Some lady hit my car when we were driving along a highway/intersection right by my house. My friend was driving and in a lane that you can go straight OR right (rightmost lane) She was one lane to the left and in that lane you can ONLY go straight.

Well, we stayed in our lane and SOMEONE wasn't paying attention... SO what happens?

HUGE creased dent and paint loss above my front driver's wheel well, my drivers side mirror is scraped, there's some damage to my rim that MAY be her but I honestly couldn't guarantee it, etc...

Her car? A newer Volvo v70XC and not a SCRATCH on it.

Wanna know the kicker?

My financial issues that have led to me taking on a second job where I LITERALLY have no days off... Because of what's been going on in Brad's $ world, I don't currently have insurance of any kind right now. (That's how I managed to make it so I could buy FOOD)

And what did you find out about the lady that hit me? She's a state defense attorney!
$&*(#* !!

Or maybe it's a good thing? I've never BEEN HIT before where it caused damage. Just a light bump YEARS ago from some lady backing out of a parking lot and there was no damage in the slightest so I let her off the hook.



I need to know the best way to approach this... We didn't involve cops (obviously) because in this state it's like a $500 ticket if you don't have insurance. Now, I can guarantee there is no humanly possible way we're at fault... BUT

who's been through this crap before?

I need advice on the best way to handle it. ESPECIALLY if any of you have been in a situation more similar to this one.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like the only thing you can do is see if she's actually a nice person and will pay for it. If she even acknowledges she's at fault. Though, if she finds out/knows you don't have insurance, she might go after you if she really wants to (even if there's no visible damage).

 

Go after me for what? We were in our lane the whole time. She's the one that turned directly into us. There's huge painted arrows on the ground that we had to walk over to and show her.
Then her reply... "Oh..."

 

"Emotional distress"? I don't know. People sue for some stupid crap nowadays... it really just wouldn't surprize me one bit. Good luck though on getting things fixed.

 

Thanks!

 

Well you should contact your insurance as soon as possible. Should have swapt info. Hope you have insurance, if you don't, shouldn't be driving at all. If it's her fault, her insurance should pay for it. If you dont have insurance, all you can get hit with is a no insurance ticket.

 

if she was completely at fault then you shouldve called the police and filed a report. i dont think the police will check to see if you have insurance or not if you are not at fault. and yeah if its her fault call her insurance and let them know whats up they should take care of it

 

Yes...for future reference, if you don't have insurance and someone hits you...STILL call the police. They may issue a no-insurance ticket but they will make sure that the accident is noted correctly.

Because there was no police report taken by an officer, she can call her insurance company and claim you hit her. It is now "he said-she said". She may not do that at all (she may be a nice lady) but at this time you have opened yourself up to her being able to legally come after you and may have actually prevented yourself from getting the car fixed.

Here's what to do now:

1) Go to your local state patrol or county/city police dept. Ask to file an accident report!!! You can do that without having to admit that you didn't have insurance. Note your friend who was with you on it. If there were any witnesses, note their information here too!

That way if she comes after you OR if some legal issue comes up, you can point to this filing which will help your case.

2) Call her and talk to her about the accident. Ask for her insurance information. Call her insurance company and file a claim. If she doesn't want to give that information then tell her that she is violating the law. Let her know that you are willing to work with her if she doesn't want it going against her insurance and that you are willing to get a quote to repair the damage but she needs to honor it and pay the $$$. Hope you got some basic information like her name/license plate #.

Let me know how it goes!

 

yah.. if your still within the 72hrs of being hit.. you can still claim/file it ... and try to get some sort of proof of insurnace...

the 72hr window to get proof of insurnace is per my gf who works in the industry

 

sorry bro. don't know what to say but damn!

 

Got caught for no insurance once.... take the ticket, get insurance, go to court to fight the ticket and if you proove you have it now, the judge will usually let you off.

 

He said She said SUCKS!

I was hit last september by a lady who changed lanes in the intersection. She said she would call the police while I made copies of our information. She came back saying the police said they werent going to come because our information was all current and there were no injuries. I had never had the police involed in an accident so I believed her. Well when her insurance took my statement and hers they ended up ruling that there was no evidence that it was her fault or mine so we had to pay our own! LUCKY FOR HER she had been a hit a week previous so where she had hit me with her car was going to be taken care of anyways. Her address is on her license so i still want to go throw 1 egg at her jeep!

If it was my fault I WOULD HAVE ADMITTED IT. im not one to lie if it was my fault! it ____es me off that she could have gotten away with it!

 

always call the cops were nice people we will take care of you with or without insurence

 

yes, very true. If you get insurance, judge will usually let you walk away with 0 fine.

 

Been caught with no insurance once in the far past (no accident involved). I got a ticket for no insurance, and was told BY THE COP to get insurance before I showed up in court and there was a good chance the judge would dismiss ot at least greatly reduce the ticket. Judge asked me if I had gotten insurance since ticket, asked me to show proof, and dismissed.

NO guarantee that's what would have happened with you, but...

By all means got to cop-shop and file a report if at all possible. <===

Beyond that I have no ideas.

Good luck!

 

Yeah but I think he is worried about the fact that insurance is more money than he can afford at the moment........ But I agree, insurance > not.........

We already talked about this and Brad, you already know my opinion.....hopefully she is as nice as she seems to be.

 

If you can't afford the insurance, you obviously can't afford your car, simple as that. Things could have been a lot worse. I have heard too many horror stories of similar situations to lead me to believe that she just screwed you out of her insurance paying for your repairs. Like everyone said, you ALWAYS call the police in a situation like that. You may get a no insurance ticket, but that is your own fault. At least you will get your car repaired on her bill. Sorry if I sound mean, but that's the way it goes.

 

Some people just don't have an option on that. They need to get to work in order to support themselves/their families.

But I will say that I have been hit THREE times but uninusured people and once by someone with the lowest required limit on liability.

I have had to go after my own insurance company for underinsured claims too many times and its more of a pain then if the "other guy" had an insurance company.

Also...I can attest to the worst that can happen when a person doesn't have insurance. My step-sister (she used to be a Sea-Gal before getting knocked up so you can attest to her station in life) was driving down 405 and decided to "hop" into the carpool lane because it was bumper-to-bumper. When she pulled in that lane she hit someone who was a carpool and she ended up causing an EIGHT car pileup. She had "let her insurance slip" to save $$$ but instead ended up with lawsuits against her and claims over $600K. She ended up having to declare bankruptcy and all of those poor victims got no money.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE TO GET UNINSURED/UNDERINSURED MOTORIST COVERAGE. I've had to use it 4 times. And I don't want to be a statistic like those that my step-sister hit that got nothing to fix their cars.

 

All you can do is cross your fingers and hope the attorney side of that lady doesn't come out.

 

*****UPDATE*****

Well, since she was driving her mom and dad's car, it went after their insurance, not hers... That being the case her mom and dad admitted full liability and I just got some quotes for repairs...

$2500!!!

And you guys will be happy to know I managed to get state min. coverage through Vern Fonk for barely more than $100/mo!