Another mailbox story

[f6john]

Backing out of my driveway Saturday afternoon I see this,









I checked the mail about 11:00 and the mailbox was fine and then 4 hours later it’s been hit and the brick work broken about a foot up from ground level and push over a couple of inches from plumb. I was home the whole time and never heard a thing. Of course the perpetrator didn’t stop, knock on the the ,leave a message or any of that kind of responsible stuff.

Somebody really has a messed up vehicle now if they sideswiped this mailbox. Given the side it was hit from it meant the vehicle would have been traveling on the wrong side of the road on impact. Only evidence left behind was some silver paint.

Not looking forward to the repair or replacement bill on this one. Thousand dollar deductible on homeowners isn’t going to be much help.

[old2soon]

Do you have many body shops in the area? Just spitballin here. That me too generation ONLY worries bout demselves. Hope the dumb ass perp done triple or quadruple damage to his cage versus yer cost.  Gotta git holt of da prez and have him post a pic of his mailbox. Even the snow plows avoid it. Hope you find the low life scuz ball. RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

I don't know if the mailman drives the same truck every day, but tomorrow I'd be standing around looking for paint transfers on his truck.

It won't be right, but can't you just patch it up?

I buried a 6 x 6, four feet deep, and packed dry concrete around it (and a big plastic box on top).  It's been bumped and rubbed, but it never lost a fight. 

[f6john]

Yea, I’m  going to try nd pull it back into place. If I can remove any loose mortar where it broke loose it might settle back in place. Mail carrier comes from the opposite direction of the hit on the brick. It’s also possible that a piece of farm machinery caught it, who knows

[Gavin_Sons]

I knew a guy that had problems with kids driving up into his yard and running over his trash cans. He purposely set them 15 feet up in his yard because the juvenile delinquents kept running over them. He got tired of it and filled a new one with concrete and set out in his drive. About 2 am on a saturday morning he heard all kinds of commotion, got up and he had caught the kids, totaled their car and they ran. The parents tried to sue the old guy but he got a good judge and told them if the kids had not been vandalizing his property it would have never happened.   

[gordonv]

Even though that wasn't a vehicle-to-vehicle hit, isn't it still a hit and run?

Hadn't you called the cops and reported it? At least something the insurance company would want you to do, even if there is no claim.

[f6john]

Even though that wasn't a vehicle-to-vehicle hit, isn't it still a hit and run?

Hadn't you called the cops and reported it? At least something the insurance company would want you to do, even if there is no claim.

Total waste of time. Just two months ago someone tried to steal my trailer out of my driveway, called the Sheriff office they came out but nothing they can do unless you are standing there with your foot on the perpetrators neck. Insurance company won’t care either.

[Jess from VA]

Even though that wasn't a vehicle-to-vehicle hit, isn't it still a hit and run?

Hadn't you called the cops and reported it? At least something the insurance company would want you to do, even if there is no claim.

Total waste of time. Just two months ago someone tried to steal my trailer out of my driveway, called the Sheriff office they came out but nothing they can do unless you are standing there with your foot on the perpetrators neck. Insurance company won’t care either.

Knowingly leaving the scene of a property damage accident is a crime (probably the amount of damage dictates the level of crime).  People have knocked off other car mirrors (with theirs), and had no idea it happened.  Given the damage impact, there can be no question they knew, and fled.

I agree with not reporting.  Assuming there is no coverage (after deductible), I have never felt reporting anything (at all) to insurance companies (not covered) does anything good for you.  Even if it's not your fault (even remotely), it's just another negative blip on your account history.  One can never know the algorithms used by ins co's to determine individual rates.  

I've never reported any small stuff well below deductible (I fixed out of pocket).  If you start with the proposition that insurance companies are never your friends (and I do, even USAA and any other good companies), my theory on this is (their) ignorance, is (my) bliss.

I suppose it's possible the small print on a policy could provide a penalty for not reporting, but how would they ever know, and if they did you simply claim ignorance.  If you are a long paying good customer, they don't want to cancel you anyway.

Now if I had a series of (small damage) vandalism events going on, that would be different.  I'd be talking to the cops and the ins co.  Not knowing what might be coming, I would want to look like the good cooperative customer making my best efforts to minimize my losses.

With the trailer and then the mailbox, maybe a motion sensor camera or two is in order.  That stuff used to be pretty steep, but I think prices have come down.  (no experience)