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.