Fender bender help, off topic I know

Oh yeah I got one of those on my passenger side. I could not drive without it!!!!

 

Those are great. I don't get why some people don't use them, even on a small car it's so much easier and safer to check those mirrors for your blind spot than it is to turn your head away from the road every time you want to change lanes. Though I'd wager most people in this area don't even bother to do that.

And yeah, 95% of the time I back into parking spaces ( to the haters) and those make it a piece of cake

 

By the looks of that piece of shit, a burnt out brake light would have totaled it.

They didn't give her a big fat check. If anything, they gave her what it was worth, which, again, wasn't much.

I used to drive this POS car, and used to joke that if the battery went bad insurance would total it.

But yeah, there are 2 things you need to get over:

1) that you had a *very* minor collision. Big whoop.

2) how much the insurance is or isn't paying this person. None of that is your concern, and it doesn't affect you in the slightest. You are paying your deductible, nothing more. If teh insurance wants to pay her a million bucks, that's on them, not you.

 

Welllll….the dollar amount paid out may matter in terms of what impact there is on the policy premium.

I believe the threshold between “minor” and not minor is in the $1500-$2000 neighborhood and there’s a substantial difference between the two as far as rise in premium. Depends on the policy, insurance company and state though.

 

I can’t help but wonder if the auto got reported for non current tags and towed…

 

UPDATE ON GOOFY FENDER BENDER SITUTATION: Well, it's been a month and a half and it's still unresolved. Maybe someone out there is in the insurance biz and can shed some light on this weird situation. Okay, like a dummy I backed into my neighbor ladies piece of junk S-10 that has not had tags since 2019, still has snow tires on it, and does not run. We exchange info, and two days later the truck disappears! I thought, "Wow, they must have totaled it rather than fix it, they said I would get a bill in October, hope it's not too bad." Over a week later I come home and THERE THE TRUCK IS BACK IN THE PARKING SPACE. I didn't want to talk to that lady again, but I wanted to know what happened. She said, "They towed it to a place and couldn't find a door for it." Now, wait a minute, the insurance company can't send an adjuster out to take a few pictures and make an estimate. Then she says, "They couldn't find a door for it." Huh? The scratches I put on the door can be expertly removed to where you can't even see them. Besides the damn door is dented and primer painted from previous wrecks years ago (that I obviously did not do). WTF? And aren't S-10 parts out there by the thousands?

Now I call my insurance company, didn't want to, but had to know what the Sam Hill is going on with this junk truck that needs to be sent to the car crusher. They said, "She doesn't have a title, we're not going to pay her without a title. She said she's working on getting a bill of sale." Okay, cool, but why the hell did they pay a fortune to tow the car in to get appraised in this day and age? And then pay another fortune to have it flat bed trucked back into its parking spot again? This S-10 is thrashed and worth nothing. What is going on here?

Thanks for any ideas

 

Sounds like she doesn't have a right to be driving it, so she had it towed to some body shop for quote/repair. That shop can't find an aftermarket door, and it would be too much of a hassle to track one down in a junk yard and they were tired of having it in their shop so they made her take it back. She was expecting your insurance would cover all this.
First glance theory, at least.

 

I agree with all that.

Looking forward, she will have to get a bill of sale, go through the state DMV to get title. I assume I'm on the hook for my mistake once she gets that title. Or is there a time limitation? Can a year go by and I'm still liable, or does she have so many weeks to make get a title in her name and make a valid claim?

 

You should be asking those questions to your insurance.

At the moment. The "lady" doesn't have a title, its not registered, therefore she has no legal claim to the S-10.

You could play a sh1tty card. Call the living complex and complain about an abandoned, unregistered vehicle. Generally, the management/owners of the complex do not want abandoned, unregistered vehicles clogging up limited parking places. There is likely a paragraph in the lease detailing vehicle requirements and parking privileges.

 

The odds that this lady actually has a bill of sale can’t be very high. I’m rootin’ for ya, OP.

 

It could be that she had it towed but I don't think she would pay to do that.
The auto insurance industry is changing. Most of the time the days of a person coming to your house to take photos and write an estimate are over. Insurance companies are trying to do more with less these days by writing estimates virtually via photos. My guess is that the S10 "owner" couldn't or didn't want to send them photos. Your insurance company didn't have any available staff in the area so they had the truck towed to one of their network shops and asked them to do an estimate. The shop probably didn't know you only scratched the already wasted door and wrote an estimate to replace it. GM made so many S10's but most of those that haven't been crushed yet probably have doors that are in the same shape as hers. Shop didn't want to work on that pile and then sent it back to her house on the insurance companies dime. Just my guess.
Some states have a time frame on how long you can wait to file a claim and collect damages. In your case the claim has been filed they just don't know who to pay yet.

 

Thanks for the help. I don't want to call the landlord to have it towed away, I just want this over and done with. I told the company I put some scratches on the side, but it looks like they're going to charge me for the whole door replacement. But if she can't get a title, I guess the time limit will lapse and she will get nothing...and I will get a bunch of angry looks from her. I deserve it, I did hit her car, but why is she keeping this hunk of junk S-10 around? End new those trucks sucked

 

If you haven’t been in an accident in 20+ years I’d call your insurance and let them deal with it. Assuming $500-1000 deductible is less than whatever she’s asking. Your rates shouldn’t rise much and they may put the pressure on her to be honest.

 

Often times backing into a space is way easier and definitely easier pulling out… Although I rarely pull out. That’s why I have 9 kids. I’ll never learn.

 

OP is already working with his insurance company; they won’t pay out to his neighbor for damages until she produces a title for the truck.

 

Any updates?

 

I wish there was an answer. The woman that lives next door does not own the truck I hit, told my insurance company that "she's working on getting a bill of sale", but that's the last I heard of it and my rates have not gone up.

The truck was towed away a few weeks ago and I hope I never see it again. All it takes is one lapse of judgement for a second to cause months of stress and a pain in the A

 

At this point. You've done all you can do. Forget it and move on with life.