auto insurance question

[danaeris]

So. unseelie rams this Caravan (a van I think?) in the rear yesterday coming off of 101 in SF. They get out. Inspect their respective cars. Both conclude that there is no damage. The other guy says, "I guess its your lucky day," gets in his van, and drives off without exchanging insurance info. Unseelie does the same.

Now Unseelie sees that there is damage to his own car and is feeling concerned. What if the other guys van turns out to be damaged? What if the other guy calls his insurance company after all? He didn't see him take down license, doesn't think he had time, but what if?

I argue, "It was his idea not to exchange info. You didn't have time to get his license plate, and he drove off before you. So he probably can't call his insurance company on you even if he changes his mind. But if you DO call your insurance company, it will increase your insurance rates plus since you have a $500 deductible, it won't save you any money on repairing the car."

He argues, "But if he does have the info somehow and calls his insurance, there could be a hit and run on my record and it would be bad bad bad, and it would be my word against his in court."

What should he do? Call the insurance company? Or sit tight and handle it all himself?

Comments

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

I believe the threshhold for making an accident
legally required to be reported is $500 worth of
damage; and/or an injury to a human.

The law should be online at the DMV website or
somewhere (you're a resourceful grrl).

Z

P.S.: (I am not a lawyer. Duh.)

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info. It's actually $750 now, according to the DMV website. W00t. I sincerely doubt that there is more than 750 in damages, and no one was injured.

[deyo.livejournal.com]

In order to be convicted of hit-and-run, the other driver would have to *prove* that unseelie drove off before he had the chance to gather information.

That's more than "My word vs. yours", that's "Beyond reasonable doubt", and he just doesn't have that.

[random-vamp.livejournal.com]

Additionally, there is no advantage for the other fellow to attempt to make it into a hit-and-run case. They wouldn't get more insurance money by doing so, while there would be a good deal more effort.

[lyricagent.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, because unseelie rear-ended the guy, insurance will automatically place the fault on him.

I recently was in an accident where the car that caused it was 2 cars ahead but in the slide-n-skid, I rear-ended the guy in front of me.

Neither of us did the police thing but upon me contacting my insurance, I was told it was autmoatically my fault because I rear-ended him. How it happened etc was irrelevant without a police report.

Just FYI. If he goes to his insurance, they'll ding him.

[kaidevis.livejournal.com]

>>> upon me contacting my insurance, I was told <<<

Don't ever believe what your insurance company tells you; they routinely lie, though in court they state that "Oh, that's just company policy when we lack full information." If it's not your fault, it's not your fault, and you can fight it all the way to court. Many insurance companies will try to claim you caused an accident by at least 51% right up until you start gathering materials and threatening lawsuit.

[redhawke.livejournal.com]

OK, let me first give the disclaimer: Just because I'm a lawyer does not mean that this opinion should be taken as legal advice. In fact, I strongly recommend you consult competent counsel before taking any action that could lead to legal consequences. This is neither an offer nor acceptance of legal representation.

That being said, at least as far as the hit-and-run is concerned, there's nothing to worry about. He stopped. The other person rejected his offer of information exchange. So there is no hit and run to report. "My word against his" is rarely as bad as it sounds in court, especially when you're talking about a criminal action. Were I him, I'd write down everything I remember about the incident (what the other guy looked like, did he say his name, was there any information given that could confirm that they had a conversation? I'd then keep that letter safe, perhaps even send it to himself certified mail, if he's really and truly worried about it.

From what you say, it sounds pretty good to ignore it (beyond the above for the truly worried). The ins. co. isn't likely to make an issue beyond payment even if they get involved. Good luck, and sorry to hear about that. I know it sux to feel that way.

[princeofwands.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about the insurance. If the other guy 1) decides it was worth reporting 2) has more than $750 worth of damage 3) does report it and 4) did manage to catch unseelie's info - then the worst that will happen is that the guy's insurance will contact unseelie's insurance and they'll contact unseelie about why he hadn't called them.

At that point the honest answer is "We looked at the cars and at the time agreed that there wasn't any damage or injury. It may have been naive or not particularly thoughtful to skip exchanging info - but at the time we both in good faith honestly believed that there wasn't any issue - so much so that it hadn't occurred to either of us to exchange info. I'm really quite surprised that the other driver took my license plate down at some point." And then it progresses from there as if he'd called them right away with complete contact info exchange admitting to rear ending the other driver.

[kaidevis.livejournal.com]

I had a very similar situation happen to me except that as I handed my insurance info to a guy he refused to give me his and left without giving it to me. Worried he'd call my insurance, I called them first and told them I was worried about insurance fraud.

Though I claimed no damage, and the guy never called them, they tried to say I was 51% responsible on a $0 claim and that they were going to bump up my rates. After two months of sending them letters and spending a few hours on hold trying to clear the whole damn thing up, they dropped it completely.

Overall I preferred to have done it that way, just to have been safe, but it does open you up for potential abuse from your insurance company that you need to be prepared to deal with. If they get particularly nasty, the thing to do is just get a supervisor or manager to clear it up, threatening a lawsuit over their insistence on charging you for informing them of potential fraud on the part of another driver.

Besides which, state law requires you to report. Lots of times people don't just because of this kind of hassle, but if you do then they won't take it to court because technically you've done exactly as you're required to do---if they try to raise your rates over it, when you're making no claim, they're fucked. They won't take it to court, they'll just drop it.

I'd judge the potential headache. Especially since the two of you can legally use your journal entries (Danga, LJ's parent company, can be subpoenaed to ensure accurate information) if they guy does try to make a claim. So it's up in the air, but those are the options I see.