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Hi, this is kind of a weird blog :X
So tonight my girlfriend took me out to 7-11 for some classy dinner. It's my car, we just moved to CA from VA. I still have VA plates, I got here less than 2 weeks ago.
At 7-11, all the parking spaces were filled up. Whatever. While waiting to move, some guy starts backing out. I start flipping out saying STOP STOP STOP - we weren't moving ourselves and couldn't move - and some guy backs into the side of my car!
I flip shit and saying 'FUCKING FUCK FUCKkXXX" you know, whatever, and he steps out and says "Sorry about that". I say, whatever, we gotta do the whole exchange info. I wasn't hostile to him at all, just flipped shit seeing my car get hit in slo-mo.
So when I give him my insurance, he says "its expired". I say "well yea, they have to mail it out, I just got here". He then takes back his insurance, and talks about how he's going to call the cops. I tell him go for it, it doesn't matter (a $50 ticket for a $500 insurance claim, fine by me). I ask for his insurance, and he refuses to give it to me. I do have his all his driver license information, and got his VIN and license plates and make.
Isn't this technically a hit and run, this guy refusing to give me his info? Anyways, here's some side info:
1. My girlfriend is driving my car. While I'm sure my insurance has some sort of guest policy, she's not explicitly covered.
2. I think my insurance expired and isn't covered this term.
3. The center of my rear bumper of my car is messed up from someone else hitting me last year. In that separate, totally unrelated incident I got $1000, but I never was able to use that money to fix up the car due to other issues going on.
4. When the guy started getting hostile, he started saying "Why weren't you in a parking spot, you hit me, bla bla bla". It's REALLY obvious he reared into me (how is it possible for a car to get a mark on the side if it's their fault? Even if that's the case, it's obvious in the mark it's not 'smeared' like if I hit him, but a straight on smash from HIM backing into me:
So what should I do? I think I'll call my insurance in the morning, but I'm afraid my insurance is expired. I'm also considering calling the police - I mean technically this is a hit and run if he refused to give me his information right? The guy was a real douchebag after he saw my insurance was expired, but my insurance has nothing to do with the situation if he hit me, with witnesses.
 
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EDIT: Nm, misread that. Thought you said somehow you'd already been paid $1000 by this same guy who damaged your car tonight, and was so confused. XD
If the cost (in time, effort, and expired insurance fees) is worth it to you, sure, go to the police. Call your insurance company first to check that out though.
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^ No, someone else, in a completely unrelated incident, that happened last year.
What I explained in the OP happened like 10 minutes ago. I was just explaining that the middle of my rear bumper is messed up, but he hit me on the passenger side on the rear side panel, which is obviously different.
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edit: post this was geared towards edited, No longer relevant. Sorry.
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
Shouldn't have let your insurance expire.
Normally this doesn't matter. He is at fault and his insurance would normally pay for your damages. But you fucked up!! You didn't call the police! Now his insurance won't pay you a dime and your non-existent insurance company can't fight for you.
Remember the cardinal rules of getting in an accident:
- Always have insurance
- Always get a police report on-site.
- NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO BEGS YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE AND SAYS THEY WILL PAY YOU
- Always get a police report!!!!
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Edited OP to make clearer
If the cost (in time, effort, and expired insurance fees) is worth it to you, sure, go to the police. Call your insurance company first to check that out though.
Uh, hell yea it's worth the cost. It's not major damage, but I defintely can't just buff it out (my car is silver, there is black - he clearly scratched through the paint, as in took a chunk of it off). I know this is easily a few hundred dollars in damage!
I mean technically this is a hit and run, it's not like a hit and run from the movies, but he hit me, I asked for his info (and after he gave it to me and then took it back before I was done copying it) and he said no, and ran off! Just because he told me he was running doesn't change the illegality of it, right?
I'm just not sure if I can call the police on this, or if it'd be in my best interest to. Despite being illegally uninsured at the moment, HE hit ME, not the other way around, so my insurance company isn't really necessary in any of this (besides being cool and doing all the phone calls for me). So all that needs to be done here is for me to call his insurance company, and get shit sorted out. I have a witness, he admitted to hitting me.
Now, he may deny, and then his insurance company would be a pain in the ass, which is kind of where my insurance company would come into play, but when you get down to it, that just means more trouble for me to get this done. But it's not something I couldn't do myself, and it's very obvious he hit me from the marks on the cars, from my GF's testimony, from how I was able to get his driver license number and info and VIN, and from my own testimony.
As for police, I really don't care to send him to jail or nothing like that, but if it comes down to either me fighting his insurance company, or his insurance company getting shit done because it's obvious their client is at fault when he's in a jail cell for hit and run, then the choice is pretty clear.
I'm worried this may be an issue where I need to act now, as opposed to calling tommorow. I don't want a situation where the cops say "why the fuck didn't you call sooner?". The guy said he called the cops, and apparently they didn't come out because me not having up to date insurance isn't enough of a reason for them to come out. I'm sure he probably left out the part where he hit me, and refused to give me his information though, which may have been relevant to if the cops would come out or not.
Obviously I don't want a ticket for no insurance, and then be fucked when they say "you need to provide proof of insurance or you'll be in more shit", because my insurance is really high for being a dipshit in high school (speeding too much, that's all).
So, you know. This situation is kind of messy.
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So what, I should've called the cops myself? I've never been told to call the police for an accident, and settled many accidents without police.
And, he ran! Can I just call the cops right now, and tell them how this guy just left the scene?
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On July 22 2011 15:28 Belial88 wrote:
So what, I should've called the cops myself? I've never been told to call the police for an accident, and settled many accidents without police.
And, he ran! Can I just call the cops right now, and tell them how this guy just left the scene?
- You call 911
- Cops: "What's the problem?"
- Someone hit my car and fled the scene last night.
- Why did you call now instead of at the time?
- something something
- Other driver: "He hit me"
- "No, you hit me"
- "He doesn't even have insurance, it's expired. He's pinning this on me because of having no insurance"
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3030 Posts
On July 22 2011 15:28 Belial88 wrote:
So what, I should've called the cops myself? I've never been told to call the police for an accident, and settled many accidents without police.
And, he ran! Can I just call the cops right now, and tell them how this guy just left the scene?
If it is not an emergency, just call the station of the city you are currently in and ask for them to send an officer ASAP. As Motbob said earlier, always have insurance. When the officer arrives on the scene, make sure you get the police report from him or you will have issues. I was once asked from the officer if I wanted a police report for a Hit and Run where I did not even get to note down information about the driver, good thing I got it or my insurance company would not have covered the damages.
To not call the police for accidents such as these is not very smart. It's better to be safe than sorry.
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You call 911
- Cops: "What's the problem?"
- Someone hit my car and fled the scene last night.
- Why did you call now instead of at the time?
- something something
- Other driver: "He hit me"
- "No, you hit me"
- "He doesn't even have insurance, it's expired. He's pinning this on me because of having no insurance"Last edit: 2011-07-22 15:38:30
"My Girlfriend who's a witness: No, he hit us, and look, his rear bumper is messed up, and our car has a scratch mark that is clearly indicative of him backing into us"
If it is not an emergency, just call the station of the city you are currently in and ask for them to send an officer ASAP. As Motbob said earlier, always have insurance. When the officer arrives on the scene, make sure you get the police report from him or you will have issues. I was once asked from the officer if I wanted a police report for a Hit and Run where I did not even get to note down information about the driver, good thing I got it or my insurance company would not have covered the damages.
To not call the police for accidents such as these is not very smart. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Right. I get it. I should have insurance. While I'm at, I should have health insurance, a 401K plan, quite smoking cigarettes, stop having unprotected sex, and while I'm at it, I really should defragment my hard drive.
But that isn't the issue, nor is that the post. The issue is that I don't have insurance, someone hit me, and he refused to give me his information (although I got his license info, personal info and address, car make model year and VIN).
If I don't have insurance, does not mean nothing can be done? So like, if I have a car that's parked, and someone breaks into it and robs everything out of it, even though the car is out of commission and unused, if it doesn't have insurance the guy can't be held responsible for damages?
My questions are:
1. Do I need to call the police for this? Is this even a hit and run? I mean could this guy get in legal trouble, and would it be relevant to me getting compensated at all? If it's what I'm supposed to do, sure, I'll report it, I'm not trying to say I don't care that criminals get charged or not if I'm not compensated, but you know... am I supposed to call the cops for this and is this a legal matter at all?
2. Just because I have no insurance, I can't get compensated for this? Are you SURE about this? I know Teamliquid isn't the definitive legal place to go, so it's my fault if I take the wrong advice here, but at the same time, I'm not really sure where to turn at all (all the legal forums I peruse happen to be doing maintenance at the moment too)
3. I'm pretty sure I just have to file a claim against the man by calling his insurance company. How do I do this without even knowing what company he has (I could maybe google up "california insurance examples and see if I recognize any of them). I mean right, it doesn't matter if I have insurance or not, this guy fucking hit me!
4. What will the police do if I call them? Will I get a ticket? Would it be in my best interest not to call the police, I mean it's not NEEDED for these kinds of incidents, it only helps your side in the insurance battle when it comes down to it.
Obviously if I had insurance, this would be a clear cut case. It would be even more clear if my car was registered to California, and this guy stuck around and wasn't a d-bag. But it didn't go down like that. I get it, he should've stayed, I should have insurance, the world should be in harmony. But it's not. So now what?
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
You're missing the point. The point is that you should have called the police and gotten a police report. You did not, and now it is very unlikely that you will receive compensation for your damages. Try contacting the police anyway, but I wouldn't bet on getting anything accomplished.
The problem with asking TL for advice on this issue is that you already broke the cardinal rules of not getting fucked over during accidents. I haven't been in this situation, with no police report and no insurance. I don't know of anyone else who has either.
Lesson learned, right? I'm sure you'll call the police next time.
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Yea, always call the police. The first and only time this happened to me I was lucky that a school police officer was around to file a report for me. I would have never thought about filing one myself. Later after some research, I learned that it's critical. Learn from this and move on I suppose, I don't think there's much that can be done with no insurance + no report.
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You're missing the point. The point is that you should have called the police and gotten a police report. You did not, and now it is very unlikely that you will receive compensation for your damages. Try contacting the police anyway, but I wouldn't bet on getting anything accomplished.
The problem with asking TL for advice on this issue is that you already broke the cardinal rules of not getting fucked over during accidents. I haven't been in this situation, with no police report and no insurance. I don't know of anyone else who has either.
Lesson learned, right? I'm sure you'll call the police next time.
So should I call the police now? And will I get in any trouble/tickets if I call the police? I guess it's not relevant if I have insurance or not right?
I mean what, this guy hit and run and because I waited an hour I can't call the cops? Like, well, she murdered her baby, but because no one called the cops for an hour, I guess it doesn't matter? Like, wtf?
And what about insurance? I have a witness, and the damage is OBVIOUS. Can't I just call the insurance company?
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
On July 22 2011 17:05 Belial88 wrote:Show nested quote +You're missing the point. The point is that you should have called the police and gotten a police report. You did not, and now it is very unlikely that you will receive compensation for your damages. Try contacting the police anyway, but I wouldn't bet on getting anything accomplished.
The problem with asking TL for advice on this issue is that you already broke the cardinal rules of not getting fucked over during accidents. I haven't been in this situation, with no police report and no insurance. I don't know of anyone else who has either.
Lesson learned, right? I'm sure you'll call the police next time. So should I call the police now? And will I get in any trouble/tickets if I call the police? I guess it's not relevant if I have insurance or not right? I mean what, this guy hit and run and because I waited an hour I can't call the cops? Like, well, she murdered her baby, but because no one called the cops for an hour, I guess it doesn't matter? Like, wtf? And what about insurance? I have a witness, and the damage is OBVIOUS. Can't I just call the insurance company?
If you call the guy's insurance company, they will direct you to a fairly simple form to fill out. One of the fields on that form will require you to list the police report number. So there's no point in contacting the insurance company.
Your analogy between the murder and your car accident is flawed. Rear-ending another vehicle is not a criminal act.
When you parted ways without calling the police, the incident was no longer a hit-and-run, as far as I know. But I could be wrong. Try calling the police anyway, it can't hurt.
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^ when ive filled insurance forms before they had the police report number thing, but it wasnt required, it was just there. Ive had insurance companies ask about the report, which Ive had, and they said they didn't need it.
And the guy called the cops too, they refused to come anyways.
Try calling the police anyway, it can't hurt.
But it could hurt: they could give me a ticket for no insurance right?
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
On July 22 2011 17:12 Belial88 wrote:
^ when ive filled insurance forms before they had the police report number thing, but it wasnt required, it was just there. Ive had insurance companies ask about the report, which Ive had, and they said they didn't need it.
And the guy called the cops too, they refused to come anyways.
The guy probably lied to you :\
Good luck! I have no more advice to give you.
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I'm no lawyer or legal expert, but I have been the victim of a hit and run before.
I'd recommend that you call the cops, explain the situation to them, and let them sort it out from there. You'll probably have to file a report at the local CHP office and I'm guessing they'll turn the case over to the officer in charge of hit and runs who will eventually find the guy's address and ask him some questions about the accident. At the very least you'll be moving towards a resolution.
In my case I got hit and run while only having third party liability insurance. I submitted a report to the CHP (they didn't ask about my insurance at all), eventually got the other driver's information, and worked directly with her insurance company to file my claim. I'd expect that you'll have to follow a similar process.
Good luck!
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^ Thanks. I'll call the cops in the morning and explain the situation. The guy refused to give information and left, and he hit me. I'll call my insurance company and see what's the situation like as well.
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tl;dr, likely you will get nothing but fines for not having insurance. if the world was perfect? put a claim through their insurance and wait for payment. if you live in a state where comparative negligence is a prevalent practice, you're a little worse off. you accrue fines each and every day you have license plates on a vehicle without liability insurance.
um, when you say you don thave insurance, do you mean just collision? Because it is illegal to drive around without insurance. Like when you say, "i should have insurance, I should have a 401k..." they are entirely two different animals.
is it a new car or an old car?
you can, potentially, still be reimbursed. You aren't required to have a police report. If it is clearly the other persons fault, their insurance company SHOULD pay out 100%. However, this is their business. They don't like to pay out. You don't have your own insurance company, who would usually go after them for you depending on your own coverage. The third party insurance company will delay your claim and unless its a slam dunk case, try to screw you as much as possible. For instance, you were in your car, and it was running, it is not possibly 100% his fault. How is it you could not get out of the way? Why were you there in the first place? At best they would assign comparative negligence and pay for an proportionate amount of the damage. not likely. But yeah, your only recourse is to file a claim personally against their insurance company.
(I missed one of your posts. I see now that you know all that. So yeah, right on.)
Depending on his company, that is. Sincerely, the son of an owner of an auto body repair shop.
Also, if your insurance has expired and you do not surrender your license plates to the DMV you accrue enormous fines per day. soooo make something happen there.
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also, you dont ALWAYS get a police report. You get a police report when it isnt your fault. When it is your fault, you convince them not to. That way you can argue that it wasnt your fault without the cops calling you a liar.
so yeah, in your case, call the police immediately next time. but yeah, they would ticket you for not having insurance. And I dont think it would be a $50 ticket, its pretty serious. Honestly, stupid. If you hit a mercedes benz or porsche so on so forth and you didnt have insurance you would be personally liable for like thirty thousand dollars, all by yourself. and obviously moreso the more expensive the car is to fix.
If you so much as got the insurance company he has, you can leave the police entirely out of it, because other than that they won't do anything for you at this point. You can't substantiate any claim you would make against him personally. All they have to go by is the damage on your car, and the damage on his car. Your girlfriend being witness would flirt with the idea of them believing you but likely it won't go anywhere.
as far as your bumper, if you tried to claim it was part of this accident by some miracle, would of course be fraud. and collecting twice on the same accident is very frowned upon even in the fraud cases. (Not that you mentioned that intention at all. it is just the only thing potentially relevant.)
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