insurance question and car accident

[Dznypal]

my friend was just in a car accident
what happened was she was stopped at a stop sign or light she didnt say which and was behind a car whoi decideds for whatever reason he wanted to back up
my friend tried to pull over to the right as much as she could to give this guy more room since it didnt seem like he could she her

well he didnt quite make it and ended up scrapping and denting her back door and the nedxt panel
frined said he seemed pretty decent asked if she was alright
so she calls his insurance com to start a claim
girl that answered explaned everything and said all will be covered even the rental
so yesterday she gets both a text and call from her insurance com saying they got notified of the accident it sounded like it was the guy that hit her
that now hes trying to say it was her fault and wants it on her insurnace
they didnt call police cause it seems they dont come out anymore for minor accidents but you can go to a station and file a report
not sure how the guy could say its her fault when she was the one that standing still until he decided to back up
sjut wondering if thers any advice I could give her that would help
thanks

 

[Moliphino]

This is when dashcams come in really handy. This is a pretty common scam.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Did she call her insurance right away?

 

[sam_gordon]

The only advice would be to get in touch with her insurance and tell them what happened from her point of view. Be truthful and not emotional.

 

[starry_solo]

I saw a guy backing up at a stoplight that looked like he was going to do the same thing. Car behind him honked lightly then started backing up to. I was in the next lane and leaned onto my horn for a hard honk and the car in front stopped.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I am pretty sure she must file a police report and also contact her insurance policy .
Do not think it was “ minor” when it comes to following this advice .
It is the law .

 

[MillauFr]

Why would anyone actually admit fault to the other party? My insurance card says that in big bold letters on my insurance card. Admitting fault is a huge mistake.

 

[disneychrista]

In my town the police won’t come for a no injury accident.

The first I did when a guy ran a red light and just about totaled my car was call my insurance. I let them handled things with the other parties insurance. My insurance covered everything from rental car to the body shop. Thankfully the other party did take responsibility and it was covered 100%.

 

[lanejudy]

not sure how the guy could say its her fault when she was the one that standing still until he decided to back up

Absent a timely police report and witness accounts, he can SAY anything - even total fabrication. It's a case of "he said, she said."

She needs to go to the police department and file a police report "for insurance purposes." Depending on the community, she may be able to do this online. Ideally she should have gone directly from the scene, but as soon as possible now.

And she needs to call her insurance and give her side of the story. She should have done that anyway, sharing his insurance info and let the insurance companies figure it out. Unfortunately, she will be at their mercy regarding a rental and repairs unless she wants to resolve it out-of-pocket and get reimbursed (possibly only partial reimbursement).

 

[mjkacmom]

She should let her insurance company deal with the other insurance company, plus file the police report. This unfortunately happened to my son at a red light, the other car took off (it was in front of him), filed a report in case there were cameras, there weren’t any.

 

[HopperFan]

DH was sitting still in bumper to bumper. Guy behind him (Tesla) hits him directly in the back. DH rarely is out driving and trusts too much. Guy said he didn't want on his insurance, he'd pay cash. He let DH photo his license, insurance card and he took photo of his car. Of course the guy ghosted all phone calls and texts. So DH called the guy's insurance (and ours) and they came back with a story from the guy TOTALLY fabricated that they were both merging on an exit and hit each other on the side .... They refused the claim. DH said ask him for his TESLA footage which will show exactly what happened. Yeah, they weren't going to without a huge fight. Luckily no major damage so we were not making a claim on ours - but since I had just been through a hit and run I knew process.

I submitted a police report to the local police, and filed claim against him as a hit and run since he didn't want the police called and refused to admit to insurance. I uploaded all his personal information, his photograph, license, insurance etc. All in the computer now so if he is involved in another accident or gets pulled over by police it should pop up when they input his license number. Hit and run might impact how the next case is handled.

I drummed on DH ALWAYS call the police, if there is no report most insurance companies will baulk unless the guilty party forces them to do the right thing. (happened to my sister) Luckily we live where police still come when called.

Friend is likely out of luck. My insurance company fixed my car with no penalty on rates because it was hit and run. My insurance did require me to file the police report and then gave me a choice of where to take it.

 

[tvguy]

OP, contact your insurance company. You pay premiums to them for two things.
1) Insurance coverage
2) Handling any incident that you are involved in with your car.

 

[tvguy]

I drummed on DH ALWAYS call the police, if there is no report most insurance companies will baulk unless the guilty party forces them to do the right thing. Luckily we live where police still come when called.

As has been mentioned, in California police will not come out or take a report if there are no injuries. If damage to the car, property exceeds $1,000, or there are injuries, BOTH drivers are required to file an accident report (Form SR-1) within 24 hours with DMV.

 

[HopperFan]

As has been mentioned, in California police will not come out or take a report if there are no injuries. If damage to the car, property exceeds $1,000, or there are injuries, BOTH drivers are required to file an accident report (Form SR-1) within 24 hours with DMV.

Where I live they do come, so it is important to call and get the report done by them, even on private property. Not really sure how one determines fault when they self report, every accident could be a he said she said. Seems a work around is always declare injury but ...

How does it work, "will not come out if there are no injuries" but if "there are injuries they self report"???

 

[LuvOrlando]

FYI, this friend should not talk to anyone from the other insurance or the person who hit her.

Also, did she get photos? I'd be most worried about someone saying it was a hit and run on your friends part so whether police show up or not I would still call 100% of the time to have the contact logged especially in a strange situation like described.

 

[tvguy]

Where I live they do come, so it is important to call and get the report done by them, even on private property. Not really sure how one determines fault when they self report, every accident could be a he said she said. Seems a work around is always declare injury but ...

How does it work, "will not come out if there are no injuries" but if "there are injuries they self report"???

First, police here will not respond to any accident on private property, injuries or not. They WILL respond to any accident with injuries on public property, (assuming someone calls them). So if there are injuries, there should be a police report. And even with a Police Report, all parties in an incident with $1,000 or more in damage or injuries are required to submit an SR-1 to DMV. And most (if not all) insurance companies require you to report all incidents to them, even if you don't file a claim with them.

 

[Dznypal]

I do know for sure she didn’t file a police report. Also she did call his insurance but not hers since she didn’t want hers involved at all. She figured since it was his fault everything should go through his.
Wonder why though the person she talked to at his insurance told her that everything would be covered.
Unless he called after my friend had already called.
I’ll pass on the advice
Thanks all

 

[GAN]

Where I live they do come, so it is important to call and get the report done by them, even on private property. Not really sure how one determines fault when they self report, every accident could be a he said she said. Seems a work around is always declare injury but ...

How does it work, "will not come out if there are no injuries" but if "there are injuries they self report"???

Good question. I could see it in a No-Fault state, but anywhere else I couldn't guess

 

[HopperFan]

First, police here will not respond to any accident on private property, injuries or not. They WILL respond to any accident with injuries on public property, (assuming someone calls them). So if there are injuries, there should be a police report. And even with a Police Report, all parties in an incident with $1,000 or more in damage or injuries are required to submit an SR-1 to DMV. And most (if not all) insurance companies require you to report all incidents to them, even if you don't file a claim with them.

Thank you for clarifying the self reporting.

But again that is not the case where I live. Police will respond to any incident. While they can not write a ticket on private property they can file a police report taking info from both parties and a description of the scene.

I get it that where you live police don't help people as much as they do in other areas. I'm saying if police help in one's location they should always call or be prepared to not get their car taken care of by the other party.

 

[barkley]

any kind of physical contact with another car triggers us to report to our insurance so it's on record with them. glad to have done it when backing out of a parking space at a grocery store and at a dead stop (shifting from reverse to drive) and my back up alarm went off. person backing up across from us backed into us-slow speed so no damage to us but a little crunch on theirs. we hopped out and as did the other driver and i took a quick photo of the cars where they were stopped/other driver's license plate. other driver said she was at fault, no exchange of info. but she must have gotten our license plate number b/c the next day (a full day after i called insurance and reported 'just for the record' what happened) her daddy's insurance company contacted ours claiming we backed into her. we had it reported already so our insurance company already knew what happened and the claim was denied.