Hi,
I'll try to keep this short. I could use any suggestions and legal advice (if needed).

On friday night, I was on my way home. I was driving on the left lane behind a cop. He turned left. As I sped along, two cars flew by me on the right and into my lane in front of me. A red car and a white cadillac DTS tailgating behind it.

I switched lanes to the right to avoid them. As I come very near to pass, I notice the red car makes a sudden short stop to turn left and the cadillac brakes very hard. Before I knew it, the cadillac swerved into my lane on the right and I've never come closer to ramming anyone. I braked as hard as possible and the next thing I know, my car swerves to the right and I'm forced to jump a curb and a long row of dry bushes scrape the entire length of the cl.

The cadillace proceeds to take off and I chase after to get the plates. I honk him down and he slows to wait for me. This entire time, I'm still in shock of my near major accident and kept my cool. I said, "you need to pull over now".

He claims it's not his fault and says my scratches would buff out. As if I need his stupid ass advice. I told him that he had forced me off the road. Apparently, he was driving recklessly by tailgating the other car. There was no reason for him to chase after that red car when the right lane was open the entire time. Because of his carelessness, his car got away unscathed while mine has major scratches along the right side. There could be unforeseen damages to the wheels/suspension/etc.

He takes off saying it's f*cked up, but it's not his fault. I waited for the cops because I wanted to make a police report. Yes, I did report his plates as well. The officer was actually quite patient and kind.

I'm debating whether I should report this to my insurance, since we have an accident forgiveness plan. But I keep thinking that I should save it for a real accident.

I'm just upset that my car is all scratched up, granted it's an old '98 2.3cl. And the fact that the guy got away after being such an ass of a driver.

Any thoughts? Luckily, I was not driving my '06 TL... I might have lost it then. The police report will be ready by mid next week. I keep thinking to myself, maybe I should have just rammed into his dumb ass. But then I'd be even more screwed up. I plan to take the car in for Acura to inspect before I decide if the insurance should pay for repairing the scratches and any other damages.

On a good note, I'm a proud new father of a baby girl as of two weeks ago. That's why I'm trying to keep things in perspective and not lose my head.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

congrats on the baby. about the scrapes. how deep are they? is it something that scratch X can't cover?

 

cliff notes please.

 

Lmao, thats what I was thinking.

 

Chapter 1 Summary: Tailgater in Cadillac...brakes suddenly...CL hits curb....CL has a boo boo

Chapter 1 Analysis: Whoops?

 

 

I read it, and I think if you feel you have the time go after this fuck nut. He should take responsibility, and honestly, you could have hit him if you were a dick weed like that, and now that I think about it you probably should have. (coulda, shoulda, woulda.)

 

good luck tryin to prove everything, seeing how it already happened and you have no witnesses. it easily could go word for word/ he said vs. she said b.s. type dispute. you also have no idea who or where that red car is, and plus, even tho he slammed on his brakes, thats no excuse for you, you should be a "safe distance away" to avoid that time of emergency ( another ex. of what the cadillac driver could defend himself with). just statin the truth. good luck. and congratulations on the baby

 

The cad. driver could say that but since he swerved into the lane its not like you were riding his ass and wernet able to stop or something...

 

sounds like his word vs. yours.
shared liability in NJ unless it's outright someone's fault (as in a rearend/something with witnesses, etc).
you can try to go through his insurance, but it'll be up to them if they wanna pay out to you or not (probably not).
if no luck with the other guy's ins. and your damage is less than a G, very likely could use your ins. to get it fixed as it prob won't up your rate then.
all else fails, bite the bullet, and welcome to the asshat-driver capitol of the world.
congrats on the new babe, good luck

 

Unfortunately I think your going to be S.O.L, but hopefully I'm wrong.

My friend had a similar thing happen to her, she swerved to avoid this woman trying to switch lanes where she was at and went into the median of I-75 going 65-70, woman stopped, police showed up, and while the woman did admit she was wrong, the police just sent her on her way, my friend's car did get scuffed up w/ a CEL but since the police did not see it and since she did not hit my friend, nothing could be done.

Good luck and congrats on the baby!