First accident today

Got in my first accident in my 09 today. At a 4 way stop, I stopped and then took a right. A woman to my left went straight through the intersection and hit my front drivers corner, then claimed I was at fault. We exchanged phone numbers and our names but we're in the intersection so I got in and drove to the side. I assumed she would follow and stop with me but she just left, so I called the pd and filed the accident report myself. I don't see how it was my fault and I'm hoping my insurance sees things my way. Here's the pics, I'm going to the body shop tomorrow but am interested to hear what your estimates are. You can't see it in pictures but my drivers door is hard to open so that front panel definitely got shoved back. I have no idea what, if any, damage was done to the other car. It was a mazda 3, but like I said the woman drove away before I could get any detailed info. The pd said she technically followed the law by getting out of her car so it's not a "hit and run".

 

So, she ran a stop sign?

 

Either she ran the stop sign or I didn't see her, I can't prove it either way but the damage to her car was barely anything. Would have been nice if she'd stayed around, kind of a shitty thing to do just driving off like she did.

 

So who's fault is it? Did the PD give you or her a ticket? Or just say, work it out between the 2 of you with your insurance companies.

 

Make sure your PD gets in touch with her and it's the right person ASAP, did you call the number she gave you?

Sh*tty to hear though man, glad you're ok

 

She left the scene of an accident. Gonna be a ticket for her for sure. Make sure police have her number, unless it's a fake number. Looks pretty bad for here leaving. I'm betting no insurance on her vehicle. You did good. Not much more you can do.

 

Sounds like a hit and run on her part, even though she left a number..But who's to say its her number?

 

Sorry to hear.

This doesn't help you now, but here's what I've learned from being in several accidents with other people:

1. Record the VIN, license plate, make, model, name, address, insurance policy number AND insurance carrier. As I found out recently, it's pretty difficult to reverse look-up the carrier from just a policy number. The VIN and insurance policy are the two most important, I think.
2. Double check address with what's on the drivers license.
3. Get a police report.
4. Thousands of dollars are at stake. Record information on paper and with your fancy computer phone, if you have one.

If you are not at fault, and the damage is less than your deductible, you are sort of on your own to go after the other guy, which can be very difficult if you don't have all the required info.

 

Had similar damage myself recently and got a check for $3179 from insurance.

 

So, the good thing for you, if you truly weren't at fault, is that the damage is likely well above your deductible. You can actually have your own insurance fix it, and they will go after the guy for money. However, there's always the chance that they won't be able to get any money from the other party, and then you are stuck with the bill.

 

typical mazda to zoom zoom zoom away. Bummer bro, hope they find her and she pays. This lady just pissed off the the whole TW family. Too many people are texting and driving these days. GL

 

No hit & run....no leaving the scene. No ticket for that. Both vehicles were drivable with minimal damage and the drivers exchanged info....at least in California there is no requirement to call the cops on "fender bender" accidents. Kind of sucks if she actually ran the stop sign, as baring any witnesses it would be a "failure to yield" on your part as you were turning...if it was an issue of you both going straight through an intersection it would get interesting.....sorry to hear you got your rig munched.

 

The first part is pretty much what the cop told me, the law only requires you get out of your car, it doesn't specifically say what info you need to give. As for who is at fault, I think that's going to depend entirely on what my insurance company decides. The officer took my report but didn't say either of us where at fault, the guy from my insurance company said I definitely had the right of way, but who knows what'll end up happening. Since it was a 4 way stop I don't see why I'd have failure to yield.
The officer was actually really helpful, he looked up the woman's info and gave it to me, she had told me a different insurance company than what she has on record.

 

I had my first accident in October (truck was less than 30 days old), my wife was driving our 2015 TRD Sport DCLB and a mazada 3 changed lanes without a blinker or even looking it seems.It was less than $200 and the driver admitted fault, unfortunately in Virginia if it is less than $1500 there is no "case" report, only an information exchange sheet. Long story short, we have invested in a dash camera for both of our vehicles and it does give some sort of piece of mind.

 

I dropped it off at the body shop today and won't see it until the new year. Most likely will get new headlights, new front fender cover, and related parts. I'm also going to get my billy 5100's installed for free, and an alignment. If they can get my insurance company to approve there are a couple small dents in the hood they will fix as well.

Two different people from my insurance have said it's probably going to be the woman's fault so hopefully I won't have to pay anything for all this.

In the mean time I have a Chrysler 200 as a rental. It's not terrible, some things are actually nicer than the tacoma. One major thing the tacoma really sucks is the interior lighting, never realized how bad it is until my wife got a forester and now the Chrysler. Both have lit doors, cup holders, all interior buttons, etc. would it have really added that much to the price to add a few LEDs in the cab?

 

When all is said and done, buy a dash cam. I spent $70 on mine, in a situation like this, you could prove you weren't at fault and show exactly what happened.

 

That's a good idea, will try to find one so I can mount it when I get the truck back. I haven't looked at them at all, are they all pretty similar?

 

Not really haha. Mine was only $70 after shipping and everything on Amazon. It's called the "Black Box G1W-C"

Some videos:

Test Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C4pHUUJT2U

When I got rear ended
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAla-k9RHFw

I caught an accident on it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfiRyDdclPk

^ All that caught on it and I've only had it since August, so about 5 months. I love it, I plan on buying another and facing it out the back window.

 

Btw I didn't mean to thread jack