Last thursday morning i was involved in a minor accident. I was headed south in a left hand turn lane. Some girl in a car had exited a gas station from the south bound lane, cut across three lanes of traffic, then pulled in front of me while attempting to cross the double yellow and head north. I braked hard, and met with her bumper. I have the classic shin bruise we have viewed on this forum time and time again, and the right hand faring took the rest of the impact. luckily the case guard didnt take much pressure, only a little white mark from the faring being compressed into it. Faring has a horizontal scratch. The top and bottom brackets that hold the faring to the frame are bent, and the bottom of the faring is cracked.
Could have been worse. Glad i didnt break anything. Glad i didnt fall over in the process.
Now then, i only have liability insurance. Its 100 dollars a year for me, and it just doesnt make sense to pay 1000 a year for full coverage on a 5000 dollar vehicle. I dont have uninsured motorists insurance, and of course, the girl that caused my problems did not have insurance. Two people (one guy on a ducati) pulled over and gave me their name and numbers, saying they saw the whole thing and would be witness if need be. I figured id have nothing to gain be calling the cops. Its a 1000 dollar ticket for getting caught in california without insurance. I figured i could use that as leverage.
As of yet, this girl has made no attempt to pay for damages which is only a few hundred dollars. Ive called her twice a day since thursday. She has answered the phone twice. Once to say she was at work and would have to call me back. The next time she answered she was at lax picking up family. Its starting to get spooked about it, and im starting to weight my options. My plan now is to call and tell her that if she has not made any attempt to resolve this matter by the end of the week, im going to go ahead and report the accident. I realize ill get hit with a ticket for leaving the scene, but i do have two witnesses, and that will most likely result in her getting slapped with the 1000 dollar fine on top of any possible ticket for causing the accident. Im willing to take that hit out of spite if need be. Anyone else been in this position? Do i have any other recourse? If i cant get her to pay should i just cut my losses and walk away from it?
Report it. She needs the ticket and you need your money from her.
It was her fault, if nobody was hurt you don't have to report it to the police and many times insurance settles it without police reports. But you should be able to easily bring a case up against her for property damage with two material witnesses. You're not gonna take a hit for leaving the scene of an accident especially if you both already traded information. I say bring it on, I'm tired of people driving without insurance make em pay. And ironically people who don't have insurance are probably the ones most likely to get in accidents, they don't have insurance cause their rates would be so high because they are such awful drivers.
oh man that sounds dirty :o
good luck with getting ur money and tell us how everything went!
Experience from friends and family:
ALWAYS report! If possible get the cops at the scene as well, no matter how minor the accident is.
Luckily i've never been in an accident involving anyone but myself, but if (when) i do, the first thing to do is call the cops. I've seen people trying to run from the bill too many times to let it slide.
did you hit her REAR bumper by chance?
Wouldn't matter in this case, the rear bumper thing is only if it's your word against their's. There are two impartial witnesses that can prove she cut across lanes irresponsibly and was the cause.
usually tho rear bumper equals automatic at fault
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on May 05, 2008, 10:39:44 PM
usually tho rear bumper equals automatic at fault
No worries there. My right faring made contact with the driver side front bumper.
ahhhh kk, then disregard my previous posts then :thumb: but still file a report, and get an estimate of repairs ( perhaps froma dealer :icon_twisted:)
Does she have money? Realize that it will cost money to get money. Ie your legal fees (if it goes to court) could easily exceed anything that you get from her. Unless you carry uninsured motorist coverage. Then your insurance company pays you, but maybe your rates go up for the ticket......but how much could they go up if you are only paying $100 now.
this is why we always wait for the cops, when we witness an accident. i've witnessed several accidents, and our input usually got a nice nod from the officer, not to mention the guilty fuckers actually got fined, caught in lies, and/or thrown in jail.
report, wait for the cops, and ALWAYS stay if you witness a collision.
people suck, people that crash will lie.
Like he said he only has liability, full coverage here in LA is ridiculous. I pay 250 a year just for liability here full coverage for me would be 750. For me that's not worth it considering the bike isn't worth a lot, if I had a 'busa maybe.
Screw that don't let her get away. She endangered your life, I would have called the cops right away just to screw her over and teach her a lesson. Then again..I am an ass.
You should have obtained a police report. At this point your options are very limited. Unless the police are in a good mood and willing to listen to the witnesses you have no recourse.
ALWAYS get a police report from the scene! A police report is CRITICAL to establishing fault!
Never allow somebody to get away with the old "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'll pay for your damages, don't call the cops!." They don't want the cops for a reason. Usually it's one of these:
No insurance
Stolen vehicle
Currently drunk
Currently high
Warrant out on their heads
Loaded and unsecured weapon in the vehicle
Recently committed a crime
Long police record
I just called her again and left a message on her machine stating that if she makes no attempt to take care of this by the end of the week, ill go ahead and report the case. Wonder if thats going to get a response from her...
GeeP, you forgot it's LA.
If she's a Mexican driving with no insurance, she's probably illegal. It is a HUGE problem out here. They drive like idiots, they have no insurance OR a license, and they are illegal. So they don't give a crap.
OR if she's Chinese, same thing. I don't mean to seem racist, it's just my experience. I have been hit in cars by both, a drunk Mexican and a blind Chinese, plus have had friends who have had their cars totaled and been hurt by illegals with no license or insurance, one friend had only had the car 3 weeks, was t-boned by a drunk Mexican, totaled the car and cracked her sternum.
If so, tell her you're going to report her to Immigration! :flipoff:
go ahead and report it
Quote from: Teek on May 07, 2008, 12:12:44 AM
GeeP, you forgot it's LA.
If she's a Mexican driving with no insurance, she's probably illegal. It is a HUGE problem out here.
Ooops... Forgot that one. Yeah, it's a good possibility. Somebody on here got hit by one last year.
Do you know any LAPD personally? I would give her name and address to the police and inform them she is driving w/o insurance.
W/o a report at the scene you are pretty much screwed. Just like Geep said :thumb:
Your main option now is to make it look like you are taking her to court. Send her a registered letter with your own report of the accident and lay out your payment demands and time line. or go to the court house and file charges. its usually like $40 or so and they will send her a nice scarry letter for you :thumb:
Lay into her ass like she's Keira Knightley and don't stop until she screams. :icon_lol: :icon_mrgreen: :thumb:
Quote from: lewismug on May 07, 2008, 06:57:17 AM
Lay into her ass like she's Keira Knightley and don't stop until she screams. :icon_lol: :icon_mrgreen: :thumb:
That would actually work ... if she did look atleast partially like Keira Knightley. She prolly looks like a troll and smells like rotting fish.
Cool.
Buddha.
Well, its been over a week, and she has made no effort to resolve this. Im going to report it on monday. I checked her id when it happened. Have her name/address/phone/plate/ and license number. That should be enough. I wont get any money out of it, but hopefully she will get pinched for driving without insurance. Thats a 1000 dollar hit.
Oh well. Guess thats a risk i took when i declined uninsured motorist coverage. Could have been worse.
Yup could have been worse! Hopefully her License has the right information on it! I would at least upgrade the insurance to uninsured. If the accident would have been worse you would have been up the creek.
Mary S.