I got into a car accident; need advice

I rear ended another car. Had to reported it to the insurance company and
will picked up a police report in 5 business days. No summons/ tickets were
issued.

Is there anything I should be aware of, as far as liability is concern?

The insurance company will send a claims adjuster to look at my Civic (2000
Civic EX. I love this car!! I got 42 miles to the gallon on the highways,
driving around 70 mph .). I've put 100,000 on it and plan on putting more on
it.

I want it as close to the original as possible. On repairing my car, can I
specify the repair shop to use OEM parts? Do I have to settle for second
hand stuff?

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

 

Your car is the least of your worries. The other party could suddenly have neck
pains.







How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out

 

Well, pretty much be definition in any state I know of, you're liable
for all damages.

If you're subrogating this to your insurance company, they'll handle it.
You'll owe any deductible amount that's on your policy.

Now, you weren't obligated to report it to your insurance company; you
could have decided to pay this out of your own pocket. Just because you
have insurance doesn't mean you have to use it. I guess you still have
that option. That may be meaningful with respect to future premium
increases and whether your insurance company chooses to do business with
you at all.

Man, you drive 25K miles/year? What do you do?

Well, you're in an awkward position. Your own collision coverage will
pay for repairs; I don't think you're in any decent position to demand
anything of them. And the more your policy pays out, the worse it is
for you.

You can (a) pay for all the repairs out of your own pocket; your
insurance company would like that. Or (b) take what they offer and put
that toward the repair of your choice, paying any extra out of your own
pocket. Or (c) demand of your insurance company that they pay the extra
for Honda parts.

C is not really practical. Most people would do B (and then simply not
fix it, or fix it minimally, and pocket the difference). A is your best
bet if you can swing it; the less the insurance company has paid out
against your policy, the better.

My *personal* opinion is to get an estimate for OEM parts, repaired by a
shop you like, and tell your insurance company that's where you'll take
it--and to have them simply write the check to both you and the body
shop. The body shop loves having business in hand like that, and is
more likely to accept what the insurance company offers, or at least
drop their price, or otherwise negotiate directly with the insurance
company.

Your insurance company may try to bribe you into going to their
"recommended" or "partner" body shops. They may say that "such repairs
are guaranteed for life" or some such thing. Stay away--stay far away.
The money and the body work should be handled by separate companies.
Don't let the insurance company's captive shops do the work. (That's
almost like the home repair guys who show up at your door offering to do
work for you. Just say no; if you need the work done, *you* find the
people you want.)

Again, that its your policy paying for your car puts you in a worse spot
than if someone else had rear-ended you and he was paying for it. You
may have to accept what you can get, pay the rest out of pocket, and
learn a big life lesson here.

What were you doing that you weren't paying attention to the car ahead
of you?

 

:: Man, you drive 25K miles/year? What do you do?

Work from home, design computer trading systems. Drive on the weekends.
Typical trip is from NJ/NYC to Maine or Ohio or Virgnia.

: You can (a) pay for all the repairs out of your own pocket; your
: insurance company would like that. Or (b) take what they offer and put
: that toward the repair of your choice, paying any extra out of your own
: pocket. Or (c) demand of your insurance company that they pay the extra
: for Honda parts.
:
: C is not really practical. Most people would do B (and then simply not
: fix it, or fix it minimally, and pocket the difference). A is your best
: bet if you can swing it; the less the insurance company has paid out
: against your policy, the better.

Appreciate your advice. This is my first accident in 17 years of driving.
Even if I go (a), will this appreciate my premiums just because I had an
accident?

: My *personal* opinion is to get an estimate for OEM parts, repaired by a
: shop you like, and tell your insurance company that's where you'll take
: it--and to have them simply write the check to both you and the body
: shop. The body shop loves having business in hand like that, and is
: more likely to accept what the insurance company offers, or at least
: drop their price, or otherwise negotiate directly with the insurance
: company.

I will follow your *personal* opinion.

: What were you doing that you weren't paying attention to the car ahead
: of you?

Nope. Not the case at all. I was driving on a 3 lane road (1 lane going
against me, 2 lanes on my way.). I was in the rightmost lane when car number
1 turn onto my lane from a 90 degree intersection. Car number 2 followed car
number 1. Both cars did not come to a full and complete stop even though
there was a stop sign at that intersection. They both just swung onto the
road as if it was just a curve. No big deal as I was several car lengths
(perhaps 10) away. I was doing 35 and the speed limit was 35 (I know because
I had just passed a cop in hiding and I looked at my speedometer just to
make sure I wasn't speeding. Cops in NJ can get nitpicking in a construction
zone.). Anyways, I switched over to the left lane as both cars were slower
then me. Car number 2 decided to do the same thing in attempting to pass car
number 1. She accelerated and was about to pass number 1 when he decided
(for some unknown reason) to switch over to the left lane. He nearly hit car
number 2. Car number 2 had to brake and came to a stop. Meanwhile, I tried
to brake and with Honda's brake being what they are (notoriously weak), I
couldn't stop in time. I tried to swerved into the empty lane but couldn't.
I hit car number 2 and whacked her rear bumber. No airbags were deployed.
Just a damage hood, front light (left) and bumber for me - rear bumber for
her. There was plenty of daylight and roads were dry. Of course, car number
1 drove away as if nothing has happenned.

 

Nope. Not the case at all. I was driving on a 3 lane road (1 lane going

You've just been a victim of a clever setup.



How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out

 

1) Slow down
2) Don't tailgate

 

Quite possibly. Actually, you now have it on the public record; that
alone (like a simple speeding ticket) will cause something to happen.
Plus, some people report that insurance companies ding you for simply
calling them to ASK about the details of submitting a claim, whether
they submit the claim or not.

But there's no question that you're better off if you don't cause them
to spend money.

If you have a good relationship with your insurer, and if it's a good
one (like State Farm), and if you pay the entire thing out of pocket and
don't take their money, it may not hurt you at all.

A couple years ago, I had damage exactly like yours on my 92 Civic. OEM
parts, labor everything was $1700. Her bumper may be repairable for
cheap (did you know that even deep scratches on a bumper cover are
easily and cheaply repairable by a good body shop? I didn't, not until
I needed that service a couple months ago).

You may get out of this for relatively cheap. You may think about just
paying it out of pocket, and keep the insurance for a real catastrophe.

 

I don't know about NJ but here in Toronto insurance rates are extremely high. In
my case, I've owned my 1998 Civic since new (for 6 years), no accidents, two
minor speeding tickets, I've been driving since 1986 and have been insured for
more then 6 years continuously. Even with my great track record, I'm still
getting charged $2600/year to insure my car. Consider that the car is 6 years
old, never been in to an accident, and is only worth about $6000 dollars, I
think my insurance rate is high!!! The funny thing is, compared to everyone
else I know, I'm actually getting a fair shake with my insurance payment. If I
had actually made a claim that was my fault, I'm sure my premium would double.

In NJ, claiming for a minor accident might be a good thing, but here in Toronto,
making a claim is a bad idea... I wish all the insurance company would go to
hell. As is, if any politician dared to side with the insurance company (in
Toronto), their political career would be short lived. There's a lot of
extremely frustrated people...I'd be amazed if these insurance company will ever
be able to regain people's trust after giving us the shaft. Considering the high
premium, the government probably could do a better job managing Auto Insurance.

Pars

 

You can probably have the work done anywhere you want it and to your specs.
Using secondparty, remanufactured or used parts is pretty well insurance
industry standard.
On the other hand, a Honda dealer can get new OEM Honda parts for not much
more (10-20%).
Usually the insurance company will pay what _their_lowball estimate came
to and you'll have to pay the balance. Probably would not be huge. A lot
depends on how reassonable your insurance company is.

 

Ontario has no-fault auto insurance, one of the stupidest ideas ever
thought of. Ontario also has extremely restictive governmental regulations
under which insurers must operate, as well as enormously lucrative payouts
for collision participants. There are other serious problems.

There is a reason the number of insurance companies that are willing to
sell auto insurance in Ontario has been in steep, steady decline since the
mid-'80s.

Compared to prior to the advent of the Family Law Reform Act of 1980 (?),
and compared to other jurisdictions without no-fault and without an idiotic
liability regime, yours is VERY high.

Not quite. You might pay closer to $3,000 for a couple of years. Your
problem is that the few insurance companies left will treat at-fault
collisions differently. You may discover that yours is excessively harsh on
first-time claims, whereas another might be more lenient.

You have it TOTALLY backwards. The problems have been caused by
governmental meddling in the automotive risk-management industry, not the
insurance companies.

I've been covered by auto insurance since 1978. Back then there were NO
regulations on who could be charged how much. There was no "no-fault"
stupidity. Until 1981, you didn't even have to have insurance. Post-
collision claims could only be made by the persons actually in the vehicle
at the time of the collision, and even then there were serious limits.

And insurance was cheap. A 19 year old with a 5-year old Toyota paid as low
as $638 per year. That 19 year old was me.

When I was younger and on my parent's insurance, my parents paid about $100
per year for me as an occasional driver.

The National Post newspaper recently had a series of articles on auto
insurance. You should go to the library and read them. Might be a real eye
opener for you.

I feel sorry for the people that run insurance companies. Did you know that
in some cases the payout under the new liability environment and under no-
fault can be MORE than 100% of the premiums they are allowed to charge? No
wonder they don't want to sell you insurance any more.

 

To which may I add: 3) Pay Attention.

Many rear-enders are caused by not paying attention to where your car is
headed.

 

Around here the insurance adjuster comes out and gets an estimate on the car
and then I have to take my car to a qualified body shop. The body shop
throws out their estimate and uses the insurance's estimate granted there is
no unseen damage. In my case there was and a quick call to the insurance
company got the increase approved.

Ryan

 

I don't know about the other stuff, but I can see how the payout can be a big
problem. I think the root of the problem are from doctors. Crack down on the
doctors that are lose with their prescriptions and you reduce on bogus
insurance claim. The next culprit is body shops that seriously over charge for
insurance work. Insurance company should be given the option to ban certain
body shops that seem to be abusing the system.

Just my two cents.
Pars

 

Let's put it this way: Suppose you manufactured widgets for a living.
Suppose it cost you $1 to build each widget, but the government would only
let you charge 93¢ for each widget. How long do you think you would be
willing to make widgets?

Payout is EVERYTHING. Risk assessment and management is the very core of an
insurance company. Playing things so that they pay out less than they make
is how they stay in business at all, just like any other business, and just
like your own home finances.

You should see how cheap is insurance in areas--like Britain--where the
government has not horribly distorted things. You should have seen how
cheap insurance was RIGHT HERE before the government decided they ought to
"do somethin' about it".

The problem is the government, and partially the insurance companies
themselves, who lobbied for regulations that ended up backfiring on them.

If you had read that National Post series I suggested you read, you would
find that the main causes of high insurance rates are four things:
1) Accident Benefits
(Check your policy to see how much of your premium goes to that alone)
2) Regulations that dictate how much the insurance companies may charge.
(Basically, through your premiums, you are providing subsidies that keep
the most risky drivers on the road, so they can continue to crash into
you.)
3) Accident Benefit Fraud
(Make benefits lucrative enough, and you eventually invite crooks to the
party.)
4) Air bags and other "safety" devices.
These result in a very large number of injury claims, even in minor
collisions. Those injury claims pay out...Accident Benefits!

There is a reason why insurance companies in Canada give neither rewards
nor penalties for having air bags or not.

The difference between an abusive body shop and a cheap one is trivial.
Cars are very expensive to repair these days due to all the "safety"
features they have. Air bags ALONE can double the amount the insurance
company must pay to have a car fixed. "Crumple zones" can damage a car
enough to write it off, when a similar collision with an older car would
have been fixed easily.

Pars, at the beginning of your reply, you state: "I don't know about the
other stuff". Well that "other stuff" IS the ONLY stuff.

Go to the library and read that series in the National Post. Until you do
that, you will be unable to express opinions that embody much more than
frustrated emotion.

 

And some rear enders are caused by lack of experience behind the
wheel.....not having learned to anticipate what might happen and react
before it happens.