Car accident questions?

[tangomoon]

Most questions resolved after spending the morning on the phone.

 

You know how something like that shakes you up incredibly and you can't even think straight? Yeah, that was this morning, for both hubby and I. Off to have the delayed breakdown now . . . ...

Edited December 10, 2010 by tangomoon
situation resolved

[Mabelen]

I am sorry I really can't help you with the questions myself. Just wanted to give you a big :grouphug: and give your post a bit of a bump so that somebody else can answer those questions.

[Mom2J112903]

What brands were the car seats? This is important because there are two companies that follow different rules for replacement.

 

I would first see how much the repairs will cost *then* call the insurance company. I know not a lot of people would do that, but I have been in that situation, well I should say DH was. A deer hit us, yes, she jumped into us off a hill, and at first we thought we would not be contacting the insurance company. Like your DH's accident, it was dark, there didn't seem to be a lot of damage, less than our deductible. Well, DH worked at a Dealership and was able to get the guys to look at it and get it over to the body shop the very next day. We had $3K in damage! Our insurance rates did not go up, we had to pay our deductible, but that was it.

[i.love.lucy]

Even if your insurance declares the care "totaled" you can still drive it, you just have only collision on it. My MILs car was totaled during a huge hail storm last year. But we still wanted to drive the vehicle. So State Farm called it totaled and we kept driving it just fine. And now that we just sold it this week I found out the title wasn't flagged or anything. It was just a lesser insurance. But that car was worth more to us as a driver than it was to total it I guess.

 

And no, with the kind of accident it was, a slide off an icy road, I would not feel the need to replace the car seats. If no one was in them and it wasn't a collision, why would you need to.

 

I bet there is just minor body damage. You do need to let your insurance know, but you are not obligated to make the repairs. It lessens the value of the vehicle of course, but you don't have to fix it. Do you still have a lien on it? If so, your hand might be forced to fix the damage because they want to protect their investment, but otherwise you should be able to do or not do what you want.

[Mom2J112903]

And no, with the kind of accident it was, a slide off an icy road, I would not feel the need to replace the car seats. If no one was in them and it wasn't a collision, why would you need to.

 

 

Stress was still placed on the seats and the majority of companies state to replace after *any* accident simply because of the stress placed on the seat and stress fractures can not always be seen. It is better to replace them and have safe seats than to have a child in a crashed seat which will not preform at 100% if they would be involved in another accident.

 

OP-how old/heavy and what are your children's torso heights? Torso height is measured from the bottom to the top of shoulder when sitting againist a wall. There are some very good and in-expensive seats, provided that your children are not too heavy/too tall for them. The Cosco Scenera can be found for under $50 usually, has top harness slots of 15" and rear faces to 40lbs, also foward faces to 40lbs. The Evenflo Maestro can usually be found for under $80, has 18" top harness slots and a 50lb weight limit. If you have children whom are 4yrs AND 40lbs AND can use a booster properly 100% of the time, the Graco Turbo Booster is an excellent choice which too can be found for usually under $60.

[Parrothead]

A lot of it is going to depend on your state. Someone owns the fence. Was the owner of the fence notified? This is property damage. If that fence keeps livestock from roaming the icy country road your dh may be liable for any accident that occurs due to, say, cow vs. vehicle.

 

In some states leaving the scene of an accident is a chargeable offense. Especially with property damage. Again, someone owns the fence.

 

Your insurance company does not need to be involved. You have the option to fix your own vehicle and pay for repairs to the fence, if any, out of pocket. You need to talk to the owner of the fence to see about damages. As far as you know, the fence owner could have called and filed a report about damaged property.

 

The paperwork that came with your car seats should tell you what to do in the event of an accident.

 

I hate to say it and I hope it doesn't come across as mean or anything, but you really need to read up on your responsibilities as a vehicle owner. You need to speak to your insurance agent and find out what it means to have vehicle insurance and what the insurance is for and what it covers. You need to know your state laws about being a responsible driver. You need to know what you are expected to do in the event of an accident.

 

Depending on where you live any number of laws could have been broken. Your dh can be looking at jail time or very high fines.

[QueenCat]

 

In some states leaving the scene of an accident is a chargeable offense. Especially with property damage. Again, someone owns the fence.

 

 

 

My son was the victim of a hit and run driver a couple of years ago. He drove the car home, and called the police from our house. He was given a warning for leaving the scene. The state patrol officer said he should have called from the scene, and he was being nice by not charging him for leaving the scene.