I was waiting at an intersection waiting for the left turn arrow to turn green. I was the second car. Suddenly, I get this "BANG!" from behind. My initial thought was that the car behind me was hit by another car that failed to stop. But when I got out there was no car behind it. The female driver of the white Caravan had thought the light had changed and got on the gas.
She did not have her insurance card. It sucks. I hope she has insurance. She said she does.
Her radiator was leaking and the coolant was coming out onto the road.
I was pleasantly surprised that my car did not suffer serious damages. I hope the unit body is OK. Will the insurance company replace my rear bumper?

 

Very sorry to hear about you accident. Unfortunately, in 25 yrs driving, I've been rear ended while stopped at a red light 3 TIMES!!!

HER insurance should pay for the entire bill and you should not even tell your insurance company, unless it's a last resort. Was a Police report filled out? If so, she should have been cited and you at least have the report to prove to your company that your role in the accident was 0% fault.

If no police, get her insurance info right away and insist that she report that day. Do not entertain any thoughts of letting her pay for it directly, either to you or to wherever you have your MINI fixed. I'm speaking from experience here in that it's way too easy to get burned. The last thing you want is to have to either try to collect from another private citizen or receive a call from the shop saying her check bounced and you owe for it.
If she delays I would inform her that you are calling the police and see if that moves her. Remember, driving w/o insurance is against the law. But if she doesn't have it, she doesn't have it.

Unfortunately, the last resort is your insurance company. Again, if you have a police report, your exposure should be minimal in terms of rate increases but you're still going to have to pay whatever deductable you have. If there was no police report, even though you were rear-ended, it'll probably have a bigger effect cause you can't prove your TOTAL lack of fault (you could have rolled backwards into her, right?).

Oh yeah, witness statements work well too, did anyone stop to help?

Good luck

 

I was making a short run to a drop and ship store and didn't have my cell phone with me. She didn't have a cell phone either. Shoot.

 

Check your local laws, here in CA you can still file a police report days (forget how many exactly)after the acident.

 

At Worst, WORST case scenario, the police can track her by her plate and/or registration# (you did get that stuff, didn't you?).
If you haven't called her yet do so immediately (if it's not too late where you are). If she gave you her real number, refer to above post, If not, it's time to get the police and your insurance company involved.

Hoping for your best...

 

She didn't have her purse with her so we both had to drive to her work that was about 5 minutes away from the scene. She had the daycare center uniform on. She came out with the purse and I got her license number and all and her phone number. I am calling her to get some insurance info now...

Left a message...

 

Man....I hate to say it, but my gut is you're going to get boned. Always always always always get a police report right away.

Otherwise it's your word against hers.

 

Bummer to hear about this...I SO hope you don't get screwed by the person who hit you....

Donna

 

She called me back. She says she will pay me the bodyshop estimate. I will go get an estimate and give her a copy. She was driving her mom's minivan and her name is not on the policy so the company won't pay. We will see how it ends up.

The bodyshop will probably give me an estimate for repainting it, right? It will never be as good as before.

 

Get a police report... better now than never.

 

Get a police report, and go directly through her insurance company. Don't let her pay directly. What happens if you discover hidden damage later? It's not unusual, after all.

I disagree with the advice not to tell your insurance company. You don't have to make a claim, but you should advise them of the circumstances. I seem to remember reading that it is a violation of your policy if you don't. At least that's the way it is in mine.

P.S. So sorry it happened to you!

 

I let my insurance know already. I just hate wasting my time on this kind of things.... I have to setup an appointment and go there and get an estimate and give it to her etc. I don't think she understands how much it's gonna cost her. Maybe she is thinking a couple of hundred dollars. I think it will cost more because bodyshops do not paint just part of the bumper because the color won't match.
If there are more damages than what I noticed then it will make her go thru her insurance. If she doesn't have insurance then..... damn.

 

1st off, HER insurance covers her driving the van, NOT the van owner. You Register a car & Insure a driver.

Unfortunately you are now in the exact damn position I found myself several years ago. Let me tell you my experience and consider it next to absolute dread worst case. Absolute dread worst case is she, or someone in her family comes after you. YES these things DO happen!

In my case, I got the long "insurance rate" story & I sympathized and went along with them paying me the money for the estimate. My damage, estimated at the Subaru Dealership, was for $1,200 or so and the guy said no problem, He'd give it to me at the dealership when the work was finished. I said no way, and we settled for 1/2 up front and 1/2 upon completion of repairs. I shoulda known better.
So I go to their house and the guy is right there, polite as can be, and hands me a check for $400. I say "What is this? It's supposed to be $600?" well, 4 of his big buddies come up behind him and the guy tells me that's all he got at the moment & he'll give me more money "in a couple of days".

I turned on my heels and walked shaking back to the car.

When all I got was busy signals and answering machines, I started to realize that
1) I'm probably not going to get the rest of the money and...
2) They know where I live.

So then I'm left with a decision, go to small claims court for $800 or so with no documentation and intensify the growing animosity or to just let it go.

I let it go.

Don't put yourself into that position, Tell them to report it. Period.
If they give you the sad story, IT'S THEIR PROBLEM. Don't let them make it yours.

Good luck

 

That's one of my pet peeves about the insurance industry. You're not really just "insuring the driver", because you have to pay separate premiums on every vehicle you own. For comprehensive coverage, I can understand that, because any of my vehicles could be stolen/damaged/vandalized at any time, whether I'm driving them at the time or not. But what is the logic of having to pay a separate *liability* premium for each vehicle, when I can only operate one vehicle at a time??

I understand that some cars are more likely to cause damage to other vehicles/property in an accident, so the liability premium will vary from car to car. Fine - figure out which of my vehicles has the highest liability premium, and only charge me *that* premium, not a separate premium for each car.

 

I'm sorry to quibble Scott, but i come from a family involved in the industry (claims side, not sales. That's a whole 'nother kind of magic). However, I believe the policy you purchase covers YOU. The rates are determined by the car you primarily drive. That's why, for instance, your personal car insurance covers you while renting from Hertz, even the Shelby Mustangs.

As to the separate premium for individual cars...
If you live alone and have 2 cars, you'd drive each a proportion of the time, say 9000 mi/yr MINI & 1000 mi/yr Minivan.
When you go to purchase insurance, you are always asked how many miles, primary purpose, yada yada yada...
I believe (it 5:00am & i'm not gonna try it now) that if you entered in extreme figures, as in the above example, you would find that the rates for the minivan would fall. There's even a magical milage limit, that each company sets itself, which if you commit to not exceeding, lowers your rates substantially. Kinda like the Historic vehicles you sometimes see. I believe the cutoff is 40 yrs old for most and if you drive less that 600mi/yr you pay very little.

If you don't mind, what are your rates?
I have a policy from Progressive lined up and it seems very reasonable see the attached... Keep in mind I live in a Suburb of Toledo, OH and have had no reported accidents nor violations for the past 10 yrs.

 

That's comparable to what I'm paying on a 2006 Convertible 'S'. My premiums are slightly higher, but my deductibles are a lot lower, so the premiums would probably be similar with similar deductibles.

The thing that bothered me about paying separate liability premiums for each vehicle is that up until recently, my wife and I had seven vehicles between us. We each had a daily driver, we have an old truck that we only use for "truck stuff", we each had a motorcycle, I have a classic Charger project car that legally still has to be registered and insured, and I still had my old daily driver that I replaced with the MINI. Even after telling the insurance company how many miles we put on each vehicle per year, the total of the seven liability premiums *far* exceeded what we would have been paying if we only had two cars and drove the same total mileage each year.

 

Wow, can't argue with your there.
I can just hope that some day I'll have a garage like yours.

1) Fish
2) Lotus Elise
3) Aston Martin DB9R
4) Ferrari 250 TR
5) Jaguar Type 120
6) Ford GT40
7) WRX-STi - the practical one

 

LOL - our garage was never *that* exciting. In fact, each of our new MINIs cost more than a half-dozen of our previous vehicles. Here's the breakdown of what we had just prior to getting the MINIs:

1995 Honda Civic - bought used for $5900
1995 Toyota Paseo - bought used for $7900
1972 Mercedes 250C - bought used for $4200
1983 Dodge Ram 4X4 - given to us as a gift
1998 BMW R1200C motorcycle - bought used for $10,000
1998 Ducati ST2 motorcycle - bought used for $6500
1972 Dodge Charger 440 - bought used for $7200

 

It can take six weeks for a body to experience whiplash pain....even a small amount can cause headaches, neck and back pain....so you may want to have a doctor check you out (don't say that you are fine, yet). I hear people say they are fine all the time...and then start to get headaches later...even from slight rear endings......doctor, chiropractic and massage bills can really add up. But, I hope you are fine!

 

I am sore from working out several days a week anyway. But no headaches yet.

I realized in WA state if a family member borrows a car the owner's insurance is supposed to cover him/her also unless the policy specifically excludes that person. I will get her mom's insurance info today if she will let me. If she denies then I will go the police route.

 

Good luck, be safe

 

Got an estimate.
The bumper is repairable and the black grille will have to be replaced.
Total: $600.50.

 

Its odd that the majority of accidents posted on NAM with the exception of a few are cars that got rear ended. Just an observation......

 

Please, go get any pain you have documented now, or they won't cover you later....and don't be afraid to accentuate it.....just incase you need some care down the road.

 

Ask for a cash discount and charge her double.