Hit-and-Run Crash on Coast Highway

I would like to let the driver of the blue vehicle who hit my van May 11 while it was parked curbside on the Coast Highway just north of Del Obispo Street in Dana Point know that he or she is guilty of grand larceny, in addition to hit-and-run driving.

I don’t know who you are. I know only that your vehicle is blue because of the paint on my car. But you’ve stolen $2,000. That’s what it will cost to repair the damage to my car for your poor driving. You said, “What the heck, let your insurance company pay for it.”

Well, that’s the attitude that makes insurance so expensive. So expensive, in fact, that I have to use a $1,000 deductible on my collision coverage because I can’t afford the insurance otherwise.

So you’ve stolen $1,000 from me and $1,000 from my insurance company, assuming I put in a claim for the damages. I may not, because I fear they’ll cancel me if I do, even though it wasn’t my fault. That means you will have stolen $2,000 from me.

Beyond that, you’ve seriously violated the law by not stopping and identifying yourself. You know who you are. I’d like to think you were losing at least a little sleep over what you did. But I doubt you are.

But I’d like to leave you with this thought: What would you do if someone stole $2,000 from you? How would you feel? Would you care to fess up and reimburse me?

DONALD B. ALLEN

San Juan Capistrano