small car accident .. dont know what to do..?

Question

Can someone help me out?

a month ago, my friend borrowed my car, and got into a small accident. The man decided to follow my friend to my house since it was on the next block this had happened.
He seemed to be very friendly, admited it was his fault, and said he was i a hurry to drive his wife to the airport she was a flight attendant and didnt want to be late. He said he left his insurance card in his other car..I thought to myself, it happens, accidents do happen, so he gave me his drivers license, i wrote down all the information, he gave me his home telephone number.
So I called him back a few days later, he told me he was on the phone and couldnt talk, i was like oookkk. so i called him back 2 minutes later and asked him for his insurance policy number.
He said that since it was such a small dent, then he would pay me cash.so i went ahead, and got n estimate on the damage, $1,200.
My husband called him 2 weeks ago and left a message and told him the estimate. He never cal

he never called back. today my husband called him and the man said wrong number. ohh what do i do?? police report? or was it my fault for not reporting this the first day?

Answer 1

OK, here's your options. It seems that the guy who hit your car isn't owning up to his responsibilities. Depending upon where you live you may be able to contact the department of motor vehicles and obtain insurance & registration information. However, I suspect that this slime ball was uninsured. In this case you may have to sue him in small claims court. To do this, contact your county court and ask for information. They will tell you what is necessary and may give you information on how to prove your case. I hope you got his name, address, telephone number and hopefully his driver's license ID number, along with the make, model, year and license plate from his car. When suing someone in small claims court, come with evidence in hand on the day of your hearing. Take lots of photos of the car, showing the damage and hopefully you have photos of the car before the accident, showing no damage. Also, take photos of the accident site, showing if the other guy had a stop sign, red light or the like. remember that when you take pictures, although you may need some close ups, you must realize that any judge may not know the location and you should have soem "set up" pictures to show the general area. Finally, get more than one estimate and tell the body shop thta you need the estimate "certified" (If this is required in your state, the body shop should know what this means.) good luck

Answer 2

It should have been reported the day it happened, but whereas it didn't and you still have some information on the guy- I would go to the police and then to your insurance company. You might never see the money this person claimed he would give you because from the sounds of it- he doesn't have insurance or doesn't want the added expense of the surcharge. To be frank, I think you are screwed. I also thought that you were suppose to keep register and insurance policies in the car in case the police pulled you over- I know they asked for it when we hit an off duty cop's car.

Answer 3

Well, since it happened over a month ago, I'm not really sure there's anything that can be done at this point. You can check with the police dept of the city that the accident occurred in and see if you can still file a report a month after the fact. Since you got his DL info that will be helpful if the officer is able/willing to file a report. The more info you have (vehicle info, plate info, a witness, etc) will be helpful in the long run.
If it's too late to file the report I'm not sure there's anything you can really do except pay for the repairs out of pocket, or claim your deductible and have your insurance take care of it.
Lesson learned I guess....always file a police report just in case there's damage and let insurance companies bicker about it :)
Hope it works out for you.

Answer 4

When that happens, no matter what the other driver says, you should always call the police and have a police report made. If no one is hurt, the police usually makes the reports over the phone. That is your only proof you have if it ever came to a lawsuit, that the other person was at fault. Without a report, my guess would be to forget about it and accept your loss. Sorry to tell you this, but I seen it happen so, so many times. That is why so people act so nice and in a hurry at the seen of the accident, to convince you that they are nice and they will repair you car, but they know they are walking away free once that report is not made. If your friend was the one that was driving, I say your ask him/her to help you cover the cost of repair.

Answer 5

Have you contacted your insurance company?
That was the first thing you should've done! If you haven't, do so ASAP. Also, did you get a police report? If you didn't than it is to late to get one now. If I were you I'd contact an attorney. Look for an attorney that does Personal Injury, they usually deal with motor vehicle accidents. They shouldn't charge you any upfront fees. They will do all the work about talking to insurance companies, getting hold of the guy...etc.
Whatever they settle your case for (it sounds that because of all the hassle this guy is making you go through you should get a little over the estimate to fix you car), an attorney will get about a third of it. If you don't want to spend this kind of money than just stick with contacting your insurance and let them do the legwork.

Answer 6

I know what it feels like to be the other guy, the one whos fault it was. If he offers you a sum of 500$ or so, i would take the money. He seems like a nice guy, and if he were to contact his insurance company, they would increase his insurance, which can add up (which happened to me before).

Though it may seem like covering the small dent would cost so little, your probably wondering why the cost is 1,200. LABOR! Most of the cost is labor, the repair can cost so much because it is coming from the other guy's insurance, which can take a high toll on his insurance increasement.

Really, if its not a big deal (small dent), you should take the money he offers, then you will actually have money, and your insurance wont pay for your small dent, everyones happy.

Answer 7

Call the police and make a report. Call your insurance agent and make a report. You have the guys info. What will likely happen is that your insurance (depending on your policy details) will pay for your repairs. They will then find this guy and track him down and sue his insurance (if he has any) for the money they paid out. They may also name your friend in the suit to recover from their insurance.

When another car is involved ALWAYS call your insurance. Since the guy said he'd pay cash it's probably b/c he doesn't have insurance. YOur insurance may still sue him and get a judgment lien against him if he doesn't pay.

Answer 8

Take him to small claims court. Just make sure you have proof that it was his fault. If you have some kind of evidence of him admitting it was all his fault, then you have him by the balls for sure. The judge might lean into you a bit for not calling the police and getting an official police report and calling the insurance, but the bottom line is, its his fault and he owes you money and the judge will make him pay.

Answer 9

You and your husband should call the insurance company from a blocked number or a different persons house, and ask them anonymously what to do. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR NAME.

The other guy may have already filed a police report for a hit and run, but the insurance people will know what to do. DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR NAME OR ANYTHING!

Answer 10

You can still report it. Your insurance might give you a little grief but if it was his fault you should be o.k. If the guy dosen't answer when you call him then let it be and go and get yourself a lawyer. Don't ever take money for an accident. Your going to need some sort of paper trail if you want to sue him which i recomend if he's avoiding you. Most importantly, don't let this ****** get away with that.