What is the name of your state?California
While driving on 101 I was involved in an accident. Traffic was very congested, and I was either barely moving forward or moving forward very slowly. A driver to the right of me swerved sharply into my lane, so that the left side of his car scraped against the right front side of mine. The paint got scraped off, the light casing got scratched, and some kind of rubber (?) flap located in front of the wheel also got damaged. Looking at his car after we parked I saw a long line along the side of his car. I believe that shows his car collided with mine and he just kept driving forward.
When we stopped I asked him, "Didn't you see me?" (because I am pretty sure I must have been in his blind spot, and he did not look carefully before changing lanes). However he did not answer this question but instead said "I put my turn signal on, and I thought you saw me." When I thought about this afterwards I realized I didn't make sense. There is no way I would have been able to see his turn signal because he was not actually in front of me. His car could only have been about half way in front of mine, so I would have had no way to see his signal.
What i remember most clearly is how suddenly it happened and how sharply he seemed to swerve into my lane. I called the police immediately to get a report but the police man who arrived discouraged me from getting report, saying when there is no injury they usually don't do a report. The other driver said it was just some paint scraped off our cars, no big deal, and told me he did not intend to report the accident to his insurance because it would raise his rates and asked if I intended to report it.
Right now I am trying to figure out what to do. I do not feel I was at fault in this accident, so my first impulse is to report it to the insurance, so I am not left to pay for the damages he caused to my car. However, I do not know how fault is actually determined in a case like this. I also do not want to risk having my insurance rates raised because in that case it would probably end up being cheaper for me to just repair the damages at my own expense.
What I mainly want to know is from the collision I described is anyone able to tell me who the insurance company is likely to determine to be at fault here, or would it just be classed as shared liability, which I am assuming would also lead to a raise in my insurance rates.
I strongly feel I am not at fault but I realize I could be mistaken because I really do not know how the assessors determine this, and obviously I also don't have any way to prove that he is the one who collided with me. I am guessing that the long line along the side of his car and the more confined damage to the front side of my car does indicate it is his car that was the one moving against mine - but I still do not know if that actually means the assessors would determine in my favor?
Should I report this accident to my insurance company and risk getting my rates raised, or just swallow the cost and get the repairs done at my own expense?
Thanks for your help and feedback.
While driving on 101 I was involved in an accident. Traffic was very congested, and I was either barely moving forward or moving forward very slowly. A driver to the right of me swerved sharply into my lane, so that the left side of his car scraped against the right front side of mine. The paint got scraped off, the light casing got scratched, and some kind of rubber (?) flap located in front of the wheel also got damaged. Looking at his car after we parked I saw a long line along the side of his car. I believe that shows his car collided with mine and he just kept driving forward.
When we stopped I asked him, "Didn't you see me?" (because I am pretty sure I must have been in his blind spot, and he did not look carefully before changing lanes). However he did not answer this question but instead said "I put my turn signal on, and I thought you saw me." When I thought about this afterwards I realized I didn't make sense. There is no way I would have been able to see his turn signal because he was not actually in front of me. His car could only have been about half way in front of mine, so I would have had no way to see his signal.
What i remember most clearly is how suddenly it happened and how sharply he seemed to swerve into my lane. I called the police immediately to get a report but the police man who arrived discouraged me from getting report, saying when there is no injury they usually don't do a report. The other driver said it was just some paint scraped off our cars, no big deal, and told me he did not intend to report the accident to his insurance because it would raise his rates and asked if I intended to report it.
Right now I am trying to figure out what to do. I do not feel I was at fault in this accident, so my first impulse is to report it to the insurance, so I am not left to pay for the damages he caused to my car. However, I do not know how fault is actually determined in a case like this. I also do not want to risk having my insurance rates raised because in that case it would probably end up being cheaper for me to just repair the damages at my own expense.
What I mainly want to know is from the collision I described is anyone able to tell me who the insurance company is likely to determine to be at fault here, or would it just be classed as shared liability, which I am assuming would also lead to a raise in my insurance rates.
I strongly feel I am not at fault but I realize I could be mistaken because I really do not know how the assessors determine this, and obviously I also don't have any way to prove that he is the one who collided with me. I am guessing that the long line along the side of his car and the more confined damage to the front side of my car does indicate it is his car that was the one moving against mine - but I still do not know if that actually means the assessors would determine in my favor?
Should I report this accident to my insurance company and risk getting my rates raised, or just swallow the cost and get the repairs done at my own expense?
Thanks for your help and feedback.
