I am being harassed by someone i was invovled in an accident with. When has it gone too far?

Question

I was involved in a rear end accident. And the person who was in the other car kept telling me she didnt want to make a claim. and so on and that i needed to pay for her car. We exchanged insurance info. and i proceeded with a police report and claimed on my insurance. She continued to cal repeatedly i have had 16 missed calls from her 9 within a 24 hour period of the accident. She has also called my house phone which doesnt have CallerID. so 16+. She is telling me that i need to help her out and pay half and giving me a sob story.
Our insurance told us not to pay her anything out of pocket.

BY THE WAY she told the autoshop that i was paying for her car so they went ahead and fixed it for her and now she cant get it out of the shop.

We live in michigan which is a no fault insurance state.

does anyone have any advice?

Answer 1

Contact your insurance company and turn the claim into them to handle. (According to your question it sounds like you have done that).

Call the lady and give her your insurance information - the
phone number for the claims department - the claim number and the adjuster's name. Tell her that you do not wish to handle the matter out of pocket -that you pay for insurance for a situation such as this and you wish to have them handle the matter.

Be sure to give your insurance company all information you have on the lady so they can contact her.

Document your conversations with the lady and her messages. It may be easy to keep a note pad by the phone.

If you have to - go to Radio Shack and purchase a tape recorder and adapter - it will allow you to tape record the messages/conversations you have with this lady.

If you have to send her a letter certified mail- restricted delivery- advising that you have turned the matter over to your insurance company and would like for her to contact them. Be sure not to admit fault or anything in the letter. Just keep it short and sweet. Something like:

"Dear Ms. Smith,
This follows your numerous phone calls. I have contacted my insurance company regarding the incident on November 1, 2007. Please contact them regarding this matter. There information is provided below:

Insurance Company:
Phone Number:
Claim Number:
Adjuster:

Sincerely,

John Doe

Hold onto all documentation for at least 3 1/2 years from the date of the accident. It looks like the statute of limitations for bodily injury is 3 years (again, your adjuster can confirm the statute of limitations for you).

I am not in Michigan - but a "no fault" state generally refers to Personal Injury Protection - it's an injury coverage. "No Fault" does not mean you can go around hitting people and then say it's not your fault b/c you are in a "no fault" state. "no fault" has nothing to do with property damage liability - if you are negligent and cause damage to another person's property you are responsible for that damage. People confuse this all the time.

I did a little research: Michigan has minimum limits of 20/40/10. This means - that you are required to have at least 20,000 per person bodily injury up to 40,000 for all injuries in an accident - and 10,000 for property damage liability. Your adjuster or agent will be able to look at your policy and tell you what you have. (Here’s where I got my info: http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0,1607,7-154-10555_13222_13224-66774--,00.html#coverage

If you talk to her - the only thing you need to tell her is to talk to your insurance company. If you have a liability policy that was in force on the day of the accident - then you have no obligation to pay her out of pocket and her sob story is not your concern. We all have a sob story. Just keep referring her back to the adjuster.

Something is not right with this situation. Usually people are harassing you b/c they want your insurance information. Keep kicking this back to your insurance claims department and keep the adjuster up to date on what's going on.

If she goes to small claims court and sues you - you will be served the papers - call your insurance company immediately. Per your policy, they will hire an attorney to defend you but they have a time limit to get the answer on file
and the clock starts running when you get served.

*** Not to be taken as legal advice - only an attorney licensed to practice law in your state can give legal advice and you may choose to consult an attorney at your own expense to get legal advice on your particular situation -- just my personal opinion - use this information at your own risk ***

Answer 2

She should have waited to take the car into a bodyshop until your insurance company agreed they would pay the damages. The body shop should not have fixed it based on what she told them. They should know better and know how the correct process of fixing vehicles that have been in a car accident.

Perhaps you should change yor phone number or tell her to stop calling you, that you are going through your insurance company. Maybe tell her to contact the insurance company as they are responsible for making whatever the charges are that they agree to pay. Tell her there is nothing you can do so it is not necessary for her to continue calling her.

Answer 3

Tell her to stop calling or you will notify the police and file harassment charges. The fact that you filed a police report and have her insurance info is proof you complied with the law. Done deal! Also, tell your insurance company about the phone calls so you have the harassment on file with them. Let them sort it out with her insurance company, that's why you pay for insurance.

Answer 4

I don't understand your laws there but here in the UK I would've personally gone through the insurance company.
I smell a rat too.....did she not have any insurance in the first place maybe? Don't fall for her sob stories...if she can't be responsible for her car then she shouldn't have had one in the first place! They say, son't bet what you can't afford to lose....and by driving her car theres was always a chance she may have had an accident. I would speak to the police if she continues to harass you. Does your insurance company give you free legal advice on your policy?

Answer 5

Don't pay anything out of pocket. It will invalidate your insurance coverage.

Tell her to stop calling, that you will not deal with her directly, and if she doesn't, you'll take further action.

Then, if she keeps calling, treat her like any other harrassing person:

Call the telephone company, and report her number as harrassing you. Try to get her numbers blocked. File a restraining order against her with your local PD.

Answer 6

Follow the suggestions of your insurance company. Take one of her calls, and give her the name and number of your insurance, and ask her to have her insurance company contact yours, and to please not call you with it anymore because you have turned it over to insurance. If she calls again after that, call the police and make a "harassing calls" report, and let them handle it.

Some cell phones will let you reject a number, check into that and your phone won't even ring, she will get a "This number is not accepting calls" message. You might be able to do the same thing with the house phone, call the phone company and ask.

Answer 7

The insurance companies know what there doing so listen to them. They deal with this stuff everyday. If the calling keeps happening I would call the Police, what she is doing is illegal and it's not your problem if she cant pay the bills.

Answer 8

Call the police and let them know what is going on, also inform the insurance company. Your insurance company will pay for anything that you are liable for, otherwise it will be her responsibility. Chances are her insurance is either expired, or she has a huge deductible that she can't meet and is trying to get you to 'assist' her with her deductible.

Answer 9

Do not give her a cent ! Let your Insurance company handle it. Not being able to get her car out of the shop is her problem. Ignore her.

Answer 10

Talk to your insurance company first about the situation and see how they want to handle it.

Then next time she calls, tell her the deal and if she calls one more time, you are gonna call the cops on her for harrassment. You don't have to put up with that.

Screw her, lay down the law.