How ro recover damages? Registared owners or driver only???

[CoyoteTony]

Phoenix, Arizona.

On the 3rd of August, 2004 a driver stepped out of his car and reached into my car ripping out the keys from my ignition and throwing them over a fence and onto a parking lot.

The damages that I suffered were a short in the ignition wiring of the car, lost keys to my house which the wife did not feel safe (she is agoraphobic ... fear of leaving the house) so we had to replace all the locks of the house and the watch on my keychain is now broken.

I took down the plate number and reported the incident to the police. The criminal charges of criminal damage did not go any where because the registared owners of the vehicle claim they know nothing about the incident and I did not recognize their pictures in a photo line-up using their DMV pics and both owners claim they do not know who was driving the car at the time of the road rage incident.

How do I recover my damages? Is it reasonable to expect that the owners of the car in which the driver who did the damage to pay or is it just the driver's fault? One guy says, that since the driver stepped out of the car it is not the responsibility of the registared owners to pay the damages. I claim it is negligent to not know who is driving your car at all times.

Any advice?

 

[CoyoteTony]

bump ... please. looking for some advice/guidance/direction/suggestions.

 

[Lynx 36]

You have to go after the person who threw your keys. Since the police aren't helping you, and the owner isn't talking, you may not have any recourse.

I'm missing some info. though. Why would this person reach in your car and throw your keys? This doesn't sound like a random act.

 

[CoyoteTony]

You have to go after the person who threw your keys. Since the police aren't helping you, and the owner isn't talking, you may not have any recourse.

I'm missing some info. though. Why would this person reach in your car and throw your keys? This doesn't sound like a random act.

It was a road rage incident. He thought that I should yield to him as he entered the local freeway. He was on the on-ramp and I was already on the highway.

He followed me off the next off-ramp and thats when he stepped out of his car and reached into my car.

 

[stephenk]

sue the owners of the car for the damages. they cannot deny their car was used. Their denial of knowing who was using the car does not get them off the hook.

 

[CoyoteTony]

sue the owners of the car for the damages. they cannot deny their car was used. Their denial of knowing who was using the car does not get them off the hook.

Thank you. I also think this way and hope you are correct. Just got my court appearance date ... January 27th.