So I was driving the other day in my '96 Ram. I accidentally hit a guy almost parked on a set of railway tracks. He told me that it was his daughters car and that he wasn't insured to drive it. He gave me his daughters information, and said he was going to get her to lie to the police about it, and say she was driving.

We went to the accident report center, and told them my story. Turns out the male was driving with an expired license too, in addition to uninsured in a car that wasn't his. So...the police officer said the daughter was going to be charged with filing a false police report, and the male was going to be charged with driving uninsured, and with an expired license. I got off without a rear-ending charge, thank God.

The officer also said that if they chose to play hardball and deny it all, the charges are going to get worse for them. They believing me under the premise of he has an expired license, and I don't have any reason to be lying.

Now, my dad (the cars are all in his name) called the insurance broker today to explain what happened, give the police report number, and so on. He was told that whether I make a claim or not, my rates are going up, possibly $1000/year, maybe more. I think this is rediculous, as if he wasn't driving illegally, the accident wouldn't have happened. Now, don't think I'm being high and mighty here...I know I rear-ended him and that its my fault, but he lied to the police, and that was when it became his fault.

My question ultimately is, would going to a lawyer and having him call my insurance company to find out why they won't go after THEIR insurance company for damages to my vehicle be a good idea? I don't feel this increase is just to me. Also, any other ideas would be more than welcome. Insurance is enough in this damn province, let alone with something like this happening.

I appreciate any feedback I receive GREATLY.

Thanks for reading that guys.

-Rick

 

From I understand ont is no fault insurance, I'm still not 100% so if I wrong forgive me. so you pay for your own damages, and private property. So if thats the case your rates going up. But you can take him to small claims court and try to make him pay for the increase in your rate. Since you still did rear end him I don't think you will get anything out of that route since your at fault, even though he shouldn't be on the road. Either way though break and lets us know what happens in the end.

 

I'd say talking to a lawyer would be a pretty damn good idea. Don't have any experience in a similar matter myself, but it smells like BS that a good lawyer should be able to take care of for you.

 

I think you will have a really hard time fighting this. As far as the insurance company is concerned, you rear ended a car - and the mechanism of the accident was your fault. The fact that he was on an expired lisence really doesn't concern the insurance company as he was in essence a stationary object. The arguement of "if he wasn't driving illegally, the accident wouldn't have happened" is pretty weak, as they could say "If you had slowed down sooner you wouldn't have hit him." Sure, he broke the law and lied to police, but it's not a contest of who's offence was worse. There are two seperate incidents here, the accident and the subsequent way he handled it. In the accident he was the victim and you were the offender. The way he handled it made him the offender - but it doesn't mean that the accident didn't happen.

Not trying to be a jerk about it, but in my experience the insurance companies want proof that the accident (or a percentage of the blame) was in some way caused by the other driver's negligence in operating the vehicle, regardless of his status as a lisenced driver. If you can prove that he made his car do something that caused you to hit him then you have grounds to fight the insurance company. Him not having a valid permit didn't change the mechanism of the accident.

I think you can come to an agreement with the insurance company regarding the percentage of fault you should bear - and the subsequant rate hike you will experience, but I doubt they will "forget" it happened. In any event, put together a well thought out arguement with facts about the incident and take it to the insurance company. Good luck and let us know what happens!

 

+1

Story

 

+1

(Sidebar: To me the Ontario insurance policies are due for an overhaul)

 

Ok, here's what was supposed to come after "Story".


My mother once struck a bollard while at a gas station. She swiped it with the right-rear panel around the wheel well. Did a good job of mangling it. My dad calls his insurance company to ask what will happen to his premuims if he makes a claim. They tell him, he decides to not make a claim and pays for the repair himself.

Flash ahead a few months when the policy comes up for renewal and he sees that her rates get a major hike. He calls the company (The Co-Operators, if anyone's wondering) and asks what the hell is going on. The agent he had spoken to had made a note about his previous call. Somebody (maybe the CSR) then used that to change my mother's rating, and so her premiums. They wouldn't change it back. He cancelled the policy (telling them to go to hell) and went elsewhere.

Once your insurer so much as sniffs something's up, you're screwed.


Now another story...

A friend from Innerkip was once charged with Following Too Closely when he rear-ended a car in a left turn lane. He figured he could either pay the ticket and be out $300 plus the points, or hire a ticket fighter and be out $300 and beat the ticket.
He hired the ticket fighter. The ticket fighter walks into court, points out to the Justice that the car that was hit was stopped at a full stop at the time it was hit, and therefore technically parked. He then looked at the Justice and asked, "How does one follow a parked car?"
The ticket was thrown out.

So two questions for ya -> exactly what is the charge, and was your new friend "parked" at the moment of impact?

 

Well I wasn't charged with anything. How that happened, I don't know. I am pretty positive he was damn near parked, hovering the tracks however.

Dad called the insurance broker tonight and asked what to do. She took a look around, and found me CHEAPER rates than my current rates. So I'm going to pay the $500, have the truck fixed, and then switch companies. That's what she suggested anyway. Thanks guys.

 

you were lucky that you were not charge with "careless driving", because that would be the charge for hitting a stop car from behind.

So pay the damage yourself and dont let the insurance company knows you were in an accident (therefore you keep your rate).

 

Never call the police (unless someone is injured) and never go to a collision reporting center unless you're being towed there by a vulture. In the 2-3 collisions "I" have been involved in "I" have exited the car calmly and laid out the best scenario (usually) for both parties. That is, exchange information, take a couple pics with your camera phone, etc. find or divide blame equally and agree to not going the insurance route but settle this between the two of you. Each driver gets three estimates for any credible damage that occured and the parties involved agree to pay either their own, their own and a portion of the other drivers, some kind of percentage etc. It has always worked.

I tapped some bitch at San Francisco airport who came to a sudden stop. I was not insured on the vehicle I was driving. I took some pics got her number and caught my plane. I called her that evening and asked her to get three estimates and fax them to me. I received the three estimates, averaged the three of them to $240 USD (to have her rear bumper cover re-sprayed) and forwarded a money order in that amount along with a release statement for her to sign waiving her right to make any further claims for physical injury or property damage. Done. Gravy baby gravy. It could have added up to thousands had we gone any other route.

 

Classy!! Did you tap her in the burger king washroom as well?

 

One foot clearly inserted in mouth...

I knew I'd pay for that one

 

He was going to, but couldn't because your mom was cleaning it at the time.

 

This topic seems to be pretty much covered.

Some good advice. Not going thru insurance for minor claims is always a good idea (except when the other party who said they werent going to report it to their company, does anyways...)

As stated above. If you are at fault in the accident, your rates will go up (unless you have a plan where you get one free-bee etc).

I am a little bit unsure of how insurance companies are "supposed" to handle incidents not reported officially. I would have thought that if you don't make a claim, they cant ding you. But maybe (as people seem to have had experience with) this is not the case. I guess from an underwriting viewpoint, their job is to write the risks accordingly, and make you pay accordingly. This is why whenever I have a question about insurance rates I will either phone a different insurer or call my own and not give my name. (or at the very least say "my sister was driving her rx...I mean...ford focus and got a ticket for 300km/h...)

But yeah...the other guy could have been drunk, driving a stolen car with no insurance and if you rear end him, your at fault and will have to pay deductibles and rate increases etc...(assuming his car was either stopped, or driving within the lines at the appropriate speed etc. There are exceptions to every rule. But FDR 6.2 is a bitch)

 

The reason why your rates hike even thou you didn't make a claims is because you are a moral risk.

They know you did it, they will rate you.
If you make a claim, you'll lose your claims free discount and rates will hike more.

Very simple but extreme example.

Friend A and friend B always swap cars to drive because they believe both of them are good drivers.

Friend A totals his car one day.
Do you think Friend B will still trust Friend A with his car?

 

As far as fighting the actual rate hike goes....forget about it.

Basically they can charge you whatever their "rate formula" pukes out when they factor in whatever factors apply to their formula.

My first car, 84 VW Jetta (50hp), cost me 2800/year to insure with ONLY PL, PD and comp......this is when I was 16-21 years old. My DD RX-7 (FC N/A) only costs $1200/year for PL (2 million), PD, comp, fire, theft......at 21-22 years old. MAKES - NO - SENSE. But does it matter? no. They do whatever they feel because you HAVE to have it, they only need to compete with the rest of the insurance companies, they don't need to satisfy your needs........