Someone mildly rear-ends your Tacoma, do you pursue payment?

I had someone hit me from behind and wasnt bad so i told her ins. to send me the check and I would fix. They told me that they needed the name and address of a shop to send the money to instead. I then went to the doctor with my neck hurting and called her ins. man again and told him I needed $2000.00 for pain and suffering. I went and picked up a check....

 

I'd ask them to fix the bumper, if they say no, then i'd file.

 

If you didn't get his insurance info and I were him I'd tell you to go pound sand if you wanted compensation. This is a hard lesson that alot of people go through. I went through it once and from then on if I am in an accident I get all of the information and call the police if it is an option.

 

This happened in Oct '11. Call me crazy but I'm betting this is resolved by now. Just sayin.

 

Get it fixed using the kids money. Not sure if they were driving like a bat out of hell but id make them pay for it to learn a lesson if they were riding your tail.

 

yea i agree. tell her if she wants to go threw insurance you wont lie to them.
and a kid hit the side of my truck. but i have rock rails with a kick up and that destoyed the side of his car. but his mirror dented my bed pannel. i went to a couple of places and gave them the cheapest quote i could get. they wrote me a check and i went out and got front and back fiberglass fender flares.

 

id let it go, just remember what goes around comes around, ive hit someone and theyve let it go and someones hit me before and i let it go.

 

I'd see if they offer to buy you a new bumper with-out insurance. If not, make a claim. Something that small would bug me for years.

 

JEEZus talk about a thread revival, like elmo7 said this happened eons ago. October 2011

 

dammit... IT WAS TACO NUT

 

Ooppss -- was so pissed when I saw it -- did not see the date....never mind....

 

I work in the field and if I were you. I would go with 2 options. You were driving and was hit from behind due to the negligence of the teenager. You're owed honestly to have your truck back to the condition it was before the accident. That is your right and you should pursue it for a few good reasons.

The teen should learn that you have to pay attention to the road and can't be given a easy pass on this. I'm saying young teens are so distracted by so many different things and they need to learn. I know as a teen I didn't care much until I had to work my mistakes off. It makes you really thing about it and in all due honesty. Its a way to mold a teen into a young adult.


1. You should work out a deal with the family and offer a $$$ to part ways without insurance. Teaches a lesson to the teen and lets him/her know the worth of a $. In return I hope the parents make him/her work the amount off. It doesn't have to be a tremendous amount but one that satisfies both parties.

2. You can go thought the insurance route. ​

 

I just had this happen to me hardly any damage collected a check for $1100.00 without going thru my insurance their insurance paid everything.

 

Not everyone wants a plate bumper. If it was mine I'd want it taken care of.

 

Haha, thanks guys. We got it taken care of through insurance and replaced the OEM with a TAG steel bumper.

 

This is my story, sitting at a light facing down hill BUMP, I get out and say to the old guy you just hit me.His response was no you backed up into me.That is when CDL survival mode kicked in (911).If he had not said that I would have let it go .I now own a rear plate bumper thanks to his insurance co.

 

I would have let that go and I am pretty particular about my vehicles. I have been rear ended lightly before too. The bumper on that truck was painted so the scuff and chip were a little more obvious. The lady had the gall to jump out of her car and come look and say "That looks minor, we're good to go, right?"

I ended up sending it to her brother in law's body shop to be refinished free of charge. But if I had your damage I would probably just live with it and move on.

BTW I would NEVER, EVER under any circumstances do that whole 'let's exchange numbers and deal with it later' deal. You are assuming the kid's Mom and Dad will be stand-up people who will take responsibility for it if you reach out to them later without having gotten a police report.

Something similar happened to my mother years ago when I was a kid. Some teenager in his Dad's car hit her. He begged and pleaded with her not to call the cops and to just reach out to his dad later. First thing out of his mouth when she called the house was "I don't know what you're talking about lady, my kid hasn't been in any accidents." CLICK

In a previous truck I was rear ended by a 16 yr old girl (She was a real snot about the situation too) who was in her parents' car and did not have any of the info with her. The damage was fairly serious, my bumper was bent and my frame was tweaked. I called the cops and made them take a report. They let her slide without issuing a citation or anything for not having her paperwork in order, which kind of pissed me off. Because I knew if it was the other way around and it was the grown 200 pound man who was at fault and did not have any of his info rather than the cute crying 16 yr old girl things would have gone differently.

Regardless, The cop gave her 20 days to bring her info to the police station and she was told to report the accident. The family did neither so after 2 weeks driving a damaged truck I had to file with my insurance and make them track down the family's information and get the ball rolling that way. But I had a police report I was able to forward them. Considering the parents did not report to their insurance or go to the police station like they were supposed to, I think there was a good chance they would have tried to say I was lying if I did not have a report to back me up.

So I don't care who you are, what kind of rush you are in, or how much you beg. If the damage is serious we are going through all the motions before we leave the scene and a police officer will witness and document everything assuming we are in a locality where they still respond to fender benders. The only way I let it slide is if there is no damage.

 

Same thing happened to me in my "new-to-me" '98 PreRunner: guy hit me at an intersection, gave me phoney insurance information, I didn't make a police report, and he never fixed the damage. I ended up paying my uninsured motorist deductible because my insurance company wouldn't pursue the other driver.

When I got rear ended last New Years Eve at a stoplight, I called 911 and even though I had to plead with the dispatcher to send out an officer on such a busy night, I wasn't going to get screwed over again.

My advice to the OP, since you didn't make a police report, get the damage fixed or else you'll think about it every time you walk to the back of your truck...

 

I thank everyone for the insight. Now, go back 4 posts and look at the shiney (ie powder coated)new TAG bumper

Luckily, it went very well with the kid's mom, I got his vehicle info, and insurance when off without a hiccup.

 

MrsPib, I like how your truck is a 6 spd 6 cyl and your husband's is a 5 spd 4 cyl