Rear Ended on 101S
 

So I am bringing this up here and not in the BooBoo thread because I have a few questions and would like to see everyone's thoughts and how they would handle the situation.

Today I was rear on 101 south before the Richmond bridge exit. Traffic had come to a complete stop fairly quickly but there was plenty of time and room for smooth breaking.

The car in front of me stopped, and i stopped with about a cars length in between us. About 5 seconds later after coming to s top I catch something out of the corner of my eye in the rear view mirror and saw a mazda pickup truck coming in too fast.

There was nothing I could do, but had enough time to put the car in neutral and lift my foot of the break slightly. I missed the Bimmer in front of me just barely by heading towards the center divide. I was in the far left lane and missed both the center divide and the car in front of me

I was stopped and the mazda truck hit me going 40 to 50 ish. I have a concussion and serious whip lash with burst blood vessels all over my back.

Here is where I would like some insight. I traded info with the driver who hit me, and he asked if we could deal with this outside of our insurance company, and I said it would depend on total damage. I took my car to the dealer and it appears only the rear bumper and re inforcer are damaged, including the cent light down low and a few other plastic gizmos. After bringing the car to the dealer, I know have a parts list for about 700.

The driver wh hit me, his dad owns a garage in south san fran called Zak's Autobody. Has anyone heard of this garage? At the moment I have not called the insurance company and am going to this garage in the morning to have my car looked at.

So many questions. Should I do the work with the drivers dad in there shop after they buy the parts? Should I have them buy the parts from my dealership where the car came from? Should I let insurance handle this?

I believe the damage does not extend beyond the bumper re inforcer and will minimal labor to fix up. One Pro to doing the work at this shop is I could have them install a cat-back for me that I will be getting soon as part of the agreement.

I will post some picks in the morning. Please let me know what you would do in this situation. I want my back to be fix and back to 100%

I would not because the damages go further than the car itself. Sounds like you suffered some nasty physical damages to yourself and should get that checked out as well. If the person were to cover the car + hospital bill + something on top then maybe but I would tread carefully.

Noooooo!! Didn't you just get your car too?! Glad that you are not seriously injured!

This is something that I would get the insurance company involved with especially with your physical injury. Any damages to the car may go farther if you look closer into it. Do you have a police report?

Don't bother and take it up with the insurance which will also cover your medical bills and time off etc. Since you just got into the accident today you may not be feeling anything but come tomorrow you'll be extremely sore and that may reveal other issues.

40 to 50ish from a dead stop will do a number on your body.

If someone hit you at a stand still at 40MPH there is more damage then just the bumper reinforcement. I bet it also pushed in the rear body panel, the part the bumper support attaches to. NOW did the seat belt tensioners go off? SRS light on? there is more damage then what you can visually see.

As others have, report the claim to your insurance company ASAP. It won't raise your rates since the other driver was 100% at fault. You might need a rental car, a bodily injury settlement, etc. Your insurance company will take care of this and ultimately collect from the other driver's insurance.

Here's what I would do:
0 - BEFORE anything, REPORT REPORT REPORT to the insurance company
0.1 - MAKE SURE you take a picture of HIS CAR, and YOUR CAR, and HIS DRIVER'S LICENSE (if he doesn't make a statement, there's loop hole in this where he can get away without paying you)

TO DO:
1 - Damage to the car by your eyes are not professional, get a body shop to look at it because there is definitely damage underneath the bumper cover.
2 - Physical damage to YOU -- go to the doctors and get it checked out << I stress this out because you will be hurt -- I fucked up my back due to some idiot.

My lady got her 09 corolla bumped into by an MDX at 35mph while she was on a full stop (almost EXACT same scenario)

Total cost of her damge to get EVERYTHING replaced and brand new from body shop 8k

so your 700 dollar assessment means nothing. Get it done by insurance and screw him.

Contact your insurance and make a statement ASAP.

I always make sure I take pictures of EVERYTHING, even licenses because if he proposes something outside, it's usually because of some shady shit.

What color is the car? If it's a tough to match color, go with insurance all the way.

Insurance bro, don't fuck with people who try to force to make settlements with you. You'll end up regretting it or finding out that you sustained more than some back pain and some rear bumper damage. Call the insurance company and file a claim ASAP. Like what someone already said, your insurance rates will not go up since the other person was 100% at fault.

Personal injury like that I would say go straight to insurance e. Plus I too find it very hard to believe its only $700 in damage. I once rear ended a 99 civic and that had a $1000 bill for the fix.

I'll add on to this. I had a bumper swipe about a moth ago. Bumper and tail light alone with LIGHT metal word was a touch over $1500

Hard to imagine that there's only $700 worth of damage if a car hit you at 40-50mph. I wouldn't risk trying to do it outside insurance unless it was a very low speed hit where the damage is obviously limited to the surface, like scratches or a small dent. And no matter what the damage was, I wouldn't let anyone related to the offender touch my car or repair it.

A scratch on the bumper causing a repaint is like $750. I had a lady turn into my LGT and put a small dent into the quarter panel, that ended up being a $6000+ repair.

Its not your fault for the accident. Let the insurance company deal with it. You will regret not going through insurance because the other person will always want you to reduce the cost.