crisco

ok, so my wife is making her way through the parking lot towards the exit at Walmart . She goes to make a right hand turn to get into the lane which leads to the street. She checks to her left, no cars coming. Proceeds to make the turn and BAM! A minivan comes out of nowhere and nails the driver's side front bumper, partially ripping it off. Anyways, the guy was on his cell phone, stops his van, gets out, looks at the damage while my wife calls the cops. Then, before she can talk with him to exchange info etc, he leaves the scene. My wife waits for the cops, fills out a report. We find out today, that he proceeded to go to the cop shop - so he won't be cited for a 'hit and run'.

At any rate, there are basically no eye witnesses etc. I don't know how they'll establish liability. I'm guessing that he was making a left turn, coming from the other side of the lane that she was turning into and neither of them saw one another - and they 'merged' at the same time. But no way to know for sure, until we hear his story. So my question is: are we pretty much guaranteed that we'll have to pay our deductable?? I'm guessing that it boils to down to he said/she said, right?

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

It does boil down to he said-she said. However, if he was indeed making a left turn, then he is at fault as the individual making the right turn has right of way over an individual making a left turn.

crisco

I agree. We'll have to see what his story is.

raheel616

actually no citation will be given nor anything its personal property, it boils down to what you decide u can claim it on his insurance but most probably you will get denied and if he trys to claim on u, you tell ur insurance that it wasnt your fault and you were stopped at the point he hit you and he will get denied also

raheel616

from what i have learned it does not matter its private property street laws basically do not apply, it all boils down to yourself and if you do want the money for ur car and he denies it, you have to take it down to small claims court and fight for the money since it is private property

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Not true. Even though it is private property, moving violations do still apply. Failing to yield right of way can still be used as a determinant in deciding blame in this situation. Just because it occurs on private property does not mean that the insurance company all of a sudden does not assign blame.

raheel616

well i was in a fender bender 2 weeks ago where i was clipped in the front, when i talked to the cop and talked to a few cops i know they said as long as its private property they have no jurisdiction, if i were to run a stop sign in a private property i could not get pulled over or if i didnt yield.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

But that doesn't apply to an insurance judgment. Just because you cannot receive a ticket does not mean that you are allowed to fail to follow the rules of the road. Insurance bases their judgments of blame on the standard rules of the road, laid out in the DMV handbook and motor vehicle code of each state. So, while you are right that you cannot receive a traffic ticket, you can still be held liable by an insurance company if you cause an accident while violating a traffic law.

raheel616

well in my accident i was over the line for which i was turnin but stopped and the girl clipped my car in the front insurance denied her but the cop said it would be my fault if i wasnt on private property



*edit*
please dont take it as me just being stubborn and arguing with you, im just actually learnin more information about these cases from what you are telling me

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Well, remember that blame is conditional upon what information each side provided when they were asked about the accident. For example, in your situation, if the other driver admitted to not paying attention, you can pretty much be sure that they will absorb at least 50% blame for the accident.

But regardless, the rules of the road still apply on private property, even if law enforcement cannot enforce them, the insurance companies can still ding you for it just the same.

raheel616

hmm. well for the insurance company it was basically my word for his

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Right, and usually when it is that kind of situation, unless there is overwhelming evidence one way or the other, fault is split down the middle.

04rob

To put in my two cents, laws for liability about these sorts of things differ greatly by jurisdiction. For instance, there are "no fault" states where no matter whose fault it was, your own insurance pays for the repairs to your car. Then there are "shared fault" states where you pay a percentage based on how at fault you were. I have no idea how it works in Canada.

raheel616

hmm interesting, but now i feel like i whored the thread starters thread and im sorry for that, but although i got a great heap of info and hope the threadstarted did too. Thank you

S14 n Tsx

good luck..

crisco

thanks for the info everyone.
We're under a no-fault system in Ontario.
I'm still trying to track down the other guy's info (ie. insurance and of course, his version of events) from the police. Got the estimate today for the damage to my car - $2000 CDN. My deductable is $500. The fun continues.........

c_hayhurst

Did your wife get the guy's license plate number? She DID make sure she got it as soon as she got out of the car, RIGHT?

If not, tell your insurance company if/when the guy files a police report and they will track the guy down to make his insurance pay for it, if possible.

I was involved in an accident on private property recently and the insurance company decides fault based on the point of impact on the vehicle. you take it in to ta body shop or one of their claims adjusters will come out and, evaluate the damageand make a determination of fault.

I'm in Ohio, so it may work differently in Canada.