I live in an apartment complex that has marked parking spaces for the tenants. Today I took my significant other to work, came back, and since the parking spaces right by my apartment were full, I parked parallel to the garages (perpendicular to the parking spaces) because I was going to make a quick trip upstairs to get my friends to take home. I parked about two feet away from the garages to make sure that there was room in case someone has to get out of a parking space. I went up to my apartment, came back down with two of my friends shortly afterward, and saw that one car (a pickup) from the spaces was gone, and I had a very large dent in the side of my car. There was no note left on my car. I know who's truck it was because it was parked in the disabled space, and we only have one person with a truck with a disabled placard in this area of the complex. That, and it was the only car that had moved from when I went upstairs to when I came back down.

My question is, is there any way that I can be at fault for this? I checked the California DMV code about parking lots, and all that it says is that I can't block people from entering or leaving. There was about one and a half of her truck's length between the tailgate of her truck and my parked car, so I think that she had plenty of room to get out. I know I can legally prosecute because of the hit-and-run.

Any advice?

Forgive me for playing devil's advocate but do you have any evidence, such as an eye-witness or a security camera recording, that the pick-up truck was actually the one that damaged your car? If not, it is entirely possible that after the pick-up truck left someone else may have tried to enter the spot, hit you, panicked and then fled.

In our experience the most likely explanation isn't always the actual explanation.

I don't have any evidence aside from that I wasn't upstairs very long at all, and that was the only car that had moved. The dent in my car is level with their bumper, and even has an indentation from the trailer hitch.

You cannot be held at fault in an accident if your car was parked. This definitely won't have an affect on your license and shouldn't affect your insurance.

I would just report it to your insurance exactly as you told it to us. Let them decide if that want to go after the driver. I would, Though, go back and park your car where you had it then take pictures and measurements. Have the friends who came done with you initial them as witnesses. Then present a copy of the package to your insurance company.

Your correct step would have been to call the police, let them take all of your information and make a report, then when the pickup came back they could have matched the damage points of the vechiles, and the such.

At this point the main thing you can do is just report it to your insurance company