ACCIDENT-can she do this & get away with it?

Question

the lady ahead of me looks left and turns right, I turn my head quickly left to see that I was still clear, see there are no cars and I start heading out as well, when BAM!.I guess she decided not to pull out after all .I rear ended her at less than 5mph. No damage to her car,a little paint on mine and a damaged headlight cover. (my right front hit her left back, she was a bit out of the lane when she was pulling out)
She gets out and calls the police &raves about how lucky I am, this being my first accident that it was so trivial and no one was hurt at all-tells me all about how used to accidents she is since she's had so many. Police come to file the report and give me my ticket (FIRST ONE EVER) and this ladies mother comes to get her kid to take him to his party he was missing.lady tells the officer "I want you to look at my son so you can see he is OK, because I want him to go ahead and leave".She calls her hubby to tell him she is fine & how minor it was
She just (cont.)

called my insurance company claiming she and her son were severely injured. Obviously she is lying, even the claims lady said it was a bit suspicious that anyone could be severely injured or injured at all in this type of accident. Naturally I informed them of the NON damage and her statements over and over again about how trivial and silly this accident was and how fine everyone was.
Will she get away with her lie?

Answer 1

If they were injured they would have gone to an emergency room to get treatment. They will probably now go to all sorts of doctors to try and "build" a case. It is just the way things are here, you get in a fendor bender and everyone thinks they will get a bazillion dollars for pain, suffering and inconvenience. The police wrote a report and that will become evidence. The repairs on the cars will also be evidence. It is now going to be a negotiation between your insurance company and their insurance company. You can expect to give at least two recorded statements, to your ins co and hers. You don't have to do either, but they will not tell you this. But if the facts are as you describe, you gan give them the statements and, in time, the case will work itself out. Insurance companies ( hers and yours ) know that there are two sides to every story. They also know that everyone thinks car accidents mean you can get rich fast at someone else's expense. And if she is really going to try and work the game, unless she is a pro at fraud, she will not be able to convince either ins co of her stories. I would not worry to much about it.

Answer 2

OK. First you were at fault. You put your foot on a gas pedal or took it off a brake pedal without a lane of traffic in front of you. Period.

We are only getting your side of the accident as well, and it's human nature to be self-biased. Your personal embellishments and characterizations demonstrate that.

It is possible that there was an injury that was not noticable at first. Shock of an accident, adrenaline, concern for her child...a lot of things may come in to play to not make you aware of an accident. I was the middle car in a rear-end collision. I suffered no damages, and it appeared the guy I hit had no damages. 30 minutes later he became very dizzy and ill - almost passing out. Ends up he had a serious concussion that he didn't notice until he ended up in the back of the ambulance! Some internal injuries may not be noticeable initially either.

That being said, she probably is trying to milk the insurance company. They'll go to work on it (which is why you pay the insurance). IF there is merit to her claim...they'll pay. If it is cheaper to give money to her to shut her up...they'll pay. It's in their cost-benefit analysis what each case is worth. It's not really your fight anymore.

Hang in there...no one thinks you are a bad person and whether she was injured or not won't change people's opinion of you or your driving skills!

Answer 3

Well, she can try. And unfortunately there are people that make a decent living by doing just this type of thing. Sometimes the insurance will pay a certain amount of money to avoid litigation. Let your insurance company handle this, keep a copy of the accident report and best of luck!

Answer 4

Get a copy of the police report and give it to your insurance man.

That is what will be used to validate the accident, injury, etc.

It was your fault but she can't rake you over the coals unless she was injured. If the police report indicates there were no injuries and describes the low-speed impact, your insurance company will tell them to go jump.

Answer 5

Maybe. It will depend on how much of this she said to other people besides you. The police report will be very important. Also the fact that she sent her son on his way and did not seek medical assistance for him at that time.

You'll have to let the insurance company work through it.

Answer 6

More than likely she will not. This is called insurance fraud, and there are people that get paid to investigate this kind of thing. Try not to let yourself get too worked up about it, and let the insurance company do their job. That's what we pay insurance for.

Answer 7

I doubt it because there was an officer there and he heard everything she said, also he would KNOW that there wasn't anything wrong with her. Just get ahold of the police report and she shouldn't have a leg to stand on.....
Good Luck

Answer 8

Maybe.

It depends entirely on your insurance co. You were the at-fault driver, so she's trying it on. Your insurer may fight, or they may throw some "go away" money at her instead. Can't know without reading their minds.

Richard