Marlboro27s

last night i was roadtripping down to southern california when i decided to make a quick bathroom/snack stop. so im pulling off the freeway (101 south) at Santa Maria, and im at the stoplight on the exit when BAM...i get rear ended by a mid 90s toyoto 4runner. I put my hazards on and prepared to step out when all of a sudden to guy screeches off. i jump back into my car and im chasing him down backroads and i got his liscense plate, etc. i call the police and they tell me to pull over so i eventually do.

my bumper is pretty much wasted, and my truck is dented pretty bad. my taillights are also misaligned.....this was BULLSHIT

so it takes the cops ONE FUCKING HOUR to finally respond and meet me at the scene of the accident. i end up giving descriptions to local police, who tell me to wait another fucking 20 minutes for the CHP, whos jurisdiction is falls under.

i find out that the 4runner is registered locally but thats all they tell me.

what is going to happen here. am i going to get raped and have to pay for this shit. my mom told me that if the other guy has no insurance im going to have a pay a 500$ deductible and have to absorb the costs...this sounds RIDICULOUS. ITS NOT MY FAULT!!

what should i do guys? im going to meet up with the police officer in charge of my case in a few hours. since this was a felony hit and run can i sue? if he has no insurance what happens? i feel i should be 100% compensated for this whole mess.

please give me as much relevant advice as possible..thanks

zeroday

no matter who is at fault, your insurance will go up. sucks, but that's the way it is. if he has no insurance, you don't get paid. you can try to sue him but collecting on that is almost impossible.

Marlboro27s

WHAT!!!! THATS FUCKING RIDICULOUS.......man the way insurance companies work is BULLSHIT....somebodys insurance should never go up if they are hit

how come that is impossible...this was a felony hit and run it should be easy....why does anyone even have insurance than if people can just crash into other peoples cars with no insurance and not be liable, are you telling me this fucker could get away with this!?!

zeroday

two of my cars have been rear ended on two seperate occasions while stopped at a light...great luck huh? well in both cases my insurance went up. it's not fair, it sucks, but that's the way it is.

zamo

Ideally, you might wanna contact the asshole's insurance company directly, and tell them to f'ing pay for the damage. Now, this is assuming the guy has insurance. In this way, your insurance wont even know about the incident.

bigman

your insurance wont go up if they dont pay. Also if he has insurance, your insurance companies job is to get the other insurance company to pay for the damages.

zeroday

i have first hand experience that proves otherwise.

joerockt

Then you must have been partially at fault, or you have no-fault insurance. If your proven 100% not at fault, the your insurance company dosent pay a dime and the at-fault drivers insurance pays for both cars...Liability and Collision cover both cars...

CLpower

my mom just went through some shit like this, took for ever, she finally got the ladies info from the cops after about a month and threatened to taker her to small claims but she gave in and her insurance covered it all. This was about 3 months after the incident, she had already fixed the car but got her deductable back and her insurance collected from the other drivers. Insurance didn't go up, and hasn't on any of our claims like this for some reason.

zeroday

I was stopped at a stop light, how could i be at fault?

One of the accidents where some kid rear ended me was ruled 'no fault' by the cop because it was wet out. I ended up getting screwed because of that. My insurance had to fix my car. The other was a hit and run. Probably a drunk driver. Again, my insurance had to pay up.

m&b6speed

insurance goes up because off assclowns like the guy that hit you and zeroday, and uninsured motorists. if you ask me its BS

chris rock said it best".. they should call it "in case shit happens", now if shit don't happen, shouldn't i get my money back..."

observer

No, he won't get away. He's going to jail for hit and run.

mrdeeno

I was involved in a similar incinden t about 7 years ago.

Here's the story...I was going home through a green light when a guy in the opposite direction took a left in front of me. I got his plate numbers right after the hit then pulled over.

He took off.

Called cops. Cops came, i gave them the number, they traced it and went to the guy's house, but no one home.

I had the car fixed and MY insurance paid for it after paying the $500 deductible.

Several months later I was the witness at this guys trial for hit and run and no insurance. They could not get him for hit and run because I could not identify him, but he did not have insurance the day of the accident (he got insurance the day after though).

My insurance DID NOT go up. they would go after this guy for the $500 deductible and if he pays they pay me back the $500.

That's all they can do. If it wasn't your fault, then it's the other guy's insurance's responsibility to pay first. If he has no insurance, then it falls under your collision insurance, and you set the amount of the deductible when you bought your insurance. In this case I guess your deductible is $500, so why should you not have to pay this?

A deer can run out in front of you and your comprehensive would pay for it. Are you going to say that you shouldn't pay your deductible because it was the deer's fault?

On another note, my sister has been in many many not-at-fault accidents. Her insurance went up after the 3rd or 4th accident within a 2 year period because she was at risk...it may not be her fault for the accidents, but she was high risk because she didn't avoid them too well...if someone is pulling out in front of her, instead of slowing down or swerving around (ie avoiding an accident), she'll speed up to keep him from getting out in front of her...so when he hits her, it's his fault but she didn't do anything to try to avoid it.

mrdeeno

only if you can identify the driver.

otherwise they can only get him for no insurance on the car or no registration.

observer

Hmm, that's really interesting, I never thought of it. That means it gives hit and runners the incentive to actually run away successfully. If you're not caught on the scene, it's pretty much impossible for you to be identified while you were in the car all the time in front of the pursuer. Does this work the same way for being chased by the cops on the street? So it seems like the deal is, if you run away and don't get caught, then you're not liable for anything even when they know who you are.

FastAcura

Some bitch hit me while I was parked at a grocery store a few years ago. I wasn't there and she didn't leave any info, but someone got her licenese plate # and description and put a sticky on my window. I called the cops and he had all her information within half an hour. Her insurance company paid for the damages less than a week later and my insurance didn't go up.

mrdeeno

Well yeah...let's say I was in an accident, it was MY fault, I have NO insurance, I have NO license, and I was drunk. OF COURSE it would be an incentive if I could run away successfully without being identified. If i killed someone it would also be an incentive to run away without being identified

I'm not a lawyer, but I think the legal implications of this (from a car accident context) is that if I let you borrow MY car. You go and pull a hit and run and let's say that someone got the plate # but can't identify you.

Unless a witness (victim or otherwise) can place ME or YOU behind the wheel, I can't be arrested for hit and run, even though it's my car. Like if your wife was speeding in your car and gets pulled over. your wife would get the ticket, not you even though it's your car.

BUT since it's my car, they'll ask me to provide proof of insurance and registration because obviously, the car was being operated on the road. If I can't provide insurance and registration, I can be charged with having a non-insured/non-registered car operated (unless it was stolen, since it's my car, it's my responsibility to make sure it was insured and registered before letting anyone operate it). In my case, that's all the owner of the car was charged with because it was at night and I couldn't identify him.


No, you're twisting it around...if you run away and THEY KNOW who you are, then you will be held liable. you can run away all you want, but IF I can identify you in a picture or at trial, then you CAN be held liable.

mrdeeno

oh yeah, forgot to answer this part.

Let's say a dude who "resembles" you is being chased by cops and the cops never get a look at his face.

They lose the guy but later on, they see you walking down the street. Are you telling me that they can arrest you because you resemble the guy they were chasing? This would lead to a total breakdown of our legal system.

Let's say they were chasing YOU at first and they DID see your face. They lose you, but later on in the day they see you walkign down the street. NOW they can arrest you because they CAN identify YOU.

mrdeeno

I think in this hit-and-run case, if you can get the plate and make of the car, then you're pretty much golden.

It doesn't matter who the driver is because it's up to the other car's OWNER's insurance (granted he has any) to fix your car. If the OWNER doesn't have insurance, he'll be charged for not having insurance, but then it's on your insurance then.

Best you can do (if you want the hassle) is to sue the OWNER for your deductible back.

If you didn't have collision and had to pay for your own repairs, then you can sue the OWNER of the other car for full damages. But I've been in a case like this too with my motorcycle. If the driver of the other car can't afford insurance, do you really think he can afford to pay you several thousand to fix your car?

sbuswell

bottomline, your car will be fixed which your insurance company will pay for. if other guy doesn't have insurance you will need to pay your deductible and either sue him for it or have your insurance company go after him for it along with the loss they incured because he did not have insurance. your insurance should not go up though. I have been involved in several accidents in the past where I was not at fault and my insurance never went up even when I was rear-ended at a stop light when I was 18.

mrdeeno

Since the guy hit you and ran, he probably doesn't have a license or is on the verge of losing his license. In that case, he's probably had violations in the past so his insurance premium is probably sky high, so chances are he probably doesn't have insurance.

I'd be willing to bet the guy doesn't have insurance.

Marlboro27s

alrite so the cops went and found the guy, but no one would admit to being the driver. the cops got the guys insurance information so i geuss he does have insurance. i called my insurance and i think everything will work out

im just praying this guys insurance is legit

mrdeeno

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings...

When i got into my motorcycle accident (same thing...guy going in opposite direction takes a left in front of me), I made sure the cops came and he gave me his insurance info and everything and the cop made a record of the accident (no accident "report" though since it didn't qualify as requiring it).

The guy insisted that I contact him for the repairs after the estimate (it looked mostly cosmetic).

After I got the quote for repairs, it came out to about $3000 because of frame damage, so they pretty much totaled the bike. Instead of contacting the guy, I decided just to call his insurance company...he was cancelled 2 months after he got the policy. But since the insurance card is good for 6 months the cop didn't think anything.

I had to do all kinds of running around and they eventually fined him for driving without isnurance, but that's about it. I sued him but he never showed up at court and never paid. To this day he still owes me $3000...this was 6 years ago.

moomaster_99

Seems like a lot of you dont have a clue what happens with insurance and accidents.

mrdeeno

that would be a compliment...

wish i never had to know what happens with a hit-and-run, accident, and insurance rates after an accident.

Marlboro27s

i have a pretty good insurance company im guessing. im dropping my car off for repairs at one of their shops and im geussing that if the other guys insurance isnt legit they will just go after him, so far they said i dont have to pay shit

one of my friends (no insurance) got into an accident with some lady. Her insurance paid for her repairs, then came after my friend requiring payment from him. he basically told them that it was a mutual fault accident and they stopped calling him. insurance companies probably just take the few grand in losses so that they can make more money by keeping you as a policy member

WdnUlik2no

Hmmm, both my accidents I've had were not my fault and my insurance did not go up at all. I was rearended back in 01, and in 04, some lady ran a red light and I hit her.

I am not sure how it is with hit and run, but I do know you have to pay the deductible that is standard procedure; that is your deductible set in your policy.

Since that asshole who ran off probably doesn't have insurance you will never get that $500 back. I also had to pay $500 deductible to get my car fixed for the 01 accident, but I got it back after that other guys insurance paid up. (The guy caused a 5 car pile up on the expressway, I was the last car to get hit). After a month or so, my insurance company cut me a check for the $500.

Since you got his license plate, this guy is going to have a lot more to worry about than not having insurance. Just feel good knowing this, he is definetely going to get the short end of the stick in the long run.