Hit and Run

[Overachiever]

Had a guy with too tall of a vehicle come through and trash my automatic. The vehicle had no plates, but he used a credit card so I have his name.

Police are saying they won't take a report because there is "no criminal intent." Seems like BS to me. How do you hold the guy who did it accountable if the police refuse to do anything?

 

[Eric H]

What about personal property damage over $500?
For some reason $500 is the threshold for reporting personal property damage in MA.

 

[MEP001]

In Texas, hit and run is a felony even if it's on private property and only personal property is damaged.

Since you have his name (and hopefully video of the vehicle as backup proof), your insurance will go after his for damages, assuming he has insurance.

 

[Overachiever]

With the way my luck goes, probably doesn't have insurance. I literally just got out of insurance jail and now I have another claim.. lol. Hopefully these guys don't drop me when my year is up and put me back in the expensive bracket.

He got out of his van and eyeballed it to see if he thought he would fit but was wrong. The machine only did the front of his van and stopped when it touched, then he decided to drive forward through the machine instead of backing out. Pulled back around front, grabbed the stuff that broke off the top of his van, then went into a self service bay to finish the job.

I asked the officer for his bosses names and numbers, I'll try giving them a call tomorrow.

 

[Randy]

Over the years we’ve had our share of hit and run incidents and attempted break-ins. 9 times out of 10 they don’t go anywhere, not enough evidence, vehicle has been sold, not a good picture of the driver, no license plate. Call the chief of police and have a come’n to Jesus meeting with him and see if he’ll take a police report. With a good name on the credit card you might be able to track him down and that’s a big might. Your chances of getting resolution from the driver of the van are just about slim to none. So far this year I’ve had 4 attempted break-ins, 6 vandalism calls and every one of them I have great video, the police come out take a report, we give them the video and that’s the end of it. The prosecutor is the one who makes the final call if they are going to prosecute them or not or the police can’t find them. And it goes on and on.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Do you have a height sign at the entrance of the IBA and bays?
My sign states No Vehicles Taller Than 8’1” tall, even though my bay heights are taller.
You can’t stop stupid though.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Had a guy with too tall of a vehicle come through and trash my automatic. The vehicle had no plates, but he used a credit card so I have his name.

Police are saying they won't take a report because there is "no criminal intent." Seems like BS to me. How do you hold the guy who did it accountable if the police refuse to do anything?

See if you can find the statute. In Illinois I think you have to report any property damage over $250 and failure to do so is criminal. Once you find the statute. contact the commander.

 

[Damoni88]

Had many cases like this one. It's either a hit and run or criminal damage to private property. You have his name, the last hit and run the officer/detetective found him on Facebook. Same instance where there was no plates but he used the credit card. Keep pursuing it. Also from my understanding the police have to take a report they don't have a choice. Tell them do their F!@#ing job.

 

[Overachiever]

Sort of lame for a sign but I just have a blurb on the paystation about the maximum clearance. I have a clearance bar sitting in my equipment room that I have yet to install... suddenly I feel pretty motivated to put it up.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

LOL, don’t feel bad I‘m sure all of us have done that

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Hit and run with property damage.
You dont need a sign telling people they're not allowed to crash into your building any more than you need a sign telling them no child molesting.
"No criminal intent" is bs, that's irrelevant. The police MUST file a report.
Whether the DA prosecutes or not, whether he has insurance or not, take him to court to get every penny. I understand that lots of us never get paid for damages, but not even trying to get justice is... well its a big part of whats wrong with our country today.

 

[slash007]

I've had good luck tracking people down using social media when I only had a name from a card. Try that. A couple of times a Facebook message letting them know I had video got them to co-operate.

 

[Waxman]

Why don't more operators put a 'hard stop' height restriction before the bay entrance?

Wouldn't that be easier than trying to hunt them down, filing a police report, and repairing damage just so you can open the wash bay for business again?

Let's face it; it's a matter of 'when' not 'if' someone over-height drives in. Am I wrong???

 

[jack954]

waxman hit the nail on the head! i need to put up some hard stops. can anyone provide pics of what they have installed please

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

Waxman - everything you say is true, but...
I've seen the "hard stop" knocked over. I figure if I need to fix something, its cheaper and easier to fix the roof than the barrier - always a cost/benefit economic decision.

To be fair though, both times my roof got hit I seriously considered putting up height restrictions. I havent done it because the layout of my lot PLUS the way my customers drive on it (like right over the barriers, lol) I figure I'd lose the barrier a lot more often than the roof. And then I'd be in court anyway.

 

[APW]

Two of my sites I have a 2x6 mounted at the entrance. I use to have a 6" pipe hanging at the entrance till some mexicans got out and lifted it up and then proceeded to wedge their van under my PDQ machine.

 

[srr5008]

We have a stainless arch, that is the same size as the gantry, installed before our pay stations. After those got broke off several times, we installed 4 bollards at each arch, to protect the legs. We find that several people try to go through with ladders on their trucks, and they hit the arch and back out, before going through our bay.

 

[Overachiever]

I managed to get the police to file a report for me, went down to the station. They were still acting weird about it like it might not be something they will investigate. They told me I can call back in a couple weeks to see if a detective has been assigned to it, otherwise I'm out of luck.

On a positive note I'm using this time to get a bunch of things done that I've been ignoring. Getting a blower motor's impeller balanced, cleaning the walls and pits, probably going to add the "Spectra Ray +" wall mounted light show and raise prices.

 

[Greg Pack]

The police officer probably decided there was no criminal intent and followed the common policy of "no crime, no report". In our County there does not have to be criminal intent to get a report filed. We do what's called a private property damage report. But that is going to vary by State and jurisdiction.

One of the reasons I like the water wizard entrance arch is it it made out of stainless and serves as a good sacrificial piece of equipment. Ive found those bent over where someone tried to force their way in. Fortunately they didn't make it.

 

[Waxman]

That sounds pretty good. I'm in the process of designing an entry arch before my overhead door opening. I plan to use some stainless steel rail sections from my old machine that I still have.