Just my Luck...
11-25-2006, 09:56 PM
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Just my Luck...
Just with my luck, and the fact that I live in Northern Virginia, it seems that my vehicles are prime targets for accidents. I've had the S for not 2 weeks and someone hit my car at work and bailed out. They pushed the front driver fender and the front bumper in, and missaligned the entire fender. My car is undriveable because the fender was pushed into the tire. The car was also pushed from where it was parked about 2-3 inches. The damage doesn't look that bad. I have to wait until later on in the week for the mall security to view the tapes so hopefully I can catch the person in the act. I have never been in a hit and run so if you all could give me some advice. Should I be worried about the drivetrain at all such as the suspension? The wheel had a big mark on it from where the car made contact as well. I will try and post pictures up..Sorry for the rant, I am just extremely frustrated right now. 
I hope everything works out.
Link to Pictures
I hope everything works out.Link to Pictures
11-25-2006, 10:46 PM
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The company I work for does camera installations in malls etc. From experience it is 95% unlikely that you will get a license plate number from the car that hit you. You may be able to get a make, model, or color(if they have a color system) of the car but thats it.
There are 2 basic types of cams. Ones that are fixed in a certain position with a fixed view. They can't be changed unless someone physically changes them by hand. There are also pan, tilt, zoom cameras or domes that can be controlled by a security person with a keyboard. This cam or dome can do a lot more, like get a license plate, BUT the operator has to see it first and zoom in on the car. If no one in security saw your car get hit then you probably are screwed. It is also NOT like tv and movies where they can zoom in (for images already recorded) on a car thats 200 ft away and get a number. I get calls all the time asking if I can enhance the footage or zoom just like they do on tv. It cant be done.
Also, you said they have to look at the tapes. Thats another issue. Sounds like they are still using VHS recording. Depending on how many times they use tapes per month, the quality of footage decreases over time. Most places don't care about replacing tapes very often so they use the same tapes over and over again. Then when an incident of importance occurs, they tend to find the footage is hardly viewable because the tape is so old.
Anyway I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect on their end. Sorry to hear about your car. It sucks. Hopefully your insurance will cover the repairs. I have been hit like this too. Not so severe but the damage was very noticeable too. Best of luck.
There are 2 basic types of cams. Ones that are fixed in a certain position with a fixed view. They can't be changed unless someone physically changes them by hand. There are also pan, tilt, zoom cameras or domes that can be controlled by a security person with a keyboard. This cam or dome can do a lot more, like get a license plate, BUT the operator has to see it first and zoom in on the car. If no one in security saw your car get hit then you probably are screwed. It is also NOT like tv and movies where they can zoom in (for images already recorded) on a car thats 200 ft away and get a number. I get calls all the time asking if I can enhance the footage or zoom just like they do on tv. It cant be done.
Also, you said they have to look at the tapes. Thats another issue. Sounds like they are still using VHS recording. Depending on how many times they use tapes per month, the quality of footage decreases over time. Most places don't care about replacing tapes very often so they use the same tapes over and over again. Then when an incident of importance occurs, they tend to find the footage is hardly viewable because the tape is so old.
Anyway I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect on their end. Sorry to hear about your car. It sucks. Hopefully your insurance will cover the repairs. I have been hit like this too. Not so severe but the damage was very noticeable too. Best of luck.
11-26-2006, 06:31 AM
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Originally Posted by Blue_S2,Nov 25 2006, 11:46 PM
The company I work for does camera installations in malls etc. From experience it is 95% unlikely that you will get a license plate number from the car that hit you. You may be able to get a make, model, or color(if they have a color system) of the car but thats it.
There are 2 basic types of cams. Ones that are fixed in a certain position with a fixed view. They can't be changed unless someone physically changes them by hand. There are also pan, tilt, zoom cameras or domes that can be controlled by a security person with a keyboard. This cam or dome can do a lot more, like get a license plate, BUT the operator has to see it first and zoom in on the car. If no one in security saw your car get hit then you probably are screwed. It is also NOT like tv and movies where they can zoom in (for images already recorded) on a car thats 200 ft away and get a number. I get calls all the time asking if I can enhance the footage or zoom just like they do on tv. It cant be done.
Also, you said they have to look at the tapes. Thats another issue. Sounds like they are still using VHS recording. Depending on how many times they use tapes per month, the quality of footage decreases over time. Most places don't care about replacing tapes very often so they use the same tapes over and over again. Then when an incident of importance occurs, they tend to find the footage is hardly viewable because the tape is so old.
Anyway I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect on their end. Sorry to hear about your car. It sucks. Hopefully your insurance will cover the repairs. I have been hit like this too. Not so severe but the damage was very noticeable too. Best of luck.
There are 2 basic types of cams. Ones that are fixed in a certain position with a fixed view. They can't be changed unless someone physically changes them by hand. There are also pan, tilt, zoom cameras or domes that can be controlled by a security person with a keyboard. This cam or dome can do a lot more, like get a license plate, BUT the operator has to see it first and zoom in on the car. If no one in security saw your car get hit then you probably are screwed. It is also NOT like tv and movies where they can zoom in (for images already recorded) on a car thats 200 ft away and get a number. I get calls all the time asking if I can enhance the footage or zoom just like they do on tv. It cant be done.
Also, you said they have to look at the tapes. Thats another issue. Sounds like they are still using VHS recording. Depending on how many times they use tapes per month, the quality of footage decreases over time. Most places don't care about replacing tapes very often so they use the same tapes over and over again. Then when an incident of importance occurs, they tend to find the footage is hardly viewable because the tape is so old.
Anyway I just wanted to give you an idea of what to expect on their end. Sorry to hear about your car. It sucks. Hopefully your insurance will cover the repairs. I have been hit like this too. Not so severe but the damage was very noticeable too. Best of luck.
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11-26-2006, 02:17 PM
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Originally Posted by lkingcuongl,Nov 26 2006, 07:31 AM
Hey thanks for the information. I was using tapes in a generic term, so I'm really not sure what they have for recording. I parked right next to the entrance of the ramp in the corner, and there is a camera at both the entrance and the exit so I'm crossing my fingers.
11-26-2006, 05:31 PM
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Well it wasn't an entrance or exit really. It was the entrance to another level of the garage. Today I counted 6 cameras that they had to drive by to get out of the garage, with one at the top of the ramp, and another at the bottom on each level. The mall security said that their cameras are on an automatic panning mode unless someone controls them. Thanks again for the advice everyone, I really appreciate it.