What is the process for a hit in run/leaving the scene of an accident? My car was recently hit?

Question

and I am going tomorrow to turn it into the police. Will I have to go to court? How long will it take them to find & contact the person if I have their license plate number? Will they just call them that day if they are easily found?
the damage is minimal i just want to make sure i get my money.

Answer 1

I am uncertain. We had someone hit us in the parking lot of the local grocery store and just drive off like nothing had happened. We got their tag number and had witnesses. The police officer said she was writing it up as a favor to us since it was on private property but would not run the tag (or at least wouldn't tell us).

We have insurance - came to a little over $1,000 damages - but am uncertain if our insurance company followed up on it. On talking to people, everyone I talked to had been a victim of a hit and run to their car. One truck repeatedly hit a person stopped at a red light until they knocked them into the intersection then the truck made their left turn like nothing had happened. Totaled the other person's car and caused injuries. General consensus was that since it is illegal to be an uninsured driver, they just prefer to run away instead of stopping and had to ram the car out of the way so they could leave the scene.

I hope you have insurance.

Answer 2

If you have the license plate number, the police will know who the registered owner is by the time you leave the station. The time required to contact them and investigate is harder to say. As far as getting paid for damages, that will probably be handled by the insurance companies. You should contact your insurance company with the information you have and the police report number. If criminal charges are filed for the hit & run, you may be asked to testify.