Hit and run is the fastest-growing traffic crime in the US. In 2024, an estimated 737,000 hit-and-run crashes occurred — one every 43 seconds. Only a fraction are solved, primarily because there's no evidence identifying the responsible vehicle.
A dash cam changes the investigation entirely. But having footage isn't enough — knowing how to use it effectively is what determines whether the driver is identified and whether your insurance claim is resolved correctly.
What Your Footage Needs to Show
For a hit-and-run report to result in an identification, the footage needs to contain at least one of:
- License plate: Full or partial plate number of the responsible vehicle. A partial plate — even 3–4 characters — significantly narrows the field for investigators. Plates are most legible when the vehicle is approaching (front plate) or departing slowly (rear plate at close range). High-speed departures often blur plate characters on lower-resolution cameras.
- Vehicle description: Make, model, color, and approximate year. Even without a plate, a distinctive vehicle can be identified through targeted BOLO (be on the lookout) broadcasts.
- Driver description: If the driver exited their vehicle before leaving the scene, footage of their appearance is valuable for witness matching.
- Direction of travel: The route taken by the departing vehicle, documented by GPS timestamps in the footage, helps investigators search nearby traffic camera networks.
Immediately After Discovering the Damage
- Do not drive the vehicle until you've secured the footage. Moving the car doesn't affect the footage, but walking around the scene can inadvertently affect the SD card if you accidentally bump the camera or door.
- Access the parking mode clip immediately. In the Nexar app, navigate to Events. The parking trigger event should be listed with a timestamp. Tap it to confirm the footage contains the incident.
- Save or star the clip immediately to prevent it from being overwritten.
- Photograph the damage to your vehicle — multiple angles, before touching or moving anything.
- Note the GPS coordinates visible in the footage or in the trip data. This documents where your car was parked at the time of the incident.
Filing the Police Report
File a police report even if you're not sure the footage contains actionable evidence. The report creates an official record that:
- Triggers an active investigation if the footage is sufficient
- Creates an insurance case file number for your claim
- Is required by most insurers before a hit-and-run claim is processed
Call the non-emergency police line (not 911, unless someone is injured). Explain that you have a parking lot incident with dash cam footage of the responsible vehicle.
What to provide to the officer:
- Time and location of the incident (from the footage GPS and timestamp)
- Vehicle description or plate from the footage — do your best to read it before the call
- A digital copy of the footage (most officers will accept a shared drive link or a direct message to their department email)
Ask the officer to note in the report that dash cam evidence is available and was provided. Get the incident report number before ending the call.
Insurance Claim Process for Hit and Run
A hit-and-run claim without an identified responsible party is filed under your own uninsured motorist (UM) or collision coverage, depending on your policy. With an identified responsible party (made possible by your footage), it's filed as a third-party liability claim against that driver's insurance.
Steps:
- Call your insurer and provide the police report number.
- Mention immediately that you have dash cam footage of the incident.
- If the responsible driver was identified, provide their plate number — your insurer will handle the third-party claim initiation.
- Upload the footage via the insurer's claims portal or provide a shared link.
- If the driver is unidentified, your insurer will process the claim under UM or collision coverage after verifying the police report.
A hit-and-run claim with footage of the responsible vehicle typically resolves in days rather than weeks — the evidence eliminates most of the dispute period.
What Happens If the Footage Is Partial
Not all parking mode footage captures a usable plate. Common issues:
- Low resolution: A 1080p camera may not produce a readable plate at 30+ feet in low light. A 2K camera significantly improves this. Consider this when choosing a camera if parking lot hit-and-run is a primary concern.
- Angle: If the incident involved a vehicle that approached from a non-covered angle (the rear-only, or the side), the front camera may not have captured the plate.
- Pre-trigger gap: Without buffered parking mode, the camera starts recording at the moment of the impact — the approaching vehicle's front plate is already past the camera before recording begins.
Even partial footage is worth submitting. A partial plate, a vehicle color, or a make/model description gives investigators significantly more than nothing. Investigators can run partial plates through DMV databases filtered by vehicle description — a 4-character partial plate on a silver Honda Accord dramatically narrows the field of registered vehicles to check.
If Your Camera Didn't Capture the Incident
If parking mode wasn't enabled, the SD card was full, or the camera wasn't running, you may have no footage of the incident itself. In this case:
- Check nearby fixed cameras — the parking lot operator, adjacent businesses, and traffic cameras in the area may have footage covering your parking location.
- Ask the parking lot manager if they have security camera coverage of your space.
- Post in local community groups (Nextdoor, Facebook groups) — a witness who saw the incident and is willing to provide their own footage or statement is useful evidence.
- File the police report anyway — without evidence, prosecution is unlikely, but the report is still required for the insurance claim process.
Using Small Claims Court
If the responsible driver is identified via your footage but their insurer disputes the claim or the damage amount is below your collision deductible, small claims court is an option in every US state.
Dash cam footage is admissible as evidence in small claims court. File in the county where the incident occurred, name the identified driver as defendant, and bring a downloaded copy of the footage on a USB drive or as a playable link. Small claims court decisions are typically rendered the same day.