I was just involved in a car accident Tuesday (12/29) on my way to Tahoe. I was heading up on Highway 50 and just passed Wrights Road. I moved into the passing lane which was covered in slush with no wheel tracks. I was doing maybe 55mph and slowly passing cars in the right lane. Something flashed in the corner of my eye and there was a truck passing me, going east, to my left (across the DY). He then side swiped me, ricocheting off me and fishtailing/spinning out of control ahead of me, nearly off the road towards the river. The hit only bumped me a couple inches over in my lane so it wasn't that bad on my end of things. Apparently he looked down to mess with the heater or something and, when he looked up, was on top of me and slammed on his brakes. He lost traction, spun out into the oncoming lane (Thank GOD there was no one coming), passed me, came back parallel to me, swiped me, then ricocheted off. After stopping at a safe spot everyone seemed alright (one passenger in each vehicle) and we started to exchange info. CHP was called but we decided not to take a report. We're both licensed, insured, and there was no DUI. His truck was actually a company truck and his boss didn't want a report. Additionally his boss doesn't want to go through insurance (another company truck was just totaled last week). I'll call the boss tomorrow and touch base to see what he's willing to do. My car (1995 Toyota Corolla) has damage to the driver's side: front fender, front and rear door on the driver's side. The front door sticks on opening but does open. The rear door opens fine. I'm willing to bet that the work would cost quite a bit to fix, depending on if the doors could just be reskinned or need to be replaced. With a low value of the car I'm assuming this could darn near total the car out if I go through insurance. Now I need to figure out what I want to do. I figure I'll wait a couple days to make sure that both my friend and I are physically OK. Other than the physical stuff (which shouldn't be an issue) is there anything I should make sure to do in this situation? Thanks for any help!
Last year I won $100,000 settlement . One thing I will tell you is take your time , don't rush . Good luck
What the heck?! Glad you guys are ok! I say have the boss buy you a new Carolla S. ^_~ You can join me and Steph and we can start a club!
with NO insurance company, and NO POLICE REPORT, you might be in trouble cause you have no proof if he decides to stiff you, I know I sound alarmist, but I've been screwed before by people who dont want anyone notified, company truck or not, this sounds too fishy to me on his part. Hope it goes well
Did you get the driver's insurance info just in case he decides to bail? I understand not wanting insurance involved, but you have to protect yourself as well.
Been there, done that and ate shit. In the eyes of the law, with out a police report and or witness there is or was no accident. If the owner decides to deny any responsibility then it will be up to you to go after him in a civil court which will cost much more than a deductable and end up with nothing to show but a wrecked auto. Hope the CHP logged the incident. It could end up ok but history, the economy and human ethics dictates you could be in the wrong seat on this one. The longer it draws out the closer you are to getting screwed.
I have all the required info to file a claim with my insurance company. I also got contact information for a very sympathetic witness. The work involved to make the car "whole" again would more than likely total it out and I imagine the insurance payout would not be enough to make me. I would like to think that if I can get the car estimated for repairs and get that money from the guy, I can sell the car really cheap as is, with a clean title, and buy a different car (one with AWD )