Sonshine Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 A car hit my car. The driver showed me his insurance card. I contacted the insurance co. Now his insurance co. says he denies he was in that part of town that day. I looked up his address which I got off the insurance card and he lives very close to where he was when he hit me. I do have a picture of his license plate. I asked my 14 year old to take pictures with her cell phone and she didn't know to take pictures of him and his truck. His truck had only a little damage, but the insurance co. is going to inspect his truck. Hopefully they will see the damage. I didn't call the police because I live in a huge city and the police are very inattentive, to put it politely. He gave me his cell # - it's probably fake but is there a way to look it up? The way we were hit, I couldn't have caused the accident. I appreciate any suggestions or info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 A car hit my car. The driver showed me his insurance card. I contacted the insurance co. Now his insurance co. says he denies he was in that part of town that day. I looked up his address which I got off the insurance card and he lives very close to where he was when he hit me. I do have a picture of his license plate. I asked my 14 year old to take pictures with her cell phone and she didn't know to take pictures of him and his truck. His truck had only a little damage, but the insurance co. is going to inspect his truck. Hopefully they will see the damage. I didn't call the police because I live in a huge city and the police are very inattentive, to put it politely. He gave me his cell # - it's probably fake but is there a way to look it up? The way we were hit, I couldn't have caused the accident. I appreciate any suggestions or info. If your daughter has a pic of the license plate, I would forward any and all information, name he gave you - cell phone #, valid or not - anything he said in the course of the conversation, to your own insurance co. You are paying them to resolve this for you. They should have a vested interest in straightening this out for you because if the other insurance wants to play games, your insurance will have to cover your car since that is what you paying them for - at least this is how it worked for us several years ago. We were broadsided, the driver carried off in an ambulance, however police was present and took a report and even with all of that her insurance company wanted to drag out the investigation. Our insurance company dispatched a company attorney and things started to move a little faster. Lots of hassle. Don't get a headache over this! It's not worth it. I fretted my hair into knots, we were young then and had no extra money to pay the deductible even if our own insurance would have covered it eventually. Also we needed a rental car and in the end they reimbursed for this as well. I should mention this all happened in CA. Don't know if there are significant differences from state to state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 Thanks -we are in Texas. Dh doesn't want to call our insurance co. in case this gets resolved by the other guy's co. - your rates can go up even if the accident isn't your fault. Does anyone know if they will know about it anyway and our rates will go up anyway? Like is there a national insurance data base for car insurance that everthing is reported to? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto5blessings Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 it is already in the data-base, and all auto-insurers use this. Sorry.:grouphug: (Used to be an assistant to an underwriter, and this has been the case for many years.) Pamela Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 Thanks for the info. So we might as well call our insurance co. After he lied, his insurance co. kept asking me what he looked like and if he has any facial hair. All I could give them was a very general description. I didn't clue in at the time, but maybe they were trying to trip me up so they could say that wasn't him? The co. he has insurance with is Liberty Mutual. Does anyone know about them from the other driver in an accident's perspective? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 How does his insurance company think you got his insurance information? To me, this is silly. He took responsibility and now is backing out. Nuts. Of course, the insurance company just doesn't want to pay. They are hoping they'll make it a pain in your rear and you'll just forget about it. And yes, every type of insurance is in a data-base. Sometimes I wish I could get THAT record for my health stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Definitely contact your insurance company. They will work for you and you won't have to mess with this. That's what they are there for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Were there any other witnesses? Without a police report, I'm thinking it's going to come down to his word against yours - esp if there's little damage to his truck - or if he's already fixed that. I'd be looking for witnesses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticamethyst Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Thanks for the info. So we might as well call our insurance co. After he lied, his insurance co. kept asking me what he looked like and if he has any facial hair. All I could give them was a very general description. I didn't clue in at the time, but maybe they were trying to trip me up so they could say that wasn't him? The co. he has insurance with is Liberty Mutual. Does anyone know about them from the other driver in an accident's perspective? Are you dealing with a small office or the main branch. Liberty Mutual is a fairly big company and I dont' think they would like an individual asking what the person looked like, that sounds like the "good ole boy" network protecting one of their friends. If you have a picture of his plate I would do as others have said, send it off your your company that is what you pay them for. If the damage is less than your deductible, then I would suggest small claims court but that will take a half of a lifetime. I'm sorry you are going through this it really stinks. Good luck :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 IF the insurance company won't work with you, sue him in small claims court. With his license plate and photos of your car, plus photos of the intersection or area, you have a fairly good chance of winning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journey Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I work for a large insurance company and if you report the claim then it will reflect on your ''record". What will probably happen is that when you report the claim TO HIS COMPANY...they will take the info and then call him and you to get each side of the story. Remember, these people do this all day long and they know who did what. Let his company take care of it. You could call the 800 number for your company, and not give any of your information and just ask them what you should do but as soon as you give your name, it's already in their computer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 When I was in an accident last year and had MAJOR difficulty with the other party's insurance, we did contact our insurance company. They said that if they became involved, it would reflect in our rates. We finally had to contact an attorney in order to get things resolved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebug42 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Without a police report, it will come down to his word versus yours. I used to work at a body shop and dealing with insurance companies there, I will ALWAYS file police reports because the insurance companies we dealt with would do everything possible to get out of paying the damage if there was no police report present. You probably need to contact an attorney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Thanks - I am supposed to take my car in tomorrow to be inspected by their choice of body shop. If they don't admit fault in a few more days, then I will contact our company. I will also get an estimate from our choice of body shop. I was gone all day today, but will file a police report tomorrow. Everyone's comments are helpful. If anyone has any more insight or inside info. on how these things work, I appreciate it. The only witnesses are my three daughters and myself. These kinds of things are not unusual in my part of the country. I guess he threw me off by acting very nice and not hesitating to show me his insurance card. I am curious if there is a charge for him lying about this- insurance fraud or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 i would call your insurance company. It doesn't matter whether he was driving, his brother, or his neighbor. The insurance is for the vehicle not the driver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 He's saying neither he nor his car were in that part of town that day. Funny, how he lives less than 1 mile from the accident and wasn't in that part of town that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConnieB Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 A car hit my car. The driver showed me his insurance card. I contacted the insurance co. Now his insurance co. says he denies he was in that part of town that day. I looked up his address which I got off the insurance card and he lives very close to where he was when he hit me. I do have a picture of his license plate. I asked my 14 year old to take pictures with her cell phone and she didn't know to take pictures of him and his truck. His truck had only a little damage, but the insurance co. is going to inspect his truck. Hopefully they will see the damage. I didn't call the police because I live in a huge city and the police are very inattentive, to put it politely. He gave me his cell # - it's probably fake but is there a way to look it up? The way we were hit, I couldn't have caused the accident. I appreciate any suggestions or info. I would call the police now....what he's doing is fraud. The police (and your insurance company) should be able to compare any damage to his vehicle with the damage on your vehicle and forensically determine if the two vehicles touched. He can then be charged with fraud, which is a lot more serious than having his insurance rates go up for causing an accident. You have evidence that you could not have obtained without having been with him, including his insurance number....that's not something that can be obtained other than him handing it to you. I'd also contact an attorney to send him a well worded letter detailing the seriousness of his fraudulent behavior....hopefully he'll save everyone the hassle and come clean, otherwise his costs will be quite high because fraud also means that he'll have to pay ALL reasonable attorney fees, investigative costs, court fees, and on and on. Courts don't tolerate fraud well. Of course, neither do insurance companies and he'd like lose his insurance on top of everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photo Ninja Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Since he is lying, you should get your insurance co involved. And ask his insurance company why he wasn't in that part of town since he lives there. It would be interesting to hear what they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 He hit you. If from behind, he "loses" automatically, no matter how much he wriggles, since you are in Texas. Call your own insurance company anyway. They are the people who will exact the payment from the other guy's company for damage to your vehicle. You don't have any leverage against them without your company part of the action. How much it affects your own insurance varies with the company, and varies with the type of claim. Sometimes the effect is nearly negligible. You might be pleasantly surprised. Using their choice of body shop ? I haven't dealt with this in a while, but I wouldn't do so without your own company's claims agent first inspecting your vehicle. Otherwise, you may have thrown away any chance of support. Best wishes ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Thanks - I just mean having my body shop inspect the damage and giving us an estimate. If you think we need to have our insurance co. inspect the car before this, please clarify. I so appreciate the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 (edited) Thanks - I just mean having my body shop inspect the damage and giving us an estimate. If you think we need to have our insurance co. inspect the car before this, please clarify. I so appreciate the help. I must have misread your words. (Sorry !) I thought you wrote that the other driver's insurance company directed you toward a body shop of its own choosing. That would, of course, subject you to an estimate biased in favor of the other company. . . . Basically, I'm suggesting not to do anything further until you discuss the situation completely with your own insurance company. I would not feel any trust in the other company, especially since they appear to be representing a dishonest individual. I pretty much "follow the system", when auto "incidents" are involved. Occasionally, we have "done nothing", when the case is of both drivers mutually agreeing just to let things drop without further action. Texas has had a lot of auto insurance fraudulent claims since we moved here fifteen years ago. In Dallas-area, there would be spurts of accidents "staged" on city highways just to gain money from innocent drivers. P.S. On the other hand, "Journey" reports that s/he works for an insurance company. If s/he is in Texas, his/her advice may be best. Edited March 11, 2010 by Orthodox6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have an appt. with their body shop tomorrow and then was going to take it my body shop. Why is it that I shouldn't take it to their body shop without my co. involved? In case they try something tricky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Sherry Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Don't forget, legally you need to make an accident report to the Motor Vehicles Division.I know that in some states,over a set dollar amount in damage, if you fail to report an accident you will automatically lose your drivers license. I really think you should report this to your insurance company and let them handle it, especially since he is not co-operating. Get everything reported legally and documented with the insurance companies, because if he is lying now ( but maybe someone else was driving his vehicle, but still needs to be reported of course ) there is no telling what the story may become later. A car hit my car. The driver showed me his insurance card. I contacted the insurance co. Now his insurance co. says he denies he was in that part of town that day. I looked up his address which I got off the insurance card and he lives very close to where he was when he hit me. I do have a picture of his license plate. I asked my 14 year old to take pictures with her cell phone and she didn't know to take pictures of him and his truck. His truck had only a little damage, but the insurance co. is going to inspect his truck. Hopefully they will see the damage. I didn't call the police because I live in a huge city and the police are very inattentive, to put it politely. He gave me his cell # - it's probably fake but is there a way to look it up? The way we were hit, I couldn't have caused the accident. I appreciate any suggestions or info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Not all insurance companies raise rates for what would be a 'no fault' accident should you have to pay for the damage. In Texas State Farm did not raise our rates when our van was hit in a parking lot (I was inside at the time). They paid to fix it minus our ded. for no fault collisions and our rates never went up. I just hope his car gets looked at before he gets it fixed or you may be out of luck. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 You need to file a police report and give them the evidence (ie, the plate photo). You can mention his address and that he's lying to his insurance company, and they'll track down the details on their own and determine his claim to be fraudulent. The insurance companies can NOT argue with the police, and it sounds like right now, since his company doesn't want to pay, they're making it into a case of your word vs. his. They will do their best NOT to pay out, and the only way to force the issue is to file a police report. It's really quite standard. I used to work in insurance (albeit in Canada, so it may be slightly different), and about 95% of claims were accompanied by police reports. If they weren't, we recommended the person get one, in case the other person in the accident decided to change their story. It's easy, they'll do the legwork for you, and the insurance companies can't argue with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 I will file a police report tomorrow, but I doubt the police will do a thing other than take the report. I've been in a car with young children and hit by a drunk driver in an accident witnessed by a postal worker who told the police he knew where the man lived and had seen him drive dangerously on frequent occasions. Nothing was done other than for the police to look in my car to make sure I had car seats for the children (sweet how the innocent get persecuted - well I had car seats so I wasn't persecuted but you know what I mean). Life in the big city. But at least the police report will be on record.Thank you for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I'm sorry I can't help you with this. I pray for a good outcome for you! I read once to carry a disposable camera in your glove box and take pictures right away at an accident. I did do this and it came in handy once when a guy sideswiped me because he hadn't cleaned the snow off his side window at all, and I was able to take a picture of the uncleaned window and show that he was at fault. I know it won't help you in this case, but maybe it will help someone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonshine Posted March 11, 2010 Author Share Posted March 11, 2010 Yea - shoulda coulda woulda - I don't think well on my feet. I actually had the same thing happen a few years ago and proved the guy a liar with great pictures I took - I just forgot this time. Well, I didn't forget - I had my daughter take pictures, but didn't ask her explicitly what she took pictures of. She was in a hurry to go shopping and also didn't know any better. I envy you people who live someplace where the police have time to help in these situations. But it could be worse - I just read a story of a man pardoned for a rape (proved innocent, another man caught somehow) by Gov. Perry - 10 years after he died in prison. The most I'm out for this lie is some money, not years of my life or my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Yea - shoulda coulda woulda - I don't think well on my feet. I actually had the same thing happen a few years ago and proved the guy a liar with great pictures I took - I just forgot this time. Well, I didn't forget - I had my daughter take pictures, but didn't ask her explicitly what she took pictures of. She was in a hurry to go shopping and also didn't know any better. I envy you people who live someplace where the police have time to help in these situations. But it could be worse - I just read a story of a man pardoned for a rape (proved innocent, another man caught somehow) by Gov. Perry - 10 years after he died in prison. The most I'm out for this lie is some money, not years of my life or my life. I'm sorry about your car. What do you mean that the police didn't have time to help? Did they come and not write a report? Did you call and they said that they wouldn't help? The police here don't always want to write the reports for fender benders but they do write them, although never correctly. I had one corrected three times before they got it right. They didn't want to write it when I had a minor accident but they had to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 In Dallas, the police normally don't bother with a motor accident unless there is personal injury involved. There are so many accidents, of all severity levels, they ignore the minor ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMA Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 In Dallas, the police normally don't bother with a motor accident unless there is personal injury involved. There are so many accidents, of all severity levels, they ignore the minor ones. So what do you do if you need a police report for the insurance company? My insurance company will not pay on a claim (either your own or someone you hit), no matter how small, unless there is a police report because of fraud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wulfbourne Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 We've had issues before with accidents. The people who are at fault and their insurance companies NEVER want to admit fault. We had one accident where the guy rear ended my husband pretty badly. A stroller had fallen in the middle of the road some time before and traffic was diverting around it well (and had been for some time), but the guy wasn't paying attention to the traffic diverting and rear ended my husband at high speed. In MD the person who rear ends you is automatically at fault, but his insurance company (he was in a rental car so it was rental insurance) fought long enough and hard enough that our insurance company gave up. We were out the deductible, but our insurance didn't reflect any fault on our part. There was a cop there but he refused to write up a report. Because of the experience we've decided that next time we'll insist one is taken for insurance purposes. The other accident a guy completely ran a red light and hit our car as we were turning left across an intersection. He flipped his car, there were 3 witnesses who stayed around and gave us their info, there was a police report filed and he was issued tickets for his driving. Until his insurance company heard from all 3 witnesses AND had an official copy of the police report (which took about a week) they were harassing us trying to say we ran our red light, that his light was just yellow, and anything else they could come up with. Eventually they were forced to pay out, but even with all that proof they STILL tried to fight it. I love our insurance. Whenever we get into an accident we call our insurance first thing and they help us fight the other guys insurance. They'll even pay up front (with us paying the deductible) so we can get things done quickly while they fight the other insurance. If they win we get the deductible reimbursed to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenAL Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here. I would contact your ins. co, but I wouldn't put 100% trust in them either. I say this b/c last year, a woman hit my dh's car in a parking lot (dh was not in the car). She was honest even though she could have driven away without notice & called the police to file a report. DH found a policeman's card on his windshield. He called OUR ins co to find out what we needed to do (after all, we thought that's what we pay them for...) We were told that they would request a copy of the police report & get back with us. Well, the next thing we know they are trying to make us pay a deductible. They never requested the police report. They "assumed" there wasn't one "b/c most parking lot accidents are hit & run type". DH specifically told them about the policeman's card he found & gave them all the info on the card! They just didn't want to deal with it. The excuse they gave was that they wanted to get us back on the road asap. So, we handled it ourselves. We got the police report, called the lady's ins co that was listed on the report & things were handled in a matter of days with full payment. We switched ins companies that day! Another incident happened with our previous in co (the one we dropped). We received a letter that my Dh's car had been reported to have been involved in a hit & run in Nashville...1.5 hrs away from where we live. Long story short, our ins co wanted to allow it to be reviewed by their legal team instead of investigating it a bit. I investigated & discovered that when the ins co that was persuing us typed in the license plate to get a name & address they transposed 2 numbers. Should have been easy to catch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 So what do you do if you need a police report for the insurance company? My insurance company will not pay on a claim (either your own or someone you hit), no matter how small, unless there is a police report because of fraud. We use the overpriced State Farm company. The last time that DH was in an accident, it was his fault. There was no police report, that I know of, and the companies handled the episode according to whatever are their norms. Maybe there was one. ? ? ? I would not rule out that there just may be no consistency in how insurance companies and/or local police departments handle such matters. Perhaps the insurance company reasoned that only an idiot would report being at fault for an accident if he was not ! Regarding your question, though, I just don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Don't know if this has been mentioned but was the accident in an intersection that is being video taped? Maybe your insurance company can obtain footage and see the whole accident on tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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