accident/insurance help

What insurance company do you have? many have 1st offender waiver.

But yes, would call bluff on him, is he getting his insurance or an attorney involved? If not, you shouldnt either.

Did wife get cited for reckless driving or anything from Police Report?

The other thing you can do, if you are planning on fixing his car if that was the deal and you or wife feel at fault personally...is use your own trusted GUY for estimate, and not allow him to use his guy. You take it to body shop or place you trust for estimate.

 

if no one was cited he has nothing
he could try to sue you but it would cost him more than its worth
id tell him to get bent

 

The easiest is to call your Geico rep, and say, "ALL STATE (or whomever you want to use) has this 1st offender option, and they are saying their rate is better.....so......do I have that 1st accident/1st offender option with you already? All State says they are the only company that does?? I would prefer not to switch away from the little green funny speaking dude, but you know the guy from the Military Rescue show is telling me other things....etc...etc...etc....."

wing it...remember....If you believe it...then its true to you!

But if not cited.....you have no OBLIGATION LEGALLY to fix anything. Basically speaking the POLICE made that decision for you.

 

sounds like a scam to me.

use the peter blunt system..

 

Tell him to take a hike.

 

Yeah...back up a second. A few things do not add up. Even if the bumper was "totaled" an aftermarket rear bumper for a '97 Honda is around $90. Figure an hour to paint at $60, an hour to install the bumper at another $60, and possibly a four wheel alignment at $50 if you are feeling generous. Throw in a $100 for BS fees (car rental, paint, jacked up prices, etc) and you're still under $400. He's definitely lying to you, or he went to the absolute most expensive place in town to intentionally get a high estimate then have his buddy fix it for $150.

Here's the kicker though...your insurance company would not pay this claim because your wife was not found at fault. "Non-reportable" means their is no fault decided and the officer estimates that total damages amount to less than $500. In this type of situation, there would be no insurance payout and each driver would fix their own vehicles independently through cash or their own insurance.

I would call Geico (which is great by the way.....super friendly and professional) and tell them the situation. Your wife was not at fault according to the officer, so what ACTUALLY happened is of no consciquence. For damages under $500 your premiums would not increase even if Geico does pay (on 1 accident in 36 months), so I would not worry about it. Remember though, do not admit guilt...that was for the officer to decide.

Do not call the guy back, do not take his calls, and let him decide what to do from there. Your wife tried to do the right thing and this guy took advantage of that, so ^#@$ him.

 

Call the guy and tell him you're going to let your insurance company deal with it. You don't have to actually call them at this point. Just let him believe you're going to.
Ask for all his information to give to your insurance company, etc.
I'll bet he goes away

 

First you have Geico which is good.

Second the officer reported it as "non reporting", which means there appeared to be no damage worth seeking retribution for in the officers opinion. That does NOT mean there is not damage that you can't see. That also does not mean that this guy does not have a claim against your wife. Check what the laws in your state say before you deal with this guy anymore. You can actually use the officers findings to strengthen your position if the guy try's to pull any ****. Take pictures of the car ASAP. Date them appropriately. These could prove valuable later.

third was the accident your wife's fault or the other guys? Some state's find fault...others do not and don't care. The accident will be charged to both drivers regardless of who's fault it is. More heavily on the insurance companies end when they code the accident. Just being involved makes you a higher risk down the road.

Insurance companies keep a profile on every driver by social security number. They assess you a number that they calculate which determines what risk you are to them. This number also determines your rates. It's kind of like Equifax, Trans Union and Experian. They trade reports back and forth to each other to keep everything close to accurate as possible. They know a lot about you guys......more then you probably realize.

The less you say to your agent the better. A simple accident like you are saying has the potential to cost you a whole lot more then you realize in premiums over the next 10 - 15 years. Think about it your premiums go up just $25 a month on auto and then $15 on homeowners a month and that's equal to 25x12x15=$4500, and then 15x12x15=$2700 for a damn scratch on a bumper.

The increase won't come right after the accident either. It will come when you renew and you don't realize the small increase.......that's how they do ya ..........that little green guy is a sneaky gecko No seriously good company.

I know $1100 seems like a lot of money but sometimes there is underlying damage that you can not see. For example, my wife hit a tree while backing up. Dented the quarter panel and broke the tail light. The tail light is $125.00. Took it to get an estimate and it is $2700 worth of damage. The part that I am getting to is even with the estimate to repair I went the other day to Sears to have the 2 front tires replaced for premature wear. Basically 75,000 mile tires wore out in 20,000 miles. Now I didn't say anything to Sears but I took the van to a alignment specialist prior to going to Sears, from the tree the car was way out of alignment. In fact the rear right( where she hit tree) is not alignable due to hitting the tree. She actually bent the frame and the front secondary frame had to be reset. They actually have 4 large bolts that hold the front end to the main frame and are adjustable to a certain degree. Cost to do alignment.....$175.00, $177.00 for 2 new tires at 70% credit for premature wear. The rear would cost $700 to fix just to be able to do a 4 wheel alignment back to factor specs. So just the hidden damage that no one new about is $1050. I saw what was wrong and made the decision based on the car being 4 years old and having 55,000 miles to just leave it and accept some early tire wear. Probably won't even be noticeable.

So I guess what I am getting at is see what the guy has got. Ask to talk to the shop that quoted the price and decide if you want to pay the difference minus your deductible. If your like most people, $1000 deductible is pretty common now a days so you might just have to bite the bullet and pay for it if it is legitimate. If things seem fishy then you may need to give your lawyer a call and get him to send him a nice go away letter. Which ever way you decide to go that "little Green Guy" has got your back!!

Hope this helps, Regards

 

Her Last Name could be "POPE" and middle name "LORD" and it wouldnt change that the Officer recorded this as NO FAULT....you are not on the hook for anything.

It all on his shoulders to fix any damage.....I would simply move on and not let him hassle you.

 

Seriously tho, he tried to scam your wife.....F him. Tell her that if he calls in the future, pretend like she doesn't speak English.

 

Disclaimer: I'm an attorney, but in california, I couldnt, shouldn't, wouldn't be your attorney. This is not, now, in the future, or in the past, legal advice.

With that out of the way, what are your state's requirements re: notifying insurance and DMV? I'm assuming since the cop but "not-reportable" that there is a threshold for reporting accidents (in California it's $750, or someone is injured no matter how minor, or someone dies, which is, by definition, not minor).

I just did a quick search of the NC DOT and they have no such information. WTH. Is the DMV not responsible for vehicle collisions in that state?

 

It actually may make a difference only in the fact that she may be the owner and not him. In most states you would need to deal with her not him since she is the owner. There almost always is a statue of limitations for reporting the accident if it is more then the state minimum, aka unreportable damage. Whatever that time frame is 30 to 90 days, if he or she fails to come forward...you would be fine. Start there and find out as much as possible about what the officer reported or how he reported it and what it means in NC.

I did a little extra research and found out that the officer checking non reportable means nothing except that the accident will not be reported to the National highway traffic safety administration because by law the accident did not include enough property and/or injury to a person or persons as required by North Carolina Law.

 

NC is very screwed up (I moved to NC then SC from Florida about 13 years ago) and it is a frustrating system. The tags and registration office is private (with 2 employees and often if you arrive after 9AM you will wait all day for nothing), and once you pay for each you then have to go to the courthouse and pay taxes on the purchases you just made. Then you have to go to another private shop to purchase an inspection sticker, and once all of this is accomplished you can finally obtain a driver's license from the DMV.

The various circus hoops residents are made to jump through make the law very confusing and it is very difficult to obtain information at times. The DMV is in fact responsible and by law any damages over $500 must be reported. The officer's "non-reportable" mark means that he felt the damage was under the $500 threshold and since neither were found at fault (which is rare, usually someone is found at fault so they can issue a citation) they would be required to file on their own insurance policies. Even if the guy can prove the officer was wrong and the damages amounted to over $500, it was a no fault accident so even if Geico eventually pays your insurance would not increase (I also have Geico and went through almost the exact same scenario two years back).

The the problem is basically over because there was no problem to begin with. The officer did your wife a favor and legally it protects you from having to pay out any cash. He could sue you in small claims court for the damages, but then the initial burden of proof would fall on him to support the $1100 demand and once again....it would be Geico's fight, not your own (as long as you have reported it and stated you were not at fault).