So, I rear ended someone today...

[gtoyonrocks]

I was on my way to work. I was even going 15 mph, I saw the light turn green to enter the freeway. I thought the car in front of me took off. I looked down for a split second and bam. I hit an older honda accord. My truck has a tube bumper on the front of it. All it did to the yota is scratch the bumper paint. I'm pretty sure the poor little Honda is totaled. I pushed the truck in and broke the spoiler. That poor little car didn't stand a chance. I could only imagine what would have happened if I was going a little faster. I wish I had pictures of the car.

[JanMarie13]

   Look what you've done!    LOL.  Good luck man, sounds like everyone must have been alright.  Now just hope the occupants don't develop mysterious neck and back injuries.  Or real ones. 

[gtoyonrocks]

Yea, it was some foreign guy and like I said his car was a beater. I offer to pay him cash on the spot to avoid having it go on my record but he wanted no part of it. His insurance company already contacted me. Why are some people like that? I wouldn't have cared if he wanted to get a quote. He could have let me pay for it.

[JanMarie13]

Nuh-no sir, you said he had an older Honda Accord.  This is in no way a beater car!  LOL.  Not in my opinon anyway.

I know what you mean, but you have to look at it from his perspective too.  Maybe that's the only car he can afford and needs it for daily transportation.  He doesn't know if he can trust you to fix it for him, any more than you know if you can trust him not to be a wankus.  Here's hoping he isn't though!  Surely he'll just get it fixed and that'll be the end of it. 

[gtoyonrocks]

No, that's not the point. I gave the guy all my info. I told him to get it checked out, find out what it would cost to fix.... I told him if he really wanted to he could claim but I would much rather pay for it out right. He said I understand and told me that he was going to look into what it would cost to fix. I told him sure, that's not a problem. If anything went sour on my end he could have simply claimed it. I understand what you're saying about the car. I call it a beater because it is dented from one end to the other and the interior is trashed. It's beat... I do understand where you are coming from. All I'm saying is there was no reason for him not to give me the opprotunity to pay for it out right and I would have gladly. If anything changed then he could have simply called my insurance company and claimed it.

[Stocker]

I understand your point, but I see his side also. He doesn't know if you are giving him good information, and if he doesn't report it to his insurance, he could be hung out to dry.

It happened to me several years ago when I was in the midwest. There was an ice storm, and I went down a slight hill and stopped at a stop sign. While waiting to go, a guy in a VW bus approached from behind, too fast for conditions, couldn't stop and ran into me. We exchanged all information, except he gave me bogus ID and insurance info. Best part was that it only bent the rear bumper on my Dodge van, but my hitch punched a hole through the front of his VW bus.

[gtoyonrocks]

I gave the guy my work info, he called me today. Plus correct me if I'm wrong, you have up to a year to report a claim. He can call to verify my info... I don't really see his side of it but I guess you would of had to been there. I would have gave the guy cash on the spot if he would have taken it.

[kneedownnate]

You're mad and aren't seeing things in perspective.  He did what he should have done, likely the same thing you'd do, except you don't currently see it that way because you want him to do something different.  The power of suggestion on what you'd like done is fogging your view of reality.  Sounds like he did what he needed to do to get the ball rolling, which is smart because these things often take a month or more to get fully processed. 

You're going to be mad at me I'm sure, but you made a mistake and need to fully own up to it, learn from what you've done and pay more attention in the future.  Nobody's perfect, but accidents are preventable.  I've always filed right away when somebody else hits me and aaa has always told me that's what they want me to do.

[fade]

Some cases its the law to report a accident. If not both partys can get hit and runs. Or so I've heard.

[Caboose]

In my case, I had my tire come off and hit a ford e-250 (camper).  We exchanged info, they called out CHP to take a report because the GF of the vehicles owner was pissed off, the owner was cool, and CHP told him that the report will basically say hep, a tire hit your camper and came from my vehicle since there are no injuries there is no paperwork really on it.  So he told the CHP officer to leave.  He got the estimate and called us to let us decide to claim, total was $5k so yes we decided to claim.  Insurance handled the rest, I claimed it as an attempted tire theft (my truck was on its way back from the airport) and didn't make my insurance go up. 

My parents have both been victims of a TA and they did the same, swap info, get a claim, decide between the two parties to claim or no claim.

IMO its the way TAs are handled unless there are injuries or SEVERE damage.  my deductible is $500, if i believe its going ot be more than $1k to fix, might as well claim it and take the penalty on my insurance (AAA).

[JanMarie13]

Yeah, I guess a lot of it probably boils down to how trusting you are.  That, and what kind of past experience you have with that type of situation.  Could be that the guy has never been in that situation before, and probably talked to someone who has had a bad experience such as the one Stocker described, so he decided he better file.  You shoulda hit somebody who had more friends like Caboose instead, to encourage him to give you a chance! 

Not trying to make light of it though, and like Nate said, it's an unfortunate accident no matter how ya look at it.  This too shall pass! 

[Caboose]

Nah, you hit me and ill put you to work on my EFI swap just to make you pay attention to your driving the next time.  You will be following and tracing wires until you dear you are sleeping in a rats nest of wires! MUHAHAHAHAH!

[gtoyonrocks]

Haha, well it's over now. I'm really not mad about the situation. I'm going to contact his insurance company and see if they will just allow me to just pay for it. I don't think it will drive my rates up. It was my fault, I take full responsibility for it. Like I said I would have just paid him on the spot... I do understand what you guys are saying. I had a similar situation. I got an estimate and gave the guy that hit me the opprotunity to pay but he said it was to much so I went ahead and claimed it. I did verify that he had insurance and so forth, there were no issues for me. Caboose... Where are you lacated? I maybe able to help you out with that EFI swap..

[tonyp2330]

Be easier if you jsut learned how to pay attention while driving.....just saying 

[Caboose]

Caboose... Where are you lacated? I maybe able to help you out with that EFI swap..

Clovis, a bit to mar from you i think.  I got it, just is going a little slow...

[gtoyonrocks]

Blah, blah, blah... Oh well. This is the first time I have ever hit anyone. Knock on wood. I hope it never happens again but it's dealt with and this is what insurance is for.

[germ]

{Bumpitybump}
[sleepy voice] "What was that daddy"[/sleepy voice]
"Don't worry honey, it was just a honda, go back to sleep"