Updated: Rear ended a car making an illegal U turn. What next?

[yelo333]

OK, so the guy ahead of me was making a U turn at an intersection where you're only allowed to go straight. It's so cars exiting the expressway can turn left. There is a left turn lane just ahead of that intersection, that's where I thought he was going, but instead he came to a complete stop in the middle of the road in front of a green light. Once I realized what was going on, I hit my brakes and almost stopped in time, but still hit him going maybe 5mph.

Since I rearended him, I assumed I would be judged at fault in the police report, so, since he suggested we just exchange info, I went along with it. I think my bumper has only paint damage, nothing structural. My license plate frame is also a bit bent up, but I need new plates anyway. I believe, but am not positive, that his car only has paint damage as well. That's what he thought when he looked at it, I didn't look that closely.

Now, it may have been a good idea to call the police anyway, but I didn't, so I assume it's too late for that. At this point, should I do anything beyond contacting my insurance company?

Also, out of curiosity, what are the chances I would have been judged to not be at fault when the police showed up?

Cliffs:
Rear ended a car making an illegal U turn. My car only has paint damage & a bent license plate holder, his _may_ only have paint damage. We exchanged info. What next?

Update:
So he got back to me on the estimate: $1,222 from the dealer-recommended body shop and $1334 from the BMW specialty shop. I guess that's about right for a cracked 335i's bumper. My guess is if I went through insurance my insurance rates would go up by at least $200/6mos for 3 years (=$1200) and I wouldn't qualify for the good driver discount as early, so it's probably in my best interest to just pay him. Opinions?

He seems like an honest guy. I'll have him sign something saying this is a compromise, doesn't admit fault, limits liability, blah blah blah, but I'm really not concerned about him ripping me off. He is going to be faxing me the estimates, so I'm thinking of playing them against each other a bit.

I'm looking for stories here -- You got in an at-fault accident, ins paid out $1000, now your rates are up by $X every 6 months. If that generally comes out to more than $200 for more than most of you, then I have my answer.

 

[Mermaidman]

Same thing happened to me many years ago. Guy in front of me stopped to make an illegal turn. I was very familiar with the road, so his move caught me by surprise and I rear-ended his car. My car severely damaged and towed away; cops showed up, etc.

Surprisingly, his insurance covered all the damage because I thought I might have shared culpability. Good luck with your case.

 

[Mermaidman]

More thoughts on your accident:
-My state (North Carolina) require that you file a police report if the damage exceeds $1,000.
-Make sure you get the other party's vehicle ID number (VIN). When you call his insurance, providing the VIN of his car should expedite things.

 

[Gillbot]

Call your insurance agent, never admit or assume fault.

 

[Imp]

If there's an equivalent to a collision reporting center to what we have here in your state, drop by and make a report. Insurance may/will get wind of this, so this report might save you if the other party makes a claim.

They'd probably put you partly at fault since, ideally, you should have enough follow distance to not hit a car slamming on his brakes for something.

 

[yelo333]

More thoughts on your accident:
-My state (North Carolina) require that you file a police report if the damage exceeds $1,000.
-Make sure you get the other party's vehicle ID number (VIN). When you call his insurance, providing the VIN of his car should expedite things.

OK, called up my police dept and they said I don't have to file as long as it's just minor damage. Paint repair or even completely replacing a 335i's bumper wouldn't be more than $1000, would it?

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get the VIN. I do have everything else, though. (plate #, Driver's license #, name, insurance no, phone number, car model)

Call your insurance agent, never admit or assume fault.

Right, I certainly didn't admit fault or really even talk about what happened with the guy. But when talking with the agent, I obviously need to explain what happened from my perspective, which would include rear ending a guy making an illegal U turn, and I have this feeling the illegal U turn part doesn't play into this.

They'd probably put you partly at fault since, ideally, you should have enough follow distance to not hit a car slamming on his brakes for something.

Yeah, that's the frustrating part. I'm not sure I would be able to do anything differently if I encountered the same thing again. I saw brakes + blinker and I assumed slowing down for the left turn lane, not making a full stop to wait for traffic for a U turn right then & there. It took me an extra second to realize that, at which point it was too late. It's one thing to have 2 seconds & the guy still moving @ 20mph, it's another to have 1 second before impact with a stopped car.

I'm just trying to make the best I can out of the current situation at this point. I guess calling my adjuster tomorrow morning is the next step?

 

[Gillbot]

OK, called up my police dept and they said I don't have to file as long as it's just minor damage. Paint repair or even completely replacing a 335i's bumper wouldn't be more than $1000, would it?

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get the VIN. I do have everything else, though. (plate #, Driver's license #, name, insurance no, phone number, car model)



Right, I certainly didn't admit fault or really even talk about what happened with the guy. But when talking with the agent, I obviously need to explain what happened from my perspective, which would include rear ending a guy making an illegal U turn, and I have this feeling the illegal U turn part doesn't play into this.



Yeah, that's the frustrating part. I'm not sure I would be able to do anything differently if I encountered the same thing again. I saw brakes + blinker and I assumed slowing down for the left turn lane, not making a full stop to wait for traffic for a U turn right then & there. It took me an extra second to realize that, at which point it was too late. It's one thing to have 2 seconds & the guy still moving @ 20mph, it's another to have 1 second before impact with a stopped car.

I'm just trying to make the best I can out of the current situation at this point. I guess calling my adjuster tomorrow morning is the next step?

Tell your agent anything and everything, they'll battle with the other guy's insurance to determine fault and payout.

 

[amdhunter]

Be glad you didnt call the police -- they'd have hit you with a moving violation, and that would have just added insult to injury.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

<snip>Paint repair or even completely replacing a 335i's bumper wouldn't be more than $1000, would it?
<snip>

Yeah, I wouldn't be blown away to see $1000+ on just a bumper cover, not counting install and paint.


You have full coverage on that 335, right? Just pay your deductible, tell them what happened, and let them deal with it.

In reality, a rear end collision with no police report? The person in back will be at fault. Their insurance won't pay out.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Yeah, I wouldn't be blown away to see $1000+ on just a bumper cover, not counting install and paint.


You have full coverage on that 335, right? Just pay your deductible, tell them what happened, and let them deal with it.

In reality, a rear end collision with no police report? The person in back will be at fault. Their insurance won't pay out.

um yea my bmw (04 z4) front bumper cover was more than $1,000 to replace, prep, paint, and put on.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Hell the front bumper cover of my 94 Mitsu Mirage was more than a $1000 to replace in 1996.

I don't get why him making an illegal u-turn has to do with anything. Is it posted as no u-turns, or does your state not require signage to indicate it and just say you can't turn without a turn bay? The ultimate responisbility is for you to avoid running into what's infront of you. NEVER expect someone to do something. Driving needs to be reactionary, not what you expect to happen.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Also FYI - it's very possible that your bumper cover *looks* like it just needs painted, but in actuality the bumper supports underneath are collapsed.

I wouldn't chalk this off as "just a paint touch up" until you get an estimate..

 

[Imdmn04]

Yeah, I wouldn't be blown away to see $1000+ on just a bumper cover, not counting install and paint.


You have full coverage on that 335, right? Just pay your deductible, tell them what happened, and let them deal with it.

In reality, a rear end collision with no police report? The person in back will be at fault. Their insurance won't pay out.

Just replaced the trunk hood lid and rear bumper on my 335 sedan after being rear-ended, costs the other guy's insurance about 6 grand.

 

[SearchMaster]

I got $700 for my bumper after being "front-ended" in my '00 Maxima. It is definitely cosmetic, scratched up and needs repainting. So I'd be very surprised if a BMW bumper was under $1000.

I wasn't going to fix my car anyway so I didn't investigate whether the $700 was "fair" or not. I have a friend that probably would repaint it for $100 if I asked him but it really doesn't bother me enough to take the time/money to do it.

 

[SearchMaster]

sorry, dp

 

[Jeffg010]

No police report means you are screwed. I learned the hard way to never ever leave the scene of an accident with out a police report if I know the other guy is at fault. The first thing your insurance will ask was there a police report. The reason why they want this is the other guy could lie and said he was not turning. Once you have 2 different stories about what happened, even though you know this guy is lying out his teeth there is nothing they can do to prove who was at fault.

If the police tell you they don't need to be called to the scene because it was minor you tell them to still come out there and when they do show up make them do a report. Cops are lazy bastards and will try and get out paper work.

I had this happen to me and the cops show up and never took a report. The other guy told everyone that he was never in the van that he hit me with. He was pulling out from the cube and side swiped my mustang. This guy ran back into his house when I started to call the cops. Since I never got a report there was no proof. It was his word against mine. He had to pay his own damage and I had to pay my own and lost $500 from my deductible.

Your only hope is the guy will admit he was making that U turn because if he does not then you have no proof of anything.

 

[Jeffg010]

DP

 

[yelo333]

Your only hope is the guy will admit he was making that U turn because if he does not then you have no proof of anything.

He did say he was making a left there, which is even more clear than a U turn because there's a sign right next to that spot that clearly has the "no left turn" symbol on it. Looks like I'm probably going to be paying anyway, though. I'd rather keep my record perfect & pay for his repairs. It was a risk, yes, but I think it's going to work out.

The damage to my car is small enough that I'm just going to leave it, as the body shop agreed it was just a nonstructural mostly paint issue, but I guess his bumper is cracked.

He actually seems to be being honest about the whole thing, won't have anything till he gets an estimate, but I'll report back once I get some more info.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

 

[yelo333]

Update:
So he got back to me on the estimate: $1200 from the dealer-recommended body shop and $1300 from the BMW specialty shop. I guess that's about right for a cracked 335i's bumper. My guess is if I went through insurance my insurance rates would go up by at least $200/6mos for 3 years (=$1200) and I wouldn't qualify for the good driver discount as early, so it's probably in my best interest to just pay him. Opinions?

He seems like an honest guy. I'll have him sign something saying this is a compromise, doesn't admit fault, limits liability, blah blah blah, but I'm really not concerned about him ripping me off. He is going to be faxing me the estimates, so I'm thinking of playing them against each other a bit.

I'm looking for stories here -- You got in an at-fault accident, ins paid out $1000, now your rates are up by $X every 6 months. If that generally comes out to more than $200 for more than most of you, then I have my answer.

Edit: Totally off-topic, but a toyota MR2 spyder is only about $100 more/year to insure than my civic...tempting...

 

[Mermaidman]

A few insurance companies now offer "accident forgiveness" if it's the first payout they make for you. You should check your policy.

Did you buy your coverage through an independent insurance agent? If so, he can check for you what effect a claim would have on your premium without your insurer finding out.

 

[Chrono]

I hit a wall with my car... claimed at fault... now my policy is $250 more than last year.
Total bill came out to be $4000+.

 

[caspur]

To OP: Car insurance doesn't work like HSA. Payout has no "direct" affect on premiums. If that were the case, people collecting unlimited pip would never be able to get insurance.

*Never pay out of pocket for an insurance claim. It opens up a whole can of worms once he says he's injured. Your out of pocket payment suddenly becomes an admission of negligence regardless of what you have him sign. And your little 1k payout suddenly becomes a million dollar BI claim.

 

[yelo333]

To OP: Car insurance doesn't work like HSA. Payout has no "direct" affect on premiums. If that were the case, people collecting unlimited pip would never be able to get insurance.

Well, yes, as I understand it, it's not the payout amount that affects it, but the fact that your classification now changes. Now you're with other drivers who have substantial at-fault accidents on their record.

*Never pay out of pocket for an insurance claim. It opens up a whole can of worms once he says he's injured. Your out of pocket payment suddenly becomes an admission of negligence regardless of what you have him sign. And your little 1k payout suddenly becomes a million dollar BI claim.

Honestly, that makes complete sense. It's just hard to stomach that since after running through a few diferent insurance quote estimators online, I'm saving potentially $1000s over just the next few years. (My rates could seriously increase _by_ $800/6mos=$1600/yr -- that's what you get for being a young male driver, I guess)

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Ok, most fender benders result in people pulling over and working it out very reasonably. I got in a highway fender bender and I had to replace my bumper.

My mom even messed up her hood at a higher speed crash and we got no police report. Then again she was at fault.

I mean I GUESS you could go with the cops if you have an unusual circumstance. Like someone doesn't have a license, or the guy in front was doing something illegal like the OP said, but I wouldn't be surprised if most people pull over and resolve it on their own.

Never pay out of the pocket like someone said. If you met an honest guy you might be able to get away with it, but there's nothing preventing him from going to insurance later and claiming a bunch of crap.

Also,it's better that oyu go through your insurance anway. So waht if its $200 for 6 years? That's the same as if you shelled out $1.2k right now... except you pay it over 6 years. I'd rather pay it over time. I was at fault in a rear end accident and instead of paying $1500, I went through insurance when I found out it'd be about $500 for 3 years...

 

[yelo333]

Thanks to the replies I've gotten here & elsewhere, suggesting I go through insurance, I've changed my mind and am proceeding with that. Hopefully it won't hurt too much when renewal comes around...

Thanks everyone, you have collectively changed my mind. But if my rate goes up by some rediculous amount, you know where I'm going to complain.