I was waiting (completely stationary) at a red light when the car in front suddenly backed up a few meters and damaged my bumper and destroyed the headlight washing mechanism. The man who hit me did not want to go through insurance and so I took lots of photos (of him, his plates, the accident etc) and got his phone number (which I verified on the spot).
We later exchanged e-mails (I found his address online and e-mailed him the quote my bodyshop gave me, he replied to say that he is willing to pay the amount). I am now about to send him a follow-up e-mail and I’d love your input on whether my response is fair and justified. Keep in mind I’m giving him a tight deadline because a significant amount of money is involved and the police recommend that if one does decide to report an accident it should be done within approximately 24 hours of the incident occurring.
Dear Mr. CarSmasher,
Thank you for your prompt e-mail and apology about being unable to return my call.
Please find attached a four page document containing a scanned copy of the repair estimate from the bodyshop which confirms the information I previously provided via e-mail. On pages 3 & 4 I have included two photos which should help you understand the point of impact and related damage.
In consideration of my willingness to handle the claim privately, I am requesting the following terms and conditions:
[ul]
[li]A payment for $1446.68 be made no later than the end of business on Friday March 6th via certified cheque, bank draft or digital bank-to-bank Transfer [/li]
[li]You accept responsibility, in writing, to pay for any damage that may be concealed by the bumper that the bodyshop determines was caused by your vehicle (I doubt there is any such damage but apparently this cannot be confirmed until the bodyshop is paid to remove the bumper and inspect underneath)[/li][/ul]
I shall await your phone call tomorrow after 10AM per your request at 202-555-5555.
My first thought would be that he didn’t want “to go through insurance” because he’s going to report it as you rear-ending him. With you conveniently (for him) not reporting it. Your email looks fine, but I’m thinking he’ll likely dodge you on this, or worse, blame you.
I don’t see a problem with it at all. Your spelling of ‘cheque’ leads me to believe that you aren’t in the U.S. but that situation is very common in the U.S. at least. Some people don’t want to use their insurance for fairly minor damage because it may raise their rates for several years and cost more than just paying it directly now. As long as he gives you or the shop money directly, that should be perfectly fine and will probably save everyone some hassle. If he doesn’t pay, you know who he is so you can always force his insurance company to pay later.
In my state (Massachusetts), police don’t typically respond at all to accidents of that nature. You do the report yourself often online (I don’t see why you couldn’t file a report even if he pays for it himself because that is an independent step but lots of people opt not to).
The serious issue here is the possibility that he will accuse her of rear-ending him. Whenever the front of a car makes contact with the rear of the car ahead, there is a strong presumption that the trailing car rear-ended the leading car.
“I wasn’t at fault at all but I offered to pay because she seemed like she needed the money and I felt bad for her. Honestly, I don’t think this was worth the claim at first but I can see this is going to be a problem. And my neck has been hurting lately…”
But yeah, I’ve heard people backtrack from previously saying they were willing to pay for damage.
I’d give this a try because you’ve already started, but be prepared to have to get insurance involved and to have him say you hit him.
Oh, I used to be a liability adjuster. I did this every day.
I had a similar situation happen to me. We were pulling up to a stop sign when she saw a parking space she wanted. Threw her car into reverse and backed right into me. She was totally honest about it. In our case, we did go through the insurance company. I hope your guy is honest, too.
I can’t see any downside, ever, to reporting. And I’m troubled that he backed up a few metres. That looks rather more deliberate than absent-mindedly leaving it in reverse after backing away from the stop line, say.
Happened to me once, or almost did. Stopped at a light, 2 AM, I see the guy’s reverse lights come on. I put it in reverse. We back up rapidly for a block.
If it was me, I’d probably CC my insurance agent.
Then I’d call my insurance agent just to tell them what you told us. Let him know what happened and that the other guy is planning to pay. I would just do that so CarSmasher sees the CC and knows that you’re not screwing around. If he questioned me, I would let him know (truthfully) that I’m not filing a report or anything, I’m just keeping my agent in the loop so if anything does become of it, there’s already a paper trail. You could even say ‘you know, even like if something goes wrong with the repair shop, whatever, we’re not backdating reports or having people ask me why I didn’t report this three weeks ago’.
Anyways, on the off chance that he’s stringing you along, scamming you or something else, this may help put an end to it.
This is one of those cases where it’s good to have a friendly agent. You can send him an email like this and he can sit on it (as opposed to reporting putting into the system/on your record) and when the whole incident is over he can delete it and it’ll be like it never happened. OTOH, if a week down the line you’re still dealing with this guy, your agent can spring into action and do what you’re paying him to do, starting with an email that shows that you reported to him on March 6, XX Hours after the accident. As well as a follow up phone call the next morning.
Don’t “request the following terms”. Say “I will accept the following terms as adequate compensation for my loss.”
Also, get him to sign a document accepting responsibility for the accident, and waiving any claims against you, including for later injuries. However, I’m not lawyer enough to draft one.
Finally, investigate if there are traffic cams near the accident. In some places, you can download and save recent footage, and you might get lucky and find a video of the collision.
Indeed, it seems to me that if the OP reports the accident, her insurance company will assume she rear-ended him anyway, whether he makes that accusation or not.