backed into my parked car

[highroad]

while fueling at a gas station, a tow truck backed into my parked car. did not have any
insurance information, driver's license, etc. told me to "call 800 number on side of tow truck& talk to owner.." I made many phone calls to owner of towing company, got 3 estimates, took car to owner of truck to see actual damage. several months later they are still refusing to pay for damages, give us any insurance information or cooperate. also won't give us any information on the driver of the truck because they know we want to file charges. Police are of no help. how should I proceed?

 

[cdcard]

Dear Highroad:
Don't you hate this stuff? First question: do you have comp/collision coverage on your own car? If so, just report this matter to your insurance company; they'll handle it from there. They will fix your car and track down the insurance company for the tow truck. If you don't have insurance, that means you'll have to do all the legal work yourself. Second question: what state are you in? Do you know your state's statute of limitations for negligence suits? (Most states have anywhere from 1-4 year statutes; if tow truck company been giving you the run-around for a few months now, you've already lost time.) If you're within your statute of limitations and this company won't work with you, you're going to have to sue them. You can either hire an attorney to do this or do it yourself. If the amount of property damage is small (ie, under $5K or so), you can probably sue them yourself in small claims court. If the amount of damage is over the jurisdictional limit of your small claims court, you're going to have to sue them in regular court; I recommend you hire an attorney to do that. The procedures and rules of the regular court system will drive you crazy. To find out the jurisdictional limits of the small claims court in your jurisdiction, contact your local small claims court and ask them. If you're within the limits, ask them to send you a plaintiff's packet; it should have all the forms you need and directions on what to do with them. Also consider going to your local bookstore and taking a look at one of those "do it yourself" small claims court books; they'll show you how to prepare your evidentiary documents. Once the suit is filed and served, I assume the tow truck will put its own insurance company on notice of the suit and then maybe you can get this thing settled. In the meantime, get all the evidence you can that this tow truck hit you: witnesses, documents, anything. You don't want this to turn in to a "he said/she said" situation; judges hate that. Good luck to you, highroad. And act soon; the clock is ticking.
Very truly yours,
cdcard