vogue dasher

Hello.

I have been on this site for quite a while, but I just registered. Anyways, the past Friday, I was involved in an accident. The road conditions were horrible and visibility was also minimal. As I was making a quick right turn into roff ave. a car was literally 8 feet away, and we crashed. She hit the left side of my car. and my tsx light has blew out.

I got out of my car to see if everything was okay, and noticed that my tire marks indicated that I stayed in my lane, but it was her who was going between two lines and therefore crashed into my car.

I quickly called the cops and they came. The cop heard both of our story then proceeded to write a report. While he was writing the report, I was asking him, who he thought was at fault judging from the tire marks and he replied that it doesn't matter who's fault it was. To this shock, I asked him why it didn't matter and he explained that the NJ law states that regardless of who's at fault, our personal damage has to be taken care by ourselves.

So the person involved in the car crash and I came to an agreement that we'll take care of our damage by ourselves to prevent the insurance rate from rising and sent the cop back to his duty.

Later that day I called the insurance company to clarify what the Cop have told me and they replied that it was an outrage for a cop to lie so blatantly.

I was so devastated that I called the police department and asked for the officer who reported to the accident, but apparently he has signed out and went home. The following day I called, but they said he was on duty so call back at around 3:50. I called back exactly at 3:50 but they told me he left for home.

I complained stating that I was told what to do to speak to him, but why can't you guys tell him someone needs to talk to him? then the operator gets frustrated and yells "what can I do?" and hangs up the phone.

I don't know what I should do. I mean, the accident wasn't my fault, the cops lied in front of my face, I don't even know why a cop would tell me a false information, and now I can't even drive the car because the lights are blown and the bumpers are hanging down.

What should I do?????????

Thanks in advanced.

jcg878

Sorry to hear of your plight. I'll bet you never get any satisfaction out of the police though, even though they handed you a plate of BS. What's the point of liability insurance if you're responsible for your own car??

Your incident shows, once again, how much NJ insurance sucks. Both of you aren't reporting the accident - something that either or both of your insurance companies should pay for - to avoid your insurance rates rising. Though both of your rates would go up, if she's truly liable then her insurance should be paying for you.

NJ insurance!

bradkv

I am a claims adjuster in NC, and have worked NJ claims in the past, the cop did lie to you, to an extent, but it doesn't make any difference what the cop says anyway. Your insurance company will make a liability determination based solely on their investigation of the incident. If you go through them to have the damage repaired, you will have to pay your deductible, and they will collect from the other party's carrier if they feel you were not at fault. My advice would be to go back to the scene asap and snap some photos of any skid marks that show you were in your lane, take as many as you can, but remember that the weather will wash away the marks quickly, so it may already be too late. I hope this helps.

7or8

That cop needs a class on what "No Fault Insurance" means.. Basically 'No Fault Insurance" means that your physical body is covered by your insurance company no matter who's at fault, so that way your medical bills, lost wages, etc. get paid right away without the haggle of having to go through the other drivers insurance. But it does not cover the damage to your vehicle.

Did you get the other driver's plate No. You should give it to your issurance company and see what they can do from here.

dirk

i think someone said in another thread possibly on another tsx board that buying a disposable camera and keeping it in your glove box can be a lifesaver in situations like this. it's totally worth the 12 bucks or whatever (for a good one) if it can save your ass bigtime later on. sorry about the whole situation and i hope everything works out

phile

I think the cop just doesn't know what he was trying to communicate to you. When someone dented my car in a tight parking spot, I made a police report, got a copy and sent it to my insurance company. Based on what was written on the report, my insurance company determined that I was not at fault and they paid for the damage; no contact with the other insurance company was ever involved. But I still had to pay the $500 deductible and I took the other guy to court to make him pay me the $500 I had to pay for my deductible. The best thing you should've done was gotten a police report - even if he states it doesn't matter who's at fault, what he writes on the report does.

vogue dasher

thanks for the advice people, truly appreciate it, however, i can't take pictures since they've all been washed away, i can't even contact the police because they're all being rude who can't cooperate, i didn't even get the license plate, which i dearly regret.

the only thing i can do is contact my insurance company and explain what has happened, but i don't think they can investigate any detail based solely on my own words..

dirk

i thought you were just going to settle it w/o getting your insurance company involved? might as well just go with the plan now, and go forth with your new knowledge in case (but hopefully not) anything like that happens again

vogue dasher

i just called the body shop and acura dealers, and they're telling me it would cost 800 to 1000 dollars to replace the front bumper and an extra 300 for the lights.

oh my goodness, there must be another solution to this horror....

dirk

buy the parts as cheap as you can find them and do the work yourself.. consider possible replacements like euro-r parts. from what i've been reading, the lights and bumper aren't hard to replace

dirk

oh shit.. i misread your first post.. i thought you and the lady were going to pay for eachother's damages or something... that sucks that it has to come out of your own pocket! maybe you should try calling your insurance co. and seeing if they can help you out