Acciddent, any help?

[twinklecool]

I just ran into an traffic accident... I stopped my car just because the car driving in front of mine suddenly stopped, and shortly after the other one driving behind me hit my car and hence caused my car hit the one in front. Now the person who hit my car is only willing to pay for my car's damage but not for the one in front of mine, and she

Comments

[pundigrion]

Call the police and file the reports. You should have done this ASAP the insurance companies will want the reports.

[dawn_guy]

Go to or call the collision reporting centre. The people who work there are very good at not just getting all the details (including photos of your vehicle -- take the car that got sandwiched, not a bus or a friend's car) but also working with people who are shaken up and confused from being in accidents.

The insurance companies will sort out who pays for what. Your responsibility on that front is to notify your insurance company (in my experience, usually by calling the guy who sold you the insurance, like a broker), which can wait until after you've dealt with the other paperwork.

I'm glad nobody was hurt (if anyone was, a call to the police would have been in order) and hope what's left of the day goes better.

[twinklecool]

Thank you guys so much! I'm going to report the issue to the police now.

[chezmax]

In the future, for anything beyond a minor fender bender (involving just two cars), *always* call the police.

[icedrake]

As an aside to that, it's helpful to have a cheap camera in your car, just in case the other party is not willing to stay at the scene.

[arcykittah]

Further: most phones / ipods / whathaveyou also have phones now a days. You may know that now, but you can forget the obvious in the middle of "ohgodohgodohgod" stressful moments.

And further still: always keep your cool. You've been in a car accident. There will be spectators. You don't want your meltdown on youtube. Or in the hands of the police.

[twinklecool]

Thanks everyone for the nice help!! I really appreciated all of you.

I reported the accident to the Collision Reporting Center last night, and the police filed the record.

The car that hit me from behind wanted to settle privately, but she was willing to pay for my car's damage only, as I mentioned earlier. She didn't want her insurance company to get involved since it would impact her future insurance expense. I was wondering if I would take any risk if I agree to settle with her privately. Or is it safer to just claim the money via insurance companies?

Thanks again!

[twinklecool]

You shouldn't accept a settlement. It looks like your situation is described at the bottom of page 5 in these fault determination rules. If you were fully stopped then the driver who hit you is 100% at fault. (If you were moving then you are 50% at fault.)

http://www.ibc.ca/en/car_insurance/documents/brochure/on-fault-determination-rules.pdf

[twinklecool]

The woman who hit me now is telling a lie!!! At the scene she admitted she hit my car and pushed my car to hit the one in front, now she declines what she admitted, she told her father i hit the car first then she hit me!!

[twinklecool]

from now on: if you ever get read-ended, assume the other person is 110% responsible. call the police asap, etc. you shouldn't have let her negotiate anything or settle privately, because you probably would have been found 0% at fault.

try your damndest to undo the bullshit story she's now trying to pull, and don't let it happen again