I was in an accident last Friday where the driver side rear door and rear quarter panel sustained quite a bit of damage. A driver in a left turn only lane merged into my car which was in a left-straight lane. He has an older (1995?) Nissan Quest minivan and on his van, the passenger side headlight area was damaged.

I told him I would go through the insurance (I have a $1000 deductible) to get my car repaired since it is a lease model that will be going back to Infiniti. I took the car to the bodyshop (a good trusted shop) and was given an estimate of $940 to repair the damage ($800-$850 in cash). A full police report was filed.

I told him that he could either pay out of pocket for my repair or I will go through the insurance. However, he is convinced that he was not at fault in this accident and does not want to pony up any cash. Secondly, he said since he feels I was mostly at fault, we can call it no-fault and I can pay to fix his minivan (which isn't even worth fixing from the looks of it) and he will pay for my damages.

I'm not sure where I should go with this or what I should do.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks.

 

The police decides who's at fault, no-fault insurance means your own insurance pays for your own damages. If the minivan is 100% at fault, your insurance will still pay for your damages but will go after the minivan's insurance for reimbursement.

 

The police officer didn't write who is at fault; since he wasn't there to witness the accident; all he wrote was what happened:

Vehicle 1 was traveling eastbound and says vehicle 2 side-swiped vehicle 1.

Vehicle 2 was traveling eastbound and says vehicle 1 side-swiped vehicle 2.

Then there are diagrams of where damage occurred.

 

was anybody given a ticket? who crossed into the other lane?

 

if you done act quick on this, you are about to be out $1000 for something you didnt cause

 

You should of establish fault at the accident while the police is still on scene. People tends to have a change at heart after they realize that they don't want to pay. Since you failed to establish that you were not at fault, you may have to claim it to your own insurance, and they will attempt to settle with the other guy. I'd call the police officer and ask if he has any other notes. An officer doesn't have to witness an accident in order to assign fault, rarely do they ever witness an accident in person. They rely on various evidence to make a conclusion. Sounded like he didn't do a good enough job to interview and get statement as to what happened from both party, other than "he did it, he hit me, it's his fault".

That's why for any accident you're not at fault, you must establish and document this before leaving the scene. Once you leave the scene without establishing this, it's just your word against theirs.

 

The police officer was an a$$hole. He came to us, asked us for license, reg. and insurance. I had everything, but in my car had 2 insurance cards; the older one and my current one. In haste, I gave him the wrong insurance card (expired). He didn't ask me any questions; he took the paperwork back to his cruiser and sat in there. He came out about 10 minutes later and handed both of us tickets for having expired insurance. I told the cop that I must've given him the wrong card and I had valid insurance on me (which I showed him). He didn't care and said I need to mail it in now since the ticket had already been written. I then said that it would be have been the right thing to do to at least TELL me that I gave him an expired insurance card and he could've asked me if I had any other but he was just too ticket happy. He spent more time explaining the ticket than he did talking about the actual accident.

My friend who is in the NYPD also looked at the ticket and was able to tell from the cop's badge number that the cop was just a rookie.

 

WHICH ONE WERE YOU
VEHICLE 1 OR VEHICLE 2
CAUSE ALL THE INSURANCE COMPANY IS GONNA DO IS LOOK AT THE POLICE REPORT DIAGRAM AND POINT OF IMPACT AND DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSION SO IF THE POLICE REPORT FAVORS YOU THAN REPORT IT, BUT THATS JMO

 

The impact shows his front passenger side damaged and my rear driver side; to me that shows that he came into me.

 

V1 is usually the at fault or more at fault driver.

 

that sucks bro :\
do you have any pics.
buddy from the left turning lane is at fault.
i did experience something similar but no accident, where some guy just merged into my left straight lane and he also gave me the finger.

 

Dude, that is obvious to any cop with more than 3 days on that the other driver was at fault. You were in the straight lane and he merged from the left turn lane into your lane, correct? He probably decided that he didn't want to turn anymore and didn't see you in his blind spot, so he merged right. This is illegal, because once in the left turn lane with solid lines, you have to turn. Stupid cop. I would call the station if I were you, ask to speak with a supervisor and tell him/her that the first cop didn't take a complete report and you tried to tell him that the other driver was at fault. Hopefully the supervisor can add a supplement to the accident report.

 

I got a call from Geico Claims - the guy - after all the sh*t he talked, went and reported it to the insurance co. before me. I am going to go to the precinct and have them add more info to the report.

Hope no one else has to go through this hassle.

Never trust anyone.

 

sorry you had to learn it the hard way. You should cover your own rear by reporting this to your insurance company as well and they might be able to help you fight and report damages. You can give them an official recorded statement, and they will seek a statement from the other person as evidence and will compare that with the police report and form their own conclusion and settle it with the other party for you. Worse case, take it to small claims court but it should resolve before that. Doesn't take CSI to solve a simple fender bender.

 

so true, never trust anyone when you get into an accident... first thing you should've done is contacted your insurance. And obviously the other car was at fault if he hit your rear (unless you backed up into him...) rookie cop must've been looking for some commission for x-mas! you should def. file a complaint and look into getting some kind of supplement from the supervisors. Since it's going through insurance now, both insurance will do an investigation on both cars, don't think the police reports gona do much unless they specify the other parties fault~ GOOD LUCK!!