hi again. I got my S4, drove it for a month with a giant grin on my face, until today. I was turning onto a busy freeflow lane. A car passes and there's no one behind them. I turn, and as my gaze moves from the left to the right, I see that the van in front of me has just SLAMMED on its brakes to a dead stop. I slam on my brakes too, but it's too late, I've hit her.

She missed the turning lane for the grocery store, and decided that turning from the fast lane was just as good. Only there was traffic coming against her, so she stopped instead. I had just merged, and had only two car lengths between her and me. Sorry for the long story, but after the police said they're not going to do anything I needed to vent a little. No witnesses stopped, so it's my word against hers. She claimes to have stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross (only problem - I didn't see any pedestrian, and even if there were, it wasn't a crosswalk).

How much do you guys think it will cost to replace the hood, fender, and both front grilles on a 2005 S4?

 

Insurance? Personal claims court? You'll still will have a hard time, I know here in N.Y. if you hit someone from behind your to blame know matter what. It's that hole leave space (2 seconds)between your car and theone in front of you law......

 

--- lots of blah blah blah and unqualified advice below ---

First off, you may want to talk to a laywer prior to any conversations with the insurance companies.

Once you are ready to talk to your insurance company, discuss the events in detail with your claims adjuster, they will want to pay for the repairs about as much as you do. Based on your statement, they most likely will grill this lady and if in the course of any investigation, they feel that the driver of the van made an illegal stop and/or is lying about the pedestrian (insurance companies consider that fraud), then they may sue the ladies insurance to pay for the damages.

What ever happens, you definitely want to fight to have the accident as a "not at fault" charge on your CLUE record, otherwise they will increase your premiums.

Note that when ever you talk with your insurance company, or another insurance company, they note everything into the CLUE database which is not public information and therefore cannot really be disputed for inaccuracy. The CLUE d/b is what they use to justify ripping you off.

--- further babble and unqualified advice ---

As Ruggedboy mentioned, you can also go after her in small claims court. Just challenge her on the pedistrian. When your insurance company gets her statement, they'll inquire heavily about the person she says she stopped for, and you would want to memorize her description of that person. If she contradicts herself in court, then you most likely will win. You just need to get her talking about why she stopped. Where was her destination? Ask that first. Trap her in her story. If she says her destination was the grocery store, then you have motive for her illegal stop/turn. Once you establish motive for her illegal stop/turn, then it shouldn't be too difficult to prove motive to lie about the pedistian she says she stopped for. But before doing that, you would want to question her about the description of the person. Male/Female, height, weight, clothing. If she is lying about this person, then during the interview with your insurance company she would most likely go into detail (when people lie about something like this, they tend to give more detailed info because of fear of being caught and because lying is generally unnatural) and you want to catch any variance to the story. You don't want to directly challenge her on the statement, because you're not an attorney and can get into new problems, you just want to establish motive for her lie and note variances in her statements (accident report and interview with ins. co. would be considered sworn statements since you have to sign them). Just remember to leave the judgement to the judge. Your goal is to influence the judge to question her honesty and legality/safety of her actions which resulted in your collision with her. Also, check the area of the accident for CCTV cameras either owned by the city/state/DOT or businesses. You can always request (or demand through court) copies of video during the time of the accident.

Sorry for being so wordy, but you caught me on my third cup of jo.

Good luck,
B

 

use your insurance, that is what it is for... you could spend 5+ grand trying to fix your car, let alone hers...

if you have time,energy,and want to **** and moan in court then do it, you do have her on an illegal turn, and you can demand that your insurance does not pay out until court date. which wouldcertainly **** her off, if you lose in court you could be liable to pay for her rentalfor several months if you go that route.

i have often learned that it is easier to just pay the money and get the problem out of the way. there isno reason to live everyday pissed off, moaning and groaning about B1TCH did this and that, you hit her, end of story.

anyways, good luck on whatever path you choose.

 

Could always be worse your car could have been hit also from behind. or like i did last year when i was following to close in my truck, and monster trucked over the car. granted the car was a small honda and i thought i had killed everyone inside. but the best part was when the cops came they thought i had just stoped to help, cause there was no damage to my truck, hahaha stupid honda.