Happy New Year to Me....NOT!

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mtofell

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Here in the states any accident with another party gets put into the public system. A one car accident can slip through the cracks and go unreported. Many (most?) insurance companies don't report. At least as of a few years ago this was the case. My business partner drove one of our company trucks into a tree.... then home. Had it towed to a shop and fixed and there was no trace on Carfax or any other public info sites.

State Farm straight out told him they don't report to anyone. Again, this was 5+ years ago and things are always changing so who knows? But, Carfax and all these other things are not 100% by any stretch. If you read the fine print on the "Billion Dollar Guarantee" it only says it will report on information that is reported to a public database. Basically, the guarantee isn't worth the paper it's written on.
 

TerraNewf

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dont second quess the carproof its easy to hide the repairs if you know the right people, my 2013 was hit by a transport while parked and i had it fixed thru insurance and mentioned the carproof thing to the bodyshop and he told me outright not to worry about it. When i traded the 2013 in 2 years ago the dealer pulled a carfax and it was not there which really surprised me considering i had $6000 in damage to the front of my truck

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Nice to know, thanks for the info.
 
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RCFiddyOne

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Driving Without insurance is a ******* move for anyone to do, so me people dont realize what can happen. If I were the op i would have a lawyer sue the girls parents for anything they have. I think they can garnish their wages, put a lein on thete house ect or take away anyyhing in value that can be sold. But maybe thats just me, i also dont take too kindly to having my **** wrecked because some ***** isn't paying attention while they are on a ******** phone either.

End rant/vent/opinion

Trust me, it has been on my mind ever since I found out dude had no insurance but in thinking about it....Say I sue; he obviously didn't have enough to buy insurance so he probably doesn't have much to begin with. It is going to cost me money, time (also money) and effort in order to get what......Just enough to cover my legal expenses? The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards just letting my insurance folks handle it. The sh*t sucks but I don't have very many options here. In talking to my adjuster, dude will get a bill from my insurance on everything they had to do for me (medical expenses, rental, repairs, 3 days lost wages, etc) and it will be up to him how he settles it.

Again, I have to focus on the bright side to keep from getting pissed. It could have been a lot worse. At least I walked away from it.

I like my truck (at least I did before this) never had an ounce of trouble out of it and I would like to keep it but the idea of trading it has crossed my mind too. I know I have some equity in it so depending on how things shake out, I might consider it.
 

Ed loves guns

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Trust me, it has been on my mind ever since I found out dude had no insurance but in thinking about it....Say I sue; he obviously didn't have enough to buy insurance so he probably doesn't have much to begin with. It is going to cost me money, time (also money) and effort in order to get what......Just enough to cover my legal expenses? The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards just letting my insurance folks handle it. The sh*t sucks but I don't have very many options here. In talking to my adjuster, dude will get a bill from my insurance on everything they had to do for me (medical expenses, rental, repairs, 3 days lost wages, etc) and it will be up to him how he settles it.

Again, I have to focus on the bright side to keep from getting pissed. It could have been a lot worse. At least I walked away from it.

I like my truck (at least I did before this) never had an ounce of trouble out of it and I would like to keep it but the idea of trading it has crossed my mind too. I know I have some equity in it so depending on how things shake out, I might consider it.

Just because he didn't have insurance doesn't mean he can't/couldn't afford it. I try to make as many decisions in life based on principle. It's not always the most cost effective way or the "nicest" way but ****, there is zero accountability for anything now a days. Which is why everyone has this sense of entitlement about everything because they "deserve it" and their "don't be mean" to me attitude.... Sue him for every nickel you feel morally comfortable with. Hes the one driving around without insurance and got lucky enough not to seriously injury anyone, not everyone is always that lucky. Enforce some accountability.
 

DailyRam

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I am coming in late to this, but does your coverage have an uninsured motorist clause? Prior to my Ram, i was rear-ended by an uninsured teen who was texting and crushed the back end of my car. It wasn't that she didn't have money, it was that her mom got busy and "Forgot" to pay the insurance bill. She didn't even get a ticket because at the time it was deemed a "Minor" accident and the insurance logs are so out of date that it still showed she had insurance at the time even though her card was expired. I thought about suing as well, but decided against it from a time and trouble standpoint. I was out of pocket $150 for all of the repairs to the car (i think the final bill came to just under $6k) , and then my insurance went about recovering that money from the teen's family, not sure if they recovered their expenses as well. It took 6 months, but i got my money back.

Best of luck with the repairs.
 
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RCFiddyOne

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Ok fellas, since I’m going to let the insurance handle this and there is no risk from a legal standpoint on my end, full story (extended version) below.


Like I mentioned, I was headed to my dad’s on new years eve an hour and a half before midnight and I knew I wanted to be off the road before things got crazy out. On an 8 lane interstate (4 lanes each direction), I’m in the middle left lane doing 60 in a 55 keeping up with light traffic. Even though the speed limit is 55, average speeds on this particular section is 70+ but since I just passed a work zone and it was raining out, 60 was as fast as I was comfortable with.

I see the guy closing in on me quickly in my rear view and as soon as I saw him, I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was as if I knew what was going to happen. There were cars on both sides of me so I couldn’t change lanes. I had exactly 2 seconds from the time I saw him until the time of impact and the only thing I could think of was floor it but before my brain could send the signal to my foot, the collision happened. Dude hit me at what I estimate 80+ mph but he told the cop he didn’t remember his speed. I say 80+ because after he hit me, he lost control and hit the median wall TWICE. Even afterwards, he was able to limp his GMC over to the right shoulder behind me after I had already pulled over.

I call 911 and give our location but never got out of my vehicle. I was legally carrying at the time and I didn’t want there to be any “misunderstandings” so I wanted to wait until the paramedics arrive before I got out. Dude came to my window and asked if I were ok and I told him rescue was on the way. He looked like he was on his phone as well and walked back to his truck. The medics show up, I step out and they asked if I were ok. I told them that I had a headache but I felt ok otherwise and mentioned that they might wanted to check on the other guy since I’m sure his injuries were worse than mine. Luckily for him, he was ok and as soon as the police show up, the paramedics left the scene.

Cop comes to me and gets my info, asked me what happened and if I’m sure I don’t need medical treatment. Again, it is raining out so he tells me to sit tight in my vehicle while he gets the other guys story/information. By this time, my dad gets on scene (I called him and told him what happened) and hangs out with me while waiting for everything to get sorted out. Here is where my dad and I start to figure out that the guy didn’t have insurance. For one, the cop and the other dude spent an awful lot of time talking at the cop car – more than he talked to me. Secondly, the cop comes back to me after what seemed like hours (maybe only 30 minutes) and hands me back my info – license, registration and proof of insurance. I asked if I could get a copy of his info for my insurance and I was told that the guy is still looking for it in his truck. It took me 15 seconds to hand my stuff over but this guy is still looking for his after a half hour. Lastly, the cop tells me that he suspects that the guy was texting on his phone and that caused the accident but he can’t prove it. I asked how and he told me that he has worked these accident scenes enough to where people will give vague and conflicting answers to his questions before the collision and that is normally an indicator that they were distracted. He then gives me the report info and tells me that my dad and I can head home now. Dude and the cop stayed on scene.

The next day, my wrist is aching like crazy but I just thought I slept on it wrong. So after church, my dad suggests we make a trip to urgent care to get it looked at. It’s new years day and all urgent care facilities are closed so off to the Emergency Room we go. There I find out that I have a sprained left wrist (was holding the steering wheel with my left hand when I got hit) strained neck and a mild concussion. After some meds and a few days' rest, I'm good as new.....well, not quite. Wrist still hurts but I can manage.

A few days later, I get a copy of the official police report and just as we suspected, the cop cited him for Failure to Provide Proof of Insurance. There were other things on there of course but the meat and potatoes of it says that the accident was 100% his fault and it was totally preventable.

Thinking back on it, all I can say is that I’m lucky that he hit me straight on. If he had been 30 degrees left or right, he would have sent me into a spin on the wet asphalt and I could have flipped. I talked to the body shop today and the repairs on my truck are ahead of schedule and I should have it back in a few weeks. I will post up pictures to let everyone know how it looks when I get it back.
 

1quick1

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The amount of people I see texting on their phone and driving here is mind boggling. Glad you're alright man and the truck is on it's way.
 

GsRAM

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Wow, that's crazy man. Glad you are ok and your truck is repairable
 

Ed loves guns

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So does your insurance have some sort of uninsured motorist protection? And do you plan on taking any action against the guy who hit you?
 

jasonw

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Just because he didn't have insurance doesn't mean he can't/couldn't afford it. I try to make as many decisions in life based on principle. It's not always the most cost effective way or the "nicest" way but ****, there is zero accountability for anything now a days. Which is why everyone has this sense of entitlement about everything because they "deserve it" and their "don't be mean" to me attitude.... Sue him for every nickel you feel morally comfortable with. Hes the one driving around without insurance and got lucky enough not to seriously injury anyone, not everyone is always that lucky. Enforce some accountability.

I'm with Ed. I hate "lawsuit happy" people who try to sue over any little thing, but this is one scenario that lawsuits are around for and justified. That looked like a pretty nice GMC truck before it hit you, not brand-spanking new but pretty close. In most scenarios, if he was driving that, he should be able to afford insurance.

Subrogation, which is the route you've chosen through your own insurance, is probably your best bet. Gets you back on the road faster and you don't have to worry about legal matters. Make sure and get all medical issues documented thoroughly, so that your insurance can take care of the bills and send bills of their own to the guy that hit you.
 
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RCFiddyOne

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So does your insurance have some sort of uninsured motorist protection? And do you plan on taking any action against the guy who hit you?

Working with my uninsured/underinsured claims adjuster for my insurance. So far, they have been super helpful. I'm going to let the insurance handle it as it relates to the other guy,

Subrogation, which is the route you've chosen through your own insurance, is probably your best bet. Gets you back on the road faster and you don't have to worry about legal matters. Make sure and get all medical issues documented thoroughly, so that your insurance can take care of the bills and send bills of their own to the guy that hit you.

I have a follow-up with my doc next week but honestly, I'm feeling ok physically and don't want to try to milk this thing more than what's needed.

From a mental standpoint though - if you could wear out a rear-view mirror, I'd probably be on my 3rd one by now since the accident. I absolutely freak out now if someone is tailgating me. I was never a fan of it before but I more than HATE it now. :flame:
 

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