Letter for Claims! Help!

[passingby]

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

There was a car accident on a rainy night where a car slammed on the breaks due to an animal in the road on a road where the speed limit is 55....the car did hit the animal and just speeded away. 3 cars behind that car piled into each other. Because it was raining no one was going 55 and the damage was minor. The cops were called and no one was given a ticket. The cop only gave all a contact information sheet. On that sheet he had listed the damage as, 1st car(a Sierra Pickup) $50, 2nd car (a Camary) $1000 due to frontal damage from hitting the pickup's trailer hitch, 3rd car (a Toyota) $100 due to a busted headlight. The 3rd car is the one in question.

So now the letter.....exactly one month after the accident the driver of the 3rd car, a 16 year old, got a letter addressed to him from the insurance company of the 2nd driver. It said that they had repaired their client's car and now wanted to be reimbursed $3500 plus an amont unknown for a rental car. They threatened that if they didn't hear back with payment in 15 days they might get the kid's license taken away, his registration taken away, his wages garnished or his property sold. The car is not in the kid's name. The kid has no property. The kid is a minor in the state, but I'm not sure if that applies to being sued and having his wages garnished. Additionally, they included that if the kid wanted his insurance company to handle this to give them the information. The cops have the insurance information, but it was not on the contact sheet he gave the drivers. No one's insurance info was on that sheet.

It seems like the insurance company of the 2nd driver is trying to collect from the 3rd driver for the entire repair bill! Since it was a no fault accident can they do this?

What would you all suggest we do about this? I'm tempted to ignore the letter.

 

[justalayman]

It wasn't a "no fault" accident. The driver of car #3 hit the car in front of them indicating they were either following to closely, driving too fast for conditions, or just driving negligently and did not stop without hitting the vehicle in front of them.

Driver #3 needs to turn this into their insurance company. They are at fault for the damage they caused. Although it may not be all of the damage to car #2, they most assuredly caused some damage. Let the insurance companies fight it out.

I definately would not ignore the letter. Things tend to go downhill very quickly when doing this. Driver #3 needs to get his parents involved if not done yet.

 

[passingby]

I must be a little confused over 'no fault'.....I thought if the cop didn't assign fault by giving tickets then it was a thing where each person had to take care of their own damage. ?????

 

[efflandt]

Fault does not necessarily have to do with who gets a ticket. The police just may have been unable to determine who was "most" at fault without skid marks or other evidence, so they went easy on all the drivers.

For example how would they determine if both car #2 and #3 were inattentive or driving too fast and/or following to closely, or if car #3 hit #2 into before and/or after #2 hit car #1, or if on a multi-lane road car #2 suddenly pulled in front of car #3 forming a 3 car sandwich? Turn the letter over to your insurance company and let them duke it out.

Unless a sudden lane change was involved by #2, car #3 is obviously somewhat at fault.

 

[Happy Trails]

Information link.

 

[moburkes]

What they said. There is no such thing as a no fault accident. When you read no fault, that simply means that in that particular state, each driver files (usually medical bills) under their on insurance company, instead of having to determine the fault, and then filing it under the at-fault party's insurance company. It allows certain medical bills to be paid for quickly, without having to determine fault first. Some states, like MI, also require that each person's OWN insurance company pays for getting their own vehicle repaired.

Also, police man aren't claims specialists. They have NO IDEA how much damage an accident causes, as you can tell by what happened in the situation that was described.

 

[passingby]

Information link.

Q. Does fault matter?
A. The issue of fault is always important. If the collision was not your fault, you should be compensated. In both Maryland and Virginia, laws in these matters focus on fault, and provide that if a party was partially responsible for an accident, he or she cannot recover against the other party, even if that party was mostly at fault. In cases where our potential client was partially, or even fully at fault, we determine if they have coverages called PIP or MEDPAY on their own insurance policies, and advise them on how to recover these benefits.

The above is from that link....so.....the reason for the pileup was a dog ran out in front of the lead car and he slammed on breaks...he hit it anyway so he went ahead and came to a full stop instead of going on and then the 2nd and 3rd cars couldn't stop in time. So does this mean that all parties were at fault thereby making any party unable to make claims against any other party?

 

[justalayman]

No.

#2 gets his money. He had no fault in the accident. All others have some fault in the resulting damage.

Each subsequent addition to the accident bares full fault for their interaction.
Not sure how it will play out but there is actually 4 seperate accidents. #1 hit the dog; #3 hit #2; #3 hits #2, and #4 hits #3.

None of the cars being hit has fault for being hit but they bear full fault for hitting the car they did hit.. So with you (3rd car, number 4 above) there is no comparitive or contributory fault involved any way. Pay the man or call the insurance company.

The link quote you posted seems to be addressing injury (PIP and Medpay) or other non vehicle damage. I do not know if it aplies to the vehicle damage as well.

But wait, you changed the story. What happened to the 4th car???Is it fishing season already? It sure smells like it.

There was a car accident on a rainy night where a car slammed on the breaks due to an animal in the road on a road where the speed limit is 55....the car did hit the animal and just speeded away. 3 cars behind that car piled into each other.

.....the reason for the pileup was a dog ran out in front of the lead car and he slammed on breaks...he hit it anyway so he went ahead and came to a full stop instead of going on and then the 2nd and 3rd cars couldn't stop in time.

 

[passingby]

No, it's not fishing season!

The driver of the car that was first in line told the story of the dog and blamed a mystery car.....but in fact, it doesn't matter about any mystery car. There was a dead dog in the road for sure. Who hit it is irrelevant to car #3.

OK, so this is not my accident....like I said I'm asking for a friend. (yeah, the old friend excuse)....and being as such, said friend doesn't want to call her insurance company about this because she was late with her payment when the accident happened and she's doesn't think she was covered at the time. If this were as easy as turning it over to the insurance company I wouldn't be on here asking questions.

But I think I have the answer I need now. I think in the state of VA all have to fix their own cars when there is more than one person involved in the accident who could be perceived as negligent in any way. Since Car #2 hit car #1 in the rear end, then the driver of Car #2 was at least as negligent as the driver of Car #3. Only if Car #2 had stopped in time and not hit Car # 1 and Car #3 hit Car #2 anyway would the driver of Car #3 be responsible for damages to Car #2.

Thanks for all the reponses.

 

[MHH]

This sounds eerily similar to a wreck my father-in-law was in several years ago. He was car #2 in the scenario. All three cars were insured. No one was ticketed. The result: car #3 paid for all the damage to car #2, my father-in-law. My father-in-law did not pay for any damage to car #1. Not sure how car#1 made out in all this, but car #2's damage was completely covered by car#3's insurance, both front and rear damage. The insurance companies were in arbitration for a year over this.

I'm not saying this is how your friend's situation will be resolved. All kinds of scenarios could result. Insurance companies will fight it out.

 

[justalayman]

No, it's not fishing season!

The driver of the car that was first in line told the story of the dog and blamed a mystery car.....but in fact, it doesn't matter about any mystery car. There was a dead dog in the road for sure. Who hit it is irrelevant to car #3

. It always looks bad when the details change. You are right about the 4th cat. It makes no difference. Your friend is still liable for the damage the car he hit.

OK, so this is not my accident....like I said I'm asking for a friend. (yeah, the old friend excuse)....

Doesn't make any diff to me. On the internet, you are anonymous.

and being as such, said friend doesn't want to call her insurance company about this because she was late with her payment when the accident happened and she's doesn't think she was covered at the time. If this were as easy as turning it over to the insurance company I wouldn't be on here asking questions.

Depending upon her payment schedule, she may still have had insurance at the time. I pay a year over a 9 month period so if they were to cancel me at any time, I actually have more than the current month paid for.

But I think I have the answer I need now. I think in the state of VA all have to fix their own cars when there is more than one person involved in the accident who could be perceived as negligent in any way. Since Car #2 hit car #1 in the rear end, then the driver of Car #2 was at least as negligent as the driver of Car #3. Only if Car #2 had stopped in time and not hit Car # 1 and Car #3 hit Car #2 anyway would the driver of Car #3 be responsible for damages to Car #2.

You do not have no fault in your state. I'm betting your friend is still going to be liable for the damages to the car she hit. At least some of them. Anytime you hit a car in the rear, unless there are extreme circumstances, the driver doing the hitting gets the blame.

In my state, she would be guilty of "failure to stop in an assured distance" and/or "speeding" (even if you were under the posted speed limit.) That relieves driver 2 from any shared negligence regarding the last 2 cars involved.

Like I said, I don;t know how it will play out but your friend needs to not ignore the letter. She needs to face it now with the other party's insurance company or she will face it later in court.