Property Damage Claims When the Other Driver Does Not Stop

Attorney Answer

Probably not from the tow truck's side, at least on the facts as you have described them. You drove into the truck, only your car was damaged, and that combination usually makes the broken mirror your own claim rather than a claim against the other driver. Their not stopping does not by itself shift who was careless. It is its own violation, and there is a second issue in your message that matters more than the mirror.

California's rule of responsibility is Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a): "Everyone is responsible, not only for the result of his or her willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by his or her want of ordinary care or skill in the management of his or her property or person, except so far as the latter has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon himself or herself." To be paid by the truck's insurer you would have to show that its driver fell short of ordinary care and that this is what broke your mirror — that the mud flap was unsecured, say, or hanging into your lane. Contact with part of a truck does not prove that on its own, and the last clause of the statute is the reason: your own want of ordinary care counts against you.

Cal. Veh. Code § 20002(a) is the stopping rule. It requires the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to property, including vehicles, to stop immediately at the nearest location that will not impede traffic, and the section then sets out what that driver must do to identify themselves. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. That duty applied to the tow truck's driver. It also applied to you, and that is the part to be careful about: if the truck was damaged at all, however slightly, the same section was speaking to you. Cal. Veh. Code § 16000(a) separately requires drivers to report certain crashes to the Department of Motor Vehicles on its own form within a short window, which is a required filing rather than a statement, and a local attorney can tell you quickly whether it reaches your crash.

Because of that, the most useful thing this page can do is tell you what not to do.

What you can do

1. Speak with a local attorney before you give any account of the collision — written, recorded or in conversation — to police, to the towing company, or to any insurer. That comes first, ahead of the claim.

2. Preserve what already exists and change nothing: photographs of your mirror and of the truck, the date, time and location, the company name or markings if you noted them, and any dashcam file before it records over itself.

3. Report the loss to your own insurer under your own collision coverage if you carry it. Whether that coverage responds is a question of your policy's terms rather than of any statute.

4. If your own insurer pays, ask it in writing what it intends to do about the other side. Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(p) requires an insurer to tell a first-party claimant whether it will pursue subrogation, and § 2695.7(q) requires it to include your deductible in any demand it makes and to share what it recovers with you proportionately.

5. If an insurer stops responding, you can file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance. Under Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(b)(3), a written denial has to tell you about that review right and give the department's address and telephone number.

6. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. A claim for damage to a vehicle runs under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), which allows three years for injuring goods or chattels. Whether that is the period that applies to you, and when it started, depends on your facts, and any exposure of your own under Cal. Veh. Code § 20002 runs on a separate clock this page cannot calculate. Have a local attorney review those dates against your own file now rather than later.