Alright so I'm seriously consideringeither bombing the government or moving...

My wife Sarah (Sarita on the forum) was driving home today. She was going east in Brampton, doing the limit. It was a wet day and she was in the right lane and had left about 1 1/2 car lengths in front of her for safety.

Some jackass in the left lane decided to cut her off for no apparent reason, and then proceeded to slam on the brakes.

Being as he only left her about 3 feet of space, she couldn't stop fast enough and hit him.

They both got out of their cars to inspect the damage. Sarah asked the other man if he was okay. He didn't reply. She hen asked if he had a cell phone (she left hers at home this morning). He said no, got in his car, and drove off.

Unfortunatly she was a bit shaken up and didn't get his license plate.

Her car wouldn't run, and nobody else stopped to help her.

A passing bus radioed in for a tow truck, who in turn called the cops.

The cop said he would have charged her, but couldn't since the other driver took off.

She got the car towed, and made it home safely.
Like a good girl, she phoned our insurance company.

They told her that she's at fault. Her insurance won't cover it, and her rates will go up.
Apparantly, although the other guy broke at least 3 laws today (wreckless driving, improper lane change, leaving the scene of an accident), she's the one who gets screwed. Because he ran, he gets off free, and we get screwed.
They told me (after I jumped on the phone to have a polite word) that if the guy calls in a claim or turns himself in, then they'll review things (if he says she was at fault, we'll still get screwed), but otherwise we stuck unless a witness comes forward.


WHAT THE F*CK!
Some A$$HOLE breaks the law, causes an accident and runs, and now we have to pay to fix our car AND get to pay more in insurance!!!
And since he ran, I'd wager he doesn't have insurance/license...

So folks, today's lesson is this: If you feel like screwing someone, cut them off, slam on the breaks and run. As long as there are no witnesses, you're NOT GUILTY!!!

Now I know what I'm doing with the beater this winter when someone tailgates me... ARGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

This is so stupid. According to insurance law, you're apparently guilty until proven innocent. Isn't that against the LAW???
:dammit :








Anyways, unless we get a witness to phone the Peel cops and say they say the *** in a green minivan cut off my wife in her blue/green protoge, we're SOL...

 

You are not alone. I pay over $4000/year for insurance as a young (19) male driver. And I haven't done anything illegal. Bastards, all of them. Good luck with your situation.

 

i hope it wasnt an rx7 in the accident and that your wife is fine. life sucks sometimes.

 

First things first. Don't let the insurance company play you like that. You were the victim here. Put it this way: insurance companies just want to go the easy route in settling and not pay out of pocket. Basically make sure the you get a copy of the police report saying that it was a "hit and run" or "other driver left the scene". I mean obviously she didn't hit a pole and there is more then $xxxx.xx done to the car so police have to be involved by law. So therefore the other guy left, no questions, asked. Seeing as he left the scene Sarah should not be 100% at fault no matter what.
Hopefully someone turns up as a witness to help you out, so you don't have to pay anything and they cops track this person down (not likely). Fight with the insurance company and tell them that there is no way they can decide on who's fault it is without a copy of the police report!




FOR EVERYONE ELSE:
1. NO MATTER WHAT, THE FIRST THING YOU DO IN THE CASE OF AN ACCIDENT, AND YOU ARE STILL CONSCIOUS IS MEMORIZE THE PLATE #, MAKE/MODEL B4 YOU DO ANYTHING, OR WRITE IT DOWN!!!
(it's saved my bacon more then a few times)

2. Another thing I find that helps is go to your local police station and they usual have a form (brochure if you will) of what to do in case you get in an accident. Pick a few of these up and keep it in all your cars as it has all the neccessary information that you need, in a form on the back page!


Hope this helps

 

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that happened. Glad she's OK though.

What I have learned in my significant experience of being hit by other drivers (thankfully not in the past few years, it seems to have calmed down) is that the ABSOLUTE FIRST thing to do, before you even ask if the other driver is dead, is to TAKE PICTURES. First pictures is your view from the drivers seat, hopefully catching the plates of the other driver. Next picture is the rear end of the other vehicle, making sure the registration sticker is in focus (bonus if it is expired). Then general shots paying attention to the position of both cars, any skid marks, condition of the other vehicles tires, and extensive coverage of the damage of your car. THEN, start talking to the other driver.

The last time I was hit I followed this procedure, and actually drove the woman that hit me to tears.

 

Good Idea Aaron. Wish I had my camera the last time I was in an accident.


BTW: I'm going to make up a thread with suggestions on what to do/known things to do in case of an accident. you should throw your reply in there as well and maybe it can get stickied later on.

 

Well unfortunately for you, a hit and run counts as an at fault accident. (same thing happened to me when my car was parked. I mean, I am pretty sure I couldnt be at fault if I am not even IN the car)

Disclaimer - I am simply stating the facts, and not in any way implying anything.

But as your wife is the only witness now, she has a conflict of interest and her word cannot be used as the basis on which to determine fault. The evidence (damage etc) must be used and the cops (those bastards) will of course see that it was a rear ender, and 99% of the time, the person doing the rear ending is at fault.

What I dont understand is how the insurance company is not paying your claim AND your rates are going up. While I am not an expert on the subject, I would think one of two scenarios should apply.

a) You were at fault, so DCPD does not apply, and you must have collision coverage on the car to have it covered. You will have to pay your deductable and they will fix the car. Your rates will be effected.

b) Same as above, but you do not have collision coverage, in which case the insurance company will not fix your car. But in this case, why would you make a claim? If you dont make a claim, I dont see how they can raise your rates. I understand the police reported it etc, but I still think you can decline to make a claim and not have your rates effected. (Again, I do not work in this department so I dont know, but if I were you, I would phone an impartial insurance adjuster from a different company and ask them)

Regardless, it's a bad situation. I wouldnt recommend doing what the other driver did though, as fleeing the scene of an accident will cause you a lot more trouble than its worth. Just back into people at stop lights and say that they ran into you.

 

Thanks for the support.

I appreciate the advice about getting plate/make/model/colour/pictures.
I'm aware of this, and so is Sarah. Unfortunatly she was shaken up and did not think of it at the time (she is kicking herself now).

That's what I said, but according to our insurance adjuster, that is not the case. They guy even went so far as to say the other driver probably didn't have insurance and/or a license, but the law is VERY black and white.
If you're the rear car in an accident, you're automaically assumed 100% GUILTY (at fault) unless you can prove yourself innocent.

THAT's friggin' UNCONSTITUTIONAL...

What a load of CRAP!

We don't have collision coverage, but we did report it to the insurance company. Basically the cops are going to send them the "at fault" report anyways, so if we call or not, it makes no difference.
Also, if the other guy decided to put his through insurance and we didn't report, we'd get doubly screwed.

I was hoping they'd cover at least some of the damage under DCPD, but since the other guy ran, we get nothing.

I also just spent 1/2 an hour on the phone with someone from my MPP's office, who also told me we're screwed. And so is anyone else in the same boat.

So now, I've got to go argue with the cops over who was at fault, AND I've got to write to my MPP telling them how ILLEGAL the law is in automatically finding someone at fault.

AND even if they do (by some miracle) find the other guy, all he has to do is say Sarah was tailgaiting her, and not only will she still be at fault, but then she'll ALSO get charged with following to closely or reckless driving!!!
(of course he'd get charged with leaving the scene too, but BFD)...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What kind of stupid laws protect the GODAMN CRIMINAL!!!

 

It REALLY makes you see that the whole "cracking down" on bad drivers and "road safety" compaigns are a LOAD OF CRAP.
The government doesn't care about getting guilty drivers off the road. They only care about the PR and ticket $$$....

 

Man i totaly feel for you this past sunday i was on my way to look at a engine for my RX and some ******* ******* in a **** box 94 Taurus cut me off and i hit him ...i drive a 98 cavaleir and it sufferd no damage (the air bags didnt even go off ) but his **** boxes rear bumper fell off a cop witnesed it and i was so glad but then when he told me that i was at fault i ******* lost it so i get cut off and to add icing to the cake i get charged with careless driving (6 points) and $325 fine what a ******* crock that is ....well all i know is that Traffic Justice is gonna have a feild day with that cops ***

 

So apparently my yelling and irate behavior with the first insurance adjuster got us bumped into the "problem customer" category

So we got the SUPER helpful insurance investigator today... No mere case summery from an adjuster for us

So now there's a decent chance the rates will NOT be going up.

I finally got my hands on the car today, and most of the damage was absorbed by the bumper.

AND the VAST majority of the damage was too the LEFT side of the car (driver's side) which supports Sarah's claim that the a$$hole cut her off. So the investigator had us take pictures, which will help prove that she was not at fault...

I knew if I yelled at enough people they'd fold...


Next target: Queen's Park...

 

That's horrible, but on the same token I'm not suprised.

If the other driver left the scene then obviously Sarah wasn't at fault. Anyone who is in an accident and isn't at fault would logically stay (unless they had no insurance). I'm pretty sure that the way the law is written is that if you run into someone it's almost always your fault (unless someone else was doing something utterly psychotic). eg. If a giant rock fell from the sky and landed on the nose of the vehicle in front of you and you ran into that vehicle, you're at fault.

Aaron: I thought the women started crying when she viewed your body language and realized the horrible manner in which she was about to meet her demise?

rick: You're either paying too much or you have collision on your insurance (which doesn't make sense given the value of the vehicle compared to the rate).

 

Well, the car is patched up and back on the road.
Not perfect, but so far it's only cost me $90 for a trip to Standard Auto...

 

MUA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


Now what I've gotten that off my chest...

Turns out enough yelling will get you what you want.
Despite the first adjuster's claims that there was no way Sarah could be found "not at fault", the investigato apparently decided othewise.

That's right, she's free and clear. No "At Fault" accident will appear on her driving record.

So today's lesson:
Don't let some ****-pot insurance adjuster take advanatage of you. Keep after them until they launch an investigation!

Thanks for the advice and support guys!


... See, not eveything in here is negative

 

That was the police. The officer just kept saying "Sir, please get into the car...".

 

I just got my new "weekend pleasure use only car" and had to submit a letter of experiance from my company car policy to my insurance company.

It turns out that the bonehead in HR who is very lucky that they're not working for us anymore put a $519 claim for damage on a trunk and charged me the $500 deductabe for it.

This one claim ended up increasing my insurance by $650 per year and will continue to do so for the next 3 years.

I asked my insusurer for my"weekend and pleasure use only" vehicle what the difference would be if that claim for $519 would have been for me if I had rolled the car over 10 times - thier response was that as long as there were no charges against me the 1 claim would increase my insurance the same - Unfucking believable