So I got hit by a truck this morning..

I was going to work, driving south on the highway (404 S, coming up to the 407 Exit) in the far right lane, when suddenly I get hit by something, I see the truck on my left a split second too late, I moved right to get away and my tires started to slip a bit, I recovered fine. He's now in my lane, and I'm on the exit lane (to 407). He's slowed down, and I pull back into the original lane, put my emergency blinkers on, and slow down to a halt. He does the same behind me.

I look at the damage. Scratches and dents from the rear of my driver-side door and most of my rear quarter panel. He drove a dump trunk, and it was his giant front-right tire that rubbed on my car.

He got out, apologized, I was more shook than angry and so I didn't explode on him. I took down his information (name, phone number, driver's licence number, address) but I failed to take down his plate number!!! He was driving his work vehicle, a red dump truck, and he was wearing a UPS jacket. He says to me that if I want to go through insurance, I can, or if I want him to take care of it, he's fine with that too. He took down my name and phone number, and told me to call him with a price estimate and we'll go from there.

I've never been in an accident before so I'm not sure what to do here.

My boss told me to report this accident to the police first. Is this necessary? She also told me to take the car to a shop and get a price quote for repairs, then have the guy cover the cost for repairs.

I also called my cousin, he hasn't seen the damages yet but he suspects it will cost in the neighbourhood of $1000-$1500 to fix (I have no clue). And he's not trusting the other driver to come through with enough money. My cousin told me to call the guy and tell him I want to go through insurance and get all the required information from him. I have 24 hours to make a claim. The guy hit me, I am not at fault.

What do I do?

PS. I'm fine, no injury to me.

 

There is nothing to think about. Call your insurance and visit the accident reporting centre.

 

Sorry to hear about the incident.

I hope everything works out for you.

I haven't seen the car in a long time.

 

Crap! That car was mint! Glad to hear you're fine. Hit the reporting centre within 24 hours if you're going the "legitimate" route.

 

with his driver license # and name you should have enough info on the guy if he flakes, plate # shouldnt be a big deal.
post up some pics of the damage.

 

Yeah, I'm kicking myself in the *** right now, so stupid of me to forget to get as much info as I can.

I called the guy during my lunch hour and told him I want to go through insurance. He's still on the road right now and said he'll call me back at 5pm when he gets off work and he'll give me more information. It was his work vehicle that hit me (big red dump truck) and not his personal vehicle.

After work, I will talk to this guy, get more info, then call my insurance company and then proceed to the collision reporting center.

Thanks guys.

I'll get up some pics later tonight so you can see the damage.

 

Oftentimes a witness or two will pull over (I usually do if the situation doesn't look hostile). Good idea to gather names of those people also (remember this for next time kids!).

 

Well, here's no surprise. He doesn't call me at 5pm like he said he would, I call him at 6, and no answer. I call him back a couple minutes later and his phone is off.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot..

I'm going to the reporting center and reporting what I can. Right course of action at this point?

 

i think you are legally obligated to pull over if u witness an accident, to give a statement to police or your name and number so u can be contacted if needed.

 

Oh man, sad to hear that........ I think you should go to the reporting / collision centre within 24 hours, and report to the police as well....... Hope that guy will call you up later on tonight.........

Today, I got a speeding ticket on Stouville / Yonge when I was rusing to Wonderland for a meeting after lunch, sigh....... Glad there is no points deducted. Me and mike got a bad day today.........

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. I too highly recommend reporting it. I've heard so many stories from friends and family about seemingly decent at-fault drivers who default on an agreement or simply disappear. Hope it gets resolved.

 

Yea, keep us update man!!!

 

speakin of bad day for rx7 owners, my crappy canadian tire battery terminal came loose and eventually died today, luckily i was near a garage, cant even jump start that piece of **** after chargin the battery for hours :@

 

Get your estimates from a quality body shop and contact him with the information. Send it to him via the post office and keep a dated copy for yourself. Give him a week to reply. Call him, informing that unless he responds you will be filing papers in small claims court. That generally gets their attention. Failing that, file the papers. He won't show up, you will win by default, he'll have to cover all court (and associated costs) plus the cost of the repair. It's now the governments deal to collect on the money. They are fairly aggressive and will do things like garnish wages, etc.

I went 90% through the whole process a few years ago when someone backed into me. Instead of just paying the $325 it would have cost to touch up my front bumper, all told it would have cost him over $2500 when things like lost wages, time and money to obtain information, court costs, long distance (douchebag lived in Edmonton), car rental, etc. were factored in. Then I got a bit busy and lost interest...

The real lesson though is NEVER, EVER take someone on their word. ALWAYS call insurance, preferably with them standing right there...Oh, and take pictures immediately. That one really changes the situation and puts you in control. Cameras have an interesting effect on nearly everything...

 

^^ Ditto, I tapped someone's rear bumper at the San Fran airport and took some pics of the scratch I caused and other marks on the bumper I didn't cause on the spot. She later faxed two estimates to me that I requested and I negotiated something based on the fact that the estimates were to repair the entire bumper to new condition while I was only responsible for a fraction of its poor condition at the time of the accident. The pictures were my saviour, I sent her $250 USD and called it a day.

 

If you're talking about me Chris, my name's Mark, haha.

But anyway guys, thanks for the advice. Here's a quick update, the guy did call me back, and explained that his cell phone battery died. Anyway, I did the police report thing and the guy is going to exchange insurance information with me today. I'll be calling my insurance company later today when I get that info and things should be okay.

I still feel a little stupid for not taking down all the required information right off the bat, and my phone has a camera that I failed to think about. Shock and inexperience.. that's what happened.

Now I'll be looking for a shop to do the work. Would any body shop do? Or should I find one good with RX-7's? A neighbour of mine works at an auto collision repair shop, and a couple of my friends know of good shops as well. Just wondering if you guys have any ideas. Thanks again!

 

I'd PM classicauto (Joe), who knows all the nooks and crannies of our cars like no other. He did fantastic work on a number of forum members' cars, including mine and we're all pleased with his work.

 

if you are ok call the guy now and tell him you wana meet him for the money. if you can get the money before the 24 hours is up do it if not call the cops and make that report. but for the future call the cops and all ways make a report that way you have no problem getting the money you need for repairs. ups drivers gets over 40k a year so being that he has a cld to think about i think he will pay up.

 

[QUOTE=SavannaFC;8213090]If you're talking about me Chris, my name's Mark, haha.

Yea, forget your name, sorry, repair your car, I meet you on Elgin Mills soon man!!!

 

Wow, sorry to hear that.

I might as well throw in my two cents. I work for Pfaff Autoworks (Pfaff -Porsche, Audi and VW) bodyshop. My advise to anyone in an accident is like everyone says, get as much information as possible. Failure to produce insurace is against the law. You must by law report any damage to public property and any damage over $1500 I think.

As far as letting someone pay cash,I would say if you get hit, get a quote the same day and take a cash payment or certified cheque. No cheques or IOUs. You have 24 hours to report it so payment at the same time. The alternative is to pay the shop directly by credit card etc.

The problem is in the event of aditional repairs. There can be hidden damage that was not originally seen. This can be a problem. Insurance would pay, thrird party might not.

Always get a quality bodyshop, not just some guy someone knows. I see so much butcher work out there it's unbelieveable. cheap is not always good, 99% of the time it's horrible.

Becareful because body work is not cheap.

 

oh, and all the posts of suing people if they don't pay and going to court. Not very likely to happen here in Ontario. Insurance is there for a reason and less headaches thancourt which if you lose you lose everything

 

Update: So I went the path of insurance. I got the dude's insurance information, called my insurance company and filed a claim. After a few days, my insurance company calls me back and says they checked out with the dude's insurance and everything is good to go, he admitted his fault, all I need is to send him a quote and they can continue in the process. I've gotten in touch with Joe at ClassicAuto (very nice guy btw) and had a quote sent to my insurance company.


Here are some pics of the damages:
(The cops stuck that sticker on my car, says "Reported To The Police")

 

Damn!
That's some crazy damage!
Amazing what a big tire will do.

If you've got to get paintwork done, Joe is the man.

 

If you were on a race track that
would be a badge of honor.
"racin is rubbin"
As it is, I am glad some people have integrity.
Good luck

 

Oh man, sad to see your FC looking like that.............