Need car accident help

[GundamW]

I just got this bad news from a friend and he needs some advices on this matter. I already told him to take some pictures of his car and the damages but I am not an expert at these thing, so I would appreciate if someone/anyone can give me more useful advices (and it has nothing to do with CS/CounterStrike unless the idiot is one of those guys who likes to run over teammates in cs_siege). Thanks.


<-----------------------------
Question:
How do you have a car accident while playing CS?

Answer:
If some idiot decided to speed in the residential area and hit your parked car.


I was playing CS on my computer when I heard this loud collision noise. Ran out the door and some guy had hit my car and had driven away before I even caught a glimps of him. Well, my car is toast. I won't have access to a car for a while. The guy almost got away with it. Fortunately the police found him with the car immobile. The idiot got
on the freeway to try to get away. Unfortunately I don't have uninsured motorist coverage and I don't have the guy's insurance information. In fact, I don't even know if the guy actually had insurance. Call several different police department and they said I won't be able to see the report until Monday. So I'm stuck at home and can't do anything about it till Friday the earliest as the officers who came to the scene are off till Friday.
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[Emulex]

the dude probably didn't have insurance, if he ran. if thats the case, he's hosed. uninsured motorist is like $100 per 6 months..

now if you have full coverage (comp/collision) you can file a claim against your own policy, your rates will go up, and it will count against you, but they will fix it.

 

[fdiskboy]

That sucks.

Even if the guy doesn't have insurance, you might consider a civil suit. If you won that, you could possibly get a court order to garnish his wages.

But that is NOT a quick fix.

 

[ArkAoss]

well first line of business, would be to not get out of the car, unless its burning/under water, and scream that everything hurts real bad. then make sure you get a good lawyer. (no pun intended)
and you must be a serious cs player to play while driving

 

[shr00m]

In reality...not much. Accidents like this happen everyday and until the cops start routinely throwing uninsured drivers into jail it will continue...

 

[GundamW]

Emulex: He lives in California and I thought in CA, all motorists need insurance in order to register their car. Correct? And my friend does not have full coverage.

fdiskboy: Thats what I thought, small claim court. He might get some money back.

ArkAoss: I don't think my friend was in the car as he was playing CS at the time. Otherwise, he would have caught the idiot.

shr00m: Too true. But that is not gonna happen. Not enought jail cell.

Thanks for the info guys. Any more useful advice?

 

[Emulex]

ever heard of &quot;Driving without insurance&quot;? Its a misdermeanor.

So the guy don't have insurance, he'll probably lose his job, after he sits in jail, for hit n run as well. (or leaving the scene of an accident).

You can sue, but the likelihood of collecting is VERY low.

And it would take years to get the money back..

Again, reason to have uninsured or full coverage.

I assume your buds car is a piece of junk anyways, since he doesn't have it full covered.

 

[ChrichtonsGirl]

First, even if your friend doesn't have the other person's insurance information, he still should notify HIS insurance company, regardless of what kind of coverage he does or doesn't have. A good agent will help you find out the information your friend needs to file, and will give him suggestions that apply to his particular situation.

As hard as it might be, other than contacting his insurance company, your friend is just going to have to sit tight until Monday. Like I said, a good agent will make ALL the difference in a situation like this - your friend may even be able to arrange a rental/temp car until everything is sorted out and he can get it fixed - there are all kinds of little riders and clauses in policies that his agent might be able to tweak to get him covered.

Can you tell I have an AWESOME insurance agent? About ten years ago, I had a freaking chestnut stuck in a fan that fried something or other (can you tell auto mechanics are not my forte) - well my agent managed to find some weird clause in one of my riders that allowed coverage if your car is damaged by an animal - he just said it was obvious that a squirrel had stuck the nut in there, so it went through and I never paid one cent to get it fixed and the insurance company paid for a rental while it was getting fixed, even though I didn't have rental coverage.

 

[Emulex]

folks that have minimum insurance, dont usually have rental either

 

[GundamW]

Emulex: My friend's car is a Sterling (don't know the year, but at least 10+ years.) He got it around 3-4 yrs ago, I think. But it was still a running car before the accident. I don't think his insurance includes rental coverage either.

ChrichtonsGirl: Interesting story. But a good agent is hard to come by. I am sure he had already contacted his insurance agency about this incident. Lets hope that he has a good agent and can get some money back.

Thanks for the info guys. Any more inputs are welcome.

 

[FettsBabe]

I had the same experience except my car was in a parking deck. Someone hit my car and left, and another person wrote down the tag, and turned it in to the parking deck attendant. They called the cops when I told the parking attendant that my car was hit and the person left, and she said I have the tag number. My thoughts: lets fry the idiot.

Cops arrive and look at my car. He gets the tag number and runs it. Cop goes to the person's house and ask them if they hit a car and they said Yes. He told the cop he left his info on the car, but he didn't (per the witness) thats why she left the tag number with the attendant. BTW, no letter on my car either. GRRRR. I get the insurance info, and it was cancelled. Said they were taking their policy somewhere else. I call the cop and he give me their addy and phone number. I call them and they won't give me the insurance info, so I had the cop call. He got it, and I called and reported it. They said they wanted to pay me for the damages to keep it off their insurance...yea right, like i was going to trust them after all I had been through.

They had mailed their insurance deposit the day before, so they were covered eventhough the insurance company hadn't received it yet. They paid and my car was fixed.

What you need to do?
Take pictures
Get the report
Call the insurace company thats listed on the report for the guys insurance
Check around for witnesses.
If he doesn't have insurance ask him to pay for the damages. If he won't then you take him to small claims court. You may want to consult with an attorney.

 

[Emulex]

Listen word of advice.

If you are in an accident, and a police is involved, CALL the insurance company of the other person, on your cell phone, and verify if the policy is in FORCE at that very minute, if not, hand the phone over to the police officer.

He will then proceed to verify the information, and call another squad car to pick up the person and take them to jail (driving without insurance, class I misdermeanor ~~$1100 bail).

Theres no reason to not have insurance these days.

period.

 

[FettsBabe]

<< Theres no reason to not have insurance these days. >>



Exactly, I can't believe that some people don't have it. Some states don't even require it. :|

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

FettsBabe is right. If you do end up in small claims court, i would expect you get a ruling in your favor. The rat bastard probabaly isn't an expert at using the system to his advantage, so its reasonable to expect a ruling within 6 months. You will need to document the damage with pics, police report, written description of what you saw/heard, and get a few estimates of the repair costs.
Once you get a ruling in your favor, you have several options in collecting the money. Garnishing wages is one, but you can probably hit his accounts too, assuming he has more than some specified minimun in his checking (In Wisconsin, its a $1000 i think). Also, there are several companies that specialize in collecting from debtors. They usually charge 1/3 of the total amount, but I would consider that a fair price. You are also intitled to sue for interest and probably court fees.

Of course if the guy has no assets then you are screwed. Uninsured motorist insurance is way worth it.

 

[GundamW]

FettsBabe: Thanks for the info. At least your story has a nice/good ending. From the little info I got from my friend, I am afraid this will drag on for a few months and the result might not be as &quot;happy&quot; as yours. But I will let him know about your suggestions.

Emulex, yamahaXS: The thing is if the idiot has no insurance and my friend has no uninsured motorist coverage, the only way that will get the some money back is through small claim court. If the guy ran from the scene, I would assume he has no money to cover the damages too. Either way, it is a bad situation to get into and it didn't help when my friend does not have full coverage.

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

 

[Emulex]

folks that have no insurance, usually have no money to PAY for insurance, which means they have no money, and a lot of debts, stand in line for your money.

Trust me , you might as well chalk one up and learn a hard lesson. Collecting from someone who doesn't have the money to pay his auto insurance ($70/month?) is futile..

Even if you get a judgement in small claims court, that doesnt automatically get your money. I'm sure theres 10 other bill collectors putting judgements on the guy, and well, he probably won't have a job, since he fled the scene of a crime and im sure got arrested for that and driving without insurance!!

sucks man, hard lesson to learn, keep full coverage, or get screwed

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

I wouldn't assume he has no assets just b/c he ran from the scene and doesn't have insurance. More than likely, he has very high insurance rates (high risk), but that doesnt' mean he doesn't have a job, checking account, or house. If worse comes to worse, your friend still can make this guy's life hell for the next few years, and there is a lot of satisfaction in that! BUT he has to be very aggressive in filing the court papers and etc...

 

[FettsBabe]

Exactly, his wages can be garnished through a judgement or court ruling. Just because he doesn't pay his insurance doesn't mean he doesn't have money.

If you have questions PM me with full details of the occurences.