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My wife saw someone hit our car (in the rear) in a parking lot in Phoenix. She drove and gave chase to the driver as he was trying to get out of the parking lot in a hurry. From what I could see, I thought he may be a gang member. He finally went into another parking lot and we drove up. I knew getting pictures of both cars was essential. Got the camera out of my wife’s purse only to find the flash card and camera were full. Ended up deleting photos.

I called 911 to report the accident. When they asked where we were I told them we didn’t have a clue. The dispatcher asked if we were blocking him in and I said no. We were NOT blocking him from getting away. We merely made it difficult for him to maneuver out of the situation. Within a few minutes an officer arrived. I told her up front I was aware that she could not do anything for accidents on private property, but I said I just wanted a report made out. I apologized to her knowing that reports of this nature are the last thing they want to do. She agreed.

When we were showing the officer the damage, the other driver started informing everyone “he had rights.” He was from Lebanon and ‘had a green card, therefore no one could touch him.” I told him it was called “diplomat immunity” and “that right” didn’t apply. He asked the officer “How did we know it was him driving? Who saw him do it? Where are the witnesses?” He started badmouthing my wife saying “she was crazy”, until I got him off to the side. (PM me if you want to know what I said).

When the officer was asking him questions, he only lied when his mouth opened. He wanted to know “what proof” we had. The officer ran her finger from the back of his (bronze) vehicle to the front seat door. She asked, where did the fresh white paint (same color as our car) come from? He didn’t have an answer. After she had listened to all he said and how he said it, she ended up going the extra mile by citing him for no insurance and “leaving the scene of an accident”(because it happened in another parking lot). I really was hoping they would take him downtown since he said he would be moving to Florida. In the end, at least I got his name “on the radar”!!

The vehicle did not belong to him. He had borrowed it and did not have a drivers license. The owner had insurance, but it had lapsed. The owner of the vehicle had the same insurance (Progressive) as we did.

What happens when you and the other driver have the same insurance company?

When we got back home a couple of days later, we had gotten calls from Progressive. They were calling about the accident. They had a different claim number than the one we were given. It took a while but we found out that the agent was in Phoenix and was working on the other vehicle. We got several notifications for the other vehicle. Can’t remember how many times we had to explain the situation. We had multiple agents calling and sending us letters.

We did get our car fixed, and the only agent that got it right was the one working at the repair facility. We got several letters from Progressive about their attempts to recover our deductible. Last month we got another letter stating that Progressive was still trying to get our deductible back. They said if they continued attempts to recover our deductible and were successful, I would have to pay a percentage for their efforts.