First car smashed in hit and run

Rachel Arnold inspects the damage to her daughter's car. Photo / Paul Taylor

A young Hastings woman is "bewildered" after her first car was smashed by a hit and run driver yet to be found.

Celia Arnold-Joll, 20, was working at the Mahora Four Square on Saturday night when she was alerted to her bent and busted black Toyota Starlet by neighbours about 7pm.

She walked outside to find her car, which she had owned for only five days, with considerable damage to the rear but no sign of a second vehicle.

"A number of neighbours came out when they heard the sound and managed to get the number plate of the car as it drove off ... it was a Mitsubishi Lancer," her mother Rachel Arnold said.

She said police were notified of the incident and visited the address of the registered driver, however, no one was home.

"She's only had that car for five days. She just looks at me with bewilderment and asks 'what do I do?'"

Celia is uninsured and paying off the car through a finance loan while her friends at the Four Square and the Elbowroom Sports Bar, where she also works, hope to set up a raffle to raise funds for a new car.