Current Events > i got into a car accident for the first time -- what now?

(+) Yeah! (+)

i accidentally rear ended someone on the highway. there was a minor dent since we were only driving at 15mph due to heavy traffic. guy wouldn't settle and wanted insurance to deal with everything. everyone in his car looked fine but when the firemen came, the passengers insisted they had neck and back pain (most likely to scam insurance).

i took pictures of both cars, insurance policy, and drivers license, called my insurance agent, and dealt with the police. how much of a raise in insurance should i be expecting?

pics:

Evil_Evil_Evil_ posted...

i accidentally rear ended someone on the highway. there was a minor dent since we were only driving at 15mph due to heavy traffic. guy wouldn't settle and wanted insurance to deal with everything. everyone in his car looked fine but when the firemen came, the passengers insisted they had neck and back pain (most likely to scam insurance).

i took pictures of both cars, insurance policy, and drivers license, called my insurance agent, and dealt with the police. how much of a raise in insurance should i be expecting?

it's going to go off the charts.... all night long, ALL NIGHT LONG! tonight.
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Be honest

were you checking CE on your phone while driving?

a lot of insurance companies have some sort of Accident Forgiveness program, where if you don't get into an accident under $X within a certain amount of years, your first accident will not be counted in your record with them, so you won't theoretically get an increase.

might want to check if you qualify for that. Also the dude might have been making a big deal about getting hit tonight because he was pissed off, but i have found that for a lot of people, if the damage to the car is barely noticeable then they won't bother going through with filing the claim and shit, because most people are honestly pretty lazy
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Highwind07 posted...

How deep was the dent?

If it is not too deep then you shouldn't have called the insurance and just agreed to buff the person's car instead :/ calling them would just raise both premiums.

Scummy of them to declare themselves hurt though.

i wanted to settle privately. he insisted on getting insurance into this (probably to fraud with the injuries). it was a very minor dent.

Here's TC caught on video
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/7hFPFhq
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What now? You'll probably get into several more accidents

Romulox28 posted...

a lot of insurance companies have some sort of Accident Forgiveness program, where if you don't get into an accident under $X within a certain amount of years, your first accident will not be counted in your record with them, so you won't theoretically get an increase.

might want to check if you qualify for that. Also the dude might have been making a big deal about getting hit tonight because he was pissed off, but i have found that for a lot of people, if the damage to the car is barely noticeable then they won't bother going through with filing the claim and shit, because most people are honestly pretty lazy

are you sure? because this isn't going to play out like it is.

the passengers insisted they had neck and back pain (most likely to scam insurance).

, he's already ****ed from the start. his rates going up and likely to be sued through his insurance making the other guy a wealthy bastard.
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pics of damage



this could've been fixed for a few hundred right?

Evil_Evil_Evil_ posted...

pics of damage



this could've been fixed for a few hundred right?

That's a couple thousand lol.
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If I was rear-ended, I'd want to go through insurance too. The person at fault is clear.
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really? i didn't think it was that serious of a hit.

Evil_Evil_Evil_ posted...

really? i didn't think it was that serious of a hit.

The bumper is crushed, it did its job. Now you need to replace the whole thing because it has been structurally compromised.
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why the hell were you texting and driving? also it's a fucking dent who gives a shit everyone should just move on with their lives and drive with the dent in the car the car still works fine

I cant believe they said they had neck pain from that, smh
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Well you need police report
If you do anything with insurance, you call the police at the scene.

Then you call the insurance companies. Theyll take care of it. Thats why you have them.

Now if you go scooby doo and micromanage everything, itll take a lot of patience.
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Frostshock posted...

Evil_Evil_Evil_ posted...

really? i didn't think it was that serious of a hit.

The bumper is crushed, it did its job. Now you need to replace the whole thing because it has been structurally compromised.

No, actually it's not. Cars these days have bumpers and other body panels made of very flexible plastic. That dent doesn't look like something you couldn't pop out with a good punch from up underneath. My sister's car had a similar looking dent in her front bumper and my uncle punched it out like it was nothing. Sure the paint was damaged a little, but it wasn't "crushed".

Hard to tell, but it's possible the trunk has been damaged as it looks like the driver side tail light is off center with the housing on the rear fender.

ChrisHanson24 posted...

why the hell were you texting and driving?

He never said he was?
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i wasn't texting.

we did call the police and they filed a report. i called my insurance and filed a claim.

for something like this, wouldn't it be better to not file a claim and just deal with it on the side? this way insurance price wouldn't go up for both of us.

His insurance isn't going up. Yours might depending on many factors of the policy. Insurance is very personalized so no one is going to be able to give you the answers on exactly what is going to happen.

If you can pay for the repairs in full and he agrees with it you could leave insurance out of it. But it's up to the other person. He has nothing to lose either way.

But the reports and claims have already been filed. Both companies will contact you and ask for your story so they can match it to the police report and determine fault, etc. you'll be asked to get a quote from any shop as to what the repairs will be and then they'll likely recommend a shop they work with. Your rates will increase unless you have some sort of accident forgiveness since it's yours first accident.