I toyed with putting this in MPSIMS because I’m not really asking for advise, more what do you predict will happen. I know the mods are way over worked and way under paid so I thought I’d save them the trouble of moving it… plus they are all probably all still out trick or treating.
Anyway, last Friday my wife and son set out on a journey from Indy to Pittsburgh… they made it about 3 miles and while sitting waiting for a light to change… boom! they got rear ended. The guy driving the huge pickup was very nice and he didn’t argue blame at all. The cop came and made his report and stated there was no question on the fault.
BUT… there was one little thing. The truck the guy was driving was his friend’s… and it was his work truck (it had a bracket for the snow plow) he couldn’t find the insurance card.
My wife was in a 2004 Pontiac Mini Van with about 150k miles on it. It is still drive-able, but there is now a nice crease in the rear hatch, and the rear bumper is shot (one of the back up sensors fell out). The van is fully loaded, but I’ll admit it is probably worth only around $6k at best. The truck that hit her basically missed the bumper and hit the hatch full on, and then came down and knocked most of the bumper off. I doubt the hatch can be pounded out so it will probably be replaced… the full bumper and sensor replacement will also be needed. I’m pretty sure that even though the van is drive-able it will be totaled.
So we reported it to our insurance agent, and I’m not asking for advise because I’m planning on leaving this all up to him (after all, I’ve been paying him for the past 30 years or so.) He got in contact with the “buddy” who loaned our guy the truck and he claimed that his friend “barely tapped” my wife and there is no way it could be over $500 so he doesn’t want to involve his insurance. My agent also told me he is “a real jerk.” He thought he was a kid (relatively speaking) and has no clue and is probably scared that he wasn’t supposed to loan his work truck out and is probably now in deep doo doo if he reports it.
Since there was a police report filed both parties have to provide a statement from their insurance that they were covered at the time. If not the other party will have their license suspended. Ours has been filed… not sure about the other guy.
We’re getting estimates… which the jerk stated “was state law” that we had to get three… and my agent laughed at him and let him know one was all we needed. I’m not really concerned because this is sort of an “extra” vehicle for us and we don’t need it for daily commutes. I know our insurance will handle it but I’ll have to subtract my deductible and wait for it to get resolved.
The cop on the scene was great and I have his cell and he said he would be happy to testify if it came down to it. Just wondering what kind of a hassle this jerk will give us or if he will roll over when he finds out he has to try to find $6k out of pocket. I feel a little bad that it was his friend who was at fault, but he seemed like a reasonable family guy who probably assumed all was on the up and up and everything insured.
So, what kind of fun can we expect in the near future?