So a lady lightly ran into the back of me at a light this morning and it looked like just a 1inch scratch on my bumper so I wasn't going to call the police. She said she rather not do it through insurance (understandable) and would just pay me the cost so I got her name number(got her to call me there) and plate and we left. Well my friends are telling me now that she doesn't even have to pay me and I had to call the police and get a report to get anything. When I got to work I noticed the bumper seems kind of loose so that could make the cost soar beyond her current money. Am I really screwed? What are the possibilities if she doesn't just straight up pay?

6/26/2008 10:11:51 AM

I am pretty sure you can get a police report after the fact. I did it once, though it was in another state. I don't know exactly how that will change your situation, but do call the police station and ask if you can get a report.

6/26/2008 10:14:58 AM

why not just move forward as planned? have you actually talked to this lady about payment yet? she may have the money and it could all be heresay. otherwise discuss with her your concern about payment/repairs and indicate your need for security (police report/insurance).

6/26/2008 10:19:36 AM

No biggie, that's why you have her name and number. Call her and tell her what happened and see what she says. A loose bumper doesn't sound like that big of a deal.

6/26/2008 10:20:35 AM

i got hit and my loose bumber was estimated at around $500 to fix.. besides the cost of the repair you'll need a rental car while yours is getting fixed and most peoples' deductables on their insurance is $500 anyway, so she'll most likely end up paying more than $500 if she doesn't do it through the insurance.

i always file a police report just to cover myself incase the other person tries to flake out.

6/26/2008 10:31:08 AM

My parents had a good story about this one time....

They were rear ended and the guy didnt want to get involved with insurance, so he gave them his name and number.....the number was our home phone number! The guy had made up the number (just so happened to be ours at the time) and a name to not pay. They called the cops.

6/26/2008 10:38:29 AM

WHY DO PEOPLE REPLY TO THE DAIRE'S THREADS

6/26/2008 10:40:00 AM

you need a police report. If she is dishonest she will screw you out of repairs. I think you still have a chance to get the police report filed.

6/26/2008 10:44:24 AM

^^^so did they not notice that was their own number as the guy told them/wrote it down??

6/26/2008 10:45:21 AM

You should have at least gotten the lady's insurance info just in case. I got hit in a parking lot a couple years ago and we didn't call the cops. I just called the guy's insurance company, told them what happened, and they paid for the repairs. Of course, I don't know how they would handle it if she denied that it ever happened.

6/26/2008 10:49:04 AM

and i think you have like 72 hours to file a police report. they'll just come get your side of the story, look at the damage, then call her to do the same.

6/26/2008 10:53:13 AM

Quote :

"i always file a police report just to cover myself incase the other person tries to flake out."

Good advice. My grandma got taken advantage of once by a guy who promised to take care of the damages, then later claimed that it never happened.

6/26/2008 10:55:51 AM

my mom was taken advantage of by an old man who tricked her into thinking he would pay for it, then kept coming up with excuses about why he couldn't pay. she always got a police report after that, and i do too.

the lady that hit me filled out the paper the police office gave her, then gave it to me and drove away without including any of her insurance information. the police officer looked up her information and gave it to me incase "she tried to fuck me over." haha he was funny. but luckily she paid up, was actually really cool and owns one of the awesome shops in noda.

6/26/2008 11:33:58 AM

6/26/2008 11:34:53 AM

yeah, always get a police report

6/26/2008 11:54:46 AM

Quote :

"You should have at least gotten the lady's insurance info just in case. I got hit in a parking lot a couple years ago and we didn't call the cops. I just called the guy's insurance company, told them what happened, and they paid for the repairs. Of course, I don't know how they would handle it if she denied that it ever happened."

this same thing happened to me, but the girl that hit me denied it and said i tricked her into giving me her insurance info. her insurance company basically refused to look at her car and compare damages, even after my damages were already assessed by them. (at a pretty penny) by the time they looked at her car, it was fixed and they told me they believed her. so i got screwed. moral of the story is ALWAYS file a police report. it can't hurt.

RPD also told me i only had 24 hours to report an accident, but this was when i found out she was denying everything a couple days later. so much for that.

6/26/2008 12:34:45 PM

PICTURES!


everyone has a camera phone take pictures of that shit...

and if you have a rubber bumper keep in mind there is an intentional energy absorbing structure behind it. either Styrofoam or a metal piece designed to deform.

6/26/2008 2:14:36 PM

Quote :

"^^^so did they not notice that was their own number as the guy told them/wrote it down?? "

sure they did...thats when they called the cops

6/26/2008 3:06:07 PM

definitely screwed

6/26/2008 3:06:59 PM

Quote :

"WHY DO PEOPLE REPLY TO THE DAIRE'S THREADS"

6/26/2008 3:22:57 PM

Quote :

"WHY DO PEOPLE REPLY TO THE DAIRE'S THREADS"

6/26/2008 4:46:55 PM

i got an estimate today and she is waiting to get it faxed to her at her job in the morning. shes constantly reassuring that she's going to pay but i'm still worried. What to do?

6/26/2008 5:19:21 PM

take a xanex and chill the fuck out

6/26/2008 5:21:51 PM

Don't worry about problems until they exist. Just make sure you are keeping track of everything, that you have dates and specific details in case you need them later, and then if she says she won't pay, take it from there.

In the end, most things work out fine. If she hasn't given you any reason to suspect that she'll skip out on things, she probably won't. If she decides later on not to pay, you can handle things then. Just tell the police/lawyer exactly what happened and why you didn't contact anyone then.

6/26/2008 5:21:53 PM

Sounds like just about everyone has either been ripped off or knows someone who has been ripped off by trying to handle things without a police report. Seems like there might be a lesson in this although I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.

[Edited on June 26, 2008 at 6:07 PM. Reason : l]

6/26/2008 6:07:38 PM

hmmm.... what could it possibly be....

6/26/2008 7:18:11 PM

you can get a police report after the time. as long as you have the plate you are fine. you usually don't even need a police report to file with YOUR insurance company and pay YOUR deductible if you wanted to do it that way (i mean you would still have to $$$) but as long as you have the plate and her name etc you can still do a police report after.

6/26/2008 7:25:19 PM

Quote :

"and i think you have like 72 hours to file a police report. they'll just come get your side of the story, look at the damage, then call her to do the same."

What should I tell them I waited for?

6/26/2008 7:34:12 PM

I would suggest the truth perhaps?

6/26/2008 7:48:04 PM

This is why I drive shitty cars. Even in the bumper comes loose, it will probably be an improvement over the current state of the car

6/26/2008 7:54:37 PM

always get a police report and detailed insurance info

6/26/2008 8:03:03 PM

worst case scenario you'll have a loose bumper and no compensation for it

so what

6/26/2008 8:24:28 PM

Try posting in Garage.
Make sure you state make,year,model number etc. or they'll be all over you.
I just had to remove my bumper to put in new headlamps. There were four bolts
holding the whole assembly in place (the bumper slid into a square bracket but the bolts were for fine alignment) so it could be that it just needs to be re-aligned and tightened up.

6/27/2008 8:17:27 AM

like someone said earlier, there may be damage beyond what you can see on the exterior...

the energy absorbing material may need to be replaced behind the bumper...also, if it is loose, some brackets/nuts/bolts could have popped off and stripped...

similar scenario happened to my friend and he thought it was only bumper damage... 2 days later he realized his gas gauge was no longer working because he ran out of gas and it still registered half a tank. he was wondering why the needle wasn't moving
Turns out, the impact jarred loose the gas gauage mechanism.

6/27/2008 10:54:14 AM

i got an estimate yesturday and she just gave me a check

6/27/2008 10:59:28 AM

/thread

6/27/2008 11:00:30 AM

Well that's good at least.

6/27/2008 11:03:35 AM