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Private property accident

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vhinrich

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

I got into a minor car accident. I was backing up and hit a lady who was parked behind me. The accident occured on private property. The cops were called but they didn't file a police report due to the accident being on private property. Me and the other motorist exchanged insurance information.

Since the damage was minor (her headlight came loose), we agreed that it's better for me to just pay for their damages instead of getting the insurance companies involved. The damage to my estimate was less than $100 (and the cop estimated it between $50-$75).

The lady and her husband seemed pretty shady. The guy asked me for $500 in cash for the damages. Obviously, I'm not a fool. They seem like the type of people that would purposely do damage to their car to get more money out of me. She insisted that she wanted to take the car to her mechanic and get the "estimate" from him, which I'm sure is going to be 5 times the actual cost.

So my question: if a claim was filed, am I able to say that it was her fault in the accident? I mean it's her words against my words, plus there's no police report on file to conform the accident. I'm hopping that they don't think that they can pull a fast one on me but I'm not willing to pay them more than the damage.

Should I be worried if they take me to civil court?
 
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Labtec600

Member
You're asking if you should lie about the accident to make it her fault and you consider her to be shady?

If it concerns you, have it get a few estimates. But if you jerk somebody around enough they're just going to submit a claim to your insurance company themselves.
 

vhinrich

Member
You're asking if you should lie about the accident to make it her fault and you consider her to be shady?

If it concerns you, have it get a few estimates. But if you jerk somebody around enough they're just going to submit a claim to your insurance company themselves.


Listen, I'm being reasonable. I'm offering them whatever it costs to fix the damage that I caused. But if they want to play games by trying to fraud me, I'm not going to just sit there like an idiot and watch my insurance rates go up.

They want me to pay them (in cash) what their "mechanic" estimated the damage to be (the mechanic is his buddy and he is going to get a cut of what this people make off of me). It would be a different story if I were to pay a reputable bodyshop to fix their damage (even if it costs $200 instead of $100). They just want extra money.

If you were in my shoes, wouldn't this infuriate you? It makes sense to leave the insurance company out of it because their rates will go up and my rates will go up if we filed a claim. I am doing the right thing by offering to fix their car but they want more than that which I'm not willing to give. I can though, in turn, act shamelessly as they do and falsely claim that they caused the accident because there is no evidence (police report) of who's at fault.

I wouldn't want to but if shove came to push, I have no choice.
 
What is your deductible? Consider that if they do submit a claim to your insurance you are likely going to be paying this one completelly out of pocket anyway.

Oh, and insurance fraud - NEVER the way to go. Despite their not being a police report filed, you can bet the cops have notes on what they responded to.
 

moburkes

Senior Member
What is your deductible? Consider that if they do submit a claim to your insurance you are likely going to be paying this one completelly out of pocket anyway.

Oh, and insurance fraud - NEVER the way to go. Despite their not being a police report filed, you can bet the cops have notes on what they responded to.
You NEVER pay a liability claim out of pocket. What are you TALKING about?
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
There is no deductible for liability claims.

There is NOTHING you could say that would make a parked car at fault for being hit, at least nothing remotely true. No, you should not lie. If you think they will be shady, turn it over to your insurance company and let them handle it - that is what you pay them for.
 

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