Rear-Ended, Lawsuit?

[PeteO86]

What is the name of your state? Washington DC

I was rear-ended about a month ago in Washington DC. I am a college kid, 20 years old, and had two friends in the car with me. We stopped at a stop light - there was one or two cars in front - when a woman hit us from behind. Her Honda was going at around 15 mph or so (not sure exactly) and hit my car's bumper. We pulled off to the side and I took down her license plate and driver's license number. She said she didn't have her insurance card on her, but we swapped cell numbers. I looked at my BMW, there didn't appear to be too much damage, but I said I was going to check it out within the next few days. She said that the accident was her fault and that her brakes were bad, which is why she couldnt stop in time - and I have two witnesses to that, as well as the passengers in her car. We talked the next day and she told me that her husband and her wanted to pay out-of-pocket for the damages because they jst got new insurance and didn't want their rates to go up. I didn't think that was a problem - I just wanted my car to be fixed as quickly as possible. I was told by a repair shop I was going to need a new bumper, plus it looked as though my muffler may have been shoved up as a result of the accident, and they gave me an estimate. After about two weeks of repeatedly calling her and leaving messages and getting no response, I called my insurance company, GEICO. They could not track down her license plate number OR her driver's license number. They called her on her cell phone, and she called back and left the adjuster a message, which was apparently not understandable. After that, they still couldnt get in touch with her so they said they would put it down as an uninsured driver, since I don't have collision coverage, and they had no way of finding out who her insurance carrier is (the adjuster tried calling several other companies to see if she was insured). The deductible for me is $500, which is pretty pricey for a college student. I don't feel I should have to pay the deductible OR the costs of my insurance going up because A)she admitted responsibility and B) it was her fault. I'm going to file a small claims suit against her, but is it better that I sue for the deductible or cancel my insurance claim and sue her for the total costs of repair (I guess the average of 3 estimates?) I'm not trying to make things difficult for this woman, or myself, but I just don't think anyone should be allowed to get away with damaging property and not facing responsibility. I tried numerous times (I'd say about 20-25 times, and about 12 voice messages, over the period of 2 1/2 weeks) to get in touch with her, and I think that this is my last resort. Any other advice too would be extremely helpful.

 

[ecmst12]

Your insurance company has many more ways of investigating the woman then they've tried already. Let them repair your car, pay the deductible, they WILL investigate further and track down her insurance, because they want their money back too! Once they find her insurance and they accept liability, your deductible will be reimbursed. Might take some time, but it will happen, insurance companies don't want to spend money when they don't have to, that's how they stay in business.

 

[PeteO86]

Right, but they said they couldnt track her down with the information I had, which was only her cell number, license plate number, and driver's license number. They were going to put her down as an uninsured driver . . . does that mean that they wouldn't pursue her anymore?

 

[ecmst12]

You can find out a lot about someone from their name and drivers license number. The department at your insurance company that would handle this has the resources to do so. I would talk to your adjuster again, I highly doubt that they would settle for her being uninsured unless they are absolutely certain she is, which it doesn't sound like they could possibly be. But if in fact she is uninsured, you can sue her personally for your deductible (small claims court). Your insurance can sue her personally as well, but they don't usually bother for uninsured people because the cost of collecting large sums of money from people who can't even keep up their car insurance is not worth it.

 

[PeteO86]

Yea perhaps . . . the way it seems, though, is that she doesn't have insurance at all. At least thats what people have been telling me . . . tomorrow I guess I will talk to my adjuster and see what else she can do. Another thing - I traced her cell phone number down through one of those online services. From that, I got an address and home phone number of her cell phone number. Should I give that info to my insurance? I wasn't sure if it was legal or not, since I paid like $20 to have a reverse phone number search done, and I'm not positive it is even her address.

 

[ecmst12]

Sure, can't hurt. I doubt it was illegal, if she'd taken steps to prevent her address from being searchable(like if she was hiding from a stalker or something) then it probably would have cost you more then $20 for the search

 

[moburkes]

And, OP, what you are failing to understand is that many people drive uninsured. In your state, its 16-25%. If you weren't able to afford the $500 deductible, then you should have paid the extra money for a $250 deductible. Sometimes it IS hard to come up with $500 at one time, but with a lower deductible, you are spreading the higher payments out over 6 or 12 months (if you pay monthly), so, for many people, its easier to manage.

Absolutely, its okay to you to sue her in small claims, but you would only sue for the amount of your deductible. And IF your insurance company does pursue their own claim against her, if you haven't already successfully sued for your deductible, then they will do it for you, and give it back to you once they receive reimbursement.