Vent post. I bought a really nice convertible recently: a Saturn Sky Red Line. 260 horsepower manual roadster, $5600. I already spent $700 and eight hours or so improving the interior and had plans to do a lot of other work. Spent like $800 on brand new winter tires (a commitment to own the thing for 4-5 years at least). Planned to race it in the spring. This was really my biggest source of joy the last few months.
Two weeks ago someone in a 2017 F-150 sideswiped me on the highway and drove away. I chased him for a while but he lost me. I got his plate but no footage of who was actually inside. Pigs said they wouldn't criminally charge him (hit-and-run, reckless driving) because I don't have evidence that the car wasn't stolen. My car runs and drives just fine, but he damaged a bunch of panels. Body shops quoted $5.5 and $6k because parts are really rare. This is so much that insurance is probably going to try to total it. They'll offer me the difference between the cash value of the car (approx what I paid for it) and the salvage value ($3k? who knows), which will not be enough to fix the damage. Effectively they're going to force me to sell the car after I really got attached to it.
Just feeling really upset and powerless. I already had a lot of shit to do and now I need to haggle with his insurance, my insurance, show up at his house (4+ hour drive) and bluff that I'll get his license taken away, and haul him into small claims if nothing works. It's unlikely any of that will give me enough to fix the damage. To reduce cost I can wait around for a parts car, which may take years. There's not a single Sky in any Illinois junkyard, and there's not a wreck in the same color with the panels I need literally anywhere in the continental US. I can do some of the installation (not painting) myself but at the very least I'm out a couple thousand dollars and many hours. Even if I had comprehensive insurance I'd be in the same situation, struggling for the insurance company not to total my car.
I can show up and pour brake fluid on his shitty truck, but that won't fix my car. Fuck this guy and people like him, fuck insurance, fuck pigs.
I am afraid that the court will apply the same logic as insurance company in assigning damages. Loss in asset value, not cost to repair. I called around a bit before I talked to the cops. (Because I thought the footage might open me up to reckless driving charges for chasing him. As I learned, cops don't give a shit about anything that happened lol.) A hit and run where you got the other party's information is unusual so the lawyers I talked to weren't the right kind. But it's small claims size, you should be able to self service.
I would google around and try to find the measure of damages for damage to personal property or vehicles in the state of Illinois. Maybe you can find favorable case law measuring it by repair cost (or if not, then there’s your answer)