What if I accidentally hit a dog with my car yesterday...

Question

and I left the scene because the dog just kept running? I stopped, but since the dog took off running I left also. This happened right down the street from my house. I drive a 2008 SUV, and it has a crack/dent in the front bumper, mid-sized damage, due to this incident & the size of the dog. The dog was a boxer, pretty big in size. Since it's a brand new SUV, and a Nissan, I estimate the cost to be pretty high, compared to a smaller car's damage. I was driving down my street and the dog just jumped out of no where and I pressed on the brakes, but I still managed to bump him a bit. I didnt notice the damage to my car until I got home, because I was still struck with shock that I had hit the dog. I live right down the street from where it happened. I love dogs, and since he didn't show any signs of injuries, or limping that I saw, I thought he was ok, so I kept going. Later, when I was sitting in my dining room, I saw a pick up truck, most likely the owners of the dog, stop by my house, and maybe even wrote the plate number of my SUV. What do I do? Do I report this to someone? Whom do I report it to?

I don't believe it was my fault, as the dog was loose, and it just ran in front of me. I couldn't have been going more than 25 mph (that is the limit in a residential area). I probably managed to slow down to about 10-15 mph when I hit it.

I am really confused, and I need advice on what to do, since my car has damage. Who do I contact or what do I do about this, most importantly the damage to my car? If the dog is injured, who pays?

Please let me know what I should do. I live in Arizona, & I do not know about the "leash law" here or any other applicable law involving pets, as this never happened to me before.

Thanks! All help is appreciated.

Answer 1

The dog is someone’s property so you need to get a police report for your protection and turn this over to your insurance company.

You can also help out the insurance company and to locate the dog since the owner will need to pay for your damages.

Answer 2

The owner should pay for the damage to your vehicle since his dog was not under control. I would think he would be grateful that the dog lived. You should report it to the police and wait for the dog owner to contact you., I don't know how much effort you should go to to locate the owner since the dog could be miles from home<

Answer 3

You don't have to worry about it.  When the owner come to ask you, you should just say no and it wasn't you.  There were no witnesses and evidence, so you would be fine.  The owner couldn't do anything to you.  

Answer 4

contact your ins for repairs.

The dog owner was negligent. Not your problem.

Answer 5

Sorry, but regardless of the presence of a leash law, you were negligent as well.  I know this flies in the face of what others are saying here.

Why?  Because the max posted speed limit is not necessarily the safest maximum speed at which you can travel on a roadway.  The fact that the dog ran in front of your car is a nonissue. You were traveling faster than you could safely stop/control your vehicle...OR you weren't alert to the driving conditions.  Whether there were cars parked along the road, foliage along the street, or you were dialing your phone, it doesn't matter.  Would you have the same response and attitude had it been a child?

If the damage to your suv was that noticeable, you can imagine the injury sustained by the dog.

You could have contacted your insurance agent to discuss the matter.  If you were determined to be liable to any extent, you have insurance coverage.  Those vet bills, assuming the dog even makes it, can be expensive.

Answer 6

call local police dept, make a report,tell them everything..then go down the street an apologize about the accident..

Answer 7

For now, just get your car fixed. If you can't afford to get it fixed, just go get a written estimate showing exactly how much it will cost.

Then you can either wait, or you could try to go sue the owners of the dog. I recommend you just wait. If they contact you, you'll probably won't be in trouble because

1) its their responsibility to contain their dog

2) you had no way to catch the dog and no way to know who the owner was, so there was no way you could report the accident to anyone

Plus, if they contact you and try to sue, you can probably counter sue for the damage to your car. I think you're correct that its not your fault, as long as you weren't speeding.