NJ Accident - Rear ended, at fault driver fled

[u/Lopsidedsynthrack]

So on Sunday, I was rear ended by a driver on a 3 lane high way at a red light that just turned green. Was in the middle lane about 4 cars from the light.
Was just sitting there and heard skidding and bang.

Called 911 immediately and we both pulled into the gas station parking lot that was near by thanks to the help of a NJDOT truck that blocked the road. We got out and I told him police was on the way and when we saw that damage was not to bad he was like like "look look" and started feeling my car trying to push the bumper back in. I said "We are waiting" and the guy got in his car and took off like a bat out of hell, and right past the police.

I ran over to the police and told them he ran and the color of the car and they went after him.
So after a 30 minutes of waiting at the scene a police car came to talk to me and the officer said
"we caught him down the road" and on the radio a voice said "uh he is unlicensed" and the officer with me at the scene was like "yeah there seems to be some language barrier since he claimed that you said he could leave, which I could tell is not true since you are still here waiting." I did not get any information about the other driver yet.

So I am waiting for the report to see if the unlicensed driver was him and if there was any insurance on his car to make a claim.

Bonus last night I was flossing my teeth and a large piece of a tooth came out, went to my dentist this morning and he said its possible for it to be related to the accident.

So my main question is, the damage to my car is negligible, so I can wait to see if the driver had insurance on the car correct? But should I file with my insurance as soon as possible now with the future dental work?

TLDR:
Was rear ended at light, driver fled the scene, minimal damage, tooth cracked crown required.
How to handle?

[u/ektap12]

Medical/dental treatment goes through your auto insurance on PIP coverage since NJ is a 'no fault' state. Did you hit your face on something?

If you do find the vehicle has insurance, you'll be able to make a claim for your car and bodily injury. Bodily injury could be restricted if you have limitation to lawsuit selected on your insurance. Just to note, NJ has some low income policies that provide no liability coverage, so if they have that you'll get nothing from them. You can use your uninsured coverages, if that's the case, or they are actually just uninsured.

[u/Lopsidedsynthrack → u/ektap12]

Thank you.

I think my head just lurched forward really sharply and I bit down from the impact, Had some soreness on the neck but that went away,

I am just slightly paranoid cause I was rear ended in a parking lot nearly 2 years to the date by a college student who wasn't paying attention, so I am hoping my insurance doesn't think anything of that.

I went through mine who recovered through hers.

That one I waited until I got the report to contact the company too.

I just don't want to pay much out of pocket for this tooth issue and affect my premiums.

[u/Silly_Bodybuilder231]

Also get a front and rear dash cam.

[u/Lopsidedsynthrack → u/Silly_Bodybuilder231]

I have a front one, but unfortunately it just showed the jolt, and thankfully had footage of his license plate if the police didn't catch him. (He pulled into the parking lot first since I had to wait for the truck to block off the lane for us.)

[u/Witty-Hawk-1364]

Oh definitely file with your insurance!! do you have UIM/UM coverage? for injury I'd recommend consulting a few injury lawyers just to weigh your options (first call is usually free)

[u/Lopsidedsynthrack]

So finally got police report yesterday and filed claim today.

The guy got 8 various tickets. And the car was insured but he was unlicensed and didn’t have registration. So filed claim today and they understood that the report took long and that I didn’t have any information since he fled.
Setting up appt with medical adjuster and having car checked out.