Daughter's wrecked car

[kowboy63]

I know this probably isn't the right place to post this but I figured you guys could offer some good advice.

My 21 year old daughter was involved in an accident yesterday. She stopped at a traffic light and waited for the green light then proceeded to cross the intersection & was broad-sided by a pick-up truck, neither was not seriously injured thank goodness. The guy that hit her said his light was green and there were no witnesses (small town), not much traffic. The officer that wrote it up said he was going to write it as both lights were green & let the insurance companies fight it out. I haven't seen the police report yet, should be ready Monday?

How would the insurance handle this? no fault? Just not sure how this works.
I have to take my daughter's word, she is very adamant that she was stopped for several seconds til the light changed, she saw the truck coming but was sure he would stop.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Running red lights is a HUGE problem in my area. I NEVER assume someone is going to stop.

Not sure how that would work? If it's no fault, they may just have each person take care of their own car? Meaning if you didn't have comprehensive, you're screwed? I don't know I've never had that hapen before.

[hugger6933]

I am so glad your girl is ok. I rebuild wrecks for a living and sometimes the emotions of the loss gets to me, I try to push it back but sometimes I know someones been hurt. I lost my oldest brother in a truck wreck, he ran into the back of a 54 ft long piece of farm equipment traveling at dark with no lights. He was with sight of his house so close my sister in law heard the crash. The equipment belonged to the same man he worked for. The man driving the tractor was sitting on the side of the road when the help came about 45 min later [long way out in the country] and all he could say is I begged him not to make me move it .It was too dark.
About your girl, The insurance [your company] is gonna say it was her, and raise your rate next time it comes due[probably]. the other guys company will do the same. your company will total your car unless you just have the liability insurance the reason first is the side airbag they are kinda costly. The second is if you look at the pass side windshield and the area around there shows that the post is pushed in. that along with the air bag is gonna do it in. Sorry for your misfortune. Jim

[landy]

Can't say definatively without seeing the accident, but clearly his vehicle hit her's broadside, which would suggest that her car was in the intersection first and he ran into her.

Since he ran into her, her story might seem more plausible, i.e., she was crossing through the intersection and he ran the light.

Good luck!

[hugger6933]

It was my brother boss that made the man move the tractor not my brother, and he was driving one of my rebuild but it had nothing to do with the wreck. The same time frame it happened I was tearing down the last truck he had traded me to use for parts on another builder. That part was a little spooky to me.

[kowboy63]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

I am so glad your girl is ok. I rebuild wrecks for a living and sometimes the emotions of the loss gets to me, I try to push it back but sometimes I know someones been hurt. I lost my oldest brother in a truck wreck, he ran into the back of a 54 ft long piece of farm equipment traveling at dark with no lights. He was with sight of his house so close my sister in law heard the crash. The equipment belonged to the same man he worked for. The man driving the tractor was sitting on the side of the road when the help came about 45 min later [long way out in the country] and all he could say is I begged him not to make me move it .It was too dark.
About your girl, The insurance [your company] is gonna say it was her, and raise your rate next time it comes due[probably]. the other guys company will do the same. your company will total your car unless you just have the liability insurance the reason first is the side airbag they are kinda costly. The second is if you look at the pass side windshield and the area around there shows that the post is pushed in. that along with the air bag is gonna do it in. Sorry for your misfortune. Jim

Sorry about your brother, that is very tragic. I do have full coverage with comprehensive, I figured the car would be totaled for the same reasons you pointed out and I know the rates will probably go up if they write it up as her fault but I don't if they write it as no fault.

[Hawghauler]

Unfortunately it looks like the truck was on her right. In Washington State, if two vehicles in an intersection impact, the person on the right has "right of way", With no witnesses, his insurance will probably try to use this to prevail. Insurance companies aren't there for your benefit. They will bargain with the other insurance company to make both companies take the least loss. Most likely they will call it equal fault. This doesn't help your daughter in the least especially her driving record and insurance costs. This is why many people now use dash cams in their cars, especially if this has happened to them more than once. I hope this hasn't caused her too much anxiety or pain.
Good luck

[BarryB]

My wife has been an insurance agent for almost 10 yrs and her advice is for your daughter and the other party to both turn it in on their own insurance and let the insurance companies battle it out. They will send their own adjusters and the adjusters should be able to draw conclusions as to how the accident occurred just by assessing the damage (such as they can usually tell by point of impact, amount of damage to each vehicle, etc, of who was going faster - so if she had been stopped and was just proceeding through the light and the other party had been going at a much faster rate of speed, not slowing down, - there can be tell-tale signs just from the damage) make sense? This is apart of an adjuster's training and things that is apart of their job to assess. It may come down to both insurance companies agreeing to share part of the liability, but hopefully the adjusters' assessment will be in her favor.

[danheit]

From a police perspective, there's a couple things to do. First, the officer needs to go to the traffic light box (should be a big metal box near the intersection) that will show if there were any errors or defects with the traffic light at the time of the accident. The box can't have a green light at the same time in both directions. It just isn't wired like that from my understanding. Second, with ANY accident, there's no such thing as no fault on either party. There's a "someone's at fault" and "both at fault", but never a nobody. Also, you guys should have received a TR310 form (accident form) right then and there on scene (although GA may do it differently than SC), and on that form, it should dictate whether one party "contributed to the collision" or not. The insurance companies don't let us dictate fault, as the officer wasn't there at the accident, and truthfully doesn't know what happened, so he can't say who's fault it truly was; he can only make an educated determination based from an investigation of contributing factors. Sounds to me like you may have gotten a lazy or inexperienced officer. I don't know the guy, and he may be supercop, but from what you're describing, something is getting left undone.

As far as the insurance companies, yours is going to say it was his fault, his is going to say it was your daughter's fault. If they just go with "no fault", then they have to pay to fix their client's vehicles. If it's the other person's, then they sue, and the other company pays, not them. Hopefully you have a better insurance company than the other driver did!

[kowboy63]

Thanks guys, I don't know how this one is going to turn out. By the time I got there everything was cleaned up & the officer was gone so I haven't talked to them yet, my wife said he seemed to be leaning towards my daughters side but couldn't come to a definite conclusion. I hate that insurance has to go up either way. In Ga, or at least around here I think it is normal practice to have to wait for the police report.

[kowboy63]

Originally Posted by Hawghauler

Unfortunately it looks like the truck was on her right. In Washington State, if two vehicles in an intersection impact, the person on the right has "right of way", With no witnesses, his insurance will probably try to use this to prevail. Insurance companies aren't there for your benefit. They will bargain with the other insurance company to make both companies take the least loss. Most likely they will call it equal fault. This doesn't help your daughter in the least especially her driving record and insurance costs. This is why many people now use dash cams in their cars, especially if this has happened to them more than once. I hope this hasn't caused her too much anxiety or pain.
Good luck

a lot of anxiety and just real sore, the good thing is she is on winter break from college and will have a couple weeks to recoup.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by kowboy63

Thanks guys, I don't know how this one is going to turn out. By the time I got there everything was cleaned up & the officer was gone so I haven't talked to them yet, my wife said he seemed to be leaning towards my daughters side but couldn't come to a definite conclusion. I hate that insurance has to go up either way. In Ga, or at least around here I think it is normal practice to have to wait for the police report.

You can go ahead and start the process with your insurance company. The biggest down fall, is the time of year it is. May have to wait until after Christmas before an adjuster can come out to access the damage.. Most importantly glad nobody got seriously injured.

[LONGHAIR]

In a small town, you are lucky that they both don't have the same insurance. That can be a huge cluster

BTW, I'm with the others, that is definitely a total.

[boatpuller]

My daughter totaled my truck at the time. 2 days after getting her license when she just turned 16. It was her fault... The part that pissed me off was the other party was driving illegally with no insurance. My insurance paid to fix their uninsured vehicle...the main thing is she's o.k.

[LONGHAIR]

That's just not right. As far as I see it you should NEVER be at-fault when you are in a crash with an unlicensed/uninsured driver. They are "taking their chances" by driving and can in now way "legally" be there for you to hit. I say "throw the book at them".

[GOPAPA]

Originally Posted by LONGHAIR

That's just not right. As far as I see it you should NEVER be at-fault when you are in a crash with an unlicensed/uninsured driver. They are "taking their chances" by driving and can in now way "legally" be there for you to hit. I say "throw the book at them".

What I see as a problem for this to change like you and I both would like to see is change is that it's == Lawyers wanting a case on either side to make more money off us.. and then there is the big reason why === the laws we would like to see changed are MADE by Lawyers ..and they the lawyers who make the laws and the lawyers who use the laws should be a conflict of interest ,,but to take them to court for this will still need a lawyer ,,a catch 22 ,,and that's where I will stop ,,dead end road ..lol

[Gumby]

Cops say on paper that both lights are green, then the city is at fault right?

are the mag lights or timmer?

[kowboy63]

Got the Police report today. Guess what? The other driver has no insurance!!! Suspended license!!!! And no tag!!!! talked to the insurance (Horace Mann--teachers insurance). They believe that the other driver is at fault based on what they know from the report & statements from both drivers but if they cannot prove my daughter's side then they would just pay for the damage to her car (not his) but the premiums would go up & I would be responsible for the deductible ($500). I want to do what is right but I find it hard to swallow paying a higher premium when I believe with all my heart that my daughter is telling the truth. Sure he is going to say his light was green, he has more at stake, he is illegal. and don't get me started on the crooked layers, I am sick of the commercials to sue everyone for anything.

[alsriv2]

Too many illegal drivers out there get away with this crap too often, but in today's lax environment, nothing gets done to punish them. That other driver should have gone to jail and been forced to explain themselves to a Judge for being a buffoon and not following the law.
I know you hate lawyers, but a civil suit might make the other party wake up and start doing the right thing, even if you don't actually recoup any loss.

[boatpuller]

Originally Posted by kowboy63

Got the Police report today. Guess what? The other driver has no insurance!!! Suspended license!!!! And no tag!!!! talked to the insurance (Horace Mann--teachers insurance). They believe that the other driver is at fault based on what they know from the report & statements from both drivers but if they cannot prove my daughter's side then they would just pay for the damage to her car (not his) but the premiums would go up & I would be responsible for the deductible ($500). I want to do what is right but I find it hard to swallow paying a higher premium when I believe with all my heart that my daughter is telling the truth. Sure he is going to say his light was green, he has more at stake, he is illegal. and don't get me started on the crooked layers, I am sick of the commercials to sue everyone for anything.

Good, I'm glad too see Georgia has some common sense laws...the not fixing his part...Washington so messed up they probably would pay for that guy's christmas...You know that's been dang near twenty year's ago and I still get worked up thinkin about it.
Insurance companies are worse than lawyers.(toss up) their goal is to get
you to the point where your scared to claim anything by holding the rate raise over your head,Grrrrrrr ....Thats another thread.

[kowboy63]

Originally Posted by alsriv2

Too many illegal drivers out there get away with this crap too often, but in today's lax environment, nothing gets done to punish them. That other driver should have gone to jail and been forced to explain themselves to a Judge for being a buffoon and not following the law.
I know you hate lawyers, but a civil suit might make the other party wake up and start doing the right thing, even if you don't actually recoup any loss.

I agree that too many illegal drivers get off way too easy, even when serious injury or death is involved. I guess it's like taxes and everything else, the ones of us who try to do things right is always going to shoulder the load for the rest.

I don't hate all lawyers, just the crooked ones, sometimes civil suits are the right thing to do, but these lawyers that advertise on tv to get you thousands of $$ are the ones that are disgusting. Just makes more people want something for nothing.

The first thing the insurance investigator asked me after finding out about the citations is "was the guy arrested?" of course he wasn't, I guess he'll have to pay a fine or something who knows?

[kowboy63]

Originally Posted by boatpuller

Good, I'm glad too see Georgia has some common sense laws...the not fixing his part...Washington so messed up they probably would pay for that guy's christmas...You know that's been dang near twenty year's ago and I still get worked up thinkin about it.
Insurance companies are worse than lawyers.(toss up) their goal is to get
you to the point where your scared to claim anything by holding the rate raise over your head,Grrrrrrr ....Thats another thread.

It ain't over yet, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't fix his too (hope not) and make me pay much higher premium because of it. it's hard not to get worked up about something when you know you're right and there's no way to win.

[flashed]

I was once rearended by an illegal driver with no insurance and I took a day off to go to court to see what they did to him .They held court in spanish and I still dont know what the outcome was ,my insurance paid for my damages and the tow company went after his truck for the towing and storage fees. And as far as sueing ,they probably have nothing to go after .

[Gumby]

Even if they are rich, suing someone for money doesn't mean you'll get paid.

you have to go after assets. truck, tools, boat.......

[N2TRUX]

You may hate lawyers, but you should consider contacting one. He probably will, and the burden of proof will be on you. Jump first while you can.