What happens if the person, who rammed into you, won't answer her phone?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I was at a stop light, when I got reared ended. There was some damage- a split bumper. The woman gave me her info, etc. We went our separate ways. I called her insurance company and reported the accident. Weeks later, her insurance company says that she never contacted them-phone calls and letters go unanswered. So, now, her insurance company says that they can't do anything till she responds. Her phones have a message saying "the party is not accepting calls at this time". What is this, you don't need car insurance-just don't answer your phone? What am I supposed to do?
 

I have no expertise at all on this subject, but my sympathies, fuzzy. It sounds like the only thing you can do at this point is contact your own insurance company, which you probably should have done in the first place. They can probably deal with her company better than you are able to.
 
This is when it's good to have a Smart Phone. Take photos of the damage to your car, and the license plate of the other car and driver's license/insurance. That's what my daughter did when a driver came through and clipped us in a sleet storm and tried to say we were responsible. She took photos. That really helped.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I was at a stop light, when I got reared ended. There was some damage- a split bumper. The woman gave me her info, etc. We went our separate ways. I called her insurance company and reported the accident. Weeks later, her insurance company says that she never contacted them-phone calls and letters go unanswered. So, now, her insurance company says that they can't do anything till she responds. Her phones have a message saying "the party is not accepting calls at this time". What is this, you don't need car insurance-just don't answer your phone? What am I supposed to do?
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Look for a personal injury attorney near you, and call for a free consultation.
Good personal injury lawyers take cases on a contingency basis- you don't pay them if they don't win a settlement for you.
 
JaniceM said:
Look for a personal injury attorney near you, and call for a free consultation.
Good personal injury lawyers take cases on a contingency basis- you don't pay them if they don't win a settlement for you.
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I thought it was only his car that was injured? A lawyer would send him to docs the lawyer works with and if no injury, will call it "soft tissue" injury which is hard to prove or disprove. IOW, lie, and back up the court system even more than it is.
 
Pepper said:
I thought it was only his car that was injured? A lawyer would send him to docs the lawyer works with and if no injury, will call it "soft tissue" injury which is hard to prove or disprove. IOW, lie, and back up the court system even more than it is.
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The catch is, if she decides to hire a lawyer, he'll wish he had one. Not everybody's honest and ethical.
 
First of all,a rear end collision is, almost without exception,the other driver`s fault. So it`s not likely the other driver would be able to wiggle out of that one. If you have collision coverage,let your own insurance company handle it,like Radish Rose says. If you don`t have collision coverage,most insurance companies won`t help you and filing in small claims court may be your only option.
 
yes of course its up the ins company to act here ---let them know that if they get no where with her --
ask the police to get on their case -they must have a address …..-
 
Pinky said:
This is when it's good to have a Smart Phone. Take photos of the damage to your car, and the license plate of the other car and driver's license/insurance. That's what my daughter did when a driver came through and clipped us in a sleet storm and tried to say we were responsible. She took photos. That really helped.
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Exactly , it helped me too when the driver did exactly the same thing when his insurance company wouldn't pay out because he'd told them I was at fault, and he wouldn't answer letters or phone calls .. ... I took photos of the damage at the scene ( I was staionary and parked in a restaurant car park) and fortunately there was CCTV cameras in the car park and the police were able to get a copy of the footage.. and they could see me talking to the driver calmly, and pointing to the damage and his response ( i got the finger from him)...as he drove away..

The police summoned him to court, and he didn't appear... so several weeks went past and the police arrested him as he drove along the motorway and he was brought into court a few days later , ..where he still denied any involvement and told a pack of lies ..until the Judge was shown the footage of the CCTV camera . .. then there was no denying anything

He was slapped with driving Ban , and a £900 fine, but the whole court look stunned when at the end of the case..it was announced that his occupation was a Motor insurance Broker... :mad:
 
The problem is that my car is a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. About 10 years ago, I hit a deer, and there was $5,000 worth of damage. As far as book value for the car, it's about $1.50. If I got a flat tire, that would pretty much 'total' the car. So, I don't have collision insurance on my car. And, it didn't occur to me to take pics, when I got hit. I was just so f******* irked. We don't have "police", where I live. We use PA State Police. So If I called them to verify the accident, I could be waiting several hours for them to show. It really gets me that all she has to do is not answer her phone, and nothing happens until she does.. But, I have to get the car ready for state inspection.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I was at a stop light, when I got reared ended. There was some damage- a split bumper. The woman gave me her info, etc. We went our separate ways. I called her insurance company and reported the accident. Weeks later, her insurance company says that she never contacted them-phone calls and letters go unanswered. So, now, her insurance company says that they can't do anything till she responds. Her phones have a message saying "the party is not accepting calls at this time". What is this, you don't need car insurance-just don't answer your phone? What am I supposed to do?
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We had someone hit us when we stopped at a light one time and we filed an online "police report" to the file. Later our insurance company called to ask us about it. We never filed a claim, but its good to file the report when something happens like that...for the record.
 
I’m just being curious, but why are you calling her insurance company? Here in Pennsylvania, we have no fault insurance. This means that “your” insurance carrier pays to fix your. In no uncertain terms should you be handling this through the other driver’s insurance company.

Going a step further, if the other driver is at fault and either is charged or accepts responsibility for the accident, the other driver’s insurance company should reimburse you for your deductible after the repairs have been completed.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
The problem is that my car is a 2009 Hyundai Elantra. About 10 years ago, I hit a deer, and there was $5,000 worth of damage. As far as book value for the car, it's about $1.50. If I got a flat tire, that would pretty much 'total' the car. So, I don't have collision insurance on my car. And, it didn't occur to me to take pics, when I got hit. I was just so f******* irked. We don't have "police", where I live. We use PA State Police. So If I called them to verify the accident, I could be waiting several hours for them to show. It really gets me that all she has to do is not answer her phone, and nothing happens until she does.. But, I have to get the car ready for state inspection.
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I`m sure you`re being facetious when you say your car is only worth $1.50. But yeah,if it`s not worth much,the party would only be responsible to pay up to the value of the vehicle-which wouldn`t necessarily be enough to have it repaired.
 
BTW, in PA, the driver only has 5 days to file an accident report.

There was a similar situation here in PA, only the driver who rammed the other car filed the report making it look like it was the other driver’s fault. The driver who rammed the other driver stated in the report that she came to a red light behind the driver and noticed that the driver in front was actually stopped maybe 6 feet into the intersection and decided to back up running into her front end.

This became a he said she said event until the gas station owner that was just up the street from where the accident had occurred came forward and told the state police that he had a video that showed who hit who. The video clearly showed that the accident happened as the driver who got rammed had stated.

The driver who tried to lie his way out of it ended up with 2 or 3 different charges.
 
Mrs. Robinson said:
I`m sure you`re being facetious when you say your car is only worth $1.50. But yeah,if it`s not worth much,the party would only be responsible to pay up to the value of the vehicle-which wouldn`t necessarily be enough to have it repaired.
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That’s probably what is going to be the outcome. The other driver’s insurance carrier will send an adjuster to your own. When the estimate of damages has been written and compared to the car’s value, it will probably be declared a ‘total loss’ and pay you whatever the car’s value is, which may be around $2000.00.
 

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