Not I sound I like hearing when I'm in my car. Like it even less when it's accompanied by the neck-snapping sensation of someone hitting the back of me.

So...my very first car accident ever happened 5 minutes from my house at a busy intersection. It has a right turn filter lane, which I was in, but no road markings/signs whatsoever to yield. Personally, I always yield, because people drive through the intersection like idiots, and since there are no lane markings on the street at all, they make their own lanes. So I'm inching forward to get a better look at the traffic approaching from behind, I see a white van flying through and changing lanes, so I stop. Split second later, thud/crunch from behind me.

The first thing the woman in the SUV says when she gets out of the car is 'You have the right of way, why did you stop, I'm in a hurry I have to get my son to school'. I said I stopped because there was a van coming, and whether I have the right of way or not, if there is a van barreling down towards me in my lane, I'm stopping! We looked at the back of my little Kia Rio5, difficult to tell because of the amount of dirt on it (!), but wiped it off and it just looked like a couple of scratches. She was ready to leave, but I asked for her details. She wrote them on the back of her business card, said she didn't want mine (no damage to her tank!), then she jumped back in the car, swerved around me and went tearing off. No police called because it seemed so minor.

I was pretty shaken up...hands and legs shaking for the following 90 minutes, teary for the 2 hours after the accident, even though I knew it was minor. I checked my car when I got to work and there are actually two deep gouges in the bumper, and the force of the SUV snapped a clip that holds the bumper to the car, so worse than expected.

I took a personal day from work, went to the collision report centre, reported it, they only cared if the damage was over $1000, which I didn't know at that point. Called my insurance company, told them what happened, they recommended a body shop nearby, I took the car there and got a quote - $475, and they'd need it for 2 days, so I'd need a hire car.

I just emailed the woman who hit me and gave her the figures (including the number of the garage and estimate number so she can check it), and asked her how she would like to proceed.

So...has anyone been in this kind of situation? If she offers to pay (I doubt she would, she didn't seem the sort, and seemed to blame me for the whole thing despite the fact she rear-ended me), what is the best way to handle that? If she wants to go through the insurance companies, how do they allocate fault? She hit the back of me, but she thought that I had the right of way so shouldn't have stopped, and since there is no yield sign or road markings, it's a bit of a toss up about what you're supposed to do there. I maintain that if there's a vehicle coming, I'm not going, but I didn't get a licence number of the van that caused me to decide to wait, so there is no way to find out what they saw.

In all of the reports, I said no injuries, because there didn't appear to be any. Now, 4 hours later, my neck and right shoulder are starting to ache. I've got an appointment at my GP's this afternoon just to get them checked out.

I don't want money out of this woman other than what is needed to repair my car.

From what I hear being shunted from the rear is like the UK - no excuses the person behind is at fault.

Good luck getting it sorted

Except that insurance here is "no fault", make a claim and you're screwed. What's needed is a means to get the money from the SUV woman without involving insurance companies. Ask nicely, in writing, then through the small claims court. If you know anyone who will threaten her for you pursue that.

Thats a fundamental misunderstanding of "no fault" (google for "no fault insurance" if you care)

What no-fault actually means is if you are injured in an accident or your vehicle is damaged, then you deal with your own insurance company when making a claim, regardless of who is at-fault for causing the accident.

I agree though that if the other woman has a brain she will pay up before that stage as ontario law basicaly say that if you hit the car in front, it was your fault. If she choses to let it go through insurance her premium could well eventually go up by more than the cost of repairs, but shes at fault, and her insurance will pay eventually if she doesnt. You do have to be carefull when making a claim though. In this case it sounds like the damage is probably less then your deductable anyway, so you wont get any insurance anyway, and making a claim might end up limiting your choiced when shopping around in future. Better to guilt her into paying up.

A simplification rather than a misunderstanding. If you contact your insurance company to make a claim of any sort they will penalise you even if the claim itself doesn't cost them anything. It's a bad idea to have anything to do with auto insurance companies other than paying them money and carrying the pink slip around to show the police.

You might want to pass this little snippet on to her for digestion! I was in HER situation a few years ago. I rear-ended a tatty ancient Honda Civic falling apart rust bucket (all my fault, hands up etc; I'm only human). My insurance company paid out $45,000 on that claim. So it would have been mostly medical (and the 4k for my van).

It's a pity you didn't call the cops - she may have got a ticket! I did - driving without due care and attention; which alarmingly carries the same weight as a DUI, and would have forced me to go to a 'special' insurance that would have cost me $8000 per year for about four years! I could NOT afford that! (Certainly makes one think twice about the phrase on the TV ad "What are you doing behind the wheel?" - It only takes a split second!)

Thank god for Pointts guys, is all I can say!

Make sure you get the medical stuff on record right away, you never know with whiplash. Hopefully she'll have the sense to cough up the $500!!

If I had a tatty old car, I probably wouldn't care as much! Mine's only 4.5 months old, done under 10000km. My main concern is reattaching the bumper, I'm not even that concerned about the paintwork. If I'm hit from behind again, it's not going to offer the same amount of protection (I was almost sideswiped on my way to the police by a guy in an SUV who was talking on his cell phone, gesturing with his other hand and realised that he was about to miss the turning to McDonalds so shot across two lanes of traffic...I'm not having a good day!). I was a little alarmed when the guy at the garage crawled under my car to make sure that the frame hadn't crumpled, apparently that's a common occurrence when little cars are hit by SUVs.

My point was that my experience might encourage HER to cough up the money she owes you

Also, you may just want to go insurance route in the interest of your own potential injury - it could end up costing you! (I don't know about Ontario, but I was told that (my) car insurance doesn't cover me for injury, only other parties involved. If you've health cover then you'll likely be ok, but these are the times you find out what ISN'T covered. My son needed physio recently and we had to pay for that, as we werent' covered.

Good luck and keep us posted, hope the rest of your day is a lot better

Hi, I was rear ended last year (idiot dropped his cigarette and was picking it up), although it looked like there was no damage to mine I insisted on the other drivers details as I didn't know what damage might have been underneath (there was some). My mistake was not to write the details down myself but let him - they were incorrect. The good thing was there was enough correct info for my ins co' to get the money from him.

Hubby had his car kicked in by some louts at a party, police called, louts arrested and charge, charge to be dropped if parents paid for damage ($2500). Parents paid damage (one straight up - the other one after much harranguing and threatening to get the charges brought back paid up after 5 weeks) - we would have probably just sued her for the money - it's what the copper suggested.

You shouldn't have to pay for something that wasn't your fault, our insurance hasn't gone up after a claim and a possible claim - we were not at fault.

I hope you are ok and not too shaken up, no whiplash or anything and I hope it hasn't made you too wary of driving with all the nutters on the road around here and I also hope you get the right result.

Thanks for the support all. Went to the doctor this afternoon,he said he doesn't like to use the term whiplash, but that's what I've got. He said I probably won't feel the full effects for a couple of days, it's down the right side of my neck down to my right shoulder blade (I was looking over my left shoulder when she hit me), so I'm on anti-inflammatories for a while, and have a follow-up appointment next week. The thing is, I'm not sure what to do now. The police and my insurance company asked if anyone was injured. I said no, because I didn't think anyone was (I asked the woman who hit me if she was injured, because I'm that kind of person, she looked at me like I was nuts). I didn't start having pain until about 4 hours afterwards...should I call the police and insurance company and say actually, I am injured, or wait and see if I actually need any longer term treatment? I've got decent insurance, so I'm not worried about that side of it.

Yes - I think it would be wise to get it documented (it certainly won't do any harm!) Just say what you've said here; that you *thought* were ok at the time; but that your doc has diagnosed Whiplash. The insurance company should tell you what paperwork you need.

Good luck!