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Car Accident/Insurance

Car Accident/Insurance

Old Aug 17th 2014, 7:52 am
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Default Car Accident/Insurance

Had a minor car accident this evening, our fault, everyone OK, very minor damage to the other car and nothing too significant to ours as we managed to almost stop before running into them.

The police were called and insurance details swapped. We waited for half an hour but the police never showed up. The other party called the police operator again to check whether we could leave without the police arriving and the operator said that it was fine as long as there was no issue about who caused the accident and that we all had insurance.

We are now wondering whether we could 'settle' outside of the insurance because this claim will surely increase our premium (after all we are 'new' drivers).

Can anyone explain how we'd go about this (call the guy and say could we just pay for the damage ourselves?). Or is it not something that's done here?

Never owned a car or had an accident before so we have no idea how these works.
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Old Aug 17th 2014, 12:53 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Yeah, I'd just call and offer to pay.

Someone rear-ended me recently, at relatively slow speed, running his Hyundai into my F250's hitch receiver (he was lucky the hitch wasn't in place! ). He was prepared to swap insurance details, but asked me what I wanted to do? I said that if it was up to me I was going to drive away and forget about it, what did he want to do? He said it was his fault, and would take it up with his insurance. If he had any sense he would have paid for it himself. We left without exchanging insurance details, or even contact information.

FWIW I have been rear-ended twice before, once with no damage to the plastic rear bumper of my Accord, and once with a minor scrape, about the size of a dime to the same bumper- the other car, a Pontiac, had part of it front light cluster smashed and hanging out! ..... Though I still have doubts that all that damage was caused by hitting a plastic bumper. After a discussion of 10-15 minutes, during which a security guard who was an off-duty cop was summoned from the other driver's office, the other driver shrugged her shoulders in disgust (she apparently somehow thought it was my fault ), and dropped the matter, and left.

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Old Aug 19th 2014, 12:32 am
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Call the other guy and offer to pay...but be careful of shenanigans with whiplash and what not.

And even a minor ding can cost a fortune to fix, especially if a paint job is needed, so be sure there really wasn't any damage. New light cluster can run $600 :/

But yeah, as mentioned above, if it's really just a light kiss, I'd not worry to much about it.
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Old Aug 25th 2014, 6:05 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by Bob
Call the other guy and offer to pay...but be careful of shenanigans with whiplash and what not.
And sure enough it turns out the guy's wife now has neck problems... after being slightly shunted in the back corner of the car at 2 miles an hour...she even said 'oh yeah, I don't have time to go to the doctor so I don't know what's wrong really yet...'

So now what to do...she's lying, obviously.

It was our fault (drove through a stop sign - eeeeehk) but there were no witnesses and the police never turned up so there was no statement made. It goes against my nature but now I'm thinking to play them at their own game and admit nothing.
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Old Aug 25th 2014, 6:09 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by sherbert
..... It goes against my nature but now I'm thinking to play them at their own game and admit nothing.
Never admit ANYTHING! It's not a game, and if you're not careful you'll get taken to the cleaners.
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Old Aug 25th 2014, 10:14 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by sherbert
Had a minor car accident this evening, our fault, everyone OK, very minor damage to the other car and nothing too significant to ours as we managed to almost stop before running into them.

The police were called and insurance details swapped. We waited for half an hour but the police never showed up. The other party called the police operator again to check whether we could leave without the police arriving and the operator said that it was fine as long as there was no issue about who caused the accident and that we all had insurance.

We are now wondering whether we could 'settle' outside of the insurance because this claim will surely increase our premium (after all we are 'new' drivers).

Can anyone explain how we'd go about this (call the guy and say could we just pay for the damage ourselves?). Or is it not something that's done here?

Never owned a car or had an accident before so we have no idea how these works.
We had a car accident in July. We were taking left turn on 3 lane empty street suddenly a car arrived from right and hit our car.The driver never tried to change lanes even the street was completely empty.We never had comprehensive coverage on 2012 minivan due to high deductible and other insurance issues. Our insurance paid and negotiated the other party while we have paid $4000 to get our repaired. Its always better if insurance negotiate with other party because you never know who you are dealing with.Rates will not go up because some insurance forgive first time at fault accident.

Last edited by economy_1; Aug 25th 2014 at 10:17 pm.
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 5:27 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by Pulaski
Never admit ANYTHING! It's not a game, and if you're not careful you'll get taken to the cleaners.
Yep. Lesson learned. OH is way too honest and admitted liability. I guess we are just not used to this 'take everyone for everything they've got mentality'.

The other people were a nice couple in their 50s and seemed happy for us to contact them to discuss whether we could do it without going through insurance. Then they just went and contacted the insurance.

After the insurance called us to tell us the other party had reported an injury we called the other party out of concern (and of course because we knew they were lying). Then we were called by the insurance to say we must not contact the other party again because we had made them feel uncomfortable (WTF).

So, now I don't know what to do...never owned a car before or had insurance and never had an accident...

Do we not have any comeback on their claims? Are we not able to tell our side of the story to the insurance and dispute their claims for injuries and replacing an entire back panel of their car when we basically nudged the bumper at 2 miles an hour?
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 5:33 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by sherbert
Yep. Lesson learned. OH is way too honest and admitted liability. I guess we are just not used to this 'take everyone for everything they've got mentality'.

The other people were a nice couple in their 50s and seemed happy for us to contact them to discuss whether we could do it without going through insurance. Then they just went and contacted the insurance.

After the insurance called us to tell us the other party had reported an injury we called the other party out of concern (and of course because we knew they were lying). Then we were called by the insurance to say we must not contact the other party again because we had made them feel uncomfortable (WTF).

So, now I don't know what to do...never owned a car before or had insurance and never had an accident...

Do we not have any comeback on their claims? Are we not able to tell our side of the story to the insurance and dispute their claims for injuries and replacing an entire back panel of their car when we basically nudged the bumper at 2 miles an hour?
Er, you need a lawyer, you need a lawyer NOW! ...... No, I am not joking, and it is going to cost you, but it may cost you a whole lot more if you don't get yourself a lawyer PDQ.

The lack of a police report might work in your favour, but you need that lawyer to play your hand for you, as this is about to become no-limits poker. In practice most of the deals are cut between insurance companies with the insured parties having little opportunity to participate or add their side of the story (that would/ should have been in the police report, or at least the basis for it.)

Last edited by Pulaski; Aug 26th 2014 at 5:38 pm.
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 5:38 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

I got rear ended for the first time in my life yesterday. Pulling onto the slip road for the freeway and the traffic suddenly stops so I hit the anchors. Check in my rear view mirror to see if I need to brace and the Beemer behind me has so much room you could stop a cruise ship in time. So I relax. Then wallop! Daft bint. She admitted her kids had distracted her. Didn't call the police, but did exchange details and reported it to my insurance company. Amazingly, the only damage I could see was to my prized number plate that had the perfect emboss from the screw holding her plate on. It's down the garage at the mo just confirming there's no damage. If there is though, and it comes to less than $500, we'll do it between ourselves.
I was sort of hoping for some whiplash but nothing! Reading the above, maybe I should feign an injury. Ooooooooh, me neck!!!!!!

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Old Aug 26th 2014, 5:47 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by Pulaski
Er, you need a lawyer, you need a lawyer NOW!

Yes. You're doing everything wrong the way it is.
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 6:46 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Really - a lawyer? Can you give me a ballpark figure of how much that would cost? Would we spend more on a lawyer than we will on eventual hiked insurance premiums?

I was planning on calling the insurance today and saying we contest the fact that she is injured - is this not a good idea?

We took pictures of the damage to their car (minimal); they did not take any pics of ours.

OH has already admitted liability to the insurance - can we change we say we were in shock and it was dark and now we are not sure what happened?

I cannot stand this dishonesty but if you try to F me over, I'm not going to take it lying down...
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 6:54 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

It depends on how far they go.
It would not be unheard of to sue for hundreds of thousands or even millions.
Again, not common, but not unheard of.

But the mention of pain, injury is a red flag and it would behoove you to at least have an initial consult with a specialist lawyer.

And do not communicate with the other party or their insurance company.

Honestly, nothing may come of it, but if something did and you were unprepared...

(And don't use threatening language on public forums.)
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 6:55 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

Originally Posted by sherbert
Really - a lawyer? Can you give me a ballpark figure of how much that would cost? Would we spend more on a lawyer than we will on eventual hiked insurance premiums?

I was planning on calling the insurance today and saying we contest the fact that she is injured - is this not a good idea?

We took pictures of the damage to their car (minimal); they did not take any pics of ours.

OH has already admitted liability to the insurance - can we change we say we were in shock and it was dark and now we are not sure what happened?

I cannot stand this dishonesty but if you try to F me over, I'm not going to take it lying down...
You might lose your insurance and find it hard to get insured at any price. You might also find that part or all of your insurance is declined or voided, making you personally liable. Insurance companies can, and do, routinely avoid paying out when they think they have grounds to do so.

Which insurance company did your husband admit liability to? Please tell me it wasn't the other party's insurance? ..... Same question to you: which insurance were you planning to call?

Unless you're a doctor who has examined the person in question, your opinion as to whether someone was injured or not is wholly irrelevant and will carry no weight with anyone other than your lawyer (see below, a doctor might be hired to examine the person who claims to have been injured).

The cost of a lawyer? Well that depends, could be anything from $150-$400+/ hour, though probably towards the the lower end for a small local lawyer, though you want one who specialises in vehicle insurance claims and traffic law (lawyers may have more than one speciality). The total cost with expenses for an case that isn't too difficult should be in the range $1,000-$3,000. Expenses might include paying for another doctor to examine the person who claims to have been injured.

Overall your focus is now completely upside down - you need to focus on avoiding the maximum cost and impact, and not concern yourself with minimizing the minimum cost. You need to be prepared to put your hand in your pocket to defend yourself. Welcome to America!

Last edited by Pulaski; Aug 26th 2014 at 7:06 pm.
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 6:57 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

I would not say that was threatening language but sure, point taken. I mean should I call MY insurance company and tell them we contest the injury or just let the whole thing go...how can they sue without a police report and no witnesses? He admitted liability to our company.
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Old Aug 26th 2014, 7:05 pm
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Default Re: Car Accident/Insurance

To be honest I think this will be dealt with between insurance companies but it's just the fact that she seems to be lying makes you wonder if they're planning on trying to take your insurance company to the cleaners.
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