who is at fault in this car accident?

Question

i hit a car that was parked out in the two lane road at the guys house. i don't have insurance. anyways i have little damage to my car. his inside front bumper is dangling. i offered to pay him 2000.00. it was iced out completely at night. his car is not even worth 800.00. it is not registered as any value in the blue books. anyways i found out that he was in a "no parking zone." i want to settle for 1400.00. he is at fault 100% first for no parking zone. no police were called and he has not taken the car to get a estimate. what happens if i tell him to see me in court if he does not agree to 1400.00?

i hit a car that was parked out in the two lane road at the guys house. i don't have insurance. anyways i have little damage to my car. his inside front bumper is dangling. i offered to pay him 2000.00. it was iced out completely at night. his car is not even worth 800.00. it is not registered as any value in the blue books. anyways i found out that he was in a "no parking zone." i want to settle for 1400.00. he is at fault 100% first for no parking zone. no police were called and he has not taken the car to get a estimate. what happens if i tell him to see me in court if he does not agree to 1400.00? i tried to go around his car and another car was coming. i tried to hit the curb but i bounced off.

Answer 1

first of all did you ask him if he is in "no parking?" he might have a house with parking. next you want to know if he called the police. if the police did not write a ticket or get a hold of you within the first 72 hours then no he didn't. if he did not report that he was hit by you within the first 72 hours then you have won the case. however to keep him from taking you to court due to the fact that you did not give him a "fair car accident settlement offer" then he can still argue that you are guilty and the court will go with his request for the damages. then that goes into your "court records" on the internet. don't let that happen. here is an idea to force him to surrender his will to you. give him offer one. tell him that you will pay him 2,000.00 within 6 months. get it in writing. give him offer 2. tell him that you will pay him 1,400.00 within 90 days. give him an offer that he has to sign. in the offer make sure that you do not have to have a notarized signature for the agreement that he signs. make sure that you include that he is not allowed to take you to court for the money until the time expires. do not hand him any cash until he signs the papers that you have. you both will come to a "fair car accident settlement offer" do not allow the insurance agents to get involved. they consider you both morons and will just add in fees to their benefit. if there are damages to his car and not yours then you can have him sign that before you pay. make sure he signs the facts before you hand him cash. do things to make him wait for money. he will be happy to sign on the dotted line for cash.

Answer 2

HEYYYYYY Listen up!! Driving w/out ins while illegal, does not make any accident you are in your fault....just like driving w/out a license doesn't make any accident your fault. FAULT is determined by material facts.

Don't believe he's at fault because he was illegally parked...if that were true do you know how many illegally parked jerks I would "nudge" w my truck? I HAVE insurance, doesn't affect my being at fault or not!!

I know from a similar experience one of my clients had that you are at fault (sorry). The fact that he was in a no parking zone doesn't make it not your fault for hitting him.

Not having ins is tough, but not something you can't resolve. Even if you had insurance you are NEVER required to use it if you want to handle it personally.

ASk for two estimates to repair the damage. You have every right to select the lower of the two & pay him the amount. If the amount of damage is over what the value of the vehicle (retail), you may actually offer to pay him the full amount it's worth & not pay for damages beyond that figure. An insurance company won't.

Offer whichever one of those applies, send a copy to him by registered mail so you have proof you made a reasonable attempt to pay.

If he goes to court you produce proof of your attempt to handle your liability & a judge will take it from there & could dismiss completely as a frivolous, or worst case get him to accept only what you are responsible for. Good Luck

Answer 3

Does your state require you to have insurance and you just don't or does it not require insurance at all? Either way, you should always have insurance...rant!

Since his car was PARKED and you were DRIVING, you are 100 percent responsible for the accident. His being in a no parking zone has no impact on fault, if it was off the traveled roadway.

Regardless, since you a) didn't fill a report with the police and b) he didn't contact his insurance company it is a pretty messed up situation.

I would not offer him any money, let him file a claim or take you to court...if you pay him any money, get things in WRITING...

Answer 4

Regardless of whether he was parked in the no parking zone, you are at fault. However, your mistake was offering him anything at all in compensation. The courts will now take the offer as an admission of guilt. You should allow the courts to settle this dilemma. I would venture a guess that the courts would have said you were 50% at fault and render a judgement of 50% of the estimate. Now that you have made an offer, I'm not sure if they would look so favourably towards that outcome. Good luck.

Answer 5

Sorry, you hit a parked car, therefore it's YOUR fault primarily. In a comparative negligence state he might bear 20% responsibility for parking in a restricted area. In some jurisdictions since you didn't have insurance you'll be held 100% liable.

Your liability to him is generally limited to the actual cost of repairs or the actual cash value of the car, whichever is less. If he takes you to court, that's what the judge will say. Just before he has the DA or PA file charges of driving without insurance against you, that is.

If you offered to pay $2k, and he accepted it, the judge will probalby tell you to pay what you agreed to pay -- No Parking zone be damned.

Answer 6

Your first words...

i hit a car that was parked

That's enough right there. You hit a parked car. Your fault.

Yeah, but it was a no parking zone.
Yeah, but you didn't have insurance and shouldn't have been out there driving without it.

Yeah, but it was icy.
Yeah, but you didn't slow down to compensate for that, or the accident wouldn't have happened.

He is 100% wrong for being in a no parking zone.
You are 100% wrong for driving without insurance.

What happens if you see him in court? He will present his facts and you will present yours, and the judge will make a ruling. Whoever lost will pay the other and pay all the court costs.

Answer 7

The police will not issue a citation to him. Once he turns the claim over to his insurance company they will investigate the accident. Since you have no insurance, you could be reported by his insurance company and i imagine legal action taken against you. They could determine that the fault was his, but w/o an insurance company to go to bat for you, I doubt they would fault him.
I would offer him no more than than you have. If he doesn't accept, let his insurance company handle it and deal with whatever consequences emerge.

Answer 8

Your case is why you never drive without insurance. No matter who was right or wrong, you lose. If a police report is taken then you lose your license. If the guy refuses to accept your payment amount, then he can report you to the police as being uninsured. All he has to do is complain to his insurance company. You are pretty much screwed when you take a risk and drive with no insurance.

Answer 9

Shame on you for driving without insurance. Good thing you hit a car and not a kid.

You are at fault for this accident. You cant just hit something b/c its parked illegally.

You owe for damages to his vehicle or the actual cash value of his vehicle (whichever is cheaper) instead of just throwing out numbers to him i suggest you have him get an estimate.

Then head to nada.com or kbb.com and see the value of the vehicle. pay him whichever is less.

Answer 10

im sorry to say wether he was parked in no park zone or not its still your fault. You were operating your vehicle and he was not and you hit his car. Even if it was parked in the middle of the highway you hit it its your fault unfortunatly.If he did not report the accident to the police in 72 hours the statute of limitations is no longer affective. Meaning he will be responsible for his own car and so will you. by law he has to report a accident in 72 hours or he cannot at all. so you are in luck fix your car forget him and have a nice day