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No sympathies hre for those who drive w/ o ins.
Estimates are that 30% of all cars on the road in FL are w/o ins. You can tell them. hey have the six week old dents' scrapes, torn off bumpers, etc.
Now, if it is midnight and my headlights do not work, and you strike me from the side, saying that you could not see me, fault may be split, as I may have had the right of way, but I have a duty to make my car visible at night with working headlights...
Contributory negligence: worst kind of law to have...if you are 99% at fault, and I am 1% at fault, my 1% will preclude me from pursuing you, since ANY portion of fault attributable to me extinguishes my potential claim againts you completely...
Comparative negligence: each driver is attributed their percentage of fault...if I am 30% at fault and you are 70% (do not ask how these percentages are assigned, it is an "art" that makes astrology and tarot cards seem like a science, especially when exercised by police officers at the scene... ), any recovery I receive, for pain and suffering and property damage, will be reduced by my percentage of fault...
Hybrid Comparative Negligence: in the allocation of fault, the plaintiff (victim) must have LESS THAN 50% of fault, or the claim cannot be pursued...this seems simple enough, if you are 70% at fault, and I am 30%, I can pursue you but you cannot pursue me...when this comes into play is when, say, a situation when both drivers are equally guilty (liable) of failure to yield, and the fault is split 50-50...also called a "true accident"...then neither party can pursue the other as they are both equally at fault...Georgia has this system...I like it because if both parties share equal fault, then the courts are not clogged with cases like these and the folks can only deal with their own insurance companies...which is why I occasionally advocate UM, MedPay/PIP, Rental Car Coverage...but who listens to me anyway???... :sick:
My advice is to ignore the matter. Of course, there is a good chance I don't know what I am talking about.
If you have damage to the other partys property, you had BETTER report it to you ins co, so they can get your statements to help them fend off the other party.
Otherwise you're gambling with all of your assets.
You may also want to contact the insurance you had on the date of the accident, and make a claim, teling them exactly what you told us...
HOWEVER, do not be surprised if your insurance does not defend you...most policies have a "reporting commitment time" which means that you usually have 30 or 60 days in which to report a wreck, or else the insurance is absolved from paying anything...this is to protec the insurance from situations just like this, where you come back 3 years later, saying, hey, guess what...I had a wreck 3 years ago...
My guess: be prepared to open your wallet...I hope I am wrong and your ins accepts the case for liability...
If YOU are at fault, you may have a different opinion ...but, knowing the other driver also reads this topic, they, too, will want a police report to protect their interest...
As far as a scrape on your own driveway in a one car situation, no other driver, only report it to your insurance if you cannot afford repairs...if you can, do not report, there are no "rights" to protect, unless you have been injured and have no health insurance, there is medpay...
Getting money from her is a different matter. Suppose she had accidentally stepped on your foot at a shopping mall and it took $3000 in medical bills to fix your foot. I guess you would have to sue her to get your $3000, wouldn't you? I think it would be the same thing with her accidentally hitting your car. You have to sue her to get money from her.
I would also notify the police about this so they may go back and re-ticket the boyfriend who was driving an uninsured car...why you would not do so escapes me...
Altho she should have insured her car, here in GA, it is the driver (boyfriend) who is ultimately responsible, and the one who would be sued...also, find out if he owns his own car with insurance...even if he drives her car, his insurance would cover him, if he owns a car...
Primary coverage would first be her insurance on her car, if she had it...then his insurance, if he has it, would offer him secondary coverage...then, see if he is on his mother's/father's policy as a driver, which would then offer tertiary (third-place... ) coverage...then sue him and hope you can get his license suspended, and watch him howl like a coyote in the Mojave desert...
I would be surprised if they called you, as you do not even know if the at fault driver even called it in to his own insurance...many times they hope that it will just go away like fairy dust...and, considering that the damages are only $400, the claim will certainly be quite minor...
Good luck...
Bob
Example: a rearended car usually will not suffer broken headlight glass, the damage is not logical with the impact...obviously not a hard and fast rule, as it is possible...also depends on the amount of impact...if the trunk ends up in the back seat, then any damage will be reasonable...but a $400 rear bumper with some body damage may not be reasonable...
Sometimes you must call the insurance commissioner when the ins ignores you...sometimes, and I hate to sound like I care about ins companies, sometimes the adjusters are quite overworked and just cannot get back to you promptly...that is quite painful when you are the one w/o your car, but it is true...
Also, some are shorthanded because of the lingering effects of Katrina and the next one that hit Florida (Dennis?)...ins had to send adjusters from all over the country...keep calling...
You might try this...call Allstate and ask for the adjuster's supervisor, who may move things forward for you..."Hello, may I please speak to the claim department and the supervisor for your adjuster, Howard Johnson... yeah, he's the guy that wears the orange hats... :shades:
Probably nothing. It is not in their best inerest to respond to you.
Your insurance company should handle it for you. That is what you pay them to do.
go back and re-think that one...
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Now, the lady with the suspended license should receive massive fines for driving suspended amd leaving the scene of an accident...
Remember, the designation of "fault" and "no-fault" describes the type of insurance law in the state...when it comes to who caused the wreck, there is always an "at fault" party and the victim...so, obviously, in a "no fault" state you will still have the "at fault" driver...I thought that might need some clarification:):):):):)
Now I wonder if I can get a plice report after the accident. The 2 officers did not see the whole accidents, they came over when they heard the collision. But they did see my car was rare-ended. I have these 2 officers badge numbers and last names, and the collision information card they filled out.
If a report is made BY THE POLICE, not you, after the fact, it would still be valid, since they saw the aftermath of what happened...BTW, they almost ALWAYS only see the aftermath of what happened, they rarely actually witness the wreck...
If you are rear-ended, you don't likely need a police report, as it is very difficult for the person who struck the rear of another car to assign blame to the other driver. Unless the struck driver cut off the other car, there really isn't any legal excuse for rear ending the other car. (By definition, if they couldn't stop on time, they were tailgating, and are therefore at fault.)
One thing I do is to carry a camera in my car, so that in the event of an accident, you will be able to photograph the accident scene, your car, the other cars (including their license plates), and all of the other drivers and passengers of the other cars. (You don't want the other parties to claim that there were extra occupants in their cars who weren't actually there -- yes, it does happen, particularly if you caused the accident and some scammer feels that some extra "whiplash victims" can be added to the tab...) If you have a lot of pics and are able to exchange info, you should be alright without a police report if the situation is minor and it's obvious who is at fault.
GREAT IDEA!
Two weeks ago, one of our OTR drivers was driving her rig about 10 miles west of Lincoln, NE, when a Chevy Tahoe went airborne, crossed the median and took out the sleeper compartment.
Fortunately (and unbelievably) all parties were unhurt.
The photos of the scene, taken on a cheap disposible camera made the settlement negotiations with the Tahoe driver a lot easier.
Oh, and make sure the police see all of the vehicle occupants...I have had passengers who were ambulanced from the scene inadvertently left off the report, and only having the EMS bill justified them at the scene, if no EMS, could never prove someone was sitting in the back seat if not on the report...
A few years back in St. Louis, I was rearended at maybe 10 mph at a stop light. The guy who hit me was with his girlfriend in a full sized F150. $350 in damage that was quickly reimbursed by State Farm. Fortunately, my wife and I were uninjured in my K-car.
Fifteen months pass and I get a call from a State Farm adjustor. "I thought that we were done with you, we paid your claim." I told him that I had no clue as to what he was talking about. We were OK. Here, the guy's girlfriend was claiming $10k in whiplash injuries.
Not necessarily. You could wait for an hour or two for the whole thing to be completed, only to find that the cops completely blow it and find you at fault, even though you weren't. And if you stand around fussing and agitated with the cops because they feel a report is a waste of time, then they might just be inclined to find the fault with you when they do write that report, even though you weren't to blame.
A rear-end collision is almost always (not always, but almost always) an open-and-shut case, particularly if the striker admits it. I'd want a report if (a) there are injuries, (b) the damages are significant to your vehicle, (c) it is unclear who is at fault or (d) the other party either doesn't have or refuse to provide proof of insurance and/or a license. A minor no-brainer fender bender is sorted out easily enough with photos (and these days, a lot of people are already carrying one by carrying a cell phone.)
Too often, liability companies will not pay unless they see a report that shows their insured at fault...even rear end collisions can be disputed, and often are w/o a report...
Do as you wish, as you are thinking with common sense, which I appreciate...however your common sense does not seem to prevail as often as I would like it to...
So, the ins refuses to pay, the client comes to me, an atty...oddly, we do not perform our services for nothing...:):):):):)...without a report, I am not going to do battle with the ins, as I want some kind of documentation as proof...
So, you show me the pictures you took with your sweet little camera...now, if I am going to do battle with the ins, and all I have is photos w/o a report (don't forget, the report also lists just who the at fault party is and who their ins is...with all these illiterates out there, I am not quite trusting that their info is accurate)...
So, with less evidence than normal, you want me to pursue the ins to pay for your vehicle repair...I WILL NOT TAKE IT ON CONTINGENCY JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A PHOTO, I WANT TO BE PAID FOR WHAT I DO...and just how often do you think they want to pay me when they were the victim???
I repeat, you should do what you feel is right and proper, but from my standpoint, not getting a police report places you at a great disadvantage...but, please do it your way and you will be happy...
BTW, by calling police, they will ofetn find out that a driver was driving on a suspended license, or has an outstanding bench warrant for arrest, something you could never do...still, do it your way, but I do recommend to others that they do not follow in your footsteps...
And you're not going to take a case involving a $300 fender bender without injuries on contigency, either. (You surely aren't going to go to court to fight for your one-third share of $300.)
Please note my caveats above in respect to damage amounts, disputes about fault, and injuries. If anyone has a case serious enough that it is going to involve an attorney, then yes, by all means, get a police report.
I'm talking about there not being a need to make a federal case out of a 5 mph ping at an intersection. In minor situations such as that, getting a police report is nice (assuming that it doesn't point blame in the wrong direction, as they sometimes do), but it isn't critical.
A few weeks later, I got a visit from the supervising officer letting me know that they'd just arrested the woman for purposely running into another person's car and then claiming that she had a miscarriage a few days later. So not only did the police report save me from being sued it also saved the other person she hit from being sued, because there was a record of her admitting that she was pregnant.
It was a very very bizarre situation, but it taught me early to always file a police report, because while most of the time, the other person will be honest, there are those occasions when people are sue happy.
Unfortunately, unless you have an eyewitness, you have a classic he-said/she-said problem.
Can you find a witness? (Passengers in the cars involved probably don't count.) Since it's hard to prove who had the right of way at an intersection, these situations are begging for situations like yours to occur.
It's these sorts of accidents when having a camera really helps. And if there is any room for doubt about blame and/or if the accident is at all serious, then don't move the cars until you have photographed the scene and the police arrive. This is one of those times that you ignore the gridlock created by the accident, and just leave everything how you found it.
The underlying assumption is that the officer can still figure out what happened and assign fault for the wreck...
NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stop assuming that cops either have that ability or care to learn how to do it...
bcooper is the exact reason why I feel that way...
I have recommended to my wife that if she is ever in a wreck, do not move the vehicles under ANY circumstances, including earthquake, tsunami, nuclear war, and plane crashes...wait for the police to arrive so they see the EXACT aftermath and can make their decision...
Traffic flow can go to h*ll, the mistakes the officer WILL make when you move the vehicle will cost you thousands if you are not at fault...if the other guy is let off the hook you will have to pay your deductible on collision, assume 50% fault which could raise your rates, pay for your own medical care for any injuries and the injuries to your passengers, and never receive any pain and suffering compensation because the other guy was not assigned fault...
I told her to accept any ticket for "not moving the vehicles as ordered by law" as the cost is minimal compared to the alternative described above...
People are simply not honest these days when it comes to accident fault, and cops are, simply, not as "competent" or "caring" when the evidence has been moved...why do you think they are ENRAGED when crime scene evidence is altered before they get there???...well, this may be less important then a crime, but when the bills come to you for an accident that you did not cause, tell me then how you feel about obeying the law and moving the vehicles before the cops arrived...
You know what I tell my wife and why...now make your own decision...
I was driving my 1998 chrysler concorde straight on a highway this morning and an oldsmobile minivan slammed the right side of my vehicle and caused pretty serious damages. That minivan then lost control and hit a telephone pole. I wanted to talk to that driver, but he just left his vehicle and ran away. I don't know if he was driving a stolen vehicle or if he was drunk. The police came, wrote a report but they told me that the VIN and plate number of that vehicle didn't match, and they need further investigation to figure out who was really in that vehicle.
My insurance policy only includes the compulsory things and doesn't include collision. What can I do if the other party is uninsured or even unidentified?
OK, the 's word' isn't correct, but the correct word would get this message deleted and a nasty-o-gram to me from the moderator!
You probably were hit by either an illegal immigant with no drivers license or a thief driving a stolen vehicle.
On of the reasons to carry collision.
I guess what bothers me is to read all these posts by people who, in my mind, innocently dropped certain insurance coverages (or never had them to begin with) thinking they are saving money on premiums...you know the coverages I recommend: medpay ($50K minimum), uninsured motorists, rental car insurance...if your car is worth over $4K then you should have comp and collision if paying for the damages would be financially difficult and the premiums are reasonable...
Then, they are involved in a wreck with someone else at fault who:
a. does not have insurance
b. does not have ENOUGH insurance for the 7 people they injured (like minimum limits of $25K/$50K)
c. has an liability insurance that takes 3 weeks to accept liability, so they lose their job because, w/o rental car insurance, they cannot get to work
d. is seriously injured but, w/o medpay, can't get anyone to pay their bills
I hate to tell the absolute truth, but for MOST folks (not those with an extra $10K in cash just sitting around to replace the beater when it is wrecked), you should plan on spending the remainder of your driving life with maximum coverage of ALL the coverages available to you...stop planning on cutting corners and dropping coverages because the folks who post here of often the result of someone buying minimum coverage and thinking they are beating the system...
You ARE beating the system, until you suffere injury or damages with ANOTHER driver who is beating the system, and now you are victimized twice...
Carry all the coverage you can, as only those with $$$ can "afford" to drop coverages, as, by definition, they have the $$$ to absorb other types of losses...
For the person who has less than a few thousand $$$ in the bank, carry all coverages possible, and stop trying to cut your coverages, as the posters on these topics are what happens when you do not have the coverage and cannot afford the out-of-pocket cost...
Merry Christmas to all...
The problem that I have is that under the current system, those with marginal financial means are ENCOURAGED to carry the lowest legal minimum insurance. If they have an at-fault accident, they are judgment-proof. Ever sue a person with no resources? If you are successful, the file bankruptcy almost immediately.
Personally, I carry full collision/comprehensive on my beater as I rent cars fairly often and need the coverage on the rental vehicle (without paying the ridiculous CDW fees).
I had a client recently who suffered $29K in meds and she complained loudly how rotten it was that the liable party only carried the minimum $25K in insurance...
When I asked for her insurance, she also only carried the $25K minimum, and when I brought this to her attention and asked how would it be if the shoe was on the other foot, she clammed up rather quickly...:):):):):)
That is the only karma one can hope for, is that the minimally insured deadbeat encounters the same situation...
I had a case a number of years ago, $250K in meds (yes, a quarter of a million dollars, fractured bones, burst spleen and in a coma for 30 days)...coulda been the big one, but the at-fault party only had $25K in insurance and lived in a 20 year old trailer...that is the case that convinced me to purchase an additional umbrella policy to raise my own uninsured/underinsured motorists policy to 1 million dollars, as any one of us can be seriously injured, possibly crippled (and, obviously, killed) and that UM policy of 1 mil would adequate compensate the injured and pay the med bills, too...
I apologize if you have already addressed this earlier in this forum, but I was wondering what/how much insurance you recommend the average middle class couple (no kids, no accidents) should carry? We currently carry the typical 100/300 coverage for comp/collision/medical as well as something for uninsured motorists on our 02 Rav4. I'm carrying liability and uninsured only on my 94 Civic and 92 MR2. What is your best guess as to cost for a $1M umbrella UM Policy? Is there something that can be carried on our house that can be used also for UM? We've been with the same mainstream insurer for about 20 years and have our house insured with the same company. I would definitely like to be as prudent as possible as well as protect our assets. As the old axiom goes. "it's the cheap man that pays the most."
Gogiboy
Call your agent for a quote an umbrella. You'll likely be surprised at how inexpensive it is.
That depends on your situation - how many vehicles and houses and the state you live in.
I have a $2M excess liability coverage for about $250-300/ year billed annually. YMMV.
Just remember one thing? If you kill someone with your vehicle, what's it going to cost you? A lot more tahn the state-mandated 25/50/25 coverage.