andrew man i feel for you, we'll all keep on lookout for this punk man. didn't happen to get a license plate number did you?

i agree with whoever said to go to the hospital, you better get yourself checked out, sometimes the adreniliene can cover some of the pain, and if it doesn't get treated its only going to be worse.

good luck with everything man, the insurance process takes a while, with my MINI it took forever.. if you need any help let me know.

 

yea dude my heart was going crazy, i couldnt get his plate cuz it happened to fast and then he zoomed off... thanks man...the thing is my dad bought the single liability insurance and that isnt going to cover it.....i just told my dad i dont even care about the looks. just get it running and im happy. it sucks cuz now i cant go anywhere :/ have to get a ride from friends to and from school

 

Sounds like the police could catch the person, possibly. The stripe and the damage, those two things together are a giveaway.

Have you checked with the police to see if they have located the other driver?

If the can find that person, it IS that person's fault, and they should pay for all your damage. If it's their car and they have insurance, it will be covered.

You can also file a law suit against them, if they don't have insurance.

Either way, they are so busted. Their insurance rates will skyrocket, if they can get insurance at all.

You should not have to pay a dime to fix your car, if you can track down that driver.

You might also want to sit down and write out everything you can remember. Add details if you remember them later. It will keep it all fresh, and if you do manage to track down that driver, you will have all the info written down.

Do you remember if it was a California license plate?

I'm going to guess that law enforcement computers are sophisticated. So that they could enter whatever is KNOWN and possible results will come up.

For instance, you know the make and model. And the year. So I'm looking at pictures online. Some seem to have no rear wing/spoiler thing. Some have low ones. And some have high ones. Do you know what was on the car that hit you?

And it was a 2-door? What about the wheels? Remember anything? How about headlights, were they the bright kind or regular?

How about checking some of the Mitsubishi forums? Here's one:
http://www.mitsubishiforum.com/forum/

You can look at pictures on forums, search for posts, even contact moderators to see if they have an idea of whose car it might be.

There's a pretty good chance that somewhere, someone has taken a photo of that car and posted it. Before it was wrecked. Might even be in older posts, by a former owner. But that former owner might be able to tell you who they sold the car to, and when, and where. Or tell you the license plate number. The plate number might even be IN a photo somewhere.

It's detective work. But it's work that the police department won't have the TIME to do. They can't sit around browsing auto forums. LOL. But you can.

I looked around a bit. It would help if we can have you try to remember more details. Like if it had any kind of spoiler/wing on the back. That might narrow down what specific keywords to look for. Especially if it seems to be aftermarket or only on certain configurations of the Eclipse.

Do you know for sure that it's a 97?

And if anyone knows of popular Mitsubishi forums, post the links here. I can look around a bit too. We all can, if we have a little time.

 

Im sorry man, that totally sucks. TaffetaWhite makes really good points, you could totally find this jerk. Cruising around where the accident happend, youll maybe see them driving. Maybe someone else who saw something also reported it to police.

 

thanks man, actually the first thing i did after the accident was calling 911 and then immediately i wrote down what i could remember....it all happened so quick..i didnt even see the car until it hit me and then he floored it off. I KNOW FOR SURE it was an eclipse the model was the 95-98? one of my friends have a 97 so that's what i based it off. i know he has an exhaust cuz after he hit me he floored it and it was pretty loud. yea man, im checking around craigslist for used cars, cuz he might want to sell it. thanks for all your help guys....

 

So we're looking for second generation according to Wiki:
Mitsubishi Eclipse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1995–1999 (2G) Mitsubishi Eclipse


Here's the back end of a 1996 Eclipse where the back up lights are next to the license plate:
Auto 07

Here's the back end of a 1997, showing the updated location of the back up lights, they were moved to the bumper:
Mach V Forums - 97' GS-T for sale, Evo3 16g + supporting mods.

According to Wiki, that change was made for 1997 and up.

You can also see the low and high spoiler style.

 

Doing more looking around. It appears from the little bit I read, that no stripes came on the car. A few message boards mention stripes or graphics. Asking for advice on colors or sizes (widths). There are big single stripes, double wide stripes, and single off-center stripes mentioned. So that is probably after market. And that will narrow it down, if the person doesn't remove the stripes. However, there may be stripe residue or paint fade where the stripes were not placed...which might help.

Another idea is to check local salvage yards. Put out inquiries on if any have come in to be ditched.

Some guy had tried to trade in his car under the CARS/Clunker program after a hit and run...
Phoenix 'Cash for Clunkers' hit-and-run suspect indicted - Phoenix Arizona news, breaking news, local news, weather radar, traffic from ABC15 News | ABC15.com

See, the creeps that hit you, they don't know if you were ok or not, do they? That's what really sucks. You could have had broken bones or cuts or something that could have disabled you for life or killed you. So they probably will try to ditch the car.

 

it was definitely the 97....i remember the spoiler being loopy and higher up.i didnt see the front end of the car at all so i dont know about the headlights...yea.. i just hope the car was'nt stolen

 

oh and i think they were like 2 4 inch thinker lines, i could be wrong though...that's according to the residue left on my car

 

drop the fender & bumper and take it to a well know frame shop in your area this is a must. that inter structure I bettya is bent and if ya ever want the thing to track correctly and the fender hood to line up it's good money spent! next get on ebay (honda Fit) and the bumper you can get outa Huston for next to nuthin 80-100 bucks call and check the shop/seller (I think it's a body shop sell'n 'em cuz they usally have at least 2-3 for sale anytime) ask them what if any real damage exists. They had a silver one last week 65 s/h and the bid was 1 dollair. headlights are any were from 50-90 shipped. Let me see if were a fender is...... shoot try the dealer for your base price, Lord knows it won't get any more exspencive than that price.

Okay: Parts Train .com
2007 front drivers fender 98.00 + s/h

Benardi's has the fender for 133.00 + s/h gauro'teed to Fit your Fit
hey good luck Andy
and remember Patience is the secret to life!

 

omg man lol thanks!

 

UPDATE! just got a call from CHP and they asked me for some info on my car...they wouldnt say if they got the guy or not...ITS A SIGN!

 

They called you at 11 PM? Not exactly business hours. Something is up!

 

haha lets hope! the call was actually at 10:27PM- says my call log..

 

Police got these guys:
2 men arrested in fatal hit-and-run in Montebello | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Found the suspect's vehicle at a repair shop. That's another bit of detective work you can do yourself. Let your fingers do the walking, via the Yellow Pages and call body shops in the area.

Hoping that they catch the creeps that hit your car.

 

yea i should drive around and take a look around the repair shops...i think in most hit and run cases, if they are not fatal then the cops arent really going to go all out and hunt them down..

 

hopefully someone saw it happened and tipped the cops\

 

Southwest Auto Body Parts
Seem to have really lllow prices Andy give them a try when your ready to put her back together.

 

thanks man, i never expected so much support from this site...its amazing.

 

Or your could even post an ad on craigslist that youre looking for eclipse parts... looking to fix up your silver eclipse ^_^ could lead you right to the culprit!