I was Just in A Hit and Run 4 car accident! What would be the best action to take?

Question

It was pouring down raining last night, I was leaving the mall from doing some shopping, When an SUV hit a honda, that hit me(infinti I30), which made me hit a pick up truck! Yes my car is totaled. I am pissed because I only had it for 3 months. The driver in the SUV fled the seen, but the dummies license plate fell off, so the police has his information. I only have liabilty on my car. My insurance company is closed for the holidays so I can't report it. My lawyers office is closed. What do I do? Wait? Who pays and who doesn't?

Answer 1

Okay...since you only have liability insurance you are at the mercy of the other driver's insurance company in terms of compensation for your vehicle damage and injury claim if you were hurt.
-If the police or your insurance company find out that the driver didn't have insurance check your policy for Uninsured Motorist Coverage. If you have this coverage then you can resolve all damages under your policy.
-If the driver did have insurance file a claim with his insurance company immediately with the policy number. Go online and type in the name of the insurance company and keyword claims. You'll usually get a phone number or a website for the insurance company. You can call the police officer responsible for writing the report normally after a day or so and he/she can provide you with the other driver's insurance information. The police officer can run the plate or give you the plate# and your insurance agent/adjuster can run it and provide you with info depending on the state.

Answer 2

What insurance company do you go thru? Some of the insurance company's has a 800 number to call after hours too. The hit and run driver will get the whole blame on the accident. They probably will also get a hefty fine out of it for leaving the scenes of an accident. Also if the police dept has the license plate from the SUV they will find that person.

Answer 3

95% of the time the driver in the very back's insurance company will be 100% liable for all the vehicles involved damages. Now, they will throughly investigate beforehand if any rear end accidents happened prior to their driver striking the 2nd vehicle.

Now- if this driver does in fact have insurance (there is always the possibility they do not) and their insurance finds the driver 100% at fault they would next need to see if their was enough coverage on his policy to pay out. (for example- if his policy only covered 10k in property damage they will likely have an excess issue.)

To make a long story short- the easiest route in cases like this is to go through your own collision coverage and have your insurance company attempt to get yoru deductible back from the at fault party for you.

P.S. there is NO REASON to get a lawyer involved at this point... they will slow things down if anything and your insurance company will not be allowed to speak with you.

Answer 4

From my experience (I am not an insurance agent or legal rep)., the liability gets divided by the insurance companies and each pays according to the liability. There are some things that immediately must happen; I think you did them already:
- Check that nobody is hurt; call for medical help if necesssary
- Call police (there are some exceptions)
- Get the license number, plates and insurance info for everyone involved before the police are there
- DO NOT ESTABLISH BLAME AT THE SCENE. it only leads to conflict and you won't decide who gets the blame anyway...insurance does
- Call insurance

Since you did this, I would devine that the accident will work out this way:
- Everyone is expected to keep a proper car length from the car in front of them. Unless the front driver performs an illegal action, such as illegal lane change or such. You are responsible for hitting them. Yeah, in your case you didn;t do it, but you have some minor responsibility for hitting the car, even if you are pushed. You could have stayed farther apart. [It sucks, but I believe they will look at it this way]. Some claim that if you slam on your brakes and get rear-ended you are at fault....not so. It is the car in the back that bears the responsibility for proper car distance in emergency stop. Tailgaters beware.
- Clearly the car in the back (call it Car#4)that left the scene is the slime that caused the whole thing. He complicated it by leaving the scene and will likely get a hefty fine and maybe lose the license for the irresponsibility.
- All the other cars, except the car in front (call it Car#1) of you were pushed except for the car in front. That car is a total victim and has no responsibility for the accident. The two middle cars have a minor responsibility and the last car has a major responsibility.
- Each will have different insurances and coverages. if some have none, the burden of uninsured driver may get covered by each.


So if the total cost is divided among the 4 cars with all other things even.
Car #1 - 0% responsible (their insurance pays nothing)
Car #2-20% responsible (this is you; responsible for your front end damage and car#1)
Car #3-20% responsible (responsible for front end damge and your rear end damage)
Car #4-60% responsible (the one that fled) as the cause and for the damage to others.

This is as a basis, perhaps car #4 will get more burden because of the ticket and criminal action.
Perhaps all will carry the burden, including car #1, if car #4 is uninsured.
The cost may be divided up by the damage cost. If your front end and the car#1 rear end is less than your deductable, you may have nothing or a few hundred out of pocket to pay for the other's damage.

I would discuss this with the insurance agent in this basis....negotiate your burden in this so they rpresent you appropriately. Car #4 insurance will try to distribute the damage to others, not costing you more directly, but raising your rates due to the excessive cost incurred. Make sure your agent represents your position, but be realistic about your responsibility.

Get the police report copy. It may cost you a few bucks. Be sure that it is accurate. The insurance bases the damages on this and misrepresentation may may you the culprit.

One more thing...there is no medical claims or property claims now, but a stiff neck from a whiplash can occur later. If ANYONE makes a medical claim, this can get messier and involve the courts. You insurance handles it, but that is why you have comprehensive insurance as the basis for your auto insurance. It covers these random damages. I doubt if only have liability...if your state allows that and you have no comprehensive insurance, you're a fool. You could be sued for millions if you hit a kid or damaged a building...and it would come out of your pocket. You'd lose your Infinity, house and assets...

This is my opinion.

Answer 5

First, its good that you had police interaction - that's always the first step.

Next, call the insurance company. A few things will happen:

(a) They track down the at fault driver and the other parties's insurance will pay for the damages.

(b) If they can't track down the driver OR the driver has no insurance, they look at your policy. If you have uninsured motorist property damage then you can get the vehicle repaired or replaced.

(c) You may be asked to cover it under your collision, which will be later reimbursed to you at a later point.

Answer 6

Why don't you have collision coverage on an Infinity? If the driver of the SUV doesn't have insurance you may as well continue to be pi$$ed-off. You can run to your lawyer if you want to but you are going to end up with a totaled car and a stack of legal bills.

Answer 7

Call your insurance company. They all have 24/365 claims numbers. Hopefully you have Uninsured Motorist coverage. If not, it's a good thing that the other bugger's tags fell off. Hopefully HE does have insurance. If he doesn't, you may have a big problem on your hands. Contact the police and get the driver's details.

Answer 8

The best action to take: HIT something! Then RUN!

Seriously though, assuming that the events happen exactly as you described them, you will probably be off the hook. If the driver that originally caused it has insurance, their insurance will fix your car, or get you a used one of equal value if they choose to total it. If they are uninsured, some states have a public fund to pay for their mistakes, some don't. It depends on where you live. Sadly, you're probably going to have to wait until after Xmas, but take care of it ASAP.

Answer 9

Since it's the holidays, you'll have to wait. Since the police have the license plate, they'll probably find the owner of the SUV. Hope noone was hurt. Good luck.

Answer 10

As long as you filed a police report and got a field report, you'll be fine.