I can't thank enough of any of you guys in this moment. You guys are being so helpful.

Will update once I have any good info.

 

As far as I know, your policy renews every 6 months, a month before it renews you'll be notified of your new rates. In CA your rates cant go up if you're not at fault, but it sucks to have hard evidence of the accident and still have to go through all this bs.

diminished value though.. I hear at best it's only a couple hundred dollars you would receive if it actually went through. I'd love to know how much you'll get if you pursued it

 

This is why some drivers claim injuries; simply to make up the difference between getting screwed by the insurance companies and ending up on the short stick, money wise. I'm not condoning it, but it's a fact.

It seems the person who gets hit has as lot more aggravation in these proceedings, then the perpetrator does. So unfair!

 

I would follow the advice of going through my own insurance company. They will track down the driver and sue them for damages - happens all the time. If the driver has insurance, then they will subrogate with the other insurance company.

 

 

Since cop wasn't helpful and his hands were tied, I contacted all the relatives on the facebook for the other party and she finally called me, apologized and agreed to pay up cash or 'work it out'.
tomorrow, I'm taking to a collision center near me to get the appraisal.

How can I get the diminished value? My insurance company asked me to file the claim or at least report it on my vehicle to get give me a diminished value, is that a good idea?

My SA said he would contact the sales dept. when I bring the vehicle for inspection tomorrow. Hopefully that should work.

1. Cost to fix the vehicle,
2. Diminished value
3. Rental car costs, since this is my only daily driver.

Anything else I need to look for?

TIA. Sorry for dragging this thread so long.

 

What stops these people from bailing on you while the car is in for repair and you're on the hook. Or trying to renegotiate later on with you. Personally I would only go through their insurance company or your own. I would not trust someone who doesn't have current insurance on their vehicle enough to deal with them personally.

 

She claimed she called the insurance on the day of the event and learned the insurance is expired, well the tags are expired, its no wonder about the insurance.
First I'll get the estimate and ask her to pay up front for the above mentioned ones. If she fails, I'll go through small claims court. That is my initial plan. Hope to settle up everything by end of this month.

Edit: also, what you said is plausible, as they knew about the expired insurance, they should've called me as they have my contact info.
She works in a School for god's sake. Not sure what she is teaching her kids or in the school.

 

op, i agree with this position, give all the contact information you've gathered for the other party to your insurance co and let them handle from there, that's what you pay them for...

if it turns out the other party has insurance your ins co will pursue them for damages, if not, your ins co will pursue other party personally for damages, either way, it is off your shoulders to pursue damages, this is your ins co's job... imo, let them handle... then, when it comes time to renew and your ins co does in fact try to raise your rate, you can shop for an insurance company that does not penalize you for using the services that you've already paid for... (in other words, raising your rates due to a no-fault accident).

 

First, sorry for what's going on, what a cluster.... I would be furious and would probably just sue them out of principal, even if cost me more than I'd ever see back.

That said, I think Patrix has the best idea here for you. I believe you said you have GEICO (I just switched to them from Liberty Mut), so let them deal with it...that's why you pay them. You can always switch carriers if they try and raise your rates. I realize that's somewhat of a hassle, but less hassle, IMO, than trying to negotiate with someone who clearly doesn't take responsibility for their property, insurance, etc. IF this family is friendly with the on scene cop, that makes it even harder for you, IMO...cop will not go out of their way to assist you.

Good luck and hopefully you get this worked out quickly and in somewhat of a satisfactory way.

 

Yeah,at this point you should work through your insurance to get the repair taken care of, as it is uninsured motorist protection now. I wouldn't trust anything this family tells you since they are liars and broke.
Just tell Geico, or whomever that you want the damage taken care of immediately now. Deal with the renewal at that time and don't worry about it until then.
Pisses me off that they are not stepping up. My daughter scraped some POS 10 year old X5 that they guy was **** about. Cops came and said for her and the dude to just work it out. I had him get an estimate for this minor scratch and he hit me up with a big number including car rental while being painted. I wrote him a check and ended that brief nightmare. Life goes on. You let them go their way and you continue on your path. You've spent enough time on it.

 

I would highlight good job the camera did.
I had couple of incidents where ladies run into my construction trailers and reported that I hit them, even when I was tens of ft from collision point driving straight on my lane.
So lucky you at least you don't have this worry.
Now once you call your insurance, you already counted the claim. Even if the other party will settle with cash, your insurance will have it on file.
Knowing human habits - them might be honest offering cash for scratch on the bumper, but once they learn the real damage cost - slim chances they will want to follow.
So good luck with the case, but I think you will have to use your own insurance for it.
For future information - I have a friend who moved from California to Las Vegas. She had couple of small claims, including 1 when on construction site a truck did a $900 ding on her Toyota and run away.
She collected $900 at the time, but thanks to 2 claims her new premium is close to $3000 year after year.
So be very careful with calling your insurance and opening small claims, as they will get you for triple the amount on long run.

 

Additionally cop letting wreckless driver with no insurance and no registration go is different issue.
If in fact the system show valid insurance, I would demand printout. Such thing can be case for class-action suit against the department, what would bring whole new dimension to the accident.

 

agreed... once i experienced the "he hit me" he said she said conundrum, i said never again, and got a dash camera... i can't recommend them enough... sad that they are needed, but the indisputable truth they provide is well worth it imo...

 

getting my budget camera tomorrow
https://slickdeals.net/f/12180565-am...?src=frontpage
It got parking sensor which triggers with slightest nudge like slamming on the door when I get down etc. I like to go through the videos over the weekend rather than not have a video at all.
Will upgrade to thinkware F800 Pro if it comes in a better thanksgiving deal.

The one I currently use is a Sony Action cam from my motorcycle riding period, I need to format the memory car once it is filled up, turn on /off manually everytime.

Yes, back in 2013, I had a hit'n'run, claimed $2800 on my 2004 Nissan Sentra[1] for damages. My insurance from $750 to $2000 per 6 months premium. Provided the 2000$ premium was for 2012 VW CC [2] which I was interested in at that time for the looks (it looked close to CLS).
So, I walked to office for 2 years until the whole thing went away and got into a motorcycle [3].
This still worries me to go through the insurance company. I did not report to Geico yet.

[1] Sentra is from Erie, PA
[2] VW quote is when I moved to California 4 months after the incident.
[3] Motorcycle was in NC in 2015.


Spoke to a Sergaent said the same thing as the IO.
"Yes, I did notice the tag was expired. however, I can only write a citration to the registered owner. The reg. owner was not driving the vehicle at that time of the accident. Therefore, i could not legally issue a citation."

 

So what state the accident happen?
I don't remember details, but in California driver without insurance suppose to be arrested and car impounded.
Can't comment on registration, but would expect similar.
On camera choice, I have hardwired dual cam in my W212, but having other cars that come expensive, so lately I bought $49 mirror cam.
It is low-resolution camera, so you won't read licence plates, but has some advantages like easy turning on your side window when you see cop approaching and can't beat the speed of moving it between vehicles.

.

 

Exactly. The car should have been impounded, Raja. Right then and there. You have been given a line of B ull s hit a mile long.
What a crappy situation. Move away from that s hole.

 

Is the "hole" having journalist who would like to hear interesting story about police work?

 

so not that you can board a train that's already left the station... as at this point any citations being issued to the other driver / party is highly unlikely, but reading back through your thread the ineptness or bias of your local PD need to be called out imo... (not that it does any good mind you ;-)

first the responding officer told you he was unable to issue a citation for the insurance being expired bc it showed as valid in his system...
then you were told that a citation could not be issued on the expired tags bc the driver was not the registered owner of the vehicle...
not that it matters at this point, but just so you know, officers have wide discretion in issuing traffic citations... and both of these violations could have easily been issued (and should have been imo) and the excuses given are just that, excuses, and not at all valid for not being ABLE to issue the citations, more excuses for not WANTING to issue the citations... sounds to me like the other party either has family or friends that are POs, or some connection to that PD... who knows...

but in the end... you have to put all that aside, as you cannot force the officer to issue citations (and you don't want to make any enemies at the PD)... my advice would be to gather all your findings and turn it all over to your insurance co... and let them handle, after all, you've been paying them to do just that with all the premiums you've paid them...

also, respectfully let your agent / rep know that when it comes time to renew, if your next renewal notice includes a premium increase bc of this, you will be shopping for and retaining a new ins co... let them know this ahead of time, that you don't think it would be fair if they penalized YOU for an accident that was not your fault... if you've been a long-time customer there's a chance they will make note of this and consider it when your next renewal comes up... that's about all you can hope for... good luck...

 

Visual Estimate came, it costs around 5300USD.
The collision center guy who did the estimate was nice enough to offer a free painting on the spoiler I will purchase to fit in

Anyway, the car owner said:
Well this lot and we my have to take this to court because we don’t have this money at one time.

So, I'm planning to call Geico, report the accident and go through insurance, since the estimate I got is VISUAL only.

Geico will pay for diminished value also, but do they collect it from this party or they chuck it up now and take form me later ( by increasing the premium etc.)?

The owner of the car switched off the phone though after this news, lol.

 

 

make sure you drink lots of water; lol

 

We are on the second box of popcorn. Bad sign.
Wife had the exact same damage on her odyssey 4 months ago. Complete new front bumper cover, new headlamp, new front proximity sensor that was destroyed. Total cost was $2,200 paid by the young woman's insurance (State Farm) who bopped her. That included the rental car.
Nothing inexpensive on these Mercedes Benz vehicles unfortunately.

 

That was very predictable that the guy will cease communication once he see 5 grands repair estimate.
Shall I get popcorn now?

 

I'll have the cheddar flavor while I wait to get an answer from Geico. And save some for yourself to see how they will screw me during premium renewal.