Minor car accident: Who's at fault?

Factual Questions
1

I was involved in a minor fender bender. Actually the only damage was a few scratches on our bumpers. We decided not to exchange information and I left. He definitely had the worst of it, I’m guessing repairs for mine will be a couple of hundred dollars, below my 500 dollar deductible. (New car too, ARGH!)

Anyway, I’m curious, who would have been legally at fault should he have decided to exchange info, call insurance, etc.

Here’s what happenned:

I was turning into my street, making a right. The other guy’s car was parked right at that corner on the right side. As I made my turn, he pulls out of his parking spot. I saw him and slowed down. I assummed he was leaving his spot, but that wasn’t the case. He then suddenly stops so I stopped. There was a car a little further down the road, I thought he stopped because of him. Instead he throws his car in reverse and tries to go back into his spot. No way he’s going to be able to do that with me behind him. I don’t know how he didn’t see me, I was in an SUV and he was in a small car. I freaked, I couldn’t go back, I’d be pulling out into traffic on the corner, it took my girlfriend yelling for me to honk for me to react. I honked, but it was too late, he clipped the front right corner of my car with his left rear as he tried to get into the car.

So who’s fault was it? I understand that there is almost no case in which which a rear collission is considered the fault of the car hit in the back. But would this qualify as an exception?

2

Definitely him. A driver is responsible for insuring that the direction he intends to go is clear. He failed to do that. AIUI, the automatic finding of fault in rear-end collisions is predicated on the fact that the driver at fault was in forward motion at the time of the collision.

3

Am I right in thinking that even if he was at fault, I would still have to pay my deductible to my insurance had I decided to exchange info and file a claim?

4

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
Am I right in thinking that even if he was at fault, I would still have to pay my deductible to my insurance had I decided to exchange info and file a claim?
[/QUOTE]

You might, but I’m no insurance expert; is NJ still a no-fault state? It was when I lived there.

ETA: I see that it is, but no-fault insurance only matters when there’s injuries, apparently.

5

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
Am I right in thinking that even if he was at fault, I would still have to pay my deductible to my insurance had I decided to exchange info and file a claim?
[/QUOTE]

If he’s at fault, his insurance should pay for your damages. You shouldn’t have to pay anything.

6

I’m not an insurance agent or lawyer, but just a driver in NJ.

I had a case where a person pulled out in front of me and as a result I hit the back of their car. I reported it to my insurance comopany. They paid the costs out of my collision coverage, minus the deductible. Then they abrogated the claim (got payment from the other driver or her insurance) and when that was complete they paid me back the deductible. This was property damage only, no injury. Carrier was New Jersey Manufacturers’ and I have no idea if another carrier would handle it differently.

In another similar case, someone pulled out from a stop sign, similar situation except also involved my personal injury. Same settlement as above. All my medical payments were covered. Then there was pain and suffering, since part of the injury was a broken bone (cracked vertebra). Since the idiot who ignored the stop sign was under insured, I go a settlement out of my own “underinsured motorists coverage,” after which NJMI I believe could have attempted to recover the amount from the other woman. I have no idea what happened there, although I hope they got it from her, since she was as indicated earlier an idiot.

7

[QUOTE=MLS]
Then they abrogated the claim (got payment from the other driver or her insurance) and when that was complete they paid me back the deductible.
[/QUOTE]
nitpick; subrogated

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
Am I right in thinking that even if he was at fault, I would still have to pay my deductible to my insurance had I decided to exchange info and file a claim?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, if you want your policy to handle your own damages you’ll have to front your deductible. But as MLS points out, there’s a good chance of your getting it back.

8

[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya]
nitpick; subrogated
Yes, if you want your policy to handle your own damages you’ll have to front your deductible. But as MLS points out, there’s a good chance of your getting it back.
[/QUOTE]

Maybe. And only after getting involved in a lot of pain in the ass communication with his insurance company. Possibly involving having to threaten to sue. Etc.

You may best be simply dealing with this one on your own, depending on the cost of repair.

9

<hijack=slight>
I was taught to always, always, always exchange drivers license, insurance and car registration information, no matter what. There is always the potential an injury (real or imagined) can manifest itself hours or days later, the “accident” was a scam in the making, the other driver later decides it really was all your fault regardless of the true facts, etc.

Also, my insurance friends tell me there really is no such thing as “no fault” (notwithstanding no fault laws in various states). As explained to me your mere presence places some fault upon you, even if commonsense says otherwise. I’m told by these same insurance friends that a commonsense you-are-not-at-fault incident (on your part) is 45 percent your fault just because you were there in the first place. Yeah, I don’t understand the (il)logic either.
</hijack>

10

[QUOTE=Duckster]
<hijack=slight>
Also, my insurance friends tell me there really is no such thing as “no fault” (notwithstanding no fault laws in various states). As explained to me your mere presence places some fault upon you, even if commonsense says otherwise. I’m told by these same insurance friends that a commonsense you-are-not-at-fault incident (on your part) is 45 percent your fault just because you were there in the first place. Yeah, I don’t understand the (il)logic either.
</hijack>
[/QUOTE]
As an auto insurance claims guy I’d just like to say, “Bwuh?”

11

[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya]
As an auto insurance claims guy I’d just like to say, “Bwuh?”
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it makes no sense to me, too. But that’s what I was told. It must a a creative way for some insurance companies to get out of paying the full cost of an incident.

12

I figured I’d have to front for the deductible and then “maybe” get it back, which is why I offered him an out. Would I have been in legal trouble had I asked him for some money for the repairs in exchange for not getting the insurance involved?

I got an estimate: $400 :frowning:

Which brings another question. Suppose I would have filed a claim. The $400 is less than my deductible, so would I have payed for it out of pocket, and then been reimbursed by my insurance after (if) they got money from the other guy’s insurance? and would my rates have gone up?

13

[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
I figured I’d have to front for the deductible and then “maybe” get it back, which is why I offered him an out. Would I have been in legal trouble had I asked him for some money for the repairs in exchange for not getting the insurance involved?

I got an estimate: $400 :frowning:

Which brings another question. Suppose I would have filed a claim. The $400 is less than my deductible, so would I have payed for it out of pocket, and then been reimbursed by my insurance after (if) they got money from the other guy’s insurance? and would my rates have gone up?
[/QUOTE]

Whether rates increase depends, I think, on your insurance company, although I have a vague recollection that in NJ your rates cannot be raised because of an accident that isn’t your fault. Don’t take that as gospel, though.

I do know that NJMI never raises rates even when you’re at fault. However, if you have more than a few tickets or accidents they may cancel you. For a while I was unfortunately averaging an accident per year, none my fault, and our rates did not increase at all despite all the claims.

IANAL, but I can think of situations in which you could be in difficulty for not reporting an accident, and just taking money for repairs, settling it between you. For example, if after paying, the other party claimed that the accident was your fault after all, and that he was injured, etc., etc.

You also have time in which to file a claim or report an accident, I believe it may be 2 weeks. A teenager racing around our neighborhood skidded into one of our parked cars some years back. He begged my husband to pleeeeaaase not tell his parents, he’d pay for the damage, which was about $200, and left name & phone number. After 10 days with no payment, my husband called the number and as luck would have it the kid’s mother answered. “Just tell J… that P… called. It’s about the car.” Money was in our hands the following day.