Car Accident!

[Kmvreter]

... Steering is off? Get the frame checked. Get everything looked over by a shop you trust.

x2. If your rear wheel/tire took a direct hit at speed without her hitting the brakes then it may not be the frame but it may be the drivetrain, rear links, bushings, etc... Get it checked out good beyond just the body.

 

[DesmoST4]

James T sorry about the collision, I too just damaged my 4Runner a few weeks back, my fault. I slid off an snowy road. Glad you are o.k., cars can be fixed.

Not to stir the pot here but in your original post, you said that you looked back and noticed out of the corner of your eye she was coming fast and looking down at something. Was this after you had already pulled out or before you pulled out?

Also the damage appears to me to be the rear quarter not the rear-end so I would say if you pulled out from the stop sign or a private drive and someone ran into the back corner of your vehicle, it is most likely 90% your fault. I always look at it this way, ask yourself if you were the other driver (not withstanding you might be a better driver and have stopped) how would you feel. If you can honestly answer that question it will tell you who is at fault. I know that at times many of us perceive the incident to our benefit to rationalize the situation. Not saying thats the case but I can say that I have honestly done that even though I know it all honesty it was mostly my fault when I looked back on it.

Anyway goodluck getting the truck fixed and at least it doesn't look like the Pontiac.....:wink2:

 

[BamBam]

Funnily enough, I had thought about making a recreation of the accident, either in real life or on Flash or something. That might be of some help, I'll get right on that when I've got a bit of spare time today.

As per injuries, neither of us were injured in the slightest, so, not too sure I could be the one to falsify injuries for the sake of argument.

For repairs, I'm planning on driving to this Toyota dealership tomorrow (or today, if I get a chance) in my father's car to ask for some information and a quote. I'd imagine the price would be much higher than an auto body shop, but, since insurance for me is 1k deductible, might as well get it done at reputed dealers.

I didn't intend to say you should falsify any injuries, not only is that unethical, but it is illegal. My question was just that if you WERE hurt then you better make sure it is disclosed. Because if you are, then the insurance is much more likely to see things your way and hopefully just pay for the car and not have a potential badwill built up with you and a future lawsuit over injuries. They tend to be MUCH nicer if somebody was injured, and it isn't out of the goodness of their own heart.

Since everybody is ok and there were no injuries then it should be pretty straightforward. Police says who is at fault. Insurance may have an investigator look into it (my uncle does this for a living and really loves his job when he gets to recreate things). Then they go from there.

Hopefully it all works out ok. But if she was texting and could have avoided it and didn't due to texting and there is a law against it in your area, then you may be ok in the end. She hopefully at least learned a lesson and won't be messing with the phone while driving anymore. Best of luck resolving this!

 

[DesmoST4]

Police says who is at fault.

Actually the insurance companies determine fault. Police only decide if a traffic violation was committed which most of the time results in that person being deemed at fault but not always. It can depend on your state insurance laws and also if you receive the ticket it will not always translate to who is at fault depending on the circumstances of the collision such as weather conditions, road conditions, the other driver's condition etc......

 

[BamBam]

Actually the insurance companies determine fault. Police only decide if a traffic violation was committed which most of the time results in that person being deemed at fault but not always. It can depend on your state insurance laws and also if you receive the ticket it will not always translate to who is at fault depending on the circumstances of the collision such as weather conditions, road conditions, the other driver's condition etc......

Right, which is why I mentioned insurance investigators. Police determine fault when deciding whether to issue citations. If they "think" it was your fault, or you were breaking a law (which would typically be one way that they would assign fault, like for following too closely) then they'd issue a citation.

An insurance investigator (like the uncle I mentioned) could come up with a totally different set of findings. All of a sudden things change, people end up in court, etc.

I don't think we're really disagreeing though. I just wanted to clarify that I recognize that police aren't the be-all end-all of deciding the end conclusion of car accidents and who gets paid what and who has what percentage of responsibility etc.