My vehicle was parked on a residential street yesterday. Today I found a note indicating it had been hit, the hitter is sorry, please contact her to arrange repairs.
Despite the fact that I didn’t notice it until today, the damage is significant.
Before I call the woman, should I contact the police first? File a police report?
When I call her, what do I need, just address and insurance info? (already have her name and phone number).
Then how do we proceed?
Thanks,
mmm
IMO:
Thanks, jz.
She left the scene because she didn’t know whose car it was, so I wouldn’t (yet) consider her unreasonable. She did leave the note with name and phone number and I pretty much know where she lives.
I will file a police report. I guess I’ll try to get her to pay the deductible (hopefully she will offer).
mmm
Usually there are directions on he back of your insurance card. You might want to make sure you have your current insurance card (not just your policy paid up) on hand before the police show up.
Many people aren’t so prompt about putting the new insurance card in their glovebox a couple times a year, and some jurisdictions require you to have proof of a current insurance policy (not just a current insurance policy) or the cops may issue a ticket.
ETA: and if she hit your parked car, that is basically automatic proof that she was at fault, meaning in every place I know of, herbinaurance should pay your entire repair cost. (There may be jurisdictions that are different, but those are the rules in DC, which is actually a no-fault jurisdiction except when one party is 100% at fault.)
Definitely contact police first. You don’t know for sure if she caused the damage/left the note; might have been someone else trying to shift the blame.
in Michigan, your own insurance pays for your claim no matter what (except of course if they deny the claim.) Then they can pursue subrogation behind the scenes where they can go after the other party to recover all or part of the cost.
Keep in mind that if she had called the police to make a report the police could have used the license plate number (or VIN) of your vehicle to figure out who owns it and your contact address and telephone number. So either she was a bit clueless or trying to hide something like being drunk.
I called the police. The officer basically said it is up to me how I handle things but hinted that a police report is a good idea. As for insurance, he said some report it, other handle it themselves (also up to me, of course).
I called the, er, perp. She was very apologetic, said for us to get an estimate and they would cover the costs (no insurance involvement).
I know many will advise against going this route. I haven’t made up my mind yet, but some things to consider:
[ul]
[li]I know where she lives (directly across the street from my daughter’s house and, while not exactly best friends, have been friendly to each other in the past)[/li][li]I can get the estimate, then get the payment from her before having any work done or being out of pocket anything[/li][li]If we go through insurance, it would be my insurance that is notified and my insurance that foots the bill[/li][li]She seemed very pleasant on the phone :)[/li][/ul]
mmm
Call the police and give them the information on the other driver. Do not contact her directly.
Call your insurance company and give the information to them. Give them the police report number. Do not contact the other driver directly.
Lastly, do not contact the other driver directly. You pay taxes for the police to provide these services. You pay your insurance company to take care of these details.
If you get involved directly you are stepping in to take care of things that you do not understand, leave it to the professionals. You may become open to a scam, a 'he said/she said" situation and many other things you aren’t aware of or trained in.
Did she leave her contact information only? Did she provide you with her insurance agent and that information? She didn’t give you the insurance information, did she? I didn’t think so. You are only going to protect your interests if you call the police and your insurance and let them take care of you. That’s what they do, that’s what they are paid to do.
NM
Unless you were parked illegally. If you were, say, parked four feet from the curb, and over the line on the end, and she turned a corner and clipped you, you might be at fault-- or at least partially at fault. If that were the case, though, I would expect that she would have called the police pronto to document the way you were parked.
The people advising you to let your insurance company handle it were probably right. If she is trying to get you to handle it without involving insurance in a no-fault state, then I’m guessing she either has a number of violations, or has hit other parked cars before, and that’s why she wants this off the record.
none of this should really matter to you. I know everyone wants to be the “nice guy,” but here’s the thing- if you forego all of the usual proceedings (police report, insurance) you’re putting your faith in the other party to actually do what they said they would do. How do you know that she won’t pull some “oh, I didn’t realize it would cost that much, I don’t have enough money.” Or “can I maybe make payments?” And then your level of hassle has increased considerably if she decides not to pay you anything.
Simply put, she damaged your car. Why she did it shouldn’t matter to you. Her driving record is not your problem. Her insurance status is not your problem. This is what you pay your insurance company for, let them handle it!
There are many reasons why she may not want the police and/or insurance involved.
Will she pay for a rental while your car is being repaired?
I’m all for giving honest, decent people a chance. So far it sounds like she has been just that.
There’s nothing wrong with being trusting and compassionate; I’d give her the chance to make things right. Sometimes people screw up. I know I sure have on occasion.
She says she will pay for it, but that doesn’t mean she can. “Substantial damage” to a car suggests $1000s of dollars. She may be thinking it will be hundreds, and when she gets the total she will balk. At that point it’s much harder to go through insurance.
The people that don’t seem worried about money are the ones that don’t have it/aren’t good with it. A person who is truly sensible is a person who has insurance.
Your rates should not go up.
This happened to me (was parked in a medical services parking lot, came back to a damaged car and an apologetic note). I called my insurance company, and they told me to attempt to go through the other person’s insurance first and call them back only if that didn’t work out. (Basically, if my guy didn’t know about the accident, my guy wouldn’t/couldn’t raise my rate.)
I called the other person, who gave me the insurance info I needed. Went through her insurance company, who agreed that the accident was their client’s fault and repaired my car (with a rental car during the repair interval) for free.
At least in my case, all worked out well. Your mileage may vary.
I called our insurance company, they said we do not go through them at all, the woman’s insurance would handle all the details if we go the insurance route.
To those saying that she might not pony up the dough, note that I would not get the work done until she pays us. I would first obtain a free estimate, including the rental, and present it to her. If she pays, get it done; if not, I would call her insurance company.
Also, to those saying I should have no contact with her, how would I get her insurance info otherwise?
ETA: Police report has already been filed.
mmm
Things evidently work differently enough in your state where my advice isn’t going to be that useful.
Perfect.
[quote=“jz78817, post:2, topic:798216”]
IMO:
No, in fact often you should NOT file a police report, your insurance company will usually file any required DMV reports.
Just contact your insurance company and do what they say.
That sounds pretty perfect. I don’t think it is necessary to live in complete paranoia, always assuming everyone is out to get you. It’s exhausting.
As your approach shows, it is possible to give reasonable and seemingly honest people some room to do the right thing while still giving yourself some protection from more malignant strangers. A little bit of following your instincts, and risk / consequence adjusted protections are enough.