I was driving in SF when a RAV4 in front of me decided to just stop. Then he backed up into me while trying to get into a parallel parking space. I honked [and made sure that I had set the invisible mode to the OFF position] but you guys know the story. The guy was really apologetic and we exchanged numbers. He didn't want his insurance to get involved and we agreed to get done amicably. The damage was minor but the front bumber and front quarter panel is completely scratched and dented. Tyre clearance is further minimised.

The thought is he can now turnaround and say that I HIT HIM. What should I do now? Please help. Where are the TITS?

Cheers and Happy New Year

 

That's the only problem with not filing a report. You're not 100% sure, unless you have a cell phone that records voice like mine. What you should have done was make him sign something and date it.

 

I learned the hard way to never try to "be nice" and not get the authorities involved. Some people won't think twice to screw you over and change their story later. My Mom had some bitch back into her in a parking lot and apologized and accepted total blame. Later, she told her insurance company that my Mom was moving and that it wasn't her fault and you can guess who her insurance company believed. So my Mom was not only stuck with the inconvenience of getting her one year old car repaired, but also had to pay her deductible and future increased insurance rates because some bitch in an SUV (hmmmm, I sense a pattern here) decided to lie after she screwed up.

I also had a 70+ year old man back into my car back in college right before a basketball game. Luckily there were some parking lot attendants who witnessed it, but he gave me crap and tried to say that I should have backed out of his way. Never mind that there was another car back there and I honked like crazy. I finally had to file a case in small claims court to get him to pay. I never actually had to go to court, but it was ridiculous that I had to go to the trouble of filing a case before he finally owned up to his responsibility.

 

Sorry to hear about the S Speedster.

I dont know how your insurance works in the states, but over in blighty i have the attitude that i have insurance and thats what it should be used for.

Theres being nice then there's being too nice and in the latter does one of the parties have something to hide i.e no insurance or banded??

My advice would be always use the insurance company and if possible get witnesses and the Police involved. Pictures always help as well to stop fraudulent damage claims and personnel injuries i.e people who weren't actually there at the time ( a big thing over here at the moment)

I had a prang years ago, where a lady pulled out from a side road staright in front of me and i had no where to go, except staright into her and wrote both cars off. She was so apolojectic and admitted liability as she was not looking. We traded numbers and she left as the kids needed picking up and i went to the gas station over the road to see if they had it on camera or the attedent had witnessed it, see where this is going

There was no witnesses and no camera footage, buy the way.

Later that evening i get a call from the ladies partner with his details and the converstion goes along the lines that it was my fault and that i was speeding and they have witnesses to the accident. Without giving much away i told him he was lying and his partner left the scene to collect the kids ( of course writing this down as a record and later putting it in the claim form). Hence this all appears on the form and what i did after the prang and implied that the witnesses must have appeared from out of thin air ( he's asked friends to be witnesses ) and if his wife had seen me speeding round the semi blind bend then what is she doing pulling out ( another white lye ). In this country there are only two times that it cannot be your fault and they are when someone cuts infront of you depriving you of the braking distance required and " when someone pulls out of a side road into a major road which has priority of way"

Try and quess how long it took to get a settlement, and this was once i threatened to take both insurance companies to court for stalling as it was clear cut case, a court date was set for my B/day of all days, which was cancelled the day before as they admitted liability.

8 month can you believe it

Hope you get it sorted out quickly.

 

I would have defenitely called the authorities on this one. Only people I trust with stuff like this are certain friends and family. Hope everything comes out great though. There are a few honest folks left.

 

Too little, too late for this case but....

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS GET A POLICE REPORT AND WITNESSES!!!

An insurance company that has nothing to work with except two individual accounts has very little to work with and could ultimately fall back on the "who's front end was up who's rear end" to make their decision.

Hopefully you really found an honest one (I have on occasion) and it will work out for you. You should probably go ahead and call your insurance company and let them know about it now before you end up defending yourself to them later.

 

Thanks everyone. I'll remember your advice and I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Speedster

 

Thanks for the good read.
(knock on wood) so I'll know what to do the next time (god forbids) something happens.

 

Sorry to read. This is messed up. I can't believe I keep reading these. *goes to search for air horn threads*

 

ahh. same thing happened to my sister. She was at a post office while a 2002 toyota land cruizer backed into her car. She is not a happy camper....