Got in a fender-bender, 3 wks later guy says he has injuries (fraud)... what to do?

I had a similar deal, vacationing in Florida, distracted looking for a street sign and rear ended a woman. I had slammed on the brakes and probably hit her going 10mph max. No visible damage to her car and only minor damage to my rental.

6 months later I start getting very nasty letters from some lawyers representing her. Contacted my insurance and they assured me they'd handle it.

Over next 2 years continued to get threatening letters including claims of required appearances and court dates. Kept insurance informed and they continued assuring me to ignore the letters, they were handling it.

At some point I never heard from her lawyers again, and never got a final confirmation from insurance that they had indeed handled it as they said. That was 10 years ago.

Never had my rate increase either.

 

Sounds to me like they handled it.

 

The burden of proof of injury is upon the sketchy guy.

If Geico is going to pay out that easily without a doctor bill or a diagnosis, what stipulates the amount awarded?

I wouldn't worry. The police report said no injuries. Even if he tries to claim that his injuries arose after the accident, he still needs to supply some sort of proof in the way of doctor visit verification.

And if he's truly injured, he's truly injured. You have insurance.

 

Wow guys, thank you so much for the advice and reassuring words

This is the first time I've ever been in an accident so I was (and still am) a bit shaken up. I'm sure glad I have insurance, and I'm going to take the advice of what many of you have said and just let the insurance company handle it.

Gelo760 - I was thinking the same thing. I feel pretty bad about the accident regardless if his intentions are good of if he's looking to make a buck. The thought weights heavy on my mind that he could have actually been injured... I'd feel absolutely awful if I did end up hurting someone

But like I said, this happened at about 10 mph (max... I'm being a little generous), and just given his weird behavior, I don't feel he was totally sober. I've been down the road with friends and family who haven't lived a clean life, and all the warning signs were there that night...

Anyway, thanks again guys for the advice, and even more so, helping put my mind at ease

 

No reason to be worried if you have insurance. They have plenty of lawyers.

On a side note: might be a good idea to make up your mind now what your answer is going to be next time a sketchy dude wants to come in your home. It sounds like your decision may have been influenced by nerves.

I just got rear ended the other day in my company truck. It was so light that I really just heard the impact, didn't feel it. There is one small ding in the bumper right next to all the other dings (work truck). The guy was homeless, no insurance. He seemed like a nice guy but obviously was trying to give me as little info as possible. Once he pulled out the notice of cancellation for his insurance and gave me his address as the homeless shelter I kind of decided this was going to be like squeezing blood from a turnip. Given the whole situation, I stopped short of calling the police and didn't insist on him digging his license out of his trunk where he got the insurance info. I left with name, address, car plate number, and the expired insurance info. My boss jumped my ass immediately for not calling the cops and getting the DL number. I suppose he's right, the guy may try to claim he's hurt and I backed up into him or something. Anyway, I have made up my mind how to react next time so I don't have any more issues.

 

call him and tell him you found something weird blocking your toilet drain pipe and that you might have the police come have a look at it....just to scare him off!!!

 

Another story that may help put you at ease OP.

My sister was sitting at a light minding her own when someone ran into the back of her CRV and pushed her into another vehicle. Everything seemed to go well, she did everything right, police report, etc. A couple months later she got a nasty phone call from the mother of the kid driving the car she got pushed into. Seems the at fault driver's insurance didn't give them all the money they thought they were entitled to and they were going to sue my sister. Sister calmly told her to F off and if she had any problems to call my sister's insurance company. She then called her agent and relayed the story. She's never heard another word about it.

Let the insurance company do the job you hired them to do.

 

Realistically he would have to front money to sue you or even mess with your insurance company much. So i'm pretty sure ur gtg cause he wont front 20 for gas and 50 copay to even get checked out by a Doc. So if it requires more then a couple phone calls he wont do much. And for all you pro bono lawyer guys there not gunna waste there time on a guy like this.

 

As others have said you have insurance to handle these things. If it was some massive injury that could go beyond your policy limits, then you might have an issue, but that doesn't seem possible.

 

^^ love it! This is what you pay every month for. IMO you will not need a lawyer (even if you did you wouldn't need to get one until you hear something further) All you can do is follow up with Geico and try to stay in the loop on what is going on. Don't let this bother you or get you down though. Sh*t happens, and the Gecko will save you!

 

i got one for you, onetime i was at the park with my at the time gf, some guys started pointing at the truck and laughing and she felt uncomfortable so we decided to leave. when my trucks reverse lights went on everyones jaws dropped. one of the dummies parked his dark green car, under my lifted truck to show off how low it was and i crushed his lil pos. call the police for a report, the whole time he's pissed off yelling at me and F the police ect...

a few weeks later i get a call from my ins co stating they want pictures of the damage on my vehicle because the guy was sueing for injury as well as four of his friends. i answered all their questions, and told them that A. it was a 2 seater car and B. it was parked behind me with noone in it and gave them the officers name and his department number. i never had to give any more pics and i never heard back or had a rate increase

 

Hunt him the fuck down, hit him with the Tacoma and give him some real injuries!

 

This sounds legit and I can't see any problems with this plan.

 

p.s. NEVER EVER let anyone into your home for any reason, if you do not feel 100% comfortable with them. You just dont know about people nowadays and that could have turned into a much worse situation. Especially if you had family or kids in the house.