Yesterday, (Happy Thanksgiving, huh?), my husband and I were driving on the freeway, but not really a freeway since it’s sort of rural and the access is “uncontrolled”. Speed limit was 65. Well, we were almost to our destination and this girl in a white truck ran the stopsign and crossed the four lane divided highway right into our path. My husband did everything he could to avoid her. Thankfully, we were in a high-performance sportscar (a 300ZX Twin Turbo for all you car dorks out there) and we were able to avoid “t-boning” her (probably would have killed her) and side-swiped her instead.
Our car was totaled so we couldn’t move the car anywhere, but she continued up the road a couple hundred feet. We immediately called 911. Well, she got out of the truck and proceed to RUN AWAY. :eek: She didn’t even check to see if we were okay.
Georgia State Patrol showed up and immediately went looking for her. They found her an hour later HIDING IN THE WOODS. She has no insurance, of course. Thankfully they handcuffed her and took her sorry ass to jail. One of the state patrolmen said, “I’m not going to ever let her forget this.” So, unless she knows some powerful people (sorry, I really doubt it), she will probably be in jail until Monday when she can be arraigned.
Thankfully, my husband and I only suffered minor injuries. My knee is pretty bashed up and I’m very sore where the seatbelt dug into me (thank goodness for seatbelts). My husband hit his head pretty badly on the driver window, but he’s okay.
I’m sorry, but all I have to say is FUCK YOU, you sorry ass bitch.
BTW, if anybody knows anything about how to maximize our claim (since we will have to use our Uninsured Motorist’s Insurance and we’ll never get what the car was really worth) please let me know. If, for any reason, I can go and watch this girl get sentenced, trust me, I’ll be there.
Call a lawyer. My lawyer gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
Please take it easy for a few weeks, too. You’re going to feel it in a few days. Ice for the first 10 days, then you can do heat, if you want. I’m sorry.
“Maximize our claim?” You mean you’re looking for advice on how to commit fraud against your insurance company and thus drive up the rates for the rest of us?
Did you read the entire sentence, Monty? Did you perhaps miss “we’ll never get what the car was really worth”? They don’t want to rip off their insurance company, they want to make sure their insurance company doesn’t try to get out of paying what they should.
Strangely enough, my sister was in a hit and run couple days ago. A car in the next lane skidded and swerved into her lane and she hit them in the side, then the car behind her rear-ended her and both of the other cars drove off.
I read it, Kat. I also read, and I quote directly,
I agree that they’ll never get what they think the car’s worth. I didn’t get what I thought my car was worth when some moron rear-ended the ol’ Dodge Dart Sprint (yeah, I know). But that’s no reason to pad the claim.
Monty, I’m certain she didn’t mean what you said she means. You’re misinterpreting her. She wants to try to recoup her loss, and that’s fair. All she wants to know is how to get the most money back that she can. If I were her, I’d sue the other driver to compensate for that loss.
I agree with you about the insurance fraud thing, though. That sort of thing is unacceptable.
FWIW it’s worth, Monty, I didn’t read her statement quite that way. (Former claims adjuster here, btw.) It’s a sad fact of life that dealing with insurance claims can be tricky, and it sure doesn’t help when one is hurt and frazzled.
It could be something as basic as advice on getting thorough, competitive estimates or checking the figures one’ s quoted. F’rinstance, “blue book” values can vary quite a bit, and depreciation can sometimes be negotiated. Personal contents damaged in the crash may also be covered. An insurance claim is like any other business transaction. A lot of people don’t know some of the perfectly legitimate quirks of insurance, and figuring them out in the hassle after a wreck can be confusing.
I’m firmly in your camp re claim padding but I took her comment as seeking advice on how to navigate the legitmate ins-and-outs after a wreck.
I bet you’re right, Veb. What I recall from the incident with the Dodge (now referred to as “the Bundy-mobile”) was that the insurance company declared it totalled and gave me the cost of a used car of the same make/model/year in that area. I also got the option of paying them $50 out of that settlement to keep the car. Since it still worked, I took their money and paid them the $50.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and support.
Monty, no, we would never commit insurance fraud and that isn’t what I mean. I know it’s hard to know that without knowing me :). It’s just that Jeff’s (my husband) car was pristine and will be very hard to replace. They probably will give us around $5K for a car that could have been sold for at least $10K. We are thinking about buying it back and parting it out since he is a member of a car club for that kind of car. I, too, am very against insurance fraud (which sounds so obvious and dumb when you type it out). I would never do anything to jeopardize the system.
I’m not interested in suing her - for various reasons. First, we are not a litigous (sp?) family and have no interest in other people’s money. Second, the girl obviously didn’t have a dime to her name and has enough problems. Even though I think she is scum of the earth, she doesn’t need someone trying to take the little that she has. Let’s put it this way: after she ran we went and looked in the truck to check out the damage. There was a child’s carseat in there that must have been ten years old and didn’t have any padding left on it. This makes me really angry. Thankfully, the child was not in the truck at the time of the accident. One of the girls that works with me had a child at 17 and WIC offered a carseat free of charge, so I know free help is available where we live, but you have to look for it.
Veb, yes, I really just need some advice as to how to best handle the claim. I’ve never had to handle something like this. I guess the good news is that I haven’t had to personally handle something like this before now!
Monster104, it will be a few days before we get the accident report, but I got a glimpse of her driver’s license and she was over 21. She didn’t have insurance and the truck wasn’t even registered - it didn’t even have license plates!
Thanks again for the kind words. Kat, so sorry about your sister. It’s really depressing that this situation is so common.
So I guess what I should have said is this: we’ve never had to deal with anything like this before! We could use any advice you have to give regarding how to work with the insurance company on our claim! :eek:
Frankly, I wouldn’t be too adverse to the lawsuit issue. She’s violated how many laws now? Sounds like a hazard to herself and others, and you’re the ones going to be screwed?
Seriously, though, my advice is to talk to your agent, and let him handle the lawsuit part, the insurance company may very well have more experience in that sort of thing. Alternatively, you may want a lawyer, though I don’t know what sort. I have the strong feeling that a few hundred dollars in a lawyer will make you thousands you’d miss normally from the insurance company, as well as give you an expert on your side of things. If you find the right lawyer, he’ll deal with this sort of thing every day… and a man who knows what the boundaries are is always good to have around.
Okay, your inclination is not to sue. But find out a but more before you decide. She could have been a minor and her parents may have some liability. It wasn’t necessarily her truck, or her infant that went into the infant seat.
Maybe the cops can tell you something about her. Don’t dismiss the idea before doing a bit more checking.
A late friend of mine named Jose had a similar situation several years ago. His family was hit by an uninsured motorist when they were on a ski trip in Northern California. Of course, the person who hit them had no money. So he filed an uninsured motorist claim.
In an uninsured motorist claim, you negotiate with your own insurance company for the fair value of the claim, which is really against the third party. Jose’s company was quite hard-nosed. Fortunately, Jose was a top-notch, international consultant, who carefully marshalled all his facts, kept careful records, continued to follow up, etc. In short, he pursued the claim as if it were a major consulting assignment. Due to his diligence, he eventually got a fair settlement.
I ditto getting an attorney. Your insurance company wants to protect themselves, not you. You may not be litigious, but you still need someone who knows the law that will look out for your interests.
Okay, I guess I will talk to my husband about getting a lawyer. What’s that saying though? “You can’t squeeze blood out of a dime?!?!” What good will it do to sue someone with nothing? I’m not arguing, just asking a question, as I really don’t know the answer.
Criminally, I don’t know. I bet she is still in jail today and won’t be arraigned until tomorrow. My bet is that any charges that can be pressed WILL be pressed. I was really serious when I said that the Georgia State Patrolmen were REALLY PISSED at her.
I really appreciate the sweet words and advice from everyone, but you know what I’m still shocked about?!?! No one has seemed to be as shocked as I that she RAN AWAY AND HID IN THE WOODS! Isn’t that V.V.C. or surreal to you guys?
I still am in pretty serious pain where the seatbelt dug into me (but thank you seatbelt for doing your job). I still feel like I’ve just stepped out of the Twilight Zone. :eek:
so we couldn’t move the car anywhere, but she continued up the road a couple hundred feet. We immediately called 911. Well, she got out of the truck and proceed to RUN AWAY. :eek: She didn’t even check to see if we were okay.