What to do when in accident with vehicle from Mexico?

Question

Here in Southern California there are cars driving around with Baja California license plates. Unfortunately these drivers drive with their own sets of rules and with disregard with safe driving common driving considerations.

Today, I witnessed an accident involving a pickup truck from Mexico. That driver of the Mexico registered truck did a hit and run and I followed him. I got the plate numbers and a description. I called the police and followed him but he ran through a red light (through a busy intersection almost hitting a pedestrian) so I stopped following.

I called the police, went back to the location of the accident and found the victim. I gave her the information, but we don't know how to proceed to get this resolved. The lady could only afford liability insurance so unfortunately no help from the insurance company. The police say they don't get involve unless there is a serious injury.

Any one know what to do?

Answer 1

Hopefully she had uninsured motorist coverage. That option only costs a few dollars. and would pay in this situation. Another suggestion is to contact the Mexican embassy where they can at least find out who the registered owner is. However getting any kind of settlement from a Mexican National is unlikely.
The Border Patrol may have a record of the vehicle crossing the border, but again it is just better to have the insurance coverage and be safe rather than sorry.

Answer 2

This is the answer: find a second job to pay for the damage to the vehicle, or drive it as it is if possible cause you ain't getting no money from anybody to pay for the damage.

Sad but true, that is the way is going to be. Unless you are able to catch the person who did it, and that person admits it, you are out of luck. And all this is as long the Mexican truck is legally driving here and with a legal insurance covering for at least the minimum the law requires.

And forget about the police. They will not do a thing if there was no personal injury. The person that got hit would have to call it, maybe say she go a very bad injure out of the impact or something, but by the time everything is legally registered, that Mexican driver is back to his / her town laughing with friends about how another idiot got fu@#$ in the street.

And still the government don't want for us HONEST CITIZENS to carry a gun for self defense... hmmm

Answer 3

As an Insurance agent I would recommend you check with your agent to see if you have mexico coverage because some policies only cover you 10 miles inside the border. I recommend you by mexico insurance its cheap and they offer all kinds of assistance if you have an accident in Mexico.

Answer 4

Unfortunately this lady is going to have to pay for the damage. My sister in law was just hit by someone with insurance and she had only Liability. She had no representation and has to fight for her rights on her own.
I suggest hiring a lawyer and pursuing criminal charges with the vehicle information you have. Maybe we can get another illegal back where he belongs.