Yep, got rear-ended in the Prius this morning. Traffic had stopped, and I was stopped behind a BMW. I looked in my rear-view mirror to see a Nissan SUV come to a stop behind me. Just as she stopped she was slammed from behind by a Dodge minivan. She was pushed into me, and I was pushed into the BMW.
The BMW got scuffed bumper paint. My front bumper was scuffed, and my license plate frame was broken. The plate is a little mangled. The back end is not good. The bumper is smushed in and the hatch doesn’t want to close unless you push the bottom forward while closing it. The car thinks I have a door open, and lights the annunciator to tell me so.
The Nissan’s front end looks find. The car that caused the collisions hit her in the back. Pushed her spare tire in, thus deforming her hatch.
The minivan hit the woman with enough force to destroy his front end. He was immobile. Here’s the best part: The State Patrolman had to push him to the shoulder. The minivan hit the Nissan again!
The at-fault driver lives in California, the minivan has California plates, but the driver has a Mexican driver’s license. He does have insurance, so I’m letting my insurance company hash it all out with his insurance company.
The BMW driver, I, and the woman were uninjured; though the woman’s 23-year-old toy poodle (!) was shaken up. Neither the BMW driver nor I talked to the at-fault driver. He was uninjured, and no ambulance was called so I assume his passengers were as well.
Ironically, I normally would have telecommuted today since Monday was a holiday. But I didn’t want to.
I just got my car back after getting hit in the rear. No one was hurt but I had frame damage and it took over a month for them to finish fixing the car.
Johnny, sorry about the accident and glad you’re not seriously hurt.
You’re still doing that American trying to be British thing though? Ouch. (you may wanna rethink that)
B.)it’s been awhile since I’ve been here. If I am offbase, I do beg your pardon. I do recall you using affected language in the past, so much so it stuck in my memory with your username. If you were puposely drawing on that in naming this thread, most especially for humor, I apologize and have inded been whooshed.
B) I never said anything but this one was a little over the top. God knows I’m guilty when I get drunk or tired of a bit of accent slip but hell, it’s been 31 years since I lived in Ireland, I’m fine with being an American.
I’m beginning to wonder. Back in 2001 (I think) I was on the 105, stopped behind a guy and this girl was too busy playing with her radio to pay attention to traffic…
ETA: Then there was the time on the bike when a guy in a truck decided to make a two-lane dash, and years before when a woman backed into me after changing her mind at a stop sign, and in high school when a guy made a U-turn into the back of the pickup I was driving. I’m starting to think I’m a magnet for inattentive drivers.
Everett. No airbags. I’ve felt more of an impact on amusement park rides. I was actually surprised at the damage to the front of the mini-van. Still, he hit hard enough to push a small SUV into me with enough force to push in my bumper.
I found a flaw in Toyota’s engineering. The car thinks a door is open (the hatch is indeed latched) so it won’t let me lock it up. Used to be that cars didn’t need to be locked up here; but I’ve had things pilfered from the Jeep so so much for that.
I have always wondered about how chain-reaction accidents are handled.
Does everyone deal directly with the last guy in the chain with no dealings (insurance or otherwise) with the intermediary cars?
or
Does everyone just work with the person directly behind them, with each insurance company simply passing the blame on down the line?
In other words, is your accident treated by the police and insurance as you being rear-ended by the Nissan, and all dealings are with the Nissan owner and her insurance?
Or
Is your accident and everyone else’s treated as all caused by the same guy at the end of the line?
If it is the former, what happens when someone in the middle is uninsured? Suppose your Nissan lady was uninsured: she would not pay you, but her damages might be paid by the car behind her.
If it is the latter, then doesn’t that take all responsibility away from the drivers further forward? In some cases one in front locks their breaks, causing the “accident wave” to travel front-to-back, meaning the first person’s car was damaged before the last person arrived. In other cases, the last person shoves everyone forward.
From personal experience, when I rear ended a car (i was a teen at the time), and they subsequently rear ended the person in front of them… I only had to pay for the damage of the person in front of me. The person in front of me had to pay the person in front of them.
Ditto. Car accidents are no fun no matter what end of the (light tap > totaled car) spectrum it falls under. Sorry if you thought I was TSing; maybe I just have Prius envy…
