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Rear ended, need advcie

DigitalPackrat

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So I was rear ended in the Mustang today. This is new territory for me so I want to make sure I am doing stuff correctly. 19 years of driving and the only time I have had to call insurance was over a blowout that tore up the side of my truck.

Basically coming out of a parking lot making a right, I am stopped waiting for an opening, lady behind me decides to go and runs into me around 5MPH. It was a corner impact my left rear vs her right front. Visible damage on my end is the rear bumper and likely the tail light due to some deep scratches. On the other end was a Volvo S40, looks like the front bumper and one headlight need replacement.

My paranoid side leaves me worrying about a few things.

1) She asked me if the damage was already there. Might be nothing but I saved my house security footage from 30 minutes earlier which shows no damage on multiple cameras. I also saved all dashcam footage from leaving the house to returning to show just one person ran into me.

2) Her Geico insurance card was expired. She claims it was just an old copy.

3) Her husband came and prefers not to get insurance involved. I doubt that will work out with the cost of a bumper, paint and a tail light.

I haven't called my insurance (AAA) yet. I am thinking of getting a quote then giving the Volvo owner a few days to give me cash. I don't know how long I have to get insurance involved and I have no intention of letting things drag out. Is that a wise way to deal with this or should I call AAA tomorrow and get stuff started?

I did have the police come out. They just did an accident information exchange form and gave us both a drivers crash report to fill out. The report has a 10 day limit so I will mail it Monday, the incident being 7PM Saturday. They don't do an investigation unless its over $1000 which I am fairly certain would be exceeded with minor bumper contact of any two vehicles.


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draph

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I empathize with you and that lady. I've been on the receiving and giving end in that scenario in my 35 years of driving. Those right turn/yield/merge into traffic type of intersections are a great temptation for the second in line to not stop after the first guy in line goes - if the hole is big enough. The problem is, when you are second in line, you can't assume the first guy in line is going to judge the hole is sufficiently sized the same as you, and you need to pay attention to the guy in front of you vs. watching for holes in the traffic coming from the left. In one instance the teen in front of me took her foot off the brake, started to accelerate, I looked left, saw the hole was big enough for me too, and decided to go, too, but she lost confidence, hesitated and hit her brake, just in time for me to hit her as I was beginning to look ahead again. Luckily two older cars with only clear coat scuffs that could be buffed out. It looks like the lady behind you was going to shoot for the next lane over based on your impact angles; and perhaps she thought/assumed a Mustang driver was going to be as aggressive or more aggressive than she with a traffic hole shot - and now she's going to pay the toll. I've learned that it's now better to tick off the 3rd in line and just keep eyes forward, let the 1st guy go, come to complete stop, and then start looking left for the hole...and I'm paranoid when 1st in line, but my Mustang gives me a little more ability to fit into smaller gaps than the car behind me most of the time...but I am getting older and more careful...so some young whippersnapper may hit my Mustang yet when overestimating my hole-shot aggressiveness, given they are one eye short (one for the left, one for the front, and one for reading the text message on their cell phone).. ;-)

You did the right thing to get her insurance info and a police record. If these people reneg' on their cash deal, you can go to your insurance with their info and police report. If you aren't in a no fault state, she is automatically at fault. In the case I was rear-ended, it was almost the same. Her husband came, and wanted to keep insurance out of it. Police came and filed a report. Their insurance card was expired. I filed with my insurance. My insurance later told me it wasn't just their card, but their entire policy that was expired. They told me they were going to litigate against them for insurance fraud....I don't know how that turned out; but my uninsured/underinsured endorsement on my policy took care of my new bumper and bumper cover. My premium was unaffected.
 

Ambrotos

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I am willing to bet there is more damage. Look at your tailpipe. Looks like there is even paint transfer in it. So your exhaust might be bent. Never trust anyone by what they say after something like this. I've seen many times where a person will admit fault, and turn around and try and blame the other person and try and take them to court. Also you may have rear body damage. Either file with her insurance company if she even still has it, or just go through yours. They won't personally give you anything close to what the cost to fix all that.

If you want money and buy aftermarket stuff or whatever go through GEICO and when they see all the damage and tell you it all. Ask for an appearance allowance. Any adjuster would be willing to trade you that than doing the repairs. The bumper/absorber/impact bar alone is almost 800 dollars for a recycled one. Add in about 3 hrs of overhaul time at like $60 an hour ($180), $60 for 2.6ish ($156)in paint and $40 dollars 3ish hours in paint materials (120). I just saw that the tail light is starting at $500 dollars and .2 labor time.

You are looking at about $2,000 dollars after tax. That's not including the tailpipe or exhaust being damaged. I can't tell you how many times I've had to replace almost the entire exhaust from the cat back because of where the damage is or the owner wanted it new since the scratches can't come out.

I would normally ask someone to take an appearance allowance on it. Pretty much I would offer 75% of the repair/replacement cost if they agreed to get a check for it than having the insurance company replace it.

Go through her insurance. You get a rental car from Enterprise till it's repaired.

I'm an auto damage adjuster and love to take Mustang claims. Although it seems I am 9 out of 10 in total that I've had to total them out.
 

w3rkn

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Any accident, no matter how little, you call the police. They have to know there has been an accident and to document it.


If you are hit from behind, it is almost always that person's fault, their insurance pays. Also, having their insurance info does not do YOU any good, because your insurance company will deal with all of that stuff, not you. All you need is the police report.

Don't agree to let him pay anything and just tell him the Insurance Company will be handling it. Most likely he doesn't have the $2k to fix you car anyways...
 
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DigitalPackrat

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I have been googling this for a while now. It looks like my best option is to contact my insurance (AAA). As I understand it, I can get a quote somewhere, my insurance pays for repairs and sends a demand letter to the Volvo driver. Then the Volvo driver has the option to pay or use their insurance.

I"ll keep the appearance allowance in my back pocket for now, I really just want it structurally as good as factory.

My list for the collision center/insurance so far:
rear bumper
left tail light
full alignment
check chassis alignment
diminished value
 
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w3rkn

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Correct.
You have video of the accident, the police need to see that for their report. Let the insurance company handle it all. You don't have to do anything, that is why you have insurance.

Your insurance company will pay to get your car fixed and you back on the road... and they will in-turn, be reimbursed by Her insurance company, etc. But Your Insurance will get you back on the road and fix your car, and it is their responsibility to get Her insurance to pay them back, not your responsibility.
 

Rock&Roll

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“3) Her husband came and prefers not to get insurance involved. I doubt that will work out with the cost of a bumper, paint and a tail light.”


Screw him. Call the insurance company ASAP and let them handle it.



“2) Her Geico insurance card was expired. She claims it was just an old copy.”

Maybe but probably BS. People suck and I don’t trust anyone these days. I got hit a month ago. Got out of the car and the guy was apologetic. I grabbed my phone and called the police. The guys says “we don’t have to do this”. I said “ yeah we do you just hit my car”
And as I’m explaining to the police where I am not paying attention to the guy ... he gets in his car and takes off on me.

I’ve lost all faith in humanity. Call your insurance company now before your screwed.
 

jonrjen

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If the officer called in the license for each driver and vehicle here in Texas the check would have alerted the officer if one of the vehicles did not have current state required insurance coverage. Unless the driver received a citation for no insurance and or her vehicle towed and impounded it is a pretty good bet that her out dated card was a true story.
That being said, file the claim with your insurance carrier that's what you are paying them for. New vehicles sustain too many hidden damages away from being seen at face value.
And do go for diminished value, after all when you go to sell or trade this vehicle in the future it will be reported as a accident damaged vehicle resulting in less money in your pocket or trade value.
 

wanted33

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This is from an old retired LEO. Call your Insurance Company tomorrow. Do not put it off any longer. Do not take any payment from the other person. There may be more damage than you think. Let your Insurance carrier advise you on what steps you need to take. Your Insurance will most likely send out an adjuster to access the damage, and give you suggestion on a body shop to fix the car. Most insurances will let you take the car to a body shop of your choice if you want. Let your insurance company take care of the payment details. Don't complicate the process, just let the Insurance take car of everything.

Also, do not, and I can't say this enough, do not call a lawyer at this time. There are many out there that will suggest you call one, but don't. Unless everything goes completely off the rails a lawyer is not needed.
 

JCFoster

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2nd what Wanted33. I’ve had better service on repairs going through a Ford dealer. And if they find more damage, they contact the insurance co. So, less worry and aggravation on your part.
 

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HoosierDaddy

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You need to report it to your insurance company (its required by your policy) but you do NOT need to have them do anything. I have never had an at fault accident and always just report the few times I've been hit by someone else to my insurance and then deal with the responsible party's insurance. I'm not saying that's right for you, just telling you you have that option. Of course if it turns out they do not have insurance, that's a different game. Would be risky to not go thru your insurance in that situation, assuming you have coverage for that.
 
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DigitalPackrat

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Thanks everyone for the replies. I started a claim with my insurance. I also put the Mustang on stands so I could get a closer look at everything. I couldn't see anything off underneath but did spot some alignment issues with the trunk and fender so no telling what the collision shop will find when the start pulling panels off.
 

Moostang83

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Glad to see the post above. I work in insurance and my number 1 rule is always contact your insurance carrier in the event of an accident, this is why you pay them money every month. I hope everything works out for you, these things suck.
 

stevegt

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Behind that bumper cover is a crash bar and if damaged will add a lot of cost. You may not be able to asses hidden damage until disassembly takes place.
 

Cobra Jet

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I don’t think the crash bar would be damaged but I can tell you:

1) taillight - that’s trashed and can’t be fixed
2) bumper cover - best to get replaced even if existing one can be fixed by shop
3) plastic mounts behind the bumper cover are probably cracked

The taillight and bumper cover alone (excluding the lower black valance of the bumper) new from Ford will be over $1500... excluding any other parts, R&R or paint work...

I’d suspect with shop rates, R&R, new parts, prep/paint, materials cost and disposal of old parts, that’s gonna be at least a $3500 repair...

I would take all the recommendations as noted above - be sure to report it ASAP.

Most people don’t know this but if an accident occurs at an intersection or length of road that is monitored by traffic cams - you can contact your local DOT and ask them if they can give you a copy of the footage from that day/time. It may cost a few bucks but at least you’ll have documented vid.

If those idiots are driving around on expired Insurance (OR possible they don’t even have ANY insurance and are using just expired Ins cards), then who knows what other scammer type of crap they will pull on you.

Driving with expired insurance is a points violation in most States, let alone the Ins points they will now accrue with having to pay out for her accident...

The problem with folks who are willing to pay cash to the other driver to avoid increased insurance premiums is this:

1) These folks usually never pay up and will come up with excuse after excuse - or just disappear... no police report, good luck in small claims court...

OR

2) After you supply an estimate for repair to them and they do pay you that amount of cash- if there is any additional damages uncovered during the Body Shop R&R process, good luck trying to get any more money from them... and then you have no recourse but to pay on your own.
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