Same thing happened to me, except the driver of the other SUV was a 15-year-old girl with only a permit and no adult in the vehicle. She got two citations (one for no license and another for failure to yield.) Her parents were wonderful, though. They let us use their cellphone to call my parents, offered to drive us to meet my parents halfway to pick us up and made sure the rental car was waiting for us when we got to Dallas. Now the insurance company was a different story, but that’s not the family’s fault. And we eventually got the money our vehicle was worth. We didn’t have any serious injuries, though I did get the breath knocked out of me from the seatbelt and had a bad bruise on my knee.
If the insurance pays for all medical and vehicle expenses, seems like an awful lot of time and trouble to sue.
InternetLegend Thanks for the advice and I do see your point. Perhaps I wasn’t too clear, I meant her insurance should be paying for everything. If I’m asked t pay anything or if my premium goes up, I am suing her. I plan on letting Kaiser know today that it was from a car accident, I was going to stop there after school. I’m sure they’re not going to want to pay for hospital stay. My neck and back are a little sore, but no extreme pain. I’m just sore all over. Nothing awful. Mostly my stomach hurts (you saw that) and my wrist. As far as work, I work part time for my dad, I reckon I could sue for that. Oh, I also didn’t need a rental car because my dad has three and just leant me one.
Aesiron Oh yeah? Look at my scary burn!!! Ok, it’s not that scary but it hurts. And burns. Strange
Rysler You have brought up the one thing that pissed me off tremendously- they didn’t cite her at all- no ticket, no warning, nothing! She turned into oncomming traffic, causing my car to be totalled (which they listed as “moderate” damage…yeah) and me to go to the hospital. I’m still ragingly pissed about that.
DeadlyAccurate Once again, you’re…hehe…deadly accurate I think it might not be worth the trouble to sue. That’s why I said I’ll wait for her to make a move, then it’ll be on. And bummer about your situation, at least the family was nice. Insurance companies are idiots.
I got a really scary-looking airbag bruise from an accident as well, Dio, and coincidentally saw my gynecologist the next week, while still pretty bruised. I had discussed scheduling a baseline mammogram with her (totally unrelated to the accident), and had it done a few weeks later. She told me to be sure to tell the tech that I’d had bad bruising in that area, as I guess it may “look different” on the mammogram. After my initial scan, they came back and took extra pictures of the area.
Just FYI. Feel better!
Oh, and arnica gel (can be found at the health food store) may help break up the bruising.
DiosaBellissima, I was in a much milder accident caused by a much nicer person two years ago. I didn’t pay a dime out of my own pocket; her insurance covered everything. Under the circumstances, if the woman who hit you’s doesn’t, I’d definitely take steps to make sure it does. One piece of advice from someone who’s been there. The day after the accident, my neck started hurting so badly I could hardly move it. Now, I take pride in my unconventionality, and I’ve seen way too many television shows with fake whiplash, including an episode of The Brady Bunch. Nevertheless, after sitting through a job interview looking straight ahead, I realized I had to do something. I also realized that at the moment of impact, I was looking to the right, but my glasses somehow wound up on the passenger seat to my left. If your neck hurts, get help, please?
As for the idiot who hit you and her husband, even though this is the Pit, I’ll reserve comment and only :rolleyes:
CJ
By the way, it’s been great seeing you around here!
**malkabat ** I couldn’t imagine anyone sticking my boob in a vice right about now- ow ow ow!!! Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll def look into that tomorrow. These bruises are awful.
Siege Like I said, I’m a little sore all over, but nothing awful. I have a full range of motion in my neck and back, so I think I’m ok. And thank you for the welcome
Her insurance called me this afternoon, but I was at the hospital squaring away my bill. The guy sounded like a real jack ass. I’m just going to be like, “I’m just a young college student and this horrible woman destroyed my car I bought myself and forced me to go to the hospital :(” Yay for being young.
I also called Kaiser and they told me I have to pay $100 for the hospital visit. My dad said not to worry about it because he’d pay it, but I say it’s a matter of principal. Soon as my insurance finds her at fault (I really don’t see how they could do otherwise) I’ll be filing a claim with Kaiser so they can get that money from her.
Let me give you a bit of consolation. When all was said and done, in addition to the other person’s insurance company paying for a rental car, chiropracter, etc., her insurance agent also compensated me for a temporary job assignment I would have taken if this hadn’t happened and paid me a bit for pain and suffering. It took about 6 months, but I did get the money. I also got the job I interviewed for, stiff neck and all. Keep careful track of all the money you pay out as part of this. From what you’ve said, you should be reimbursed for it.
Thanks Siege. It’s good to hear someone else’s story from a similar situation. I found out not too long ago that my deductable on this car is $1000. Luckily, my dad will be paying for it (I’m not a bum or mooch, I’m just a full time student…ok, maybe that makes me a bum and a mooch. What? You’d do it, too). Tomorrow they insurance company is going to have someone look at the car and see if it is repairable. Part of me hopes it isn’t; I just got that car 6 months ago, but it is really big. I’d rather have a smaller car. Plus, it’s a lease, so all the value will be shot to hell if we are able to do full repairs.
One more piece of advice, then, before I turn in. The other person’s insurance company should pay your deductible, as well. I think they paid the garage directly. In fact, since my car was towed to the garage after the accident and they brought my car to work and returned my rental car for me when my car was repaired, I’ve never actually been to the garage which did the work.
Keep track of every cent you spend and document how you feel physically. You want to give yourself some time to fully recover so that you know if there are any lingering or, god forbid, permanent problems. If anyone asks you to sign a release, run to a lawyer.
Well, as I said, her insurance called today to get a recorded statement. My insurance agent told me not to do it; he told me to agree to speak off the record, but to not let them record me. He’s calling her tomorrow to get her statement about it. He said as long as her story is somewhat similar to mine, they should pay for everything.
My dad is going to pay the $1000 to get it fixed (assuming it’s fixable) so we can get everything done with. Now, once she’s found guilty, we’ll get our money back from her company. Same thing regarding my medical stuff. Kaiser may pursue her for the entire hospital bill (lord knows they wont want to pay it), but I’ll just be going for my $100.
KSO I’ve been taking pictures (which I hate because some bruises are in odd places) and documenting my burns and stuff. I’m keeping track and hopefully I’m ok. I def. wont sign anything and I think that goes along with my lawyer saying not to agree to a recorded statement.
Do you have any pictures of the scene (probably not), or your car? I’m not a rubber-necker (okay, I am… btw, is that hyphenated?), I just want to see how bad the damage to your car is compared to the damage to your body.
If this just happened on the 2nd, your neck/back pain will probably get worse before it’s gets better. Do your elbows/upper arms hurt? What about your legs? Everytime I’ve ever been in an accident I have, against my better judgement, tensed my whole body at the moment of impact. This is a bad idea, btw. The last accident I had (hit a deer going what I estimate to be between 25 and 35mph (60mph + slamming on the brakes)) resulted in searing neck pain for almost 2 weeks, stiffness in my elbows for a week or so, et cetera, even though I felt fine that night and mostly okay the following 2 days.
Silver Fire I actually need to go take some pictures of the intersection; I asked my dad to that night, but he messed up the camera. :smack:
The whole front end of my car is smashed in- bad. The hood is crinkled up, the stuff in the front (I know nothing about cars…radiator maybe?) is falling out… I’m not quite sure how they got it on the tow truck. The windshield is shattered of course, but thankfully the glass stayed in place. As I said before, tomorrow my insurance is having someone look at the car and asses (giggle giggle) the damage. They’ll take plenty of pictures of my car and hers, then I’ll be sure to post them up. My upper arms and thighs hurt; feels like I did a bunch of push ups/squats. My bruises have gotten scarier looking (if you can even belive that). Here’s a more recent picture…forgive the huge swelling
In the mean time, here is my reinactment of the accident (and yes, my car has a halo. What?):
This link always makes me laugh - it sounds like the SUV you hit was driven by the author of this article. (It’s a parody, by the way. At least I hope to God it is.)
sorry, I can’t let that one pass.
The three point belt invented by Nils Bolin in 1958 is the single most effective safety device ever put into a motor car.
Nils was honored many many times as the inventor of the 3 point belt.
From this page describing Nil’s introduction in the Automotive Hall of Fame I can’t find the link, but Nils was also honored as on of the 20th century’s greatest inventors by the German patent office.
It has been estimated that the 3 point belt saves one life every 12 minutes somewhere in the world.
So if you are gonna diss Nils and his invention you had better have some damn good cites ready. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
[/hijack]
If you wear a 5 point harness, you need to wear a helmet. I know more than a few people with 5 point race harnesses in their cars. The harnesses are only worn on the track with a helmet.
If you get a roll bar, you need to wear a helmet, too. That’s one reason why I don’t have a roll bar yet - because I drive that car off the track sometimes.
I think it might not be worth the trouble to sue. That’s why I said I’ll wait for her to make a move, then it’ll be on. And bummer about your situation, at least the family was nice. Insurance companies are idiots.
Feel better!
I wanna see!
