... my 300D was damaged in a hit-and-run accident this afternoon. I was sitting in the right-hand turn lane at a red light on an off ramp onto a busy road, and out of nowhere someone pulled into the area between the turn lane and the cars waiting to go straight, then turned right into the side of my car pushed it into the shoulder as he floored it between me and the traffic. The two drivers behind me (who stopped to help me) said he went up on two wheels and they thought he was going to flip over. He just kept going along the shoulder, leaving pieces of his car on the road, and none of us saw his tag. The body damage wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be based on how the crash felt ... it's basically a large dent in the rear door, a smaller dent in the driver's door, and a whole lot of scrapes down the side. But that's not the worst part. After the officer came to take down a report, I went to drive it the rest of the way to work, since it only seemed cosmetic ... as soon as I made a turn, I realized something was massively off about the steering. It turned, but when I went to straighten the wheels, the steering wheel ended up about 45 degrees off kilter. Then it would go straight, but just felt "off" when I tried to turn right again (into a parking lot). It sort of felt like the steering wheel would lose touch with the wheels intermittantly. I did not see any obvious damage to tie rods or the drag link, but I haven't jacked it up yet. Maybe I can describe it better tomorrow. I filed the claim and had it towed to my house, then had to drive all the way back to work in my other car and work until 2 a.m., so I'm wiped out. And gutted. The body damage doesn't look serious at all to me, but I know it doesn't need to be serious to total a 25-year-old, 283,000-mile car. And whatever happened to the steering, I'm worried could be serious. I'm not sure if he actually hit my left wheel, or if the damage happened because my car was shoved sideways abruptly.
I don't really know how to deal with it from here ... the claims office has been helpful so far so I will call them in the morning (aka, 3.5 hours from now), but any tips would be appreciated. I don't know whether to try to have an adjuster come to the house or have the car taken to a shop. I don't think the steering or suspension damage can be properly assessed in my driveway. I don't want to get fleeced, but most of all I don't want to lose my car, and I want it to come back driving as smoothly as it was. As some of you know I've put a tremendous amount of work into this car, and have memories with it going back to when I was 5 years old.
Here are two not-very-helpful photos I took with my cellphone before the tow truck got there ... I can update with better ones later. As said, considering how violent and terrifying it felt, I'm surprised it wasn't a lot uglier.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)