90 YO driver backed in to me
 

I saw him starting to back out of his driveway (apparently he didn't look to see me), so I stopped, gave him a friendly toot on the horn to let him know I was there. He just kept backing up, so I leaned on my horn...but he kept coming. I tried to get into reverse, but ended up in park instead as he hit me. The conversation that ensued was bizarre. He refused to exchange papers, his reasoning was that I was overreacting, the damage could easily be fixed with a can of spray paint. The damage is small, creased front bumper and cracked paint on bumper. I ended up having to call the cops. They wrote a police report, it took them 10 days to do it. Finally got the report and went to the auto body shop. The estimate to repair is $1,060.29. Basically, new bumper, paint new bumper and replace. Next stop was to his insurance company, they are being difficult, saying that there is nothing they can do because their insured has never reported the accident. I just handed them the police report and said...here it is, he hit me, and you will pay to repair my car!

People are stupid!!!!!!


"CulbyJack"

That sucks, funny thing is one time i was parked under a tree waiting for someone. I saw the exact type of accident as yours happen. Some REALLY old guy just backed into a guy stopped at a stop sign. He refused to believe the guy when he said you hit me and he drove off. LOL

And dealing with insurance companies is never fun I wrecked my fr-s about a month ago and got the ring around for a while.


"CulbyJack"

That sucks... glad you got it figured out in the end. Stressful and stupid.

If his insurance company keeps jerking you around, contact your insurance company and inform them about it. They will get the other insurance company to cooperate right away, and it won't negatively affect your insurance premiums.

I would imagine a police report would be enough motivation to get them to cooperate. I would also recommend choosing the body shop of your choice, and not theirs.

Good luck and sorry to hear about the dent on your new car.

Wow~ that's pretty rough oldie... I never had any problem w oldies. Hell, one of my friend (in HS) got hellova good treatment. 80 some old man rear ended him.. more like a tap prob going 2~5mph. Friend got out of beater Prizism and look at the bumper, notice that it was very small dent, so he was going to let it go, but old man gave him $15,000 check (& no, I'm not joking here. I have seen that check) for a repair, if he didn't call the cop. They traded information just in case. 4 days later my friend had $15k in his saving. Did my friend fix that bumper... LMAO hell no

Sorry, went off-topic. Hope everything goes well and get it fix ASAP!

Your insurance company should be the one dealing with his insurance company.

Agreed. If you have collision coverage on the car you should be going through your own company as they will at least pay you whatever is above your deductible. Depending on the state you live in.

I retired after 25 years of handling automobile insurance claims and I will try to explain something to you and I hope you will understand.

When a person takes out an insurance policy he is paying money for protection in the event he should become liable for an amount of money because of his negligence. The policy is his to use if and when he wants to use it. The insurance company has an obligation to only one person and that is their policy holder. If he doesn't want to make use of his policy that's his business. Think if I was to make up a fictitious police report and go to your insurance company, claim you backed into me and they gave me a check and raised your rates! You'd really be pissed at insurance companies then wouldn't you?

The simple way to handle this is to not get bent out of shape. Go to your own company. Pay your deductible and let them handle the matter. They will turn around and subrogate against the other guy and his company for the amount of money they're out and also for your deductible. From your companies point of view the claim should not be a bad mark on your policy. It would be considered a non chargeable loss and should have no impact on your insurance rates. Double check with your agent and he will ease your mind.

The first thing I did was to call my own insurance company. My agents recommendation was to take the police report to his company. Her reason was that by going through my insurance, I would be responsible for paying my $1,000 deductible, and then would have to wait possibly months for them to subrogate and get my $1,000 back. She said the whole process would be a royal PITA and strongly recommended I handle it myself via his insurance. I will see how this proceeds in the next week or so and then reconsider going through my own insurance. Thanks for the advice given here.

90 years old, blind and deaf and still at the wheel?

This just makes my blood boil, good luck with the ordeal! Good thing you called the cop.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, OP. For future reference, remember that a little defensive driving can go a long way. For example, when you see someone backing out, assume they don't see you. Assume they will "steal" your right of way. Slow down or stop while there's still enough space for them to not hit you and observe whether they are slowing or not. If not, just cede your right of way and let them go. Unless, of course, you're like a friend of mine and you prefer to get hit because defending your ground is far more important :P

You have one more option, depending on how much effort you want to put into this. If you can't get any where with his insurance company, it's a little bit of a hassle but it will get results: File a claim in small claims court for the cost of repair, the cost of a rental car while yours is in the shop, you filing fees, additional mileage incurred because of the accident, etc. Pay the court to serve him (that will be part of your damages) and that will get results. He will go running to his company for their help. That will put you in the drivers seat. You can tell his company that the amount of your claim is all the various items you spelled out in your suit and for that amount you will settle.

sounds kinda ''screwy!" eh! he! he! maybe it was "whitey bulger" trying to
hide! ehe! he! he! really sounds kinda f**ked!

I did exactly that...I stopped as soon as I saw his reverse lights. He had plenty of room to back out into the street. He just kept backing up and backing up till he hit me.

PS. I'm 52 years old, and this is my first accident ever.

Follow up... I got a call from his Insurance company today. They asked me to provide the details of the accident (even though she said she had a copy of the police report). I gave her my story (same as the police report), she said she was going to contact the insured. She was very nice and provided me with a claim number. So far so good I guess.

LOL! It didn't hit me until I started reading the other posts about old people that 90 YO meant 90 Year Old. This whole time I was thinking it was some kind of racial slur or something. I was like "Yeah man, I freaking hate those YO's. They should go back to their country!"

*checking out urban dictionary for "YO"*

Yeah, I've pulled into a parking lot once and while getting in the prime position to backup into a perpendicular parking lot I saw that the car in front of me was backing out of their spot. Car was slowly moving backwards. I tapped the horn a couple times.... Kept coming on back.... Laid on the horn.... Kept on comin'..... *CRACK!!* "Ahhh.... Shit!"

I didn't wanna throw myself into my parking spot just to hit another car so I just sat there. I'd rather get hit and it not being my fault rather than to hit someone else and it be my fault. I've had a lot of bad luck with accidents when I was younger and my mother told me, "If someone is going to hit you, just let them hit you if you don't have a choice but to put yourself at risk in another way." Awww, how I miss her.

That really is the right thing to do. If they take the initiative to track down their insured and get his version they're actually making their job easier for themselves by not having you climbing all over their backs. Technically though, they are not obligated to do that. Perhaps if the opportunity presents itself sometime in the future, thank the claims rep. Compared to the crap they usually get that might make her day.

And, being 52 you have really beat the odds. Congratulations.

:blush Sorry, based on your original account I thought you were like 20. Really a bummer that your perfect record was broken like this, with such a dumb accident in such a nice car :( Best of luck getting the insurance sorted!

Btw - ive noticed a method of driving adopted by many elderly drivers. Especially when backing out, just go slowly. Pause every so often and then continue slowly. People will either drive around or wait and give them space. They don't actually look or listen to where they are backing up to.

:confused0068:
Where is this man and can I get him to back into me?

Well, that was over 10yrs ago... IDK if he's still alive now

There should be a maximum driving age just as there is a minimum.....

You've got old people that drive like the one who hit the OP and then you have old people that drove like Paul Newman did near his final years.

What should the maximum age be??

Rather than a Maximum driving age how about at a certain age you need to take refresher coarses/drive tests? seems better than taking licenses away from everyone over 80 years old

yeah that'll go over well... anyone affected by it will cry age discrimination

should really be for everyone, since there are tons of idiots out there regardless of how old or young they are

insurance in the US seems retarded. In Australia, if someone hits me and I go through my insurance company, i dont pay the deductible, THEY do. If its my fault, only then do I have to pay something.

I completely agree with you! I think people should have to renew their license every 5 years, and be required to pass either a short written test or practical driving test.

Probably the most failed question would be:

-If a stop light turns yellow, should you:

A. Slow to a stop
B. Speed up to beat the red light
C. Continue your current speed and slam on your brakes at the last
second
D. Ignore the yellow light and continue through the intersection after
the light turns red

I would feel better if it's every 1 -2 years. If someone is 90, 5 years is a long time when your eye sight and other abilities degrade.

I guess I should have specified, I meant every 5 years once you get your license. As for more often, maybe at age 70 or so you could go to every 2-3 years.

Pictures or didn't happen.. jk

there really isn't a single right answer to that question, but C and D are most certainly wrong. Depending on the situation A or B may be right.

I actually think the most failed question would be any question concerning the flow of traffic at a 4 way intersection with stop signs.

You are young so you can say this. Remember this statement when you are 75 and think again. Do you want your driving privilege taken away because you are old?

I think that is an idea and it may be implemented by states/provinces. When you reach a certain age, your reaction time becomes slow and your reflex also suffer. But people grow old differently, so that is not a blanket statement saying that getting old and no license for you. However, have to re-test the license seems a good motivator to keep elders to practice their reflex and attentions while driving, keeping them safe for sure.

On the other hand, let's see the ages of people *who* cause the accidents, and why so many middle or young age drivers cause the accidents? Because they over-estimate their ability and reaction time and thus causes accident.

My anger is toward this guys family for still allowing him to drive

For most of the policies out here, you pay your deductible, and when the accident is determined to not be your fault, the Ins. company will refund it. Usually takes about a week.

It seems no one actually asked this question to OP: Why did you stopped when you see he backing onto you? Was there any way for you to escape the hitting? Was he backing onto you suddenly?

Just a curious mind.

The answer you need for the test is A.

The law requires you to slow down and stop for a yellow *if* it can be done safely, otherwise proceed (at current speed) through the intersection. Speeding up to squeeze through a yellow is a no-no.

IRL, though, if you're right at the intersection when the light goes yellow most peoples' natural instinct is to step on it a bit to avoid getting hit by cross traffic jumping the green. As a rule, though, it's best to keep an eye on stale greens and assume you're going to be stopping so you're ready when it goes yellow.

OK...let me see if I can explain...
I was in a congested residential zone, speed limit is 20mph. As I am coming up the street, I see a PT cruiser on the left side of the street with it's brake lights on and at the very end of his driveway. Because I do drive defensively, I slow down to maybe 10mph not knowing what this car is going to do. Sure enough, I see the reverse lights come on and he starts backing out. I stop, give a toot on my horn. I assumed at that point, he would have stopped and either pulled back in his driveway, or at least acknowledged me somehow. No response at all from the driver, he just continued to back up. (Keep in mind that there was still plenty of room for him to back up into the street). So he is backing up....and backing up....and backing up (he's going slowly, like most old people do when backing). I now begin to realize he doesn't know i'm there. There is still maybe 12 feet between us at this point and I now lean on my horn...but he is still backing up. Now 6 feet till impact, I try to get into reverse...to late, he hits me.

I never expected him to have to back up so much as to hit me, there was plenty of room. By the time I realized he had no clue I was there, I figured the lean on the horn would stop him. It was a slow motion horror scene in my eyes. I never expected him to hit me.

:barf: