Hi. I just bought a 21 blazer 19 days ago. My first purchase, first insurance, all the above.
I was rear ended today in a school pick up line. Got out and noticed marks on my bumper paint. Man (Walter) immediately says “sorry. Foot slipped off the brake. That will all come out with a car wash.” I say “it’s not wiping off. Paint is chipped.”
I take a pic of his ID, and the insurance card. Names don’t match. He says he just sold the truck to his nephew bc he got cancer and got laid off.
I say okay and pull to the side to call police. He tries to talk me out of. He says “this is a could hundred worth of damage. I will pay everything, let’s not go through insurance.” I say okay and think about.
I call police. He’s annoyed.
Cop comes and he says “I’ll get it fixed June 1st when my social security hits”
Cop asks if I agree. I say yes, but want to make sure all of this is documented. Cop gets his tag #. I have his license and insurance. He gets in the truck to leave.
I ask cop if he is sure I’m making a good decision and that this will be documented. He says yes. I have everything to resend here he promises to pay. If anything happens, you call me. I say okay and leave.
I get home and realize not only is it chopped bumper paint, but my back trunk/hatch is slightly bent right above his hit. I call the man who hit me and he meets me to look himself. He says “I couldn’t have caused that.” I double down. Yes you did.
He still says he will pay everything. I am going to get a few quotes tomorrow.
Should I say screw him, file report and go through insurance? I did nothing wrong. Also, don’t want to screw an old man and obviously he wasn’t insured to drive the truck.
Do I wait until 6/1? Help!
HELP- rear ended – insurance questions.
byu/Fun-Community1320 inInsurance
Posted by Fun-Community1320
4 Comments
You won’t get a dime from this person. File a claim with his insurance right away. Waiting for weeks and then filing a claim is not as straightforward for the insurance company- how will they know that the damage was from their insured and not something else that happened during the weeks in between?
He’ll pay when he gets his social security check… this ain’t the 1960s. Even if he actually intends to pay for repairs, he definitely won’t once he finds out repairs will cost 4k+. File the claim.
File the claim with your insurance; this man definitely doesn’t have an in-force policy and will argue that your quote is too high for a mere scuff! It doesn’t matter if the quote is for $500 or $5,000.
I’ll tell you how this will go, you’ll get some quotes and send them to him, his response will be, ‘that’s more than I was expecting, and I don’t think I caused all that damage.’ Then he’ll disappear into the night. Don’t waste your time, he clearly doesn’t have the money for this.
Call his insurance tomorrow and report the claim.