damage! i hope your appointment was worth the money you’re gonna cost someone.</p>
<p>A hit and run is a federal offense, so you could potentially go to prison. This does certainly shine a light on your character though. It was very immature what you did and I don’t believe your “I had an appointment but I went back and it was gone” for one second. Now you are making someone pay for the damages that you did because you were too much of a coward to accept responsibility.</p>
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<p>Don’t forget a ****ty driver.</p>
<p>“Some hit and run cases are difficult to determine, such as the driver leaves the accident scene to go a block to his/her house or the neighborhood repair garage, and then walks back to the scene.”</p>
<p>[hit</a> and run legal definition of hit and run. hit and run synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.](<a href=“Hit and run]hit legal definition of hit and run]hit”>Hit and run legal definition of hit and run)</p>
<p>I’m guilty of the exact same thing only I had to go to class in less than 5 minutes. I was backing up and suddently felt a little bump. I literally was freaking out thinking if I should stay there to wait for the person. One guy saw…I asked “omg what do I do?! omg” and he said to “go go go!” Uh yeah…so don’t worry, you’re not alone. I told my parents.</p>
<p>I am not at all condoning what you did but the legalese may not be as simple as people are making out. I won’t jump on you too much as you obviously feel bad about it or you would have kept it to yourself.</p>
<p>When I was in college, we lived in an off campus apt and the church across the street used to let us park in the lot except on Sundays. Very frequently, cop cars would park in the lot (we assumed eating lunch, looking for speeders), etc.</p>
<p>One time I came home from work in the winter and the lot was a sheet of ice. I crept onto the lot but the brakes locked up and I just kept sliding like I was on ice skates right into the front quarter panel of a car which stopped my slide.</p>
<p>All of this occurred in slo-mo, literally probably at 2 mph IN FRONT OF A COP who was parked about 15 yards away. I expected him to jump out of the car and start yelling at me but he did nothing. I actually had to go up and knock on his window and say, “I just slid into that car” to which he responded, “yeah, I saw that”.</p>
<p>I said “what should I do”, he said “you don’t have to really do anything since it’s private property” to which I asked if I should leave my info and he said “if it will help your conscience.”</p>
<p>I did leave the info and a note, the person called me later and said don’t worry about it, “it’s a beater” and we exchanged pleasantries about how bad the weather had been lately.</p>
<p>As a driver there is an assumed risk of driving cars around. I have had people bump my fenders in parking lots, had wind grab a door in the parking lot and bash it into my car making dings and removing paint, I’ve had kids run into the side of my car while they were on bikes and make dents, and shopping carts roll downhill into my car scratching the side. I had someone back into my door at a Big Box store parking lot but they couldn’t get the license plate number from the surveilance video of the lot.</p>
<p>In the cases where it was more than cosmetic, my insurance fixed it. It wasn’t the end of the world.</p>
<p>Still, I think you should have stopped. But now you have to live with that knowledge, so I hope you can make peace with it.</p>
<p>i’m just gonna to the police station and tell them what happened. I feel guilty and i have to deal with it i guess</p>
<p>will my consequences be less severe? can i go to jail? i know i messed up but i’m just trying to do the right thing now</p>
<p>They’d probably just take a police report and see if anyone else makes a report in turn. I’d definitely do it soon before someone files a hit and run report. You have no idea who you hit, they may be from out of town, drug dealers, the mayor, it may never even be reported. You can only do what you need to do to clear your conscience.</p>
<p>Also could you return to the area at around the same time in case they were at work to ID the vehicle?</p>
<p>Cops like truthfulness but they also have to operate within the law. Do you have access to a lawyer that you could run it by before you proceed? Not saying it will come to that but just to make yourself feel better. Your are overwrought with guilt and may need a more objective opinion about what exactly you should do/say. Attorneys are good for that.</p>
<p>Did you see what happened to the car you hit? I mean, was it a totally obvious smash into it? or did you just barely tap it and nobody will even see the mark? Either way, I’m not saying it was OK to leave, but it seems like that could make a difference…
I’m assuming that it was nothing too serious, because if it was, I would have left a note for SURE even if I was late.</p>
<p>I think it’s a good idea to tell someone about it-- the police or your parents…
It doesn’t sound like you really damaged the car, and if that’s the case, it probably won’t be a big deal.</p>
<p>As a side note, someone bumped my car when it was parked-- just after I got my license. My parents noticed it before I did, and they wouldn’t believe me when I said I had no idea when or where it happened. So in the future, do the right thing no matter how late it will make you.</p>
<p>This is a felony in 48 states.</p>
<p>You will probably receive a minimum of 18-36 months in prison.</p>
<p>Going to the police is the right thing to do. Hard and scary, sure, but it’s the right thing to do. I have a lot of respect for you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t expect too much in the way of dire consequences: leaving the scene of an accident where there’s only property damage and then turning yourself in is not that bad. We’ve had signs up in my neighborhood recently because a driver ran a red light, hit an elderly woman in a crosswalk, hurt her badly, and fled, and her family wants witnesses to come forward (there are certainly witnesses: this is a busy area and it was mid-afternoon) and help them find the driver. You did the wrong thing and you are right to try to make it right now, but overall it was a relatively minor wrong thing.</p>
<p>The reason you should have left your number is that the other party’s insurance could then contact your insurance. It would prove to their insurance that they weren’t lying and that they themselves didn’t cause the dent, ding or whatever it was. Monetarily, I believe the way it now sits, they, not you, will pay a deductible out of their own pockets, if and when they choose to repair the damage. “Insurance covers it” is true, but every repair still has a minimum portion that the car owner pays towards the repair. Sometimes a deductible is a few hundred dollars or $500. </p>
<p>If you can’t find the person whose car you damaged, and want to clear your conscience, you could consider making a charitable donation of a hundred dollars for a ding or scrape, or $500 if you really plowed into the car and you guess they’d need to replace a door or something.</p>
<p>Otherwise, yeah, you’ll think about this one when you’re 35 and it will still bother you. Try to right the balance that way, if you can’t find the person.
I’m a mom and that’s how I’d advise my own family.</p>
<p>Right now I have a van in my driveway with a huge, I mean huge impact collision. I know exactly when it happened: I was a grade school teacher and someone coming to the parent-teacher night plowed into my parked car. After a long day meeting parents, I thought about how someone could do that and not leave a note so I could approach their insurance company, not mine. It steamed me. Our family budget was tight and we didn’t have $500 to do the deductible, so the car is still dented, big time. The dent (basketball sized) was so high that it could only have been done by an SUV or jeep, so presumably they had resources and good insurance. If their own insurance was bad, they wouldn’t have left a number, but mostly I think someone insured was just arrogant and cheap. </p>
<p>If you give to charity as a kind of atonement, the person you hit won’t ever know but you might feel that much better. Think about it, anyway.</p>
<p>This is a good reminder to parents to talk specifically to their new drivers about what to do in this situation – this means having pen and paper in the car, disposible camera (or these days, cell phone) to take pictures of any damage, etc. When our S had his license only about a week, he came home from an errand and told us he had “tapped” another car in the parking lot. Didn’t think there had been damage, but wasn’t sure. No owner was around, and he didn’t know to leave a note or even get out of the car to check. H immediately went back with him to the lot --car was still there and no damage visible but we had him leave a note anyway with our name and phone #, saying he didn’t see damage but please call if concerns. We also used the opportunity to reinforce what to do in the event of a more serious accident. These things are supposed to be covered in drivers’ ed, but it’s not surprising that not everything they learn sticks in the absence of reminders or seeing it put into practice.</p>