So heres my rant:


Im 17, today is the day before I pick up my RX-8... I take my dads car and drop him off at the train station so I can go to pick up my grandmother to take her to her doctors appt.... The day goes by fine... I drop her off at my house till its appointment time, and get a call from my little brother to pick him up cause hes not feeling well.... thats fine to... I drop him off at home, and he hasnt eatin anything nor has my grandmother, so I go out to get bagels, I turn in to the parking lot and there an elderly lady is going in reverse.... I honk, she doesnt seem to hear me... I put my car in reverse so she doesnt hit me, look in all my mirrors and see im good to go, (I was going veryyy slow) and boom some lady making a turn (not to fast, but not slow at all) hits me (she saw that there was no on-coming traffic but doesnt seem to look at the parking lot/street she was about to come into... Thank God no one was hurt, and my car was fine, her car had a lot of damage on it, from previous accidents, and she calls her husband makes it seem like it was my fault, we swap plates and numbers etc... State Farm Insurance provides us with Cameras so we can take pictures of such mishaps... I take pictures of my car (which has an tiny vertical scracth on its bumper (the car is a lease and it wont matter when I give it back because its a lot smaller than a credit card)) but her front drivers sides corner bumper had a crack in it. I have reason to believe that it was already very damaged from previous accidents because a. there was no damage to my car b. THE CAR WAS ALREADY VERY DAMAGED.

Im still very young, and it was my first (and hopefuly God-willing) and my last. I felt at the moment it was my fault. But realized I had no choice and that I was avoiding another collision, well she didnt want to report it to the police or insurance just yet, and hell I didnt mind because I had 0 damage. I spoke to her husband and wasnt my usualy pushy self because of the moment and it being my first time (and again hopefuly last) but he has my number and is going to call me this afternoon, my father told me to tell him if he asks for money or something just say it wasnt your fault and that he needs to pay for my paint or else Ill report it to insurance...

Well what do you all think?

Honestly,
It being yoru first time and all, I would let your father handle it if the other party is being in the least beligerant.

When you are turning into a parking lot or turning to go up an aisle it is your responsibility to make sure that you are going at a safe enough speed not to get into a collision. From what you stated it doesn't sound like this lady was going at a safe speed. It is her fault. If she was behind you already and you backed up with out looking to make sure it was clear, then it would be your fault.

You did the right thing. Make a journal note with a drawings of the cars and placement of the accident and situation. Include the space where the elderly lady was backing out. If done properly this documentation will help your insurance company if they need to get involved. Do not accept any responsibility in the accident period. This lady may be someone who goes out and scams people for money. Especially judging by the amount of damage already visable on her car. I would call and verify that she even has the insurance that she gave you a copy of. Have your dad call and check it out for you. Tell him that you need his help so that you get it right. Let us know how it turns out.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for all the great advice... But my father is the type that thinks that dealing and negotiating with this kind of stuff on your own makes you the man you are... so he wants me to try to handle it on my own, I called and verified that her insurance is indeed active and correct. I also could care less about my car since there is no damage, and I will post pictures soon, right now I am taking care of my grandmother and Im about to take her to her rheumotologist appointment... Many thanks again for all the suggestions and commenting! I really do appreciate it!

Hey can you really be expecting from the carputer.....and what brand/cost did you get yours?

Well actually I built my own... (I hope setup will be easy for me) If you want to get details etc... PM me so I can tell you what I did

I think you may have made a mistake in not calling the police-they can sometimes help determine who's at fault. I had something like this happen once in a parking lot -as I was turning left up an aisle, the kid in the truck behind me decided I wasn't going fast enough and tried to PASS me on the LEFT. I refused to move my car until a police officer came. But, since there was no damage to your car really, I wouldn't worry about it. And in general, if you run into the back of another vehicle, it's considered your fault, so you're probably okay there too.

I agree you should let your dad handle it if they are at all difficult.

http://jniamehr.com/accident/mycar.jpg
Heres what happened to my car dont mind all the dirt and dust, the real damage (from her) is right about the tail pip in that little line


http://jniamehr.com/accident/hercarandme.jpg
Now tell me if all the damage in that picture could have happened in her collision with me in this one accident... While my car had 0 problems....


http://jniamehr.com/accident/allherdamage.jpg
This is all the damage that had happened from her previous accident... I tried to get most of it, but there is a lot more that you just cant see in the pictures...

Sometimes cops will ot come out if it happens on private property.

Originally posted by Elara
I think you may have made a mistake in not calling the police-they can sometimes help determine who's at fault. I had something like this happen once in a parking lot -as I was turning left up an aisle, the kid in the truck behind me decided I wasn't going fast enough and tried to PASS me on the LEFT. I refused to move my car until a police officer came. But, since there was no damage to your car really, I wouldn't worry about it. And in general, if you run into the back of another vehicle, it's considered your fault, so you're probably okay there too.

I agree you should let your dad handle it if they are at all difficult.

It's quite obvious this is YOUR fault....


You MUST have driven into the middle of a demolition derby that she was in!!

ROFL... def. my fault... she made me feel so bad too... it being my first time and all....

that looks like white paint on hers- and it seems to have rubbed off partly onto your car....how the heck could it be YOUR fault if she hit a white car? Yours doesn't look white to me...not only that, the damage on hers appears to be ABOVE the damage on yours....

Even if the police are called and do not ticket or legally fault someone, it's a civil lawsuit that settles who pays for whom.

There are two liabilities in an accident. One, the legal liability as to who gets a ticket, if applicable, and that is a criminal suit.

Second liability is the civil suit. This is where the insurance companies sue each other, or the uninsured motorist, for the cost of repair to the non liable owner's damaged vehicle.

e.g. I once had a woman say I forced her off the road. My vehicle never made any contact with hers. She was driving excessively fast in the outside lane and as I signaled to get over, for there was traffic stopped in front of me, I did not see her inn any of my mirrirs nor clear vision areas, she slammed on her brakes and and pulled into a nearby parking lot and got out and looked at her car. I stopped for a monment looked back and did not see her wave me over or indicate there was a problem that I caused. She passed me again 6 blocks later, again in the outside lane, and didn't even look at me or motion to me in any way. End of story...not.

Two weeks later a cop showed up at my door on a Saturday morning asking about the incident. I told him the same thing. He said he had to ticket me and that the Seargent told him if I acknowledged the incident to do so.

I went to court and the State's Attorney said that there was no way to determine if I did anything wrong and that I shouldn't have gotten a ticket two weeks after the fact and threw it out.

So. next it was civil liability for damage to her bent rim, so she claimed. I gave my statement about what happened to0 my insurance company and they ended up paying after investigating because she had a witness, or so she said, and that is how I found out that damage to a vehicle and who is responsible is a civil lawsuit regardless of legal fault. This was after the fact that the legal system had thrown out my ticket and didn't find me criminally at fault.

This is one of those situations that prove that no matter how old you are, you still learn something new from what you experience in life daily, sometimes.

As the others have said, ask your Father to help, explain to him that by what he does, you can gain great knowledge for when you are out and on your own.

I would recommend next time not saying a word, taking pictures, and calling the police. I have learned it is never in your interest to speak with the other party or to ever take the blame for it. I gave up on that after people tried to screw me over before. Let the police decide who is at fault. In this case, I seriously believe she was at fault as is the case with most rear endings. The person behind you is generally always responsible in these type of cases. Do not let them stick it to you. The pictures you have speak a thousand words.

Elara,

It isnt his fault. We were joking. It looks like she runs her car into something daily.

Originally posted by Elara
that looks like white paint on hers- and it seems to have rubbed off partly onto your car....how the heck could it be YOUR fault if she hit a white car? Yours doesn't look white to me...not only that, the damage on hers appears to be ABOVE the damage on yours....

Originally posted by murix
The person behind you is generally always responsible in these type of cases.

Unfortunately, the exception to this is when you are backing up - there is inherent doubt regarding the driver's ability to fully control their car in reverse, since we do it such a small amount of time compared with driving forward. If you were stopped and she slammed into you it's a no-brainer, the person behind is essentially always at fault. But it's a harder fight if you admit to be going in reverse.

Crappy situation all around!

Well I was stopped... They never called back either... I just dont want to deal with the headache...

Originally posted by guy321
Elara,

It isnt his fault. We were joking. It looks like she runs her car into something daily.

Here's the problem with the internet- I knew you guys were being sarcastic, and I was replying to the pictures in his post, not anything anyone else said. Should have quoted him, so you knew I wasn't responding to you. Sorry.

The Internet is the DEVIL.

You are too nice Elara. Here's a flower ---,--'--@

Originally posted by Elara
Here's the problem with the internet- I knew you guys were being sarcastic, and I was replying to the pictures in his post, not anything anyone else said. Should have quoted him, so you knew I wasn't responding to you. Sorry.