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Problems with a car accident
silence1186
Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered User regular
Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered User regular
Full disclosure: I live in New York, and the following took place in New York.
So I was driving home from work yesterday, and on the Bruckner Expressway right before my exit (for the Bronx River Parkway North) I was rear ended in the right lane before I could get on the exit ramp. I got out of the car, and the gentleman who hit me suggests we get off the road, since the Bruckner has no shoulder. We pull off at the exit I was talking about, and park on Bruckner Blvd. I called 911, thankfully there were no injuries but because of this I'm sure the police will not show up anytime soon. I exchanged insurance information with the person who struck me, and I ask him to stay until the police arrive. He, however, has to go, and drives off. I call my insurance company and tell them the details, and give them the other driver's information. I wait 45 minutes for the police, call 911 to make sure I gave the right address, and the dispatcher informs me they came and couldn't find me (I'm guessing because an 18 wheeler parked behind me, but who knows, it might have been bad directions). I wait 45 minutes more, but end up calling 911 and canceling the request since I didn't want to wait any longer since it wasn't exactly a safe area.
Today the other driver's insurance company calls me and tells me they don't have that driver as one of their customers, and that his plates are registered to multiple addresses. So, I'm pretty sure I'm right and proper fucked.
The advice I'm seeking is in two parts: one, is there anything else I can do at this point? And two, what could I have done better so that I don't get fucked over to this degree in the future?
Thanks for any help you could provide.
So I was driving home from work yesterday, and on the Bruckner Expressway right before my exit (for the Bronx River Parkway North) I was rear ended in the right lane before I could get on the exit ramp. I got out of the car, and the gentleman who hit me suggests we get off the road, since the Bruckner has no shoulder. We pull off at the exit I was talking about, and park on Bruckner Blvd. I called 911, thankfully there were no injuries but because of this I'm sure the police will not show up anytime soon. I exchanged insurance information with the person who struck me, and I ask him to stay until the police arrive. He, however, has to go, and drives off. I call my insurance company and tell them the details, and give them the other driver's information. I wait 45 minutes for the police, call 911 to make sure I gave the right address, and the dispatcher informs me they came and couldn't find me (I'm guessing because an 18 wheeler parked behind me, but who knows, it might have been bad directions). I wait 45 minutes more, but end up calling 911 and canceling the request since I didn't want to wait any longer since it wasn't exactly a safe area.
Today the other driver's insurance company calls me and tells me they don't have that driver as one of their customers, and that his plates are registered to multiple addresses. So, I'm pretty sure I'm right and proper fucked.
The advice I'm seeking is in two parts: one, is there anything else I can do at this point? And two, what could I have done better so that I don't get fucked over to this degree in the future?
Thanks for any help you could provide.
silence1186 on
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My insurance contacted their insurance. Their insurance called me to get my story, and also to inform me the other guy's information was apparently fake.
anyways, talk to your insurance, though this would fall under under/no-insured driver protection or whatever
One option is to use your collision coverage on your own policy and be done with it. Is that the only thing you're worried about, or do you also have medical bills?
If your insurance is good to you I think they should cover this under your uninsured/underinsured motorist protection part of your policy (and definitely so if you have medical bills). This is considered a hit and run. However, a big complication is that you don't have a police report. You should still alert the police and you should tell them what his insurance dug up. Fleeing the scene of an accident and having false insurance are both major no nos. It would be really nice if the police could track this guy down so your insurance has someone to sue. Maybe you can also obtain the call records from the 911 calls you made to have some kind of proof that you reported the accident right after it occurred.
It's also possible that the guy's insurance is legitimate and they're lying to you to avoid having to pay out. Insurance companies are notorious about giving people the runaround when they might be on the hook for thousands of dollars, but I don't know if they'd go that far. If that's the case it's going to be even more important to get the police involved.
So I could call the precinct (I know which one has jurisdiction) and explain I canceled the 911 call thinking everything would be fine since I had his insurance info and explain my situation?
Note going forward: there are no injuries to my person that I know of. I feel fine, it was a low speed incident.
I do doubt the insurance is giving me the run around simply because both my and his insurance told me the policy number format is incorrect (too many digits). Also his insurance card had a "temporary" watermark stamped diagonally across it.
As for the situation now, get the police involved. You have plates and drivers license info right? The other driver has committed multiple crimes. They should be able to handle it easily with the information you have.
How would I do this, there was no phone number listed on his card. Granted, I know think his card was fake, but at the time I didn't know/wouldn't think to call.
The 911 dispatched didn't really chew me out at any point. Not sure, this wasn't an "emergency" but I did want to talk to the police.
I have his plates and supposed insurance info, but did not (know to) ask for his driver's license. Also, he told me outright it wasn't his car, he was just delivering it from an auto body shop to its owner. It still had tape on the edge of the windshield like it had just been replaced.
Also, you need to call your insurance company and crawl up their ass. New York is a no-fault state, and while I believe that places limits on the compensation you're entitled to, I believe it also means that they're responsible for paying your damages, and it's their fucking job to deal with the other guy's insurance. In fact, before you crawl up your insurance company's ass, I would give a call to the New York State Insurance Commissioner's office, and see what advice they can give you.
How much damage to your car are we talking, here?
The main thing you can do to protect yourself in the future is get the guy's driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance when you're requesting his information. If you want to get really paranoid, copy down his goddamn VIN from the dashboard.
Currently my insurance is doing a license plate check, attempting to track down the car that hit me. I provided the year make model and license plate number. One odd thing about the license plate was that only 5 of the 6 numbers were visible, like so:
XXX - XX_
The 6th number was smaller than the rest, and the paint had come off. The only way to tell what it was was by the raised outdentation (?) of the number.
This.
Police report NOW, dont just call them, go to the station. Get it done asap. Also take pictures of the damage to your car, asap.
I want to thank everyone who helped me, this freaked me out to no end, and ended up just being a painful learning experience. Things I hope I've learned, assuming shock won't make me forgot the second this happens again:
DO NOT MOVE YOUR CAR FROM SCENE OF ACCIDENT.
Call the police, make sure to wait for them, even if they take 90 minutes plus like in my case.
Take pictures! I have a crappy dumb phone, and it still has a camera. Pictures of my car, his car, his plates (not that it helped in this case), his registration sticker + VIN. Pictures of him.
Ask for his name, his ID if possible.
Call his insurance at the scene of the accident to confirm he is in fact insured.
Is there anything I can do to keep someone from leaving?
Anything else to take away?
Next time, try not to be so cute, Vicks.
This is so important. Always always always take photos. Lots of them. Your phone has more memory than you need to take 100 shots and it is important to have the best documentation available for accidents.
Whelp, I've got no one to blame but myself, soooo... :P