How to Get Compensated After a Hit and Run Accident in Pennsylvania

Hit and run crashes can be absolutely devastating.  Often, drivers flee the scene when they do not have insurance to cover the accident, when they have a history of accidents that might lose them their license, or when they did something really bad to cause the crash, like driving drunk.  Because the at-fault party isn’t known, getting compensation can be tricky.

Compensation from a hit and run accident in Pennsylvania usually comes from two sources: either we track down the driver who hit you and hold them responsible or you use your own auto insurance to pay for your damages.  If there is evidence of who hit you – such as video, details about the car/driver, or a partial license plate number – our attorneys can work with the police to try to find the responsible party and sue them.  If not, there are often insurance coverages on your auto insurance policy that can cover your needs.

Call our Philadelphia car accident lawyers at The Reiff Law Firm by dialing (215) 709-6940 for a free case review today.

Suing a Hit and Run Driver for Damages in Pennsylvania

Before we can sue the driver who hit you, we need to find them.  Hit and run drivers are located at a pretty low rate, but various factors can help contribute to locating the driver.  Once you have them, you can sue them for what they did, but it might be more difficult to prove the case.

Locating Hit and Run Drivers

Police are usually the ones to locate the driver, but our attorneys can investigate to the full extent of our authority as well.  Police have access to license plate databases and the authority to put out notices to other police to be on the lookout for certain cars or drivers based on the details you can report to them, potentially locating the driver that way.  Our Pennsylvania car accident attorneys can also seek out nearby camera footage – e.g., from a nearby store’s security cameras – and try to piece together additional information we can provide the police.

Searches for hit and run drivers are often more successful when there is more information.  If you were able to get details about the car and driver, it makes it easier to find them.  For example, if you saw the make, model, and color, that allows police to narrow the search beyond something like, “dark sedan.”  If you got the full license plate number, this is almost a guaranteed way to find the driver unless they ditch the car or swap plates.  Otherwise, a partial plate is also helpful.

Police might also stumble upon the driver when stopping them for other driving offenses if they notice the damage matches the hit and run they had reported to them.  You can also often find the driver through local networking and tiplines, but reaching out to the local community is not always practical, depending on where your crash happened.  For example, if it happened in a school parking lot, it is likely someone knew them, vs. if it happened on the highway, it might be more difficult to find the driver.

Suing Hit and Run Drivers

As long as you have a full tort insurance policy or meet the threshold to sue under a limited tort insurance policy, you can sue the driver who hit you after you find them.  This can help you recover compensation from their insurance, plus additional damages paid out-of-pocket by the defendant.  However, proving that it was this car and this driver who hit you can be difficult.

The defense will often challenge the case by challenging your identification of the driver.  If you only got a partial plate or didn’t accurately make out the make and model of the car, they will try to claim you identified the wrong car.  We can overcome this by showing how the damage to the defendant’s car matches the damage from your crash and that the paint in their vehicle’s damage is your car’s paint.

From there, the defense will likely try to say someone else was driving the car.  However, this is often overcome with eyewitness testimony matching the driver to the defendant’s description or by showing that the defendant never loaned the car to anyone or reported it stolen or anything like that.

When you sue a hit and run driver, you can often receive compensation for any damages – medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering – but you might also be able to claim additional punitive damages.  These damages are not available through insurance.

Using Your Insurance for Hit and Run Compensation in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s insurance system uses a “choice no-fault” system where drivers are expected to have at least some first-party benefits on their insurance policy.  Many drivers have more robust policies that cover additional damages and compensation, all without needing the other driver to pay them.  If you have the following coverages, they can help you get compensation from your own insurance.

Medical Coverage

Your policy has to have at least $5,000 of medical coverage for you and any passengers in your car.  This is a start in covering your accident, but many people injured in hit and run crashes will need more than this.

Other First-Party Coverage

Your policy might have additional benefits that can cover medical expenses above and beyond this $5,000, plus added benefits for lost wages.  Often, this coverage does not include pain and suffering, which may be a big portion of your overall damages.

UM/UIM

Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is an additional coverage you can have on your policy to pay for damages when the other driver doesn’t have insurance or has insurance that is too low to cover you.  This is usually allowed to kick in in hit and run cases where the driver cannot be identified, potentially paying for any damages the driver would have paid you, up to your policy limits.  Your household’s policies might also stack, providing additional coverage.

Collision Coverage

Many drivers have added benefits on their policy to pay for vehicle damage in a crash regardless of what the other driver’s insurance covers.  This usually has a $500 deductible, but it should cover all repair bills in a hit and run case if you need coverage beyond what UM/UIM pays for.

Call Our Car Accident Lawyers Today for a Free Case Review

If you were hurt in a car accident, call The Reiff Law Firm’s Chester, PA car accident lawyers at (215) 709-6940 today.