Opus

Okay, here's my problem.

The day before Thanksgiving I was rear ended by a Toyota Highlander. I was merging on the freeway on a very short onramp, the guy ahead of me got cut off and stopped hard, I stopped hard, and this old lady who was following close smacked me. She also gets rear ended after hitting me.
We exchange info, my car looks alright, just a 1 foot long scratch on the right side, a lot of stress marks on the right, and the whole rear bumper is loose. We drive off with eachothers info, no police involved.
So I have the inspection done by her insurance to get them to pay for repairs. The guy finds most of the attaching points for the rear bumper are broken. He looks really close at the scratch and finds black paint in it. Her Highlander was gold. He also feels the grain of the scratch, it runs right to left; she hit me mainly on the left side. It also doesnt match her bumper height.
Two weeks later I finally get ahold of the company. I get a temporary adjuster; he says they will not pay for damages. They acknowledge she hit me, but they say because the scratch doesnt match her car color it was caused by someone else, and therefore all of the damage was probably preexisting.
I call BS on that. I parallel park on the street and a few days earlier a black car squeezed in with just inches to spare on my bumper. I didnt see any scratch, but my car was very dirty. The scratch direction also supports someone scraping their bumper across mine. That kind of impact and the speeds involved in parking does not creat alot of stress marks in the plastic ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE from the scratch or break most of the clips on the bumper. And at the accident site the woman herself said she doesnt think she caused the scratch because she hit mainly on the left side.
So I tell the guy this info, and correct all the other bogus info they have. They say I was in an accident two weeks ago; it was three months ago and all the damage was repaired. They didnt even have the right color of my car!
Now I have to wait until the assigned adjustor returns and looks over the updated info.

So I'm trying to build up as much ammo against them as I can to get them to pay for it. The estimate from their own inspector is $550. I'm thinking of having my insurance company inspect it and get their opinion, as well as having the shop that did the repairs from the last accident inspecting it. Anyone else have any ideas?

Opus

Er, sorry, the stress marks and broken clips are mainly on the left side of the bumper, where she acknowledges most of the impact was.

UCSBgeek

I don't have any advice for you, except, in the future, ALWAYS file a police report... I know it's a pain in the ***... but sometimes the other people even come back and try to blame you! It's best to have the 3rd party account. Sorry, good luck

Tom Slick

sometimes if there are no injuries, minimal damage, and no crime is involved the police won't respnd. it is not a crime to crash your cars together. i have had the police tell me that personally.

i think i'd see if your would see if your own insurance will do anything, otherwise you will have to get a...uuugggh...liar...oops ...lawyer

Bomber

I know in Saskatchewan you have to call the police if its over $1500.

Opus

I asked the cop that parks out front of the elementary school in my neighborhood as the kids arrive about it. He said if all the cars are driveable, there's no debris in the road, everyone has insurance, and there's no disagreements to just exchange insurance info and get on with it. Wish I called it in though so she had gotten a ticket...

I hope it doesnt come down to this, but I'm ready to take her to small claims court to recover the damages. Plus now I always carry a disposable camera in my glovebox for just such an occasion.

David

do you have collision coverage on the car? how much damage is there?

Farsyde

Any time there is an accident call the police!!!!!! I had a dent in my car about a foot across and had to shove the police report down the other guys throat and threaten to sue his insurance co. if they didn't pay up. It is true that you dont have to get the police involved. However, they are required to come out and fill out a police report if you call them.

Also, always call the cops because they must assign fault to someone, or more than one person. Other wise all the other person has to do is call the police after you leave and say you caused the accident. Now you have 10 points against your license and a ticket for leaving the scene of a crime, not to mention they have an air tight case agaist you to sue for any injuries that they can make up. No matter what the other person says, it doesn't matter if they are tom cruise; get a police report. The one hour you wait for the cop and the report will keep you away from all the cheap *** insurance companies that want a blood sample in addition to your life story.

Opus

We were blocking traffic on one of the busiest parts of the Seattle freeways so we thought we'd better get moving. The problem I have isnt with fault; the lady admits to hitting me and her insurance company agrees I didnt cause the accident. They're saying because there's a large scratch on the bumper that all of the damage could have been present before the accident. I dont believe that for a second, and neither does the body shop I had inspect it.

I think part of the problem is her insurance company thinks I was in an accident two weeks ago, maybe that's where they think the damage is from. But the accident was three MONTHS ago and all the damage was repaired. I faxed them records of that accident from my insurance company, the police report, even the repair reciept. Now I cant even get ahold of the adjuster; I call, get some random adjustor, get transfered to my adjustor's voicemail, leave a message asking her to call; no response.

David: I've got comprehensive insurance, but with a $500 deductible. The Safeco estimate is $525 for new rear bumper cover and paint, but this was a pretty big impact, I wouldnt be surprised if there's more damage underneath. There was in the last accident.

But again, I'm fairly impressed with the durability of the P5. First getting pinched between a Focus and an Aerostar, now getting smashed by an SUV and still going strong.

Sad that more money has gone into accident repair than making payments though.

hihoslva

This is generally untrue. The cops do NOT assign fault unless one person says "I hit that guy". Even then, they do not determine who's at fault, they merely report the facts.

Granted, most often, the police report will make it obvious who was at fault, however it is not up to the cops to decide or determine this - that is the job of the insurance company investigator.

It is not worth it for you to get a lawyer for a $550 case. Most of the winnings (if any) would be spent on the legal representation.

Sorry, but my advice is to suck it up and pay for your damage. You can certainly sue in small claims if you want. You can definitely fight this until the bitter end, and it might not cost you a lot of money to do so. But it will be a huge hassle, and you might wind up with nothing anyway. It may just be easier to fix the car and forget about it.

But - in case you DO want to fight it; Can you get the name of the third person who was involved (the one who rear-ended her)? They may be able to corroborate your story, and help your case.

Good luck to you - and ALWAYS call the cops when involved in an accident. Another idea is to quickly write up an admission or a general accident description and both of you sign it. And carrying the disposable camera = WORKS! I got a parking garage to pay for dings in my bumper because I took pics with a disposable camera to prove they did it.

~HH

Sir Nuke

this may be true...HOWEVER....it never stops the other person from changing their minds....I did this ONCE>....let them go after exchanging information....the cops were not called...this happened when I was about 18.....WE, ME, I got stuck with the bill.....the whole frickin thing.....they refused to pay for the damages to my car.....and they told their insurance company that they did NOT hit me...nor were they in an accident with me...it was their word against mine...as there were no witnesses....I GOT SCREWED...

if I were you...and your cars were blocking a busy road....leave your car in the road...the cops would eventually show up......

and IF you get rear ended....and a police report is filed....the other person is at fault....that is standard EVERYWHERE....there is NEVER an excuse for following so close that regardless of what happens in front of you....you should ALWAYS have enough room to stop.....all insurance companies look at it this way too.

At this point....seeing as how her insurance company is being an *** about it....get YOUR insurance company involved...and soon....as THEY have something at stake.....for if the ladies insurance doesn't pay for it....THEY WILL.....let the insurance companies fight with one another.

walight01

Oh and the black u see is the primer. the i got hit on my front bumber and when the paint chipped off, it was black underneath. how this helps

Opus

Wow, thanks for all the replies. Much appreciated.

I'm getting my insurance company in on this too, hopefully they'll be able to get this straightened out. I'm still hoping it's just the misinformation they had about my last accident. It just sucks that this lady admits to hitting me, her insurance company acknowledges that she is at fault, but they dont think they need to pay for it!

I know, I dont really want to go through the hassle of going to court over it. It's just that I have a $500 deductible, the repairs are around $500, and I owe $800 that I dont have to the university.