…(after dropping our children off at a BD party). Her truck left 2 large dents & paint marks in the driver’s side rear 1/4 panel of my car. I didn’t see this happen, but the woman told my friend that she accidentally hit a car, & then sought me out to inform me. She was very apologetic, & I didn’t want to add to her apparent stress. I said I appreciated her stopping to let me know (instead of just driving off), & I asked if she had insurance (& that I’d like to have it fixed). While she was writing down her info, I called my insurance company & reported it. We then exchanged info (name, address, ins co, etc). B/4 calling her ins co too, I wanted to wait to give her a chance to call her husband first (so he could hear the news from her, instead of getting a surprise call from their ins co). After discussing things w/ him, she asked me if I could please not report it to her ins co yet, to at least wait until Mon, as they preferred to pay for the damages themselves (so their…
…(so their rates would not go up). Knowing what a pain it can be to have ins rates increase, I agreed to her request. Though I didn’t know her, I figured if she had enough integrity to stop & let me know that she hit my car, she was probably worthy of her word.
After I got home, my son took several pictures of the dents. I’m not quite sure how to proceed now. Should I get an estimate right away of the damages (it’s Sat evening)? Should I call my ins co again? Call hers? I don’t see the need to be difficult about it, but I do want my car fixed. By respecting her request, am I screwing myself? I’d appreciate any input/advice or accounts of having to deal w/ a similar situation. Thank you.
May 27, 2010 @ 2:23 am
call your insurance and tell them what happened an give them all the information you have so they can have it in their records. Tell them also that you want to hold on the claim as the lady wants to pay for the repair. Give the lady a couple of days before you give her a reminder call.
Good luck!
May 27, 2010 @ 2:56 am
This is not an unusal story. Did she even get back to you and talk to you about how she intends to pay it herself. Irrespective of that i would suggest, the first thing is go and file a report with the local police about the incident and give them all her details too. Get a copy of the report from the police because your ins. would need it. Then call your insurance and explain them everything. Give your ins. company her details. Seek advice from your ins. agent. There might be no necessity of calling her ins. company. Your agent should take care of it.
Best part is that you at least have all her details. Use it to your advantage and get your car fixed.
May 27, 2010 @ 3:18 am
With hindsight ~(a wonderful gift if you have it), it would have been best to get a signed admission of guilt from this woman at the time of meeting her. However, you took it on yourself to agree with her and her partner that you will wait until Monday at least before they need to report the incident. The woman is trusting your word to her on this. Now, you should expect to trust her word when she says that this will be sorted out n Monday. If nothing is heard of it by Tuesday, then you may need to persue her to keep to her side of the deal. Above all, try to be a little trusting at this early stage. Good people are out there still, albeit rare. Good luck.
May 27, 2010 @ 3:43 am
Yes, go get an estimate of the damages and then call her to let her know how much they are….And remind her it’s just an estimate, there could always be more charges.
In my experience the person that hit me did not agree with the charges and asked for another estimate.
The woman who ran into my car asked me to go to her “friend” for an estimate. When I told her I already got one, she got mad and refused to pay or even talk to me because she thought it was too much. I ended up writing her a certified letter telling her to pay or I’m taking her to small claims court….I had pictures, witness report, and of course the estimate. She finally called and asked again for me to go to her “friend” to get it fixed for 100 bucks….the damages were well over $2,000. That’s when I told her I’ll have my insurance get in touch with her. So, I went through my insurance entirely and had them call her to deal with her and then they called her insurance. Turns out, she was driving someone else’s car and had just gotten into an accident which was also her fault the day before. She wasn’t on the insurance and didn’t have any of her own. Thankfully the insurance took care of everything ….coming out to my work for an estimate, getting car fixed, rental car.
I know some people don’t want to go through their insurance because they think their rates will go up. Well, I was nice and at first I went along with the lady who hit me and she said the same thing about not wanting her rates to go up.
I have learned that I can no longer be nice and trusting because people are always trying to do what’s best for themselves. I would hate for other people to go through the same hassle as me.
This is why we all pay car insurance!