posted on June 4, 2001 08:49:58 PM new
Ok, I may have spoiled my girls, I'll admit that.
I think I was trying to make up for no dad or some such sh*t, I don't know, but I did.
I gave, my now 19 year old daughter, the youngest, her first car, a 94 Cavilier. Good running car and all. I did it now, as she got her drivers license at 18.
My oldest daughter I bought her a car at 16 when she got her license. So, of course, trying to be fair and all, got the youngest one now.
Damn! Called and had her put on my policy on Saturday, handed her the keys. I went out of town yesterday. And this morning had a sniveling crying kid telling me she had a wreck already, on Sunday.
She was at a stoplight, with a 2001 Town & Country in front of her, she said the light turned green, and the vehicle in front of her started going. Then, she said, the vehicle slammed on its brakes, she then said she had just took her foot off her own brakes to go, and saw that, and slammed on her brakes. She says that it 'tapped' the car. The woman driving stopped, got out of the vehicle, and looked at the back. Then came to my daughter, and said, I don't see any damage, but I am calling a relative to come look. She did. The relative called 911.
Police came. In the meantime, Elizabeth (my daughter) called her friends father (since I was not home) and he came. They all looked, police looked, checked to see if anyone was hurt, they all said they were fine, and no police report was filed. The woman told Elizabeth, she could settle this outside the insurance. Elizabeth said she would have to talk to me first.
So.... I call the lady. I ask about her vehicle, she says she has not taken it to the dealership yet. I then thought, and said, ok maybe it won't be so much..she then stopped and said this "Well, I have major back pain now, and am seeing my dr" Ok lady, I said, then this goes to the insurance company. Then! She said, "well my husband was in the vehicle, he lives in a nursing home, he had a stroke. He wasn't wearing his neck brace, and he may have some problems."
I said wow ok..... I then asked her (though I knew) 'was a police report filed at the scene?' She paused long and hard and said, "no, however I am doing that now".
Said Ok, you'll hear from my ins. co.
Called the insurance company. Told them all this. Claims adjuster is tommorow. Then I asked (because I didn't know you could!) 'can you file a police report a day or more later' and the ins. person said, yes they can. GREAT. I'm being super pessimistic on this, and feel scammed. I DO have a witness, her friends father came there, and he looked at both vehicles, and talked with the woman, and he said, no damage, and she was fine, even said she was fine. And he agreed, in the case IF anything was pulled later, he would witness to that fact. But thats all I have.
Now... Could she go and damage the car now, file a report (they said she could) and then get me or the insurance co. for more, plus personal injury? only God knows what it will be tommorow.
Oh God, sorry for the long post, but I am pissed at my kid, but also trying to defend myself here I guess, in case my insurance doesn't cover, NOW, all the stuff she may claim.
I can't believe this all just happened, and how the story from the 'injured' party kept getting bigger, and may get even bigger still!
posted on June 4, 2001 09:12:14 PM new
Yes they can do all of that, and there isn't a thing that you can do about it except rely on your insurance carrier.
Sounds like they'll go for the limit of your liability coverage and the thing will settle out after about a year. The final amount will depend a lot on the amounts of medical bills acrued by your daughter's victim(s) .
It'll all happen without much disruption to you for a while, but come renewal time you'll be cancelled or your rate will triple or more.
posted on June 4, 2001 09:19:26 PM new
Yeah sounds like thats what they'll do....
Do a lot of people 'scam' like this?
I must lead a real weird life, because I never had anything remotley like this happen to me.
I mean do people go around and, ok, do some people do this for a living. Because I know the law, whereas, if you rearend someone, you are always at fault. So, say your driving along, at a normal speed, on a normal residential road, and someone is behind you, you can just slam on your brakes, JUST so they will hit you, and you collect???
Does this happen much, because I have my suspicions (and its just not defending daughter) this is what happened..
posted on June 4, 2001 09:36:22 PM new
Kind of hard to fake a stroke, so either it's true or it isn't.
As for the car, I'd go to their house and photograph it before they have a chance to "enhance" the damage.
In answer to one of your questions, there are indeed people who regard getting hit by another driver, or tripping and falling down in a retail store, etc., as something akin to winning the lottery.
People suck. The sooner you learn that in life, the better off you are.
posted on June 4, 2001 09:47:36 PM new
Spazmodeus-I'm learning, everyday its something different
The man did really have a stroke, but before any of this. Apparently she was returning him to the nursing home. Strange, he doesn't live with her, but she has a wheelchair lift and all in this brand new vehicle (which is another thing, she said the lift may be damaged from this) that she drives, but thats not the point. She claims that he may have injurys now, because he didn't have his neck brace on....... damn the man could die from this one, and I am not joking...
sheeeeeet!
My brother suggested taking a video camera over there, but I don't want to, I don't want to even see these people.
yes the whole thing is grinding me, and making me really want to leave this state or country or something.
Yuck, yes I've heard of people slipping on floors in retail stores and getting money, but car accidents.... on purpose. What is wrong these days? This is a sick frikking way to get money!
posted on June 4, 2001 10:59:09 PM new
Sounds like she talked to someone. Otherwise they'd have claimed injuries on the scene which would have required the emergency people to ransport them and make their case stronger.
There are people who rig their brakelights so they can turn them on and off at will. They see an opportunity and slam on the brakes with no lights, but the lights work fine when the police arrive.
Rearend accidents and the accompanying neck and back injuries are looked at pretty suspiciously these days because they've become a joke, a cliche'.
Doesn't stop people from pulling the scam. They'll get an easy $30,000 each, probably not more.
posted on June 5, 2001 03:26:04 AM new
Well your insurance company SHOULD do it but sometimes they don't want to spend the money - to investigate how many "accidents" and stairs fallen down and houses burned these people have had.
My neighbors in Ohio ran into one of these families years ago that would deliberatly cause accidents and then damage the car much worse.
They would teach their kids to run up to a moving car and bounce off the side and claim all sorts of injury. Their car burned up 3 times in one year. They had a history of falling in grocery stores - department stores. They would claim they got pinched or cut on the doors at the mall or the bench in the mall. They would pretend expertly to shoplift and then when security arrested them they had no goods on them. They had a history of scams and bad checks - real sweethearts.
My neighbor sent a large ugly gentleman who informed them that if the suit was not dropped they were going to have a real big tragic accident bought for them for real. They were unnerved enough they moved out of state.
posted on June 5, 2001 07:57:49 AM new
Your insurance company should get a copy of the police officer's report - if the injuries were serious, I would think that the officer would have summoned an ambulance.Insurance companies are well aware of these scams. (And not all juries are sympathetic to these "injuries". I've sat on a couple juries that didn't award anything.)
posted on June 5, 2001 09:31:00 AM new
First get a copy of the police report and give one copy to your insurance company. Let them handle the whole thing for you. It's their job and what you pay them for.
The police report will show no injuries and will show the damage (or none) to the vehicles.
They have up to 72 hours to claim injuries because injuries don't always show up right away. I had a wreck 10 years ago and I didn't think I was injured. I went to get checked that night anyway and the doctor told me that head and neck and back injuries don't show up for at least 24 hours. Two days later I woke up and couldn't move my neck. What I thought was no injury turned out to be a spinal injury in two of the vertebraes. I went through a year of therapy for which her insurance paid and still have a lifetime of medical benefits if I need them.
I just went through a law suit last year because the town drunk (my luck) claimed I backed into his car at dusk in a mist rain. He came out of a parking lot and tried to pull in next to me (diagonal parking) as I was backing out and he didn't quite make it.
My car had absolutely no damage. He had his 4x4 pick up door damaged terribly. I was driving a Taurus. For me to have damaged his door, my car would have had to be going at least 30 mph and would have had to jump at least 3 feet into the air to cause it. I told my ins. company I was ready to go to court and they shouldn't pay him a penny. We all went to our magistrate who found for me. The guy was furious, said he would take it to the supreme court, etc. He never did anything else, but I watch for him. He's an ex-sheriff who is still living in the past.
If you believe your daughter is right and there is no damage, it's the burden of proof on them to prove that their injuries if any, were caused by your daughter. In the meantime tell your daughter to stay back from people a bit after they take their foot off the brakes. Some lady slammed into and under my husband's 18 wheeler because of that. Witnesses say the light had just turned green and she was in a hurry. She never made it past the light.
posted on June 5, 2001 09:58:35 AM new
mtnmama-oh thats terrible! sorry!
Yes I am going to let the ins. co take care of it.
Though there were no police reports taken at the scene (she said there was no need then), the lady said she was going to report now. Yes I know injurys can show up later..... what I was worried about, was she could, (if so inclined to be this way) have her son do damage to the vehicle, but not in a way that there shows damage, as the people that were there, said there was nothing visible that was wrong with the back of her car. Though we all know, it could have jammed or done something without showing visible damage.
But I am not going to worry, I believe there is enough coverage for whatever happened.
I have Safeco, and I do believe they have investigators, and hoping they do a good job.
I have never been in a wreck, I have never got a ticket (really! never! so shush krs ) And neither had my oldest daughter, so this is pretty new to me.
posted on June 5, 2001 05:21:50 PM new
My poor daughter just got into a wreck last week. Except she was the one that was hit. Mazda Protege slammed into her Chevy Cavalier at 45mph. But, years ago the same thing happened to me. Stopped at a red light car in front goes and then car in front stops. I hit him. But, the only damage was to his seat. 72 Dodge Dart versus a Honda Civic. The police report will tell the true story. Then, if she tries to pull a scam she can then faces charges of insurance fraud.
posted on June 5, 2001 08:06:21 PM new
If her relative called the police, there is a report filed by the police. There has to be, because they can't go on a call without filing some kind of paperwork. The cops that came to my "faux" wreck let everyone go, but they did file a report. I have a copy of it.
Something has to be filed for the insurance company. They won't just take her word for it. She needs to produce a copy of the report plus estimates and it's up to Safeco to send out their investigator to see if her claim is accurate. Since everyone refused medical assistance at the scene, that's going to be hard for her to prove that it was from the fender bender.
I'm with State Farm and have been for the past 20 years. They're great about treating their own customers fairly. My son hit a deer the other night and damaged the front end of his new car. (ACK) State Farm has a program where he takes it to a Service First company and they fix the car then bill the insurance company after deductible is paid. He gets a rental from them too at 80% of the cost or they give him $10 a day.
What's really bad about your daughter's situation is the car in the rear is always at fault. We all know that. The woman knows that and just because your daughter is a teenager she's making it worse. I really find that disgusting.
Good luck to you!
BTW, the lady that slid under my dh's truck was unknown to us. She was just on her way home from the mall and was late (her family said she always sped when she was running late) The saddest part is, she also killed her friend.
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