|
CAR ACCIDENT WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS HERE?
About two weeks ago, my car hit the rear bumper of another Honda car
in front in another city when he stops suddenly, because of another
car in front of him stopped suddenly.
My car's front bumper hit his rear bumper. On his rear bumper, there
were two similar scratches/slight dents one on left, and one on
right, of the rear PLASTIC bumper. He said the right scratch/dent was
his in a previous car accident. He said the left scratch/dent was
caused by my car hit. My front bumper had no scratch/dent after the
accident.
After we exchanged insurance info, he told me that he would repair
LEFT scratch/dent, and the repair would cost about $50. (In my view,
those two scratches/dents can be fixed in about $20 if done
personally). However, a week later, he faxed me ONE and only estimate
from a Honda dealership estimating the repair cost to be $400. The
$400 repair cost is to replace the WHOLE bumper.
While I am willing to pay for half of $400 (for the left side of the
scratch/dent), he is threatening to go to his insurance company if I
do not pay the $400 to replace his whole bumper. He said that his
action to approach his insurance company would increase my car
insurance premium in the future.
QUESTIONS:
1) Am I the only one at fault and need to pay his damage, getting to
close, although he stopped suddenly?
2) Can he just show one repair estimate (which may be the highest in
all estimates), instead of say three repair estimates (for the lowest)
which he agreed first at first and then decided not to get more
estimates?
3) He wants me to write him a cheque of $400 payable to him
personally. Do I have to pay him personally, instead of paying to the
Honda dealer repair shop? I suspect that, based on the slight
scratches/dents, he might just pocket the money himself without
getting the bumper repaired.
4) Can he insist on me paying for $400 for the whole bumper repaired?
If he goes to his insurance company, is my insurance company required
to pay $400?
5) If my insurance company is involved, do I (customer) generally have
an option paying for the damage, and thus (I hope) would not increase
my insurance premium in the future?
Any advice and comments would be greatly and urgently appreciated!
|
| |
| |
CAR ACCIDENT - WHAT ARE MY RIGHTS HERE?
About two weeks ago, my car hit the rear bumper of another Honda car
in front in another city when he stops suddenly, because of another
car in front of him stopped suddenly.
My car's front bumper hit his rear bumper. On his rear bumper, there
were two similar scratches/slight dents - one on left, and one on
right, of the rear PLASTIC bumper. He said the right scratch/dent was
his in a previous car accident. He said the left scratch/dent was
caused by my car hit. My front bumper had no scratch/dent after the
accident.
After we exchanged insurance info, he told me that he would repair
LEFT scratch/dent, and the repair would cost about $50. (In my view,
those two scratches/dents can be fixed in about $20 if done
personally). However, a week later, he faxed me ONE and only estimate
from a Honda dealership estimating the repair cost to be $400. The
$400 repair cost is to replace the WHOLE bumper.
While I am willing to pay for half of $400 (for the left side of the
scratch/dent), he is threatening to go to his insurance company if I
do not pay the $400 to replace his whole bumper. He said that his
action to approach his insurance company would increase my car
insurance premium in the future.
QUESTIONS:
1) Am I the only one at fault and need to pay his damage, getting to
close, although he stopped suddenly?
2) Can he just show one repair estimate (which may be the highest in
all estimates), instead of say three repair estimates (for the lowest)
which he agreed first at first and then decided not to get more
estimates?
3) He wants me to write him a cheque of $400 payable to him
personally. Do I have to pay him personally, instead of paying to the
Honda dealer repair shop? I suspect that, based on the slight
scratches/dents, he might just pocket the money himself without
getting the bumper repaired.
4) Can he insist on me paying for $400 for the whole bumper repaired?
If he goes to his insurance company, is my insurance company required
to pay $400?
5) If my insurance company is involved, do I (customer) generally have
an option paying for the damage, and thus (I hope) would not increase
my insurance premium in the future?
Any advice and comments would be greatly and urgently appreciated!
This is not legal advice.
Technically, you are at fault.
Why? Unassured cleared distance. AKA Tailgating.
Request two more esitmates as is the standard practice.
Not only estimates from dealers, but body repair people as well.
If he goes whining to your insurance company now, he'll only get met with a
denial.
One estimate is not good enough.
And for that little damage, you can bet he's just gonna cash the check.
Which is why you insist that your insurance company make any checks payable
directly to the repair place.
I got into a similar situation once as a naive young man.
Barely touched the already in need of repair all over the place vehicle.
Several months later I saw the same vehicle looking like it had just come
out of somebody's repair shop with barely any damage at all.
Yep. My rates went up because of that.
Never again am I gonna get screwed by some jerk or some idiotic insurance
company.
|
| |
| |
About two weeks ago, my car hit the rear bumper of another Honda car
in front in another city when he stops suddenly, because of another
car in front of him stopped suddenly.
[snip]
QUESTIONS:
1) Am I the only one at fault and need to pay his damage, getting to
close, although he stopped suddenly?
Probably. In general, the guy who hits from the rear is at fault,
unless you can prove something pretty drastic, like he was backing
up or he stopped short intentionally to cause an accident. If you
weren't following too closely and were paying attention, you wouldn't
have hit him.
2) Can he just show one repair estimate (which may be the highest in
all estimates), instead of say three repair estimates (for the lowest)
which he agreed first at first and then decided not to get more
estimates?
He could ASK for anything, including three more Hondas, World Peace,
and 500 electoral votes. Are you willing to pay up front for
estimates? Estimates are not necessarily free.
It would be really nice if you had a witness to his statements
about previous damage.
3) He wants me to write him a cheque of $400 payable to him
personally. Do I have to pay him personally, instead of paying to the
Honda dealer repair shop? I suspect that, based on the slight
scratches/dents, he might just pocket the money himself without
getting the bumper repaired.
If you damaged his car, you are responsible for the repairs. Whether
or not $400 is reasonable for the repairs is debatable. From your
description of the damage, I don't think replacing the bumper is
reasonable. On the other hand, $400 seems cheap for replacing a
bumper (are you sure that's not parts only?). I know of nothing
that requires him to actually make the repairs. He might simply
save it to put against the reduced trade-in value of his car due
to the damage.
There is a possibility that this guy was simply mistaken about the
often outrageous cost of auto repairs. Or it might genuinely be
cheaper to replace the bumper than repaint it, but I doubt it.
4) Can he insist on me paying for $400 for the whole bumper repaired?
If he goes to his insurance company, is my insurance company required
to pay $400?
Your insurance company might be able to give you advice about whether
or not $400 is reasonable for this kind of damage.
5) If my insurance company is involved, do I (customer) generally have
an option paying for the damage, and thus (I hope) would not increase
my insurance premium in the future?
If the insurance company is told about it, chances are you cannot
further influence whether you get a rate increase. Depending on
your deductible, you may have to pay part (or all) of it anyway.
Your insurance policy probably REQUIRES you to tell them about
accidents. And what are you going to do if this guy shows up 2
months later with a hospital bill for whiplash?
Any advice and comments would be greatly and urgently appreciated!
If you think this guy is trying to scam you, go through the insurance
companies. If you don't tell your insurance company, you risk
having your insurance cancelled or being personally liable for other
bills related to this accident (fraudulent or not).
You bring up an interesting question regarding estimates. I have
a situation where (1) estimates are NOT free, and (2) estimates for
estimates are NOT free. Lightning surges damaged my A/C (including
blowing a hole in the freon pipe, losing all coolant), and the
insurance company wants me to take the damaged thermostat to, uh,
"someone" who can tell why it died. They won't give me a clue as
to where to find such a person, because it's supposed to be
"independent". I call it "claim avoidance". They already paid off
on the A/C system repair itself (what little was over the deductible).
The problem is that the cost of the report, or estimates for the
report, is likely to vastly exceed the cost of a thermostat that
was replaced for $85. I have a similar problem with a phone switch,
which is even harder to find an expert on - they want to know whether
it is repairable. (The manufacturer keeps saying "it's out of
warranty". Well, I know that, but is it repairable anyway? "But
it's out of warranty" - and they don't want to look at it).
What I have found out so far is that I could go down a list of
repair people in the Yellow Pages, ask them for such a tech report,
or ask them if they can even DO such a tech report, get the reply of
"$100 please. No, we don't do thermostats", or "$100 please. No,
we don't do insurance company tech reports". Repeat until I've
spent more than the value of my home, and I probably STILL won't
get a tech report out of them.
Another possibility is an engineering firm that does expert witness
testimony. I'm sure they could tell why the thermostat died, but
I suspect it would cost a quarter million dollars to do it (but
they'd throw in court testimony). These are the ONLY places willing
to say they'll do such a report: but for a cost estimate, they
want to talk to my attorney.
Gordon L. Burditt
|
| |
| |
|
