Daughter had minor fender bender.

[Jnbmom]

DD had a little accident this morning, she is ok just shaken up a bit. She drives my old 2004 Buick Lesabre. She was at a light and it turned green, the car in front of hers started to somewhat go but didn't really move to much, she of course accelerated and hit the back of his 1999 Honda Accord. She was going about 10-15 miles she believes when she hit back of his car, totally her fault of course, but this other driver was a complete a$$. This happened in the right hand lane, my daughter motioned to him to pull into the parking lot right next to them to get out of traffic, he refused saying he wasn't moving until the cops came and said he refused to speak to her. Traffic was getting so backed up my daughter safely pulled next to him and said please sir I am pulling into this parking if you could just follow me we can exchange information and wait for police.

He finally did then got out of his car starting yelling at her which only got her more upset. Said he was surpised his car even started. what she hit your bumper?? Stated his car radio flew out of the console Huh? and then got out of his car and said look at all this damage. My daughter took pictures, they was ONE small dent on the trunk top part of his car, my buick sits super low so I know it hit the bumper but I doubt if dented the trunk, also said his neck hurt and he wasn't sure the car would make it back to North Carolina with all that damage?? Plus I foundit  funny he started spraying the inside of his car with febrezze before cops showed up, but she never told me this on the phone or I would have had her tell cops, but that's a mute point now, just found odd.

Anyhow the police showed up the man mentions nothing of his radio that apparently flew out or his "sore neck", states his bumper came off but he snapped in back in place and showed the small dent on his trunk.  I read police report said daughter hit back of car very minimal damage to other car, our car was fine. He didn't give her a ticket either.

We called progressive and told them of accident and he apparently has progressive too, I just hope he is not going to try anything he just seems like a real jerk.  

I know it's my daughters fault and she knows that I just don't want this guy trying to pull a fast one, or atleast try to.

Just wondering your thoughts, experience?

Thanks

[UncleB]

As long as you have insurance, let them deal with it - completely.

I've had one at-fault fender bender with details almost exactly like your daughters, and when I called my State Farm agent and told her what happened she told me not to worry about anything that this is what they are for (and she was right).

In my case there was no observable damage to either vehicle but the other car had a small dent in the trunk (with rust!) so they got a new trunk lid and I got a premium bump for a while.    I objected to this with the State Farm claims rep, but they said it wasn't worth it to them to fight it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm sorry the other driver was such a jerk with your daughter; there's never an excuse for that.  Please advise her that if anything similar happens again to make sure where she stops has plenty of people, and if the other party seems abusive (regardless of fault) to stay in her locked car and keep 911 on the phone until the cops arrive.

TL;DR:  Don't worry about anything; let Progressive deal with it.

[Jnbmom]

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@UncleB wrote:

As long as you have insurance, let them deal with it - completely.

I've had one at-fault fender bender with details almost exactly like your daughters, and when I called my State Farm agent and told her what happened she told me not to worry about anything that this is what they are for (and she was right).

In my case there was no observable damage to either vehicle but the other car had a small dent in the trunk (with rust!) so they got a new trunk lid and I got a premium bump for a while.    I objected to this with the State Farm claims rep, but they said it wasn't worth it to them to fight it.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm sorry the other driver was such a jerk with your daughter; there's never an excuse for that.  Please advise her that if anything similar happens again to make sure where she stops has plenty of people, and if the other party seems abusve (regardless of fault) to stay in her locked car and keep 911 on the phone until the cops arrive.

TL;DR:  Don't worry about anything; let Progressive deal with it.

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Thank you, I just worry about her, he was just awful to her and even though she was visibly upset she knew to move the cars safely to the adjacent parking lot.

But I will let them deal, they did tell me not to worry that's why we have insurance, of course not looking forward to the policy hike, but it is what it is.

[UncleB]

Yeah, for me the hike was the worst part, but it wasn't too extreme.  My agent arranged it so that only the policy on that one vehicle got the 'bump', and when I got rid of it a year or so later the rate hike went with it.  I don't know if that was an oversight or my agent being awesome, but in either case I was pleased.

I don't know how Progressive works, but with State Farm they have a cut-off (it used to be around $800) where if you're under the amount they don't 'count' it, but once you pass the amount it doesn't matter by how much it's all the same (in other words, a $1k repair 'counts' the same against you as a $10k repair).  This made me feel somewhat better about State Farm replacing the guy's trunk lid, which was several thousand dollars.

Tell you daughter that she has nothing to be concerned about with the other driver... she'll never see or hear from him again.  If by some chance you do get something, just forward it to Progressive and they'll deal with it.

[Jnbmom]

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@UncleB wrote:

Yeah, for me the hike was the worst part, but it wasn't too extreme.  My agent arranged it so that only the policy on that one vehicle got the 'bump', and when I got rid of it a year or so later the rate hike went with it.  I don't know if that was an oversight or my agent being awesome, but in either case I was pleased.

I don't know how Progressive works, but with State Farm they have a cut-off (it used to be around $800) where if you're under the amount they don't 'count' it, but once you pass the amount it doesn't matter by how much it's all the same (in other words, a $1k repair 'counts' the same against you as a $10k repair).  This made me feel somewhat better about State Farm replacing the guy's trunk lid, which was several thousand dollars.

Tell you daughter that she has nothing to be concerned about with the other driver... she'll never see or hear from him again.  If by some chance you do get something, just forward it to Progressive and they'll deal with it.

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Thank you I appreciate your responses

[iced]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

DD had a little accident this morning, she is ok just shaken up a bit. She drives my old 2004 Buick Lesabre. She was at a light and it turned green, the car in front of hers started to somewhat go but didn't really move to much, she of course accelerated and hit the back of his 1999 Honda Accord. She was going about 10-15 miles she believes when she hit back of his car, totally her fault of course, but this other driver was a complete a$$. This happened in the right hand lane, my daughter motioned to him to pull into the parking lot right next to them to get out of traffic, he refused saying he wasn't moving until the cops came and said he refused to speak to her. Traffic was getting so backed up my daughter safely pulled next to him and said please sir I am pulling into this parking if you could just follow me we can exchange information and wait for police.

He finally did then got out of his car starting yelling at her which only got her more upset. Said he was surpised his car even started. what she hit your bumper?? Stated his car radio flew out of the console Huh? and then got out of his car and said look at all this damage. My daughter took pictures, they was ONE small dent on the trunk top part of his car, my buick sits super low so I know it hit the bumper but I doubt if dented the trunk, also said his neck hurt and he wasn't sure the car would make it back to North Carolina with all that damage?? Plus I foundit  funny he started spraying the inside of his car with febrezze before cops showed up, but she never told me this on the phone or I would have had her tell cops, but that's a mute point now, just found odd.

Anyhow the police showed up the man mentions nothing of his radio that apparently flew out or his "sore neck", states his bumper came off but he snapped in back in place and showed the small dent on his trunk.  I read police report said daughter hit back of car very minimal damage to other car, our car was fine. He didn't give her a ticket either.

We called progressive and told them of accident and he apparently has progressive too, I just hope he is not going to try anything he just seems like a real jerk.  

I know it's my daughters fault and she knows that I just don't want this guy trying to pull a fast one, or atleast try to.

Just wondering your thoughts, experience?

Thanks

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I've been involved in two in the last 8 months (one as a bystander). Things I have observed from them:

1. In both cases, the police made it clear that the drivers do not talk to each other. Do not engage. Do not move your car. Suburban areas don't get that congested and urban ones should already be used to it. If I had a dollar every time some douchenozzle double parked for his Dunkies, Starbucks, Amazon delivery, booze, or pizza, or the Uber/Lyft drivers stopping in the middle of the road because their fare just can't be bothered to walk 20 feet without leaving a negative rating, I'd have a lot more dollars. Anyway...the police will call in backup and put one driver on one corner of the intersection and the other driver on the opposite and/or a nearby parking lot. As an observer to many accidents (the intersection outside our door has 1-2 accidents/month), I can say it's for good reason - a lot of people are weak with handling emotions and things build quickly. Accusations fly. Stories change. People get shot or stabbed. In this case, I'm siding with the other driver in that the best thing to do is say nothing at all until the police arrive and give your version of events to them. They'll take the stories and sort it out. His other actions were silly, unnecessary, and possibly self-detrimental - we'll never know.

2. Injuries aren't always immediate. When in doubt, or if you have a special circumstance (pregnant, recent surgery, etc) get checked out anyway. If someone is injured, let the police and insurance determine damages, not the drivers. See number 1 about emotions above.

3. Suspicious activities like spraying febreeze is something for the police to sort out (see number 1 again). Ad Hominem is not a strategy to get out of fault in an accident, and once the police arrive they can figure out if there's unrelated charges that need to be filed for something like drug/alcohol possession.

In the first accident I dealt with, my pregnant wife collided with someone who turned left at an intersection in front of her. They tried to berate her into being at fault, and she was upset - mainly because she was worried about miscarriage. Since it was right outside our steps, she called me before the police arrived and I showed up. I dealt with handing out insurance information and talking to the police while wife called the hospital. The other driver was accusatory and confrontational; I was robotic in just answering questions as I knew them (and a lot were "I wasn't at the scene at the time, so I don't know"). I did point out the nearby cameras and stoplight timing to the police and we were wrapped up in 15 minutes or so. Report came back later we were not at fault and the other driver was cited, based on the cameras/light timings. All of their irateness and accusatory speech was for nothing. Report was sent to insurance and they handled everything.

My second accident was even more cut and dry. Someone also turned left in front of me, this time they ran a stop sign to do it. I never said a single word to the other driver. Never saw her license or got her plate number. Police arrived, I state I was driving straight and they were turning at the stop, and that was it. I was found not at fault and the other driver cited and the report was sent to insurance to handle everything (again).

[pinkandgrey]

People are so rude. Sometimes I’m still naive enough to think that people aren’t really THAT bad, but they indeed are.

Sorry this happened to her! Just one of those things, I guess.

I appreciate that you accept that your daughter was at fault. That sounds mean, but a lot of parents would bend heaven and earth to deny that their perfect kids were capable of such things. 

I’ve been in two fender-benders in my whole life and both times it was someone backing into me in a parking lot lol. The first time, the people refused to wait for the police and then of course did NOT have insurance. Yay! (They didn’t get in trouble for being uninsured, either, which really ticked me off. Mini-rant over!) The second time the lady hit me and just drove away. I have bad luck with the people that hit me lol. 

ANYWAY. Moral of the story is that it happens to everybody and insurance will take care of it. The premium increase is a pain, but hopefully it won’t be too bad. Good luck!

[CreditInspired]

So sorry to hear of this unfortunate accident.

The same kind of thing happened to me several years ago and it was my fault. The light turned green and I hit my gas pedal before the driver in front of me did and of course I ran into him. There was no damage to my car and literally a 12" scratch on his bumper so I took a picture. I didn't care how much traffice was behind me, I wasn't moving until the police arrived. Once vehicles are not in the same position as they were when the accident occurred, anyone could say anything happened. He wanted my insurance and I refused to give it to him because I felt the scratch wasn't even worth fixinig. He swore up and down I probably didn't have insurance since I didn't want to give it to him. I said we can wait until the police arrive. So when the police arrived, come to find out, like you, we had the same insurance but ours was USAA. So the police did not ticket me, and told both of us to call our own insurance company and report the accident (this may happen only in VA). I was not to call and provide his policy number to USAA and he wasn't to call and provide my policy number to USAA. Just provide the police report. Everything worked out just fine. You and your daughter will be okay. 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like he is trying to exagerate to get more money from your insurance company. Just keep your story straight and hope that they don't believe this guy!

[GApeachy]

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@Jnbmom wrote:

he just seems like a real jerk.  (Well, he is...no need yelling or fussing at your daughter)

I know it's my daughters fault and she knows that I just don't want this guy trying to pull a fast one, or atleast try to. (He might but Progressive should handle it..might be a good thing they are both ins. with them.)

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OP, glad your daughter is okay.  I once rear-ended a car causing them to rear-end the car in front of them, an SUV.  I pulled over, the lady I hit pulled over, the SUV ran the light, hauled butt.  Anyway, no harm done...we just laughed about the dude that fled and probably why.  The next day while waiting in line to pick up our kids, the same woman the day before that I hit....well, she hit me.  Gotta laugh.  Some people just take fender benders so personally, dang....that's what Ins. is for "oopsie daisies" and serious collisions. 

I think your daughter was smart pulling out of traffic, we have signs everywhere telling us to pull out of the way if no injuries involved...it's a safety precaution. 

So anyway, hope she learned a valuable lesson like I did.........stay far back, be sure everyone is moving, no brake jammers ahead and hopefully that's good enough.  ( Boy oh boy, if my dh would have been there, that guys neck would Really be hurting if he talked to me or my kids like that! ...bet he was a calm-sweetheart of a guy when the cop showed up. )