Fender bender help, off topic I know

I guess this is pretty off topic, but I've gotten solid advice here in the past. I got in my 1st fender bender in 29 years and have no idea what to do.

Yesterday I backed into my parking space and scraped my neighbor's car. You can see the paint scuff on my car, and the scuff on her silver truck. You can also see there was obvious previous damage, and the door is not even original.

I knocked on her door, showed her the scrape, and she said, "You did A LOT more than scrape the car." We exchanged information, and now here is where all my questions come in:

1) It seems obvious from her actions so far that she is trying to "hit the lottery" by making me pay to repair the entire damn side of her car. The tags expired on her car two years ago, and I doubt it's insured. Is there any way I can fight paying for all the damage I did not do? Obviously, all I did was the small scrape on the side, what usually happens in these situations?

2) Should I just pay her out of pocket and not involve my insurance? How can I protect myself in the future for her coming after me for more damages?

3) Don't know what my deductible is, have no idea what she's going to claim as I have not heard from her. I only have 72 hours to notify my insurance if the bill is over $2,500. But of course I don't want to notify them at all if I can pay a reasonable amount out of pocket (it is deff my fault after all). How would you handle notifying insurance, time is ticking away?

Thanks for any and all advice. I've never gone through this before so I have no experience.

 

So that huge dent was already there? That looks like a late 1980s Chevy S-10...? The joke would be on her because that truck is worth so little that the insurance company would likely total it and give her way less than $2,500 and if she's driving that shitbox I highly doubt she can afford something nicer...

I got hit by a drunk driver almost six years ago and the bastard tried to say I ran the stop sign; Despite the fact that he got a DUI and the police obviously deemed him to be at fault, he told his insurance company that I ran a stop sign and they believed him. I have full coverage on my Tacoma and my insurance paid to fix everything while waiving the deductible and not raising my rates, and they ultimately had to eat the cost of $2,200 in damage to my truck since the drunk's insurance company wouldn't drop the "he ran the stop sign story"; I ended up getting court-ordered restitution from this guy after he plead guilty, some of which I used to buy a dashcam for my truck. Con artists like your neighbor are the reason I have a dashcam, and I highly suggest that you buy one for your truck if you don't already have one! Also, I honestly think you should pay for the scuff marks, tell this woman to go pound sand with regards to the fact that her mismatched door was already dented in, and tell your insurance company you suspect she's trying to commit fraud.

 

If the two of you don’t work it out then either an insurance adjuster will get involved or an adjuster and also the police for an accident report. Either way the adjuster will examine the damage and determine what was actually your fault and what was not. The overall condition of the vehicle is going to help you out there. You won’t be required to pay, for example, the cost to make that door new when it already has dings and paint damage and rust. If you have a notification deadline with your insurance then be proactive and go over there again and offer a specific amount as long as she’s willing to leave insurance out of it. Pay by check. And if it gets ugly then walk away and let your insurance handle it. They’ll fight to keep the payout low. Either way she’s not getting rich from this.

 

Sounds like she’s unreasonable.

Get an adjuster to come out. If they’re competent they’ll identify previous damage compared to what you are responsible for.

Let her know that your insurance company will be contacting her insurance company.

If her car is not registered and not insured and parked on a street or place where vehicles need to be both, then she’s in for more than trying take you for everything.

 

Insurance adjusters are VERY good at determining what actions = what result. I can't see anyone believing that the scuff on your truck resulted in the dent in her door. Even if they did, a macro analysis would clearly show that the damage wasn't fresh. I'd say she's definitely trying to hit the lottery, but I wouldn't be too concerned. I would file a police report immediately, as well as advising your insurance company so that everything is on record.

 

I can't believe you knocked on her door with the condition of that truck....Call me a jerk, but she may get you good. It's not her amount of damage it's your insurance points.

 

Since the door was already a different color than the truck, you might find a salvage yard door and just replace the whole thing. Probably less than your deductible.

 

UPDATE - Thanks for y'all advice. Since it was my fault, I offered her $200 by text just to get the damn thing over and make it go away. Well, that was 5 hours ago and I haven't heard a peep.

If she asks for $250, or whatever I'm just going to say "f" it and tell her to go through my insurance. I heard I may even get "accident forgiveness" since I haven't had an accident in 29 years and it's just a ding. Wish me luck

 

Update: She did not give me her insurance info for the car I hit. Since tags expired in 2019 and the truck still has spiked snow tires on in August I don't think she has insurance. So I just called my company for help. They wanted photos and a statement from me. I asked what do I do now if she contacts me, and they said I do nothing. It's out of my hands and they are taking over. So, that's where it is, have no idea how much this is going to cost, are they going to pay her a lot, or a little, or total the car, and what's going to happen to my rates or what will I be charged out of my deductible.

No more backing into parking spots for me.

 

Better to back in to a PARKING SPOT, and risk very minor damage to a stationary vehicle than to back in to TRAFFIC and risk the [much more likely] chance of an accident with moving vehicles. Unless it's absolutely unavoidable, always BACK OUT of traffic, never IN TO it.

 

I highly recommend getting the insurance involved. I went through something similar and it turned into a month plus ordeal. I scratched woman's bumper with my hitch. She parked behind me in a parallel parking situation downtown and despite making a 99 point turn I managed to put a 3" scratch on the car on the plastic bumper facia. It was a mid 90s Honda with plenty of existing damage to the bumper, hood, and fenders. I spoke with her husband who admitted there was existing damage and stated that she was a terrible driver the he agreed to take some cash to buy touch up paint for the scratch I caused.

She called me back yelling that I was "going to make things right" and pay for a "proper repair". She went to the body shop and got a quote for several thousand to replace and repaint the fenders, hood, and bumper which were all damaged and insisted that I pay for it. She threatened to call the police on me for hit and run if I didn't pay, etc.

I opened a claim with my insurance and both companies took our statements. She swore up and down that there was no pre-existing damage on recording, which they reminded me of several times when I stated that there was. "It's your word against hers and she's willing to testify that if it goes further" blah blah blah. From the photos the insurance company was inclined to pay out in her favor, and I had to fight them to have an adjuster look at both vehicles and take measurements to see what was feasible.

They called me back and confirmed that I had scratched the bumper exactly as I described but they had concluded that due to the height of my truck there was no way I could have caused the rest of the damage to her bumper or fenders. Upon this finding she renounced her statement and I think she got a check from my insurance for like $150 or so. I hope her insurance dropped her after she lied to them on a recorded statement.

 

People are often assholes, unfortunately. At least you came out of it ok, but proof positive that insurance companies don’t just automatically work to do the right thing…

 

Car insurance needs reform, man. I frequently watch dash cam videos and there are sooooo many cases of this kind of crap, where the other person can lie and face 0 consequences when it's deemed they lied. Also, insurance needs to stop paying out automatically for people without insurance. Ruin their lives; stop rewarding people's irresponsibility.

 

Update #2. My insurance sent someone today who took photos and measurements...I feel like a dip for backing into her car under 2 miles an hour in my own apartment building parking slot. I was driving by "using the Force" and didn't really look behind me as intently as I should have because I KNEW I had a couple feet (but turns out it was just a few inches between us).

Anyone can see from the photos that S-10 had tons of pre existing damage, but I can't prove it. I did some checking, and my last car wreck was the same damn thing in 1991; I was backing out of a pizza place and hit a parked pick up truck lolz. Since that was 29 damn years ago, I would hope they spot me 'accident forgiveness."

 

With any luck they will do a good job and come up with the evidence to protect your case. Remember that your insurance companies goal is to spend as little money as possible by proving the other party wrong

 

Final update: Called my insurance company today, all they told me is I will "see the accident reflected on my bill in October." I drive like a grandma and have two accidents (both fender benders by backing into cars), and two speeding tickets (both tickets were from traffic light cams that sent me the citation in the mail) since 1991. 30 years. Hope it's another 30 years before back into another car.

 

Can’t believe your neighbor never tried to work it out with you directly.

As for the premium increase, if the paid out dollar amount is below a certain threshold, for my company and state I believe it’s $1500, then the impact is negligible for a single accident.

Anyway forget about it and enjoy your weekend.

 

Surprised she’s not claiming an injury even though she wasn’t in the vehicle....

 

No idea what the laws in state/province are, but in most, there is provision for dispute. IF they are accepting her contention and passing the cost on to you, then you should be able to dispute that. If they're simply paying her for the damage you actually caused, well, fair enough. Measure the marks on your vehicle, measure those on hers, take some close-up photos of her damage so that you can see the oxidation/dirt, and diagram the incident. It sounds like maybe the insurance company thought this was too minor to bother actually investigating, and simply took the easy way out.

 

Right, I would fight it with my company. The problem is not this accident. The problem is if you bump somebody next year then your really screwed. That lady never deserved to have you even admit it. Plus now your truck has a Carfax on it. Probably doesn't matter, but for others a bad Carfax can take lots of money off your trade.