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Car accident. Other driver had no insurance.
Graydeath
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Yesterday I was involved in a 3 car collision (I was the middle car).
Heres how it went down. We were coming up to a light it went yellow and the guy in front of me slammed his brakes and stopped at the red. I hit my brakes and came to a complete stop probably about 2 feet behind him. The guy behind me wasn't paying attention and hit me in the rear doing 30-40mph approx which slammed me into the guy in front of me. So we get the cops out and it turns out that the kid who hit me was driving on a suspended license with no insurance. They handcuff him up and I figured they would take him down and impound the car or something. Then while I'm on the phone with my insurance I see them let him go and then after they drive off he gets back in his car which was still drivable and drove off.
My car is old and crappy I payed 2000 cash for it about a year and a half ago so I only had the lowest insurance I could which means that my car is not covered for something like this since the other guy does not have insurance. The police said that basically I didn't have much in the way of options outside of working some kind of payment out with him or taking him to small claims court. This kid looked pretty young I would guess 18ish may have been 17 I don't really know.
Basically what I'm trying to figure out is what to do here. The car runs but the frame is pushed into the tire so I can't drive it. At this point its probably going to be more economical to just buy a new car. I was planning to buy a new car anyways. I really have no idea how to go about taking this guy to small claims. I am planning and calling him this afternoon to see if he wants to work something out between us but I really doubt he will. So am I pretty much screwed or is there anything I can do here?
The other thing I am worried about is that since the guy at fault didn't have insurance I am scared that the guy that I hit will say it was my fault just so that he won't have to deal with the hassle of the whole "no insurance" thing. When we first got out of our cars I talked with him first and told him the other guy pushed me into him and he said "yeah I saw its not your fault" but really there isn't anything to keep him from changing his story when he talks with the insurance companies.
As for the police letting the guy go and drive his car home (the no insurance guy) is this a normal thing to do or should I be calling the police station to see what the whole deal is here.
Just looking for any kind of advice you guys can give. Thanks!
TL;DR got in a car accident, not my fault, guy didn't have insurance how do I go about getting money for my car and how do I keep myself from getting screwed by the other guy?
Heres how it went down. We were coming up to a light it went yellow and the guy in front of me slammed his brakes and stopped at the red. I hit my brakes and came to a complete stop probably about 2 feet behind him. The guy behind me wasn't paying attention and hit me in the rear doing 30-40mph approx which slammed me into the guy in front of me. So we get the cops out and it turns out that the kid who hit me was driving on a suspended license with no insurance. They handcuff him up and I figured they would take him down and impound the car or something. Then while I'm on the phone with my insurance I see them let him go and then after they drive off he gets back in his car which was still drivable and drove off.
My car is old and crappy I payed 2000 cash for it about a year and a half ago so I only had the lowest insurance I could which means that my car is not covered for something like this since the other guy does not have insurance. The police said that basically I didn't have much in the way of options outside of working some kind of payment out with him or taking him to small claims court. This kid looked pretty young I would guess 18ish may have been 17 I don't really know.
Basically what I'm trying to figure out is what to do here. The car runs but the frame is pushed into the tire so I can't drive it. At this point its probably going to be more economical to just buy a new car. I was planning to buy a new car anyways. I really have no idea how to go about taking this guy to small claims. I am planning and calling him this afternoon to see if he wants to work something out between us but I really doubt he will. So am I pretty much screwed or is there anything I can do here?
The other thing I am worried about is that since the guy at fault didn't have insurance I am scared that the guy that I hit will say it was my fault just so that he won't have to deal with the hassle of the whole "no insurance" thing. When we first got out of our cars I talked with him first and told him the other guy pushed me into him and he said "yeah I saw its not your fault" but really there isn't anything to keep him from changing his story when he talks with the insurance companies.
As for the police letting the guy go and drive his car home (the no insurance guy) is this a normal thing to do or should I be calling the police station to see what the whole deal is here.
Just looking for any kind of advice you guys can give. Thanks!
TL;DR got in a car accident, not my fault, guy didn't have insurance how do I go about getting money for my car and how do I keep myself from getting screwed by the other guy?
Graydeath on
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What you do need though is a damage and replacement estimate - maybe your iunsurance company will send out an adjustor for you - so you have a defined amount of money you are seeking. If you can work something out, sweet.
Also, did you ask why the kid behind you wasn't arrested? Because if not, you should really find that out.
edit for snert: Take witness reports if you can (if you didn't, too late now), check with the city about any traffic cameras in the area, and possibly post a reward for information (although, since it's a crime, I know the police do this as well, at least in my city they do) relating to the offense.
Past that, there really isn't much you can do. Good luck though.
I guess I will call the police today and find out why he wasn't arrested and also possibly ask if he was a minor so that I will know if I should be dealing with him or his parents.
I will get a couple estimates if I can before I call to work something out with him so I know what kind of amount I'm looking at. Like I said though the car isn't worth a whole lot so I don't know if an estimate will really help much since I would rather just get a new car at this point. What makes a car "totaled"? Is it just when the repairs on a car total more than its worth or what?
Thanks for the responses guys.
Go ahead and start a new thread: your issue (him bailing) is entirely different, because at the moment you have no one to sue.
Legally speaking, there's the distinct possibility that hitting the guy in front of you may be your fault. That's frequently how multiple-car collisions are handled. It's not fair, and speaking in a logical, reasonable fashion, there's no way it was your fault, but them's the breaks.
Have you called your insurance agency, yet? If not, do it post-haste, assuming the damage to the guy in front of you was significant. They do not appreciate hearing about accidents you've been in from other agencies, or other people involved in them. They can also tell you whether or not it was your fault that you hit the guy in front of you.
A car is totalled when the the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle. If your car has a bent frame, and cost you a couple thousand bucks, it's pretty much guaranteed to be totalled. You are still owed the value of the car, minus the salvage value. And really, you only need one estimate.
Was the car that hit you a stolen vehicle?
If so, you might be out of luck. It is possible that the owners insurance might cover it.
If not, you could possibly take civil action on the owner of the vehicle.
Did you get a good look at the driver?
If the car was not stolen, and you got a good look at the driver, it is possible the police might find the driver and you can ID him then take civil action.
Depending on your state and coverage, your insurance might need to cover it.
When minor or non-criminal crashes occur without injuries or fatalities, accident investigations are based off of physical evidence. By this I mean position of vehicles, skid marks, direction of travel, traffic control devices in the area, etc. No "real" statements are taken since crashes tend to be a civil matter instead criminal and its done just to verify physical information.
In Florida, and im sure most states, law requires an exchange of information (which was given to you), not an actual report (at the time of the incident).
On the other driver getting arrested, perhaps the other driver just didnt his license with him. Officer possibly checked recored and verified that he did have one. However, if it truly was suspended, he should have been taken (Definetely not allowed to drive off). As for insurance, if the driver did not have proof of insurance, he should have been cited. When your cited, you are required to go to court and show proof of valid insurance. If you dont, your license can be suspended for financial responsibility.
I think if Repair Cost > Current Value of Vehicle = Total Loss
I think there is a premium for the company to insure the vehicle for purchase price.
Yes after I dealt with the police the first thing I did was call my insurance company and let them know. They gave me a claim number and contact name for who I could deal with but really didn't tell me much beyond that other than they would begin processing it and to expect a call. The guy in front of me really didn't have that much damage to his car since I had my brakes on pretty good I didn't hit him all that hard. However, he was driving a brand new 08 Rav-4 so I assume his costs will be fairly high to repair. If my insurance ends up paying him for his repairs will that make my insurance costs go up and will this count as a point on my license (I live in California)? I will ask the police when I call them and find out if this will count against my license.
If you were stopped a good distance and had your breaks pressed you probably left skid marks between your vehicle and the one in front of you. This shows that you made the effort to prevent crashing into front vehicle. If possible, I would go take pictures if there are skid marks.
Pro Tip - ALWAYS have a disposable camera (camera phone) in your glove compartment incase an incident like this happens.
He won't be deemed "at fault" for the accident, but his insurance company will be paying for the damages done to the car in front of him. Here is how it is going to work.
Each collision, regardless of how your vehicle was forced to collide with another, is dealt as a claim between those two vehicles. Your insurance company is going to be working on 2 claims from this accident. One is dealing with the car you were pushed into. Like I mentioned, even though you stopped and were pushed into the other car, the collision was between you two so your insurance deals with him first.
At the same time your insurance company will be going after the guy who hit you and pushed you into the other car. BUT, they are not only going after the damages done to your car, but also whatever money they had to pay to the insurance company of the guy you were forced into. At State Farm these claims are called "Sister Claims" and they happen a lot more than you think they would.
Now, as for the uninsured motorist, thank the maker that you actually got an ID on them and they didn't take off, unlike the other unfortunate fella here. Your insurance company will go after him directly (or his parents if he is a minor) to recoup their bills.
If your insurance company is remotely decent, they will not raise your premiums. Some of the mom and pop places will raise premiums if a bug shits on your windshield, but others know when things aren't your fault.
As for your car, it is pretty much guarenteed to be a total loss. Most insurance companies don't even use a marker of 100% repair cost = car's current value = total loss. State Farm used a marker of about 80%, and most others use similar. So resign yourself to the near certainty that your car is gone for good.
Best of luck with everything.
I'm guessing that this is not the situation in the US? Do you need to pay extra for special coverage in the case on non-insured drivers? If so, I agree that small claims is the place to go, no lawyer needed, it's just like those daytime court shows expect with a lower sass factor.
A lawyer takes a percentage of the settlement (33 1/3 percent). And there are other damages to cover and protect yourself from, like making sure the guy that was in front of you doesn't sue you. And especially in California, the insurance companies really do everything in their power to keep their payments to a minimum and will try to run things through as quickly as possible before you have a chance to realize they're screwing you over. Seriously, call a lawyer.
Also, getting a lawyer is completely useless. It will just be an extra expense that is completely unnecessary. The insurance companies will get things done on their own, and usually in decent time. A lawyer is not going to expedite it any or get you any more money for property loss. The only time you should use a lawyer in an auto accident is if you suffered more than minor injurues or the insurance of the person at fault is too low to cover your expenses.
Correct, I do not have the extra coverage. The good news is I got a callback from my insurance company today and they verified with the guy in front of me that I was not at fault. According to my claim rep thats good enough for them and they will be closing the claim. The bad news is thats it my insurance company is not going to help me with the at fault driver in any way. I'm going to give them a call today just to make sure that my rates don't rise which I'm sure they will not.
A quick question on small claims court. What type of documentation/proof should I be collecting for this?
But living on a state border town we have lots of uninsured drivers without state inspected cars.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
no lawyer, totally
small claims court can be a big waste of time--they do not FORCE the person to pay you!
so ideally you'll settle with the kid who hit you. if he is 18, try talking to his parents ;-)
I would say have the police report, a statement from the guy in front of you, your history showing that you've had insurance (probably don't really need this, but just in case), at least one estimate of damage to your vehicle since this will be for a dollar amount to your car, and I guess that's it.
The police report is going to show that it was his fault, along with your insurance statement and the other drivers, and the estimate will be your grounds for claim. Also, don't get greedy when making a claim. Not saying you would or anything, but ask for the total cost of repair based on the estimate, plus legal fees, plus any time you missed from work, and leave it at that.
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
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This is actually a good suggestion. A lot of parents will take at least some responsibility for their kids' fuckups, and then get it out of the kid.