Got hit by a shady kid in a BMW

McMaster, you live in Cal right? If so you have uninsured motorist coverage! It's the law in Cal. Before I bought the Prius I was driving to work through the hills of Los Feliz near Hollywoood. I see a knucklehead driving up the hill I was coming down on. I stop, he slams into me with out even braking. I always carry a camera, and after we get out I start snapping Photos. He starts to try to block the shots, I say great more evidence keep it up, and by the way License Insurance Registration info please. I had mine already out. He backs away fishes around in the car for about 10 minutes comes back with a old insurance card, expired of course, I take a photo of the license, snap the VIN on the car.
My truck was completly screwed. He had bent both front wheel mounting points and both front wheels are towed in about 20 degrees!
I last saw the guy picking up all the pieces of cheap plastic that had fallen off his car, and drive away. Called the insurance company right after I called AAA and had the 4Runner taken to the dealer recommended body shop. I had used them before, they are a excellent place, busy, but you could eat off the floor. Clean and quality.
The net result was the entire chassis had to be replaced! about 5k job. They found a good used chassis, cleaned it, repainted it, and took 3 weeks to rebuild the truck.

Two weeks after the truck went into the shop. I recieved a check from the Insurance company for 1000 bucks, my deductable. The other guy was uninsured and as such, THERE IS NO DEDUCTABLE CHARGED!!! The insurance went after the uninsured clod, who got into a boatload of trouble because he was too stupid to have insurance.
Report this, if you have not already, now is better than never. They will pursue this guy.
If you do nothing, that's part of the problem!

 

There is a lot of this in the Los Angeles area. Primarily Mexican immigrants who are undocumented. They're here for work, and have enough money for a car and cell phone. Being undocumented, they are in constant fear of being discovered and deported. Applying for a driver's license or insurance would be like volunteering to be discovered.

If they're afraid of getting a driver's license, they're certainly not going to sue you for anything. If the police get involved, they'll probably lose their car at the minimum, and may be deported.

The idea of getting any money from their insurance is just a fantasy. They're certainly not going to have the money to pay for standard rates at a body shop. Best you could hope for is that they could do the repair themselves, or have a friend that could. Assuming you would accept such work.

So if you want insurance to pay for the repairs, it's going to be your insurance. That means a deductible, and probably an increase in your rates.

My take on all this is that you want to minimize your expenses in time and money. That basically means that you don't involve the authorities, and any damage less than about $1000 is your loss. If it's that important to you, get the damage repaired and pay it out of your own money.

If someone is injured, you are legally required to report it. Vehicle damage is supposed to be reported if it's more than some vehicle code specified value, but police tend to look the other way if the people involved want to settle it themselves.