I got in a car accident today (vent).(update post 35)

[Judy]

In Georgia, an accident with that amount of damage does not have to be reported to the police, so it would not matter that it was reported after the fact.

 

[debilorrah]

Here in CA the police will not come to an accident scene unless there are injuries. Period. I would never deal with someone under the table. That is why we pay insurance premiums. If this is your first accident, it may not go up at all. Here we also have to only report $600 and over to insurance.

 

[NancyDz]

Also parking lots in CA are definitely not something that police would be involved with, they have no jurisdiction there.

 

[first time farmer]

Quote:
I didnt think of that! i do have pictures of my truck and her car on my phone. The officer just called and said it is her fault and that i will not have to pay anything my insurance will not go up and she will pay for a new hitch! I am so glad its over with now. He wants the pictures of my truck and her car so its not officially over but it scary and nerve racking part is over. It was m y first accident so i was really nervous.

 

[WalkingWolf]

A parking lot is private property so there probably will be no ticket, but in most cases the person backing is at fault. Even if the other vehicle was not directly behind him, he is the one with the responsibility to wait. A quickly moving vehicle would have received a long gash along the side of the vehicle. A slow moving vehicle would only receive a dent. The only way for just a dent and then it would be a large dent, would be if the backing vehicle had considerable momentum, striking vehicle 2 and then bouncing back to let vehicle 2 clear with a dent, but this would have been much more than just a hitch, and there probably would have been injuries.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

DebiRaymond - also in CA here and I remember an accident I had (my fault

) was a fender bender, everyone okay, but when the husband of the woman I hit arrived she went into damsel-in-distress mode and insisted on calling the police. It was raining out and lots of accidents everywhere; police VERY annoyed to have been summoned. She kept insisting on a police report and the policeman said "I don't see anyone being carried out of here on a stretcher, do you? If I write a report, BOTH parties receive points on their licenses, two for the responsible party and one for you."

She quickly changed her mind. Lucky for me, I guess.

 

[first time farmer]

Every thing is pretty much sorted out. Insurance is going to handle it. I do not have to pay any thing. She now has to officially pay for a new hitch. The hitch was a little scratched and had a little paint on it but what the heck Im not going to refuse a new hitch. Her father just called and said sorry for the trouble he put me through and that he found out his daughter was not telling him the truth. Its such a pain in the butt. The officer said I have to fill out a report on tuesday morning. But thats not a problem for me.

 

[beak]

Quote:
Deny the claim. Tell your insurance company you saw her coming and you were stopped. She hit your hitch and creased her door. If you were halfway out of the spot she was partly at fault too. Most insurance companies would call it a 50/50. At that point you are responsible to fix your own cars. A door hit will run around 1000-1300 dollars depending on the car and if she goes to a hack shop or a good shop. I'm a damage appraiser and have been writing damage for over 15 years now. Without seeing the damage I would say that they couldn't tell if you were stopped or not. By the way in car witnesses don't count.

Good Luck

 

[first time farmer]

Quote:
Deny the claim. Tell your insurance company you saw her coming and you were stopped. She hit your hitch and creased her door. If you were halfway out of the spot she was partly at fault too. Most insurance companies would call it a 50/50. At that point you are responsible to fix your own cars. A door hit will run around 1000-1300 dollars depending on the car and if she goes to a hack shop or a good shop. I'm a damage appraiser and have been writing damage for over 15 years now. Without seeing the damage I would say that they couldn't tell if you were stopped or not. By the way in car witnesses don't count.

Good Luck

Every thing is sorted out now. I do not have to pay for a thing. I was really nervous because it was the first time anything like this happpend to me.

 

[beak]

That's good to hear. At least 20% of the claims I look at are parking lot accidents. Some are people speeding and others are people backing up without looking.Thank Spock that most cars have back up lights or peds would get run over everyday.