Car Collision

[PoloGal]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

I was recently in an auto accident which involved four vehicles moving at approximately 50 mph. The car at the front of this line of cars stopped abruptly, causing the person in the second car (the one in front of me) to slam on her brakes, but she was unsuccessful in stopping in time. She hit the car in front of her, but I was about six seconds behind her and was able to stop without hitting the back of her car. The car behind me, however, did not stop in time and bumped my car. At this point, I was fairly close to the vehicle in front of me, so when the car behind me hit me, my car moved forward and hit the car in front of me.

The car at the very front, which had stopped abruptly, left without pulling over or exchanging information. The person in front of me pulled over and I followed suit. The car behind me had signaled to indicate that it would pull over as well, but instead, sped off. That left me with the person who was in front of me.

I looked over her car and found not a scratch at the back of her vehicle (a truck), but my car (a minivan) had a huge dent in the area above my bumper (her car's bumper was located at a higher point than mine). I checked the back of my car and found some scratches but nothing too bad. We exchanged information, during which time she kept apologizing, and as we parted she wished me "good luck" with fixing my car.

A week after this had occurred, I received a phone call from an attorney's office telling me to file a claim for the accident. I had spoke with my insurance company and my agent had recommended that I not file a claim until the other person had as it would cost me more in the long term to have my premium go up than just paying for the damages to my car myself. After receiving this phone call from her attorney, I contacted my agent again who notified me that no one had filed a claim against me. However, just today, I received another phone call from this attorney's office requesting that I file my claim and telling me that she was dissapointed to find that I had not done so yet.

If you've gotten to this part, thank you so much for sticking with me for so long

My question is then: what should I do? I've never been in this kind of situation before. How much authority does her attorney exercise over me? Should I file a claim even if she has not and allow my premium to go up?

Thanks!

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? CA

I was recently in an auto accident which involved four vehicles moving at approximately 50 mph. The car at the front of this line of cars stopped abruptly, causing the person in the second car (the one in front of me) to slam on her brakes, but she was unsuccessful in stopping in time. She hit the car in front of her, but I was about six seconds behind her and was able to stop without hitting the back of her car. The car behind me, however, did not stop in time and bumped my car. At this point, I was fairly close to the vehicle in front of me, so when the car behind me hit me, my car moved forward and hit the car in front of me.

The car at the very front, which had stopped abruptly, left without pulling over or exchanging information. The person in front of me pulled over and I followed suit. The car behind me had signaled to indicate that it would pull over as well, but instead, sped off. That left me with the person who was in front of me.

I looked over her car and found not a scratch at the back of her vehicle (a truck), but my car (a minivan) had a huge dent in the area above my bumper (her car's bumper was located at a higher point than mine). I checked the back of my car and found some scratches but nothing too bad. We exchanged information, during which time she kept apologizing, and as we parted she wished me "good luck" with fixing my car.

A week after this had occurred, I received a phone call from an attorney's office telling me to file a claim for the accident. I had spoke with my insurance company and my agent had recommended that I not file a claim until the other person had as it would cost me more in the long term to have my premium go up than just paying for the damages to my car myself. After receiving this phone call from her attorney, I contacted my agent again who notified me that no one had filed a claim against me. However, just today, I received another phone call from this attorney's office requesting that I file my claim and telling me that she was dissapointed to find that I had not done so yet.

If you've gotten to this part, thank you so much for sticking with me for so long

My question is then: what should I do? I've never been in this kind of situation before. How much authority does her attorney exercise over me? Should I file a claim even if she has not and allow my premium to go up?

Thanks!

HER Attorney is working in HER best interest. Not yours. Why would you listen to someone working in someone else's interest?

 

[teflon_jones]

Wait for them to sue you, then you can either represent yourself, pay for an attorney out of pocket, or submit the case information to your insurance company and they'll provide representation. You're not liable and any lawsuit against you is most likely going to fail. Was there damage to the rear bumper of your car? Were the police called? What does their accident report say? Did you file your own accident report? Did you get the license plate info of the car that hit you?

 

[PoloGal]

Was there damage to the rear bumper of your car?

There are scratches, but other than that it looked fine.

Were the police called?

No police were called. I had never been an accident before, so I had no idea what to do. The other person seemed to be at a loss of what to do as well. She kept saying that she needed to talk to her husband about the accident and see what he had to say (although her husband had not been present at the accident...).

Did you file your own accident report?

I have not filed my own accident report. I spoke with my insurance company, but I have not officially submitted anything as of yet.

Did you get the license plate info of the car that hit you?

I was expecting the car to pull over as well (as I had seen it signaling to pull over from my rear view mirror), but by the time I pulled over and put my car in park, the car fled without a trace, as did the car at the very front.

 

[teflon_jones]

Take photos of the damage to both the front and rear of your car. File the accident report asap. If you get sued, report it to your insurance company.

 

[CdwJava]

Keep in mind that at this point, filing a police report will have little real effect. The police are unlikely to investigate unless there is a discernable criminal act. They will take the information you give them, regurgitate it, slap a case number on it, then file it away. Per SWITRS (the state traffic collision manual) they cannot assign fault based upon a counter report.

Ultimately this will come right back to you and the insurance companies.

- Carl

 

[Meatcutter]

Keep in mind that at this point, filing a police report will have little real effect. The police are unlikely to investigate unless there is a discernable criminal act. They will take the information you give them, regurgitate it, slap a case number on it, then file it away. Per SWITRS (the state traffic collision manual) they cannot assign fault based upon a counter report.

Ultimately this will come right back to you and the insurance companies.

- Carl

Also, The attorney representing the other party merely needs to call your insurance company and present a claim. It's best to file a claim with your insurance company so they can conduct an investigation and attempt to defend you. There is alot of information you will need to gather in order to protect yourself, not having your insurance company conduct an investigation (police reports, scene investigation, recorded statements, etc) will merely hurt you in the long run.