Rear Ended and Not at Fault

[Drew007]

My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: GA


Date: 1-27-12
Time: 8:15PM (est.)
Location: 75/85 Southbound Split Atlanta, GA (6-8 lanes)

Traveling south in the middle lane @ about 60-65mph (with flow of traffic), major accident occurs one lane over to my right causing drivers in the immediate surrounding area to react spilling into my lane.

I am able to main control of my vehicle and narrowly miss (less then 3 feet est.) a newer pearl white Lincon that veered in front of me - my vehicle comes to a stop at an angle (right front of my vehicle to left rear of Lincon). Within a second or two I am hit squarely on my rear bumper by a mid-2000's Jeep Patriot (30-40 mph est.)*

The impact sent me into the left rear quarter panel of the Lincon.

Damage: (in order of chain - first to last vehicle)
Lincon - driver side lower rear quater panel - moderate depth scrapes covering roughly 3 feet in length and height
Honda Civic (me) passenger side right front lens, quater panel and trim heavy damage - rear bumper impact (evenly distributed) impression of Jeep Patriots bumper (he did not have time to veer).
Jeep Patriot - front bumper scrapes and somewhat misaligned.

Jeep Patriot driver was ticketed for following to closely.

Occupants of Lincon and occupant of Jeep Patriot were moving freely around scene.

In total about eight cars were involved, my altercation was treated as a second accident, the first accident was the cause. (heavy damage to vehicles).

EMT, Police and Fire were called to the scene, we were ordered back to our vehicles and not given a chance to exchange information - report will be available in 5-7 days from APD.

No help from Progressive (my insurance) Neck and shoulder issues, got checked out @ ER - What now?

[FullAuto]

When you get the report, file a claim against the Jeep's insurance. Find a new insurance company for yourself.

[Drew007]

thanks! (and sorry for the typos) *maintain / *Lincoln

follow up:

- Pay $1000 deductible and start repair process? (Chance I might not be reimbursed)
- Pay $ for rental car out of pocket? (Chance I might not be reimbursed)
- ER visit and subsequent medical bills / medication - how is this handled?
- My Honda has a clean CARFAX - how does this accident effect resale value?
- I can get rides to work, but without a vehicle I am missing out on additional weekend income (musician) how is this handled?

[FullAuto]

What insurance company do you have? What insurance company does the Jeep have?

You should file a claim against the Jeep's insurance. They should pay the repair bill. They should put you in a rental car. If you choose to get your own rental car, they will reimburse you for what they would have paid out, which will be less than what you paid so you will be shorted. Your medical they want to be billed directly for or they may just wait until you're done and have you submit bills. They will likely want to them to be turned over to them prior to payment so they can get discounts, but I'm a property guy, not a bodily injury guy. If they give you the rental car, you can make your side jobs. Diminished value claims vary greatly by state. There are some states that it is a common claim and paid out as a standard part of the settlement. In my state, there is no way I'd approve diminished value on a Honda. Far less than 1% of cars receive diminished value here. But I know people in my company that will pay it easy in other states.

If you take the attitude you'll just go do things and bill them for it, you'll end up being screwed. Some people have to learn this lesson on their own though. You don't go drop your car off at a shop, authorize repairs and expect to send the insurance company the bill. The company will in turn approve a lot less and you'll be responsible for the balance. They may also not approve anything since you didn'tallow them to inspect the vehicle prior to repairs. Yes, it happens. You don't go rent a Hummer and send the insurance company a bill. They'll approve a roller skate from whatever company they get the best discount from and reimburse you the $10/day they would have paid leaving you responsible for the rest. Yes, it happens. You don't run to a chiropractor and start racking up back massage bills. The insurance company will deny all of it and you'll be responsible for the bill. Yes, this definitely happens.

I reserve the right to change my recommendation based off the companies involved.

[Drew007]

Progressive is my company, I pay roughly $160 for full coverage w/$1000 deductible (no tow or rental option)

The Jeep Patriot uses something called Georgia Fleet Insurance, the officer only provided me with that, his name, and his policy number - no actual company name was provided on scene.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____

- My 2008 2 Door Black Civic 5 Spd has less then 50k on it and a clean car fax - diminished value is relevant

- My friends and family are stuck carting me around - if the officer was able to obtain actionable insurance information I would be in a rental

- I'll end up giving up roughly 2 weeks worth of gigs due to lack of transportation - I'm out roughly $1000

- My car will sit until a police report is available - again a major inconvenience

- I am responsible for up to a $2500 deductible (health insurance) out-of-pocket expense +meds

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____

It's pretty simple in my mind, my life is now on an alternate path after I was rear ended on 1-27-12, in which said driver was ticketed for following to closely. I just want to be made whole, not some rediculous settlement in the millions.

- Fix the car w/OEM parts @the shop of my choosing (Honda Dealer)
- Cover the rental - hell, I'll take a horse drawn buggy @ this point
- Cover the health costs - It's not like I'm not going in for major surgery for a missing limb
- Address the massive inconvenience the policy holder created by not providing accurate on-scene information (if I could phone his ins.co. the process would @ least be moving forward).

Additionally unless I want to pony up $35+ a day for a rental and another $1000 to begin the teardown of my car I'm basically in a holding pattern until the accident report comes out - I was advised not to proceed with paying out of pocket due to the remote chance his fleet insurance would not reimburse me.

How crazy is that?


no wonder attorneys get involved...sheesh.

[FullAuto]

You definintely don't want to start anything yourself without whomever you're wanting to pay for it inspecting it first. Either let the at fault party's insurance company inspect it, or file a claim against your own insurance and allow them to inspect it. Tow it to the dealer yourself and authorize teardown and you're going to lose out.

I'd be a little concerned on ths size of the insurance company that hit you. Basically, my concern would be if the were big enough and had enough claims to have staff estimators or used independents. I'm beginning to lean towards just filing on your own coverage. If you have rental coverage and paying the deductible doesn't bankrupt you, I'd just do that.

You may be in for a rude awakening on the OEM parts thing. There are a select few number of companies that will buy OEM parts for a specific amount of time, usually the newest/current model year only or a 3 model year window. Your car doesn't meet either of those. Only 1 company buys all OEM sheetmetal & safety items for all model years (with rare exceptions) and Progressive isn't it. Progressive DOES use aftermarket parts when economical. It's in your policy. The fact it's being repaired at the dealership doesn't protect you any more. They use whatever parts the insurance company authorizes. One thing that may help you is the fact OEM Honda body parts are CHEAP. They are one of the cheapest (price, not quality) manufacturers out there.

On a side note, I hope that's not $160 for a 6 month premium. If it is, you're begging to be sued.

[Drew007]

$160 per month...come on man...

[Who'sThatGuy]

$160 per month...come on man...

I was going to pack my things and leave jersey if it was a 6 mo policy...

I was involved in an accident and the other party was 100% at fault as my vehicle was parked. There insurance company wanted to put USED parts on my vehicle. I had my insurance company foot the bill with aftermarket parts and subrogate with the other party's insurance for there money and my deductible back.

[FullAuto]

In that case, DAMN that's expensive. You pay a $960 6 month premium with a $1000 collision deductible? Unmarried and under 25? Progressive is pretty good for high risk people so maybe you've got some history, but if you have a clean record, you should shop around. If you're young, you can also look into getting a small 5 year term life policy with your IC. The multiline discount is usually bigger than the TL premium.

Liability/comp/collision coverage for $160 every 6 months can be done with no problem. But they usually have state minimum liability which is grossly uninsured.

I just ran some quotes 2 weeks ago before I start seriously car shopping.
2008 Corvette Coupe (first year for LS3) - $590/6 months or $98/month
2002 Viper GTS (last year Gen 2) - $610/6 months or $102/month
2006 Viper SRT10 (first year Gen 3 coupe) - $705/6 months or $118/month

That's 250/500/250 liability, Comp $0 ded, Coll $250 ded. I carry UM on my wife's car. It's only required on 1 car per household here. I'm a male in my early 30s. I have 10 year accident free discounts (the max). I have a life poilicy on my 5 year old son to get the multiline discount because I insure my primary home with a different company. I have my rental homes with my bigger auto company but dwelling coverage doesn't give a multiline discount. I also have 1 car insured with a third insurance company. I work for 1 of the 3, but there's no such thing as an employee discount. You also get a discount (I believe 5%) for having a PLUP policy (at least you do where I have the bulk of my cars). My PLUP is a little higher because of rental property, but since I usually own 4-7 auto policys at a time I think it still pays for itself in discounts but it may just be a break even.

Progressive also cuts their own agents throats by giving discounts to online customers that their agents can't compete with. This is why you don't see captive Progressive agents like the bigger companies have and Progressive is sold by independents. In turn, the agents like to dump their higher risk customers on Progressive so they pay more claims since their commission is better than smaller competitors and the loss ratio doesn't affect their bonus as much as other companies. This is also why Progressive can't compete with the big boy and has been losing ground several years. I believe Geico passed them in 2010 or 2011. You should look into some of these discounts as GA shouldn't be that poor of a market to demand those kinds of rates.

I was going to pack my things and leave jersey if it was a 6 mo policy...

I was involved in an accident and the other party was 100% at fault as my vehicle was parked. There insurance company wanted to put USED parts on my vehicle. I had my insurance company foot the bill with aftermarket parts and subrogate with the other party's insurance for there money and my deductible back.

You should leave Jersey, not just for the insurance rates. LOL

You should have went with the used parts. They probably cost more than the A/M parts. They would without a doubt have been better quality. You would have never known the diffrence. Most OEM manufacturers run aggressive price match programs so the bodyshop could have sent in a fax to it's wholesaler and had new OEM parts price matched off the insurance estimate. We spend >$1M in parts every year as individuals with some closer to $2M. Last year, I spent more on used parts than I did on new. I'd bet probably less than 1/4 of what I authorized used actually made it onto a car and what did was likely headlights, wheels and suspension parts (knees).

[Who'sThatGuy]

Liability/comp/collision coverage for $160 every 6 months can be done with no problem. But they usually have state minimum liability which is grossly uninsured.

I just ran some quotes 2 weeks ago before I start seriously car shopping.
2008 Corvette Coupe (first year for LS3) - $590/6 months or $98/month
2002 Viper GTS (last year Gen 2) - $610/6 months or $102/month
2006 Viper SRT10 (first year Gen 3 coupe) - $705/6 months or $118/month

That's 250/500/250 liability, Comp $0 ded, Coll $250 ded.

With those rates, I'm ashamed to say what I pay to insure 2 Toyota camrys...

You should leave Jersey, not just for the insurance rates. LOL

Yeah, tell me about it!

You should have went with the used parts. They probably cost more than the A/M parts. They would without a doubt have been better quality. You would have never known the diffrence.

If I would have know this at the time I would have.

The truck took my front bumper cover clean off my camry. Doing so both headlights were cracked as well as both fog lamps and crimp-ling both fenders. The only thing I thought about was getting my camry back with someone's used headlights that were yellowed and fogged.