The other day, I was in the middle of a three car collision on the highway. The driver behind me crashed into me, causing my car to collide with the car in front of me (Tesla).
The driver was a teen with his permit and 3 older family members in the car. The Tesla was an uber driver with passengers.
The teen called his rich uncle who me and Tesla guy spoke to, begging us to not go through insurance since the teen only had his permit(didn’t have the permit on him) and wanted to protect him. He agreed to cover all the costs of repairs, rentals, damages. Against my better judgement, we both agreed.
Now, he insisted taking it to his preferred auto shop. This is where I started having regrets. I initially agreed, but later said I changed my mind to take it to my auto shop, to which he asked to not make it complicated. After talking to the mechanic and verifying it as an actually shop, I agreed.
I’ve only asked him 2 things- to cover the costs of rental, uber, and damages to my car and a written statement accepting responsibility of costs and that he will follow through. He is refusing to write the statement… saying that he will pay. I called him again and now he is saying his nephew says it’s my fault and that his mechanic also said the same thing since my car took most of the damages…
Idk how it got to the point where he is making me feel like IM the inconvenience for getting a mrental in the city that is costly.
As long as he pays, should I even fight him on this?
Cause now I feel like I’m being gaslit and thinking was it my fault? When I for sure saw the teen from my rear view mirror noticing I was slowing down/breaking to late and him pressing on the gas to break.
Now this is more stressful than going through insurance. Any advice/insight?
3 party collision going around insurance
byu/Agile-Echidna-4852 inInsurance
Posted by Agile-Echidna-4852
10 Comments
100% go through his insurance. That teen learned a valuable lesson. You have zero legal obligation to go through with the agreement with the uncle.
Always go through insurance. Never trust the other party’s word that they will make it right. 9/10 times it goes like this. File a claim asap
Just stop responding to him and go through insurance.
Go get your car out of the shop and go through your insurance. Do you have the Tesla information ? See if you can get video footage of the accident. The teen driver and his mechanic obviously working together against your best interest. You gave them a chance to do the right thing and being taken advantage of. No more being nice and fair to these idiots.
Your options:
1. Keep trying to work with this uncle. He’s clearly trying to bully you on this, to get you to accept his terms. The fact that his nephew says you’re at fault is irrelevant. His body shop wasn’t even there….their opinion on fault is irrelevant. And they’re both wrong. But…..if you want to keep settling out of pocket, you keep negotiating with him.
2. You realize that since his nephew is at fault, he’s not driving the ship here. You file a third party claim against his car insurance, and go through insurance.
3. You stop dealing with all of their bullshit and you use your collision coverage (if you have it). They’ll take care of your car. They’ll fight it out with the uncle’s insurance for repayment.
My opinion? Option 1 is the most foolish and pain-in-the-ass way to handle this. There’s pros and cons to options 2 and 3. I’d 100% go through insurance. I’d probably use my own insurance since this is a multi car accident. You’ll have to wait for all of the damages/claims to come in from your car and the Tesla before you get paid if you use his insurance.
So many fraud warnings here. File it now on his insurance if you have the info.
The most complicated thing you can do is NOT go through insurance. Hopefully lesson learned.
However, if the guy is paying for the Tesla as well, you’re getting off pretty easy as that would be your responsibility (generally speaking, laws may vary state to state).
If you have collision coverage on your policy use it. Let your insurance deal with him. The at fault maybe have low policy limits and will have to pay for your vehicle and the Tesla. If they have state minimum limits the amount could be over the limit and you might not get your full amount back.
This is exactly why professionals in the industry like myself very very rarely recommend doing anything but going thru insurance.
Last year a neighbor backed out of his driveway and smashed into my car on the street. He asked if he could just give me some cash and not go through insurance. I said no, and called the police to file a report and immediately called insurance. In response to this he was pacing around his yard screaming and swearing.
Between repairs and rental car, the total cost was over 10k. Thinking back, would the guy have ever given me 10k to cover the cost of everything? Of course not. Never agree to settle outside of official channels. There is nothing in it for you, only risk. And the risk is high