5 car accident... uninsured motorist...?

Question

My friend and I were in the fastlane on the freeway probably going 55 mph. the traffic slowed down to 10-20 mph very abruptly and a collision with the car in front of us almost occurred. Traffic started moving forward again, then she (my friend) began to move forward and we looked at each other with the thought of "WOW, that WAS close" (It was for a split second) Then when we looked back to the road, the car in front of us was now completley stopped and sure enough we hit them.
We do not know what happened.
We don't know if a collision had already occured and we drove into it.
We also don't know if she hit the car and then caused that car to hit the car in front of it and so on until 5 cars became involved.
We were in a newer Ford truck (full size)
I've been told by a reliable source that a vehicle would have a hard time causing that large of a chain reaction going roughly 30-35 mph...
Fortunatley, almost everybody involved seemed OK, and no airbags deployed... (continued)

This is where I need your advice, My friend did not have her policy renewed since 4-5 months ago. The police officer took her old policy number anyways and let us go. She doesn't know what to do and I don't know what to tell her. She doesn't care about the truck but is scared beyond belief about all the other cars and drivers. Her truck was still able to opperate.
I need sound advice to help calm her down, She thinks her life is over... Please, honesty is good but don't try and scare us more unless you know it's the absolute truth. Yes she knows her policy was probably expired but she didn't know it happened 4-5 months ago. I know this girl, she is a good person, The only reason she didn't have insurance is because she has no money, She doesn't drink or smoke and is still barely scraping by paycheck to paycheck, All her money is going to her lawyer expenses from a bad divorce, and all the bills associated with it.
This just happened today
Do you have any ideas?

Answer 1

I have no good ideas. All I can tell you is this- the other people will tell their version to their insurance companies and the investigation will determine who owes this. The hard part is that neither of you knows what happened, so you will make poor witnesses on your own behalf. That's the harsh reality. You just won't be able to dispute any of the other impact sequence claims.

From there the insurance companies will determine if they will want to get the money back from her that they pay out. If someone in the accident has no insurance they may sue her independently. Your friend should review her options, which may really include bankruptcy filing. A lot of people do it when they do have insurance and they are being sued, especially if the policy limit they carry may not be enough to pay for the judgment entered against them. I am not saying she should do it, just that I've seen people do it. I believe it won't cost her that much more to ask her attorney for his advice if she's already paying for him to handle her other problems

So she can afford gas and all that, but not insurance? I'm sorry, I know it's tough and I won't judge. Good luck!

Answer 2

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but she has liability in this loss. My knowledge comes from working claims in Kansas and it is likely that your state laws are different. It appears from what I can read that she is at the very least responsible for the rear end damage of the car in front of her and most likely a % of the other cars damage. As a claims adjustor I would say going 30-35 MPH it is likely that there were multiple impacts on the cars in front and she carries some fault. What happens most of the time is that people will go to their own insurance to take care of the damage. The insurance companies will then go after your friends insurance or her if she had none. They will turn her into a collection agency and pursue her in court. The biggest disadvantage to not having insurance is that no one will be working on her behalf to support her interests. She is going to get hosed. I hope no one decides to show up with a whiplash injury. Hopefully it will just be the property damage she will have to reimburse. Legally there is a chance that she will be turned into the state and prosecuted for no insurance but that rarely happens. With regards to her truck, if she owes money on it and is uninsured then she is in violation of her loan (she is required to keep full coverage) and they could repossess her vehicle if they found out or they could insure it themselves and charge an outrageous fee. Some unsolicited advice… If she is so poor that she cannot afford insurance than she should not be driving a new Ford full size truck! Why doesn't she sell the new full size pickup and get a $7,000 Suzuki. The $20,000 difference in price on the vehicles would allow her to obtain insurance. I am sorry I know that is none of my business I just get angry when people think insurance is a bill they can pass on paying. It is always the uninsured person that is at fault in the loss and the innocent person that ends up paying.

Answer 3

First offense for driving without insurance is roughly a thousand dollar fine and a drivers license suspension of 90 days. Actually the person at the very front will be the most helpful in determing who hit who in what order as they were in a poition to feel ALL the bumps. 4 cars being pushed into him would only be 1 initial impact, in a chain reaction he would've felt 4 impacts each one a little less.if he felt 3 impacts he has hit by #2 who was hit by #3 #4 stopped but #5 hit #4 pushing into #3 with only 1 impact felt by #1. Clear as mud? To make a long story short the person at the rear of the pack is ALWAYS screwed because they did in fact HIT someone else regardless if they were already in an accident or not. I am sure she is a very good person and hopefully things go as smooth as possible, but fact of the matter is un-insured in an accident is not somehting the court system looks upon lightly, its not just the cars that get mangeld it's the people who suffer from whiplash and other injuries, the court looks at it as if you ran up to someone and beat them with a baseball bat and Accident specialty lawyers are goign to eat her alive especially with her at the back of the pack and un-insured.

Answer 4

That is a tough situation, and the only thing to do is get a lawyer. There have been times in my life when I was younger and drove without insurance for a couple of years. The fact that I wasn't insured never left my mind and I drove *very* carefully but was always paranoid someone else would hit me, or I might just screw up. But back then they didn't ask for insurance cards when you got pulled over like they do now. I suppose that works, because I've had insurance since then.

I don't think you're going to find an easy way out. But it's not like anyone's life is over!! Tell her that there are going to be some serious hoops to jump through on this one, and the only thing to do now is to calm down and think about this rationally. In a few years this won't matter anymore. Toughen up, think rationally. There's probably a lawyer(s) around there who specializes and is experienced in traffic cases. Hire him/her.

Answer 5

1) she was distracted in the fact she was talking with you and looked back toward the road. That in and of itself makes her at fault in regards to the vehicle she hit.

2) Her insurance is expired and is no good to her or anyone else. The officer at the scene should have written her a citation for no insurance or at least no valid proof of insurance. Since he didn't, she probably will not face any criminal charges.

3) Check the police report that was filed. It should show who the officer thought was at fault. It should also explain why traffic was stopped and if all five vehicles were involved in one crash or separate collisions.

4) She can contact an attorney who can advise her of the legal ramifications in your state. She can sue the other parties involved but it will not get her any where. As I stated earlier she is at fault for the collision with the vehicle she hit from behind.

5) Let this be a learning experience. She needs insurance. Not just to be legal, but to protect herself in just this situation.

Answer 6

Regardless if the policy was active, or dead in any state when you rearend a veh your almost always found at fault. Now the percentage of the accident may vary. Example if you rearended the veh, but it was due to that veh hitting another veh, and so forth. Your insurance company may state that your only 60 percent at fault. So damages on your part may be less. Now if theh policy was inactive, or out of force you may be able to contest that stating you were never made aware of that, but you would need to prove so. Worse case scenario may be that if your friend is found at fault, and has no insurance depending on state you live in they may pay for any damages, and take her license until she pays it back.

Answer 7

Well- im gonna be honest here-

she is definately going to be held accountable for the rear of the first car she hit- and likely atleast partially responsible for the other vehicles damage.

Unfortunately- the other insurance companies would normally bill her insurance for repairs- since she does not have insurance- she will get the bill for their repairs as well as rental cars (and potentially injuries) sent directly to her.

She can likely work out a payment plan with the insurance companies to pay them back..

Answer 8

Continued?