yup about 20 minutes ago I got into a frontal collision. some jerk in the turning lane decided not to turn left and to get back in my lane too add to that I was going a little over the speed limit and it was raining so I slammed on the brakes abs was kicking in then boom.... I wasn't really bummed that bad becuase we hit like at 20 mph but they decided to run so I was like okay want to play this game you won't win, they thought they'd outrun a JCW Mini in a saturn . Turns out the boy hence word "boy" 14yrs old no license hit me, I called his dad told him what happened he came over looked at my mini said sorry bro and gave me his # to call him once I get an estimate so he can pay himself with no insurance involved and cops. looks like I need a new front bumper, left xenon headlight, turn signal, and the trim on the fender. I'm positive this man is legitimate becuase I called his # as soon as I got home and map quested his address, but my mom was so mad I was like ahhhhhh not my fault 14 yr old driving=idiot.

 

That sucks. You should get a quote from the best body shop in town.

So you hit his rear? Im a little unclear on the details.

 

Glad you didn't get hurt... Hope you see the money.

 

I'm not so sure I wouldn't have gone to the Police and through insurance. Driving a car at 14? No license! Totally irresponsible. Driving agressively to boot! Tried to run after the accident. His Dad wants to protect him, and his insurance (I'm not even sure how that would be handled since the kid can't have insurance yet because of his age and no license). But at some point...the mentality of "kids will be kids" has to be put aside and the lessons of actions/decisions and consequences has to be taught, and hopefully - learned.

CRPWJB can help us out here on the insurance issue. He's a pro in the bizz.

But DAMN...at what point does the kid come to understand that there are serious consequences to stupid, immature, and irresponsible behavior? What if he'd killed someone?

And your poor poor MINI!

 

[quote=minimarks;1745302]Glad you didn't get hurt... Hope you see the money.[/quote

Thanks my seatbelt locked real hard though, for sure I'm going to get a quote from the dealerhsip just to jack up the price... so this is where I hit him the passenger back bumper, and a little on the back fender. I slid into it him and while I was honking he hit the brakes and stopped in front of me so we hit then he hauled A$$ and I caught him.

 

I'm sure daddy was protecting him becuase the fines would have been steep on both parts, but they have money they live just down the road in the new suburbs just built.

 

Oh man!! I think that kid's Dad is in for a big surprise when he hears how much it's going to cost out of pocket to fix the MINI It stinks - I'm glad you weren't hurt..

I'm thinking I might have not been so nice and reported it to the police....a 14 year old kid out and about driving a car - hum.....

Donna

 

Sorry to read about your MINI getting damaged. Glad you were able to get ahold of the kid's dad. Hopefully you'll get your MINI back to good health in no time.

Seriously though, I would recommend that you document EVERYTHING that has transpired. Write it down in detail while it's still fresh. Go back and get photos of the scene and the damage. Write descriptions of of the other car, the kid, and anything else you can recall. Draw a diagram of the intersection with cars in it. Details, details, details. Make at least one copy of the full set of documents. You'll want one set of docs that you can refer to regularly (the copies) and one set that is stored somewhere safe (the originals).

Then as you're going through the process, continue to document and archive your activities. Keep a call log of every meeting with these people. Record time, dates, phone numbers, promises, and a general summary of EVERY call. When you get estimates, copy and archive the originals.

Hopefully, all will go well and the dad will make you and your MINI right again. But the opposite is equally true. You may need to contact an attorney to get relief for your damages or even defend yourself from a lawsuit. If you document everything up front you will greatly increase your leverage if and when it gets to this point.

I know this all sounds a bit paranoid, but you can never really tell in our current legal environment.

 

No worry on legal parts my dad's a part time attorney, but I'm for sure as hell going to the dealership just to be a **** and jack up the price so he'll learn don't let junior drive no more how much would it cost for a front bumper, xenon light, fender trim, turn signal, and painting + labor???

 

Are you kidding me? My guess....$3500 - $4000. Why do I think that...my husband was rear-ended in his R53 in April. 10MPH at a stop light. THAT was what the insurance co. ended up paying out. It's not pretty when it comes to fixing MINIs the RIGHT way.

 

You know what? The dad can ignore you and there's nothing you can do about it because there were no witnesses and no police report...hope that that doesn't happen but...it has happened before...

 

I would go to the police. Whats to stop this person from denying everything & refusing to pay you. Best of luck.

 

isnt it usually the person who rear ends someone's fault?
that's wat i always thought. but i guess there's certain circumstances.
glad to hear he's payin. (hopefully he does pay) but he should be punished.

 

The cost will be more if your Modular Front End needs replacing, everything up front bolts to it or on it and it makes up the main structure of the front end. I had a few minor incidents and the thing cracks and splits at the drop of a hat.

 

My dad and I drove by thier house, the car is a Saturn Ion and the best part it's white so there is some British racing green on his car and some white on mine if he does try to deny it then he is going to go down and his going to go down real hard and his check book is going to suffer. thats more reason to get the aero kit now.

 

My friend was with me and they have pictures of damage on thier phone at the site from where he stopped in the alley after I'd chased him and his car is in the back ground.

 

I did that once when I was very young. I had an old 911 targa that I saved for 5 years to get. A 60 year old lady hit me out of sheer negligent driving. She said she had no license, was on chemo, and she would pay me cash. I felt sorry for her so I got three estimates and called to arrange to show them to her. When I went to pick up the $$$, her "daughter" was there with three guys that looked 8ft. tall waiting for me. It turned out to be a very dangerous situation. Her daughter in law told me I needed one more estimate because she didn't like the ones I got (They were fair and I wasn't trying to profit from the situation) and to send it to her. I told her and the apes yes to whatever they said.

I went home and called my insurance and got the $$$ from them. Insurance insisted I file an SR-71 which is a state report of an accident so they could revoke the license she didn't have.

In retrospect, I was a fool to put myself in that situation to "help" her. I was lucky it turned out okay. It could have been bad, very bad.

So you have to think who you are helping. This fourteen year old, who obviously has no respect for his father or any authority and will probably do this again and possibly kill someone? You might get your money. Or if he flakes, how are you going to go to your insurance or the police three weeks later after you've been the "nice guy".

Sorry for the jaded viewpoint, but I hope this helps you make your decision.

 

Call the cops, call your insurance and get the car fixed.

As others have said, this is not a low-cost fix, the front of the Mini is very, very expensive to fix correctly.

The second viewpoint is that the kid probably got of lightly, next time he may kill someone.

 

Sorry to hear this.
I'm less trusting of people anymore. So easy for them to act nice, then when you ask for the money it will be one excuse after another. That punk needs a lesson.

 

Going down and going down real hard? All he has to do is ignore you and all you have left is a crunched Mini and small claims court.






Are you not going the police / insurance route because you're trying to be a nice guy, or for some other reason? From your posts, some could surmise that maybe you have licensing / legal issues that kept you from wanting the police on scene, or maybe just see an opportunity to get into someone's pocket.

Good luck to you.

 

You REALLY should have called the cops. Really really should have.

 

It happened to my wife. Lady hit her, offered cash immediately (but not nearly enough) and then gave here a phone number. No cops were called (but there were witnesses). Once contacted she refused to cooperate. Insurance Co gave up after a while...damage wasn't bad enough for them to pursue this any longer. Problem was, that meant we had to cover the deductible. We were stuck.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS call the cops (when you were in the right )

 

dude seriously go to the cops...i did something like you did when i owned my civic...some idiot with a van on I-64 HOV (norfolk to va bch/chesapeake direction) had a storage container(one of those egg looking things) fly off his roof and smack the front end of my car! at the time it only looked like turn signal damage...so i took cash from him and called it fair....big mistake...turns out i had fender and bumper damage too! go to the cops, because you may end up eating this and this damage is hard to swallow trust me!

 

So the kid broke the law by driving at 14 and running etc..

I can see why GG didn't want to get the police involved though. He was at fault since he hit the back of the other guy. Speeding. In the rain.

So what if he had called the cops? The kid would've gotten a couple tickets and GG woulda been raped by his insurance for having an at fault accident.

ps GG. That is going to be some major bucks to fix.

 

GG is not necessarily at fault. More info is needed to determine fault... where exactly are the damages to both vehicles, was the kid's car established in GG's lane at the time of impact, where in relation to the intersection did the collision occur ? A scene investigation may be needed, etc.

And by the way, only in rare instances can "speed" be used to determine negligence in an accident. It would have to withstand the rules of evidence in a court of law... unless a cop had a rader gun on you at the time, not likely to be able to prove it.

But I would be VERY leary of not reporting the claim if I were you, GG. If the kid's dad doesn't follow thru with the payment, you can report it then. But the sooner, the better.

EDIT: To add... In fact, I'd go ahead and report it NOW and let your insurance company now that the other party is handling oop (out of pocket). That way, if it falls through, the claim is already reported. I handle claims like that every few weeks.