I was rear-ended this week in my E36 M3... I am not sure why, I felt better to send something here than the M3 forums; it has been awhile since I frequented either forums, having started a family and all.

Ok, getting to the point; fortunately or unfortunately, I have not had to deal with many accidents -- and in all cases, the insurance was legitimate. The person that rear-ended me, gave me his insurance information and not long afterward, went on his way. His insurance company took forever to contact me and said that they did not recognize his policy and were tight-lipped after saying that.

I have a friend that looked up the license plate number, and it was unregistered and invalid. The same friend looked up the VIN, found information, but it did not match the name the rear-ender had on his insurance card.

I guess there is not much else to do, so maybe there is no reason to post this... but, I suppose someone might have something to add.

Anyway, besides that any advice you might have... I have some questions.
1. What is going on here? Do people really go to the trouble of putting on invalid plates and getting phony insurance cards?
2. I know now I need to contact the police... I actually asked the insurance adjuster what I should do, she just mentioned that the police may not even come anyway if no one is harmed. Anyway, I guess, when I call the police, is it just 911 or do I need to find what local department number is?

I guess that is it. The M3, I am pretty sure that it is totaled... that car was a pain in the ass, but I loved it. I am not sure that I will have another one again, just with finances being tight and having other priorities -- I cannot lament too much, I still have the S2K and there are others with far left -- but, it sucks. The M3 was the car that allowed me to start a family, I mean it was part of the family -- and was about to be retired too.

Thank you.

 

There's a lot of story going on here, but I got some thoughts on the actual question:

1. Yes, they go to the trouble if they aren't supposed to be driving at all, especially if the car is borrowed second-hand and borrowed again, if you catch my drift.
2. You need to contact the police so,

• The have a record of a crime occurring. They may not do anything, but this information does add up to how they police the community(-ies)
• you have a record that you went through and did as much as you can to claim whatever your insurance may give you (depending on your coverage). It's really a cover-your-ass too to prove you're not committing an act of insurance fraud.

Things like this suck. They suck big time. However, you go through the process, and you'll find greener pastures soon enough, I'm sure. Good luck.

 

Have you contacted your insurance agent?

 

Have you contacted the police?

I'm presuming you reported it at the time of the accident, but if you had they'd have caught all this.

 

Why didn't you call the police in the first place, right after it happened?

 

Would the police have caught fraudulent insurance policy number?

 

Definitely should have called the police when it happened. If it was a scrape in the parking lot, maybe not. But a totaled car..
How is that not worth waiting 2-3 hours for the police to arrive assuming it takes that long.

Also did anyone else pull over who may have witnessed the accident or stop to help? Sad world we live in sometimes, when everyone is too busy to help.
And can't the police look up the policy number to ensure it is valid with all their technology? I bet they are supposed to confirm it in the case of a wreck, perhaps not if they are just issuing a warning for speeding or something minor.

 

I don't know. They would definitely have identified an "unregistered and invalid" license plate. They should have been called regardless. OP should have gotten a police report.

 

Yes, they'd have caught it. You are in Texas and they run that on every stop.

 

Im sorry to hear about that man, thats heartbreaking to read. I know it sucks, stuff like this is a lot harder on car guys like us. it could have been a lot worse though.. You or a family member could have gotten hurt. Hope you get this resolved and taken care of.