Last week, while picking up my son from day care, I was backing up my car and unfortunately bumped (slightly) into the rear bumper of another car. I stepped out of the car immediately to see if there was any damage or someone i can talk to. There was no apparent damage and since my son was inside my car, i didnt bother telling day care about it.
now after one week that car's owner caught me and said you hit the car and see there is a big damage (bumper falling down a little from one side). He said he went to the police that night and police even tried to call me but couldnt reach me. he asked me to exchange info. i requested to keep this matter out of police and insurance people. i assured him to have the damage fixed by my repair guy, but he is insisting to either go to dealership or some reputed service station.
i know if i have this thing fixed by my guy it should cost me between 100 - 200. my mechanic told me probably bumper came out of clips and it can be fixed very quickly. but this car owner said i know it will cost me about 1000. this gave me an indication that either he is trying to make money out of this issue, or just being totally unconcerned about how much it costs to have it fixed
now i need your learned advice on:
- do you think he would have reported it to police that day. dont you think police would have called me over and over if he had reported.
- do i have any right to insist on having this repair done through my guy.
- should i go police now and report, to avoid further complication
thanks in advance, and sorry for long post
Location: God's own country
Posted on: 06-01-09 23:26:22
Delhi girl,
Police will not get involved when the damage is less than $1000. However, Police can take action if the owner of the damaged car says that you are not willing to pay a sum of $999 or less. Police will need proof. Obviously, you can say that you did not do it and if the owner of the damaged car does not have any proof, you can go scott free.
Regarding if you have the right to insist that the repair be done through your mechanic (private negotiation), other Cd's can share their views.
You can go through your insurance. Your insurance appriser will visit the damaged car and set a fair value (as per market conditions) for the repair. It it will be $100-200 then it is better to go through your insurance. Your premium will not raise for small payout amounts like this.
Hope this helps
Peace by TK
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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.
Quote:
Originally posted by tamilkuravan
Delhi girl,
Regarding if you have the right to insist that the repair be done through your mechanic (private negotiation), other Cd's can share their views.
Unfortunately, you do not have that right. It is based on mutual agreement.
Negotiation is the only solution for this.
Quote:
You can go through your insurance. Your insurance appriser will visit the damaged car and set a fair value (as per market conditions) for the repair. It it will be $100-200 then it is better to go through your insurance. Your premium will not raise for small payout amounts like this.
Hope this helps
Peace by TK
From my experience, I do not agree with this statement. If you are demeed to be at fault, you premium will go up unless you have provision of one at fault accident pardoned in your policy. Confirm that with your insurance company.
If not, this will remain in your record for next 5-6 years (which mean high premiums)
I believe your are better off if you pay the repair cost.
There could be other ways to resolve this. I am sure you will get fruitful advise from other CD's.
If there were no witnesses to the incident and none of you have the proof in pictures, (Some have cell phones with cameras) it will be hard to prove and might not go against you. You can vehemently deny even if you have admitted to it once.
On the contrary, I see, the gentleman that you are, if you have not provided him with any details of your insurance etc., till an estimate for fixing the damage is obtained by the individual and submitted to the insurance and the process goes through a full circle and comes back to you, I would advice you to stay put till your insurance company contacts you about the accident.
Not knowing the make of the car that you bumped into, the bumper of the other vehicle could have sensors implanted into them for the activation of the airbags. If they were found defective or non operational, they might lump all of these into one claim and pass the total of all of these to your accident account. In which case the total could exceed the low limit of $1000.00 **
The Ministry was contemplating on moving the limits upwards recently to a higher sum and it will be to your advantage to find out the same, before they declare it as a hit and run case.
The link provided under does not reflect that. Hence the suggestion.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/faq/vehicle.shtml#collision
** Otherwise to fix a bumper it costs a sum of $500.00 +/-
I think as much as you are at fault , you should avoid paying un necassary amounts , especially when there s no evidence ... If I were you , I would tell the other party that having checked with other mechanics , I ve found the cost to be $100/- .... I am willing to pay $200/- , or get the car repaired at any of 3 garages (would have visited 3 earlier ) .... which should be fair to the other party .Otherwise , I would deny the accident if asked by anyone ..... since there s no evidence , the other person should be acceptable , if denial is on the cards . Take it or leave it.
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Fido.
Re: evidence. Unfortunately, they have arranged two or three witnesses.
I read somewhere that parking lot accidents are considered 50-50 at fault for insurance purposes. Is that true? if yes, does that mean my insurance pays 50% and his pays rest 50%. Is there any way I can get a confirmation if such rule exists.
Also, regarding hit and run issue, is there something I can do now to avoid that charge if the other party tries to play games. The only reason I did not bother reporting it to anyone was first I didnt notice any damage at that time (probably becasue it was little dark). Second, my son was inside my car and i could not leave him there. Now that I have acknowledge the incident, does that charge (hit and run) still hold true? Should I contact police to avoid any complication?
Thank you all for your advices. I really appreciate that. I can not believe such a minor hit can cause me such a grief. I just can't wait to see the day when I find myself out of this mess.
Now this "hit and run" issue is bothering me even more than other damages.
Do you guys know where I can get information on this. All I want to know is "now that both parties have agreed to resolve the issue between themselves, does that hit-n-run charge still holds true on me?" .
