State is: Texas
My flame suit is on because I can tell this is a rough crowd, but here it goes:
7am – Daylight on a typical summer Thursday morning in Texas
Girlfriend is borrowing my car, gets gas at neighborhood gas station before heading to work at a church.
As she is leaving gas station, she is stationary at the end of the gas station driveway waiting for passing traffic to clear so she can turn right onto the freeway feeder to head to work. The speed limit on the feeder is a lofty 50mph. Picture of the driveway and position of my car:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2j2c94k.jpg
While my car is still stationary, a lady is turning right to go into the same driveway for the gas station. The lady is going too fast, so she can’t quite make the corner and hits back left of my car (behind my rear wheel) with the front left of her car (ahead of her front wheel).
The lady gets out, admits she hit the car, and says she can’t believe she hit such a nice car. She immediately provides her driver’s license and insurance to my girlfriend to be photograph with my girlfriend’s Smartphone. My girlfriend also takes pictures of the accident scene. The other lady remarks, “at least the damage isn't that bad and won’t cost my insurance that much.” The other lady doesn't ask for anything from my girlfriend – not her driver’s license, not her insurance, not her license plate, not even her name.
The other lady explains that she works very close to the gas station, and claims she goes to that gas station 3-4 times per week to pick up chips for work -- so she is very familiar with the location.
They leave the scene.
At work 30 mins later, my girlfriend calls the claim 800 number on the back of the other lady’s insurance (Progressive) to report the collision and to give the information above. The claim had already been opened by the other lady with Progressive.
The other lady had told her insurance that my car was driving in the middle of the driveway and when my girlfriend saw her coming, my girlfriend turned to move more over the right, but she could not avoid hitting my car even though she claims she was only going 3-5 miles per hour when entering the driveway.
The location of my car, the movement of my car, and the speed of her car are the only 3 items in dispute. At least she did not try to make up any completely false stories such as my car backed into hers or anything like that, and she does describe the situation as, “I can't believe I hit your car.”
Progressive tells me that because there were no witnesses, it’s a “he said/she said,” and they feel that with my car being too far over, it was my girlfriend’s fault. However, they are not trying to make a claim for damages against my girlfriend or me.
No witnesses were identified that saw the accident, and no security cameras were found to be covering the area. I do have a recorded phone conversation (legal in state of Texas) with the other driver stating everything above, so she can’t change her story now. Another thing she states is that every time she is going into that gas station, people are coming out that are too far over so she knows to watch out for that, which means to me she should know to be more careful and not hit another car. The lady did also confide in me that she has a very bad driving record, and as a result she has sky high insurance, so she does not want this “at fault” claim on her record because it will cause her insurance to go even higher, which she cannot afford. Therefore, she refuses to admit fault so that her liability will cover my damages.
The claims adjuster for Progressive evaluated my damage before the denying the coverage at $950. I had my trusted shop repair the damage for $999 to my satisfaction. I did look up that if the damage is below $1000, you do not have to report the accident in my area. If you have to report it, the report must be filed within 2 weeks of the accident, and this accident happened 2 months ago now.
I reported the accident to my insurance (Farmers), not a claim, but a report, on the same morning of the accident. My deductible is $1000 with Farmers. As a result, my insurance has no incentive to fight this battle because the amount of the claim is less than my deductible, so they would not waste any time on it because they have nothing to lose.
So I would like to use small claims court to have a judge decide. I talked to my agent (30 years in the business), and he says I should go that route given the circumstances since Farmers won’t be much help. He doesn't know much about traffic laws, but he does know insurance, and that Farmers won’t do much to help me.
Based on the facts above, do I need to sue the lady or Progressive?
What is your opinion on how a judge might rule in the case given the facts above?
Even if my car was more toward the middle of the driveway, does the fact that the front of her car hit the back of my car mean anything, like it was her responsibility to control her vehicle, especially if her car was only going 3-5 mph in an area she states she knows she needs to watch out for other cars?
How can I find the state laws/codes that would govern the specifics of this traffic accident situation so I can study them? There’s lots of misinformation about the law, and I have always understood that if someone hits the back of your car with the front on their car, they have more responsibility. Is this correct?
Thank you in advance for the helpful replies!
My flame suit is on because I can tell this is a rough crowd, but here it goes:
7am – Daylight on a typical summer Thursday morning in Texas
Girlfriend is borrowing my car, gets gas at neighborhood gas station before heading to work at a church.
As she is leaving gas station, she is stationary at the end of the gas station driveway waiting for passing traffic to clear so she can turn right onto the freeway feeder to head to work. The speed limit on the feeder is a lofty 50mph. Picture of the driveway and position of my car:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2j2c94k.jpg
While my car is still stationary, a lady is turning right to go into the same driveway for the gas station. The lady is going too fast, so she can’t quite make the corner and hits back left of my car (behind my rear wheel) with the front left of her car (ahead of her front wheel).
The lady gets out, admits she hit the car, and says she can’t believe she hit such a nice car. She immediately provides her driver’s license and insurance to my girlfriend to be photograph with my girlfriend’s Smartphone. My girlfriend also takes pictures of the accident scene. The other lady remarks, “at least the damage isn't that bad and won’t cost my insurance that much.” The other lady doesn't ask for anything from my girlfriend – not her driver’s license, not her insurance, not her license plate, not even her name.
The other lady explains that she works very close to the gas station, and claims she goes to that gas station 3-4 times per week to pick up chips for work -- so she is very familiar with the location.
They leave the scene.
At work 30 mins later, my girlfriend calls the claim 800 number on the back of the other lady’s insurance (Progressive) to report the collision and to give the information above. The claim had already been opened by the other lady with Progressive.
The other lady had told her insurance that my car was driving in the middle of the driveway and when my girlfriend saw her coming, my girlfriend turned to move more over the right, but she could not avoid hitting my car even though she claims she was only going 3-5 miles per hour when entering the driveway.
The location of my car, the movement of my car, and the speed of her car are the only 3 items in dispute. At least she did not try to make up any completely false stories such as my car backed into hers or anything like that, and she does describe the situation as, “I can't believe I hit your car.”
Progressive tells me that because there were no witnesses, it’s a “he said/she said,” and they feel that with my car being too far over, it was my girlfriend’s fault. However, they are not trying to make a claim for damages against my girlfriend or me.
No witnesses were identified that saw the accident, and no security cameras were found to be covering the area. I do have a recorded phone conversation (legal in state of Texas) with the other driver stating everything above, so she can’t change her story now. Another thing she states is that every time she is going into that gas station, people are coming out that are too far over so she knows to watch out for that, which means to me she should know to be more careful and not hit another car. The lady did also confide in me that she has a very bad driving record, and as a result she has sky high insurance, so she does not want this “at fault” claim on her record because it will cause her insurance to go even higher, which she cannot afford. Therefore, she refuses to admit fault so that her liability will cover my damages.
The claims adjuster for Progressive evaluated my damage before the denying the coverage at $950. I had my trusted shop repair the damage for $999 to my satisfaction. I did look up that if the damage is below $1000, you do not have to report the accident in my area. If you have to report it, the report must be filed within 2 weeks of the accident, and this accident happened 2 months ago now.
I reported the accident to my insurance (Farmers), not a claim, but a report, on the same morning of the accident. My deductible is $1000 with Farmers. As a result, my insurance has no incentive to fight this battle because the amount of the claim is less than my deductible, so they would not waste any time on it because they have nothing to lose.
So I would like to use small claims court to have a judge decide. I talked to my agent (30 years in the business), and he says I should go that route given the circumstances since Farmers won’t be much help. He doesn't know much about traffic laws, but he does know insurance, and that Farmers won’t do much to help me.
Based on the facts above, do I need to sue the lady or Progressive?
What is your opinion on how a judge might rule in the case given the facts above?
Even if my car was more toward the middle of the driveway, does the fact that the front of her car hit the back of my car mean anything, like it was her responsibility to control her vehicle, especially if her car was only going 3-5 mph in an area she states she knows she needs to watch out for other cars?
How can I find the state laws/codes that would govern the specifics of this traffic accident situation so I can study them? There’s lots of misinformation about the law, and I have always understood that if someone hits the back of your car with the front on their car, they have more responsibility. Is this correct?
Thank you in advance for the helpful replies!
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