I was driving home from work today, and while waiting to turn right onto a main street a saw that a full size chevy pick up was pulling up quickly behind me. He hit hard, the first thing that went through my mind was my exhaust, but he only hit me with his front lisence plate frame on the drivers side of my lisence plate. It made a 3" crack in the cover and pushed the whole thing in about 1/4". The first thing he asked was if i really wanted to call the police. My first thoughts, he just doesn't want a ticket, then he told me he was a cop and i knew he didn't want one of his buddies to come and laugh at him. We swapped information and i was one my way. Now i'm thinking aboout doing a body kit. Anyone know what it costs for an OEM bumper, and what it costs for a full body kit minus the price of the bumper which his insurance will pay for?

 

You should contact your insurance company ASAP if you have not already done so. You may want to find out if you can still file a police accident report. The cop knows that it will be harder to blame him without an accident report - you should have called the cops when it happened.
Good luck bro - don't let the system beat you. The cop that hit you knows the system well.

 

I agree. ALWAYS call the police. Now you have no proof that he hit you, just your word against his. If he tells his insurance that you backed into him, who are they going to believe? You or the cop? I would see about getting an accident report filed as soon as possible.

 

Don't be scared. I wouldn't turn it in if he'll work with you on the cash. If he'll pay for a new back bumper, paint, and installation... IN CASH, then why turn him away.

I hate when hard asses won't work outside of insurance for a few hundred bucks. They are the reason insurance is so damn expensive.

My friend rear ended an intrepid... No damage to the intrepid aside from a little paint off my friends bumper, which i rubbed off immediatly. my friends civic was Fu(ked and the dumb bitch called the popo. It's stupid man, just stupid how idiotic people can be.


[Modified by Pb_Foot, 9:13 PM 10/10/2001]

 

should of called the cops. SOme girl had backed into me and i didnt call the cops b/c not much damage was done(just a few scratches across the bumper). However when her insuranced asked her what happened she changed up the story saying i hit her. So i ended up getting no money and have to take cash out of my own pocket to repaint the front end.

 

Um...if you rear ended me, and there was absolutely no cosmetic damage to my car, I'd still call the cops and file a report. Chiropractic problems don't always arise immediately.

 

damn, we've got a bunch of cry babies when it comes to accidents. i mean damn, if it aint broke, who cares. exchange numbers and call it a day.

 

What will calling the cops do? Its still his word against yours. What you need are witnesses information. I've been in an accident once where I called the cops and it went something like this:

Police: anyone hurt?
Me: No
Police: Sorry, no one is available to file a report at the scene. Please exchange information and file a report at the station.

 

Hey 9integra2, you're from California, aren't you? Seems that's the new rule here...

 

You just did not just ask that!! Think about it a little bro.

 

Calling cops in cali will not get you a cop unless someone is injured. They tell you this when you call. I have been involved in like 4 accidents. Cops showed up once, because I was on the 5 and they happened to be driving by.

 

Dude! Its the law!! Is you have $500 or more worth of damage to your car. You have to file a report!! Who cares if he's a cop...he's a damn retarded one, and he's trying use that to his advantage...he's still a person who ran into your car, and you need to do what you would have done if he hadn't told you he was a cop! Should have never left the scene without a report!!

 

bah

just get an estimate to get your car fixed the way you want it, stick a little extra on it for your time, and tell him you want the cash to get it fixed. i can't believe how up tight some people are about "the law" and getting a in a fender bender.

 

Okay, I've been thinking about it........bro. Still don't get your point. What can the cops do except take your word and his word. The cop didn't see anything, so he can only assume what happened from what he hears. Witnesses are the key to resolving any incosistencies.

Yes, I'm from Cali and it was the LAPD that told me they couldn't do anything.

Also, how is anyone to determine whether or not they've been in a $500+ accident without a body shops estimate? Sure, some damage is obvious, but what about fender benders? Now, I may be wrong, but isn't it the law that you have to file with the DMV, not the PD, about a $500+ accident?

 

yeah well...don't come a crying if the cop decides that he doesn't want to pay for what you're asking for the damage...I can hear it now

...it wasn't that bad when i saw it...$50 is all I'm going to pay...all you damn kids do is race around running into things anyway...how can you prove that I did that?...


take it from experience man!!�@


[Modified by MiraiZ, 2:05 PM 10/11/2001]

 

You're not calling the police to have them judge who's fault it was or how much the damage is going to be....You are calling them to get some kind of documentation of the incident itself....The cop could write down $25 (minor damage) when in actuality it over $500... the point is to get a document to state that it happend ...time...date...place....parties involved...and whitnesses if any. You take that report to your insurance company HAVE THEM ASSESS THE DAMAGE...then later if the cop decides he doesn't want to pay, you've got a legal document along with the backing of your insurance company to sue his *** in court....


right now...you've got NOTHING...not even evidence that the incident ever happened ...he can deny the whole thing and leave you and your car in the dirt..

 

Isnt' swapped information SOMETHING?? If I was a judge, I would ask myself, "why did they swap information if there was no accident? Someone is obviously lying." And why would the LAPD decline to come to the scene of my accident if its soooooooooooooooo important?

Plain and simple, if there are no injuries, all you need is the other persons information and WITNESSES!!!

Also, the other driver can always claim a different story. What can a police report do for this situation? I know what witnesses can do and thats the main point I'm preaching here.


[Modified by 9integra2, 5:35 AM 10/11/2001]

 

My cousin got rear tapped from behind by a on-duty cop Nothing happend to his POS van except for a small scrape, but the police cruiser's turnsignal and fender suffered some damage. The cop insisted everything was fine, REFUSED to give his badge number and took off........

On duty and off duty, their ABOVE the law. There was an incident in the Boston area where police officers would park in no parking zones and got into confrontations with meter maids because they got tickets....

But whenever someone hits you, always file a police report..even if there is no damage. There are a lot of crazy people out there would might just end up changing their story and you'll end up getting screwed.

This ones sort of on a tangent, but my buddy's girlfriend for pulled over the other night along with 10 other cars. She got a warning for her foglights because they were "illegal". Funny thing was that they were OEM foglights on her Neon.


[Modified by dc24me, 11:13 PM 10/10/2001]

 

simply put..........most of them are PIGS

 

Take pictures at the minimum. Make notes on EVERYTHING, I've also had a freind get hit, and they were like, "no big deal" etc..... But when it came down to it, it cost my friends insurance $30k, and she got dropped by the insurance company.

Just remember, people are dicks, protect yourself at all costs, even if it means calling the police and/or asking people around for their names and phone numbers if necessary. The last thing you want to have happen is to get screwed out of $$ and get blamed for it too......

 

And don't come crying yourself if your home is ever burglarized, or your car stolen, or whatever, and the cops don't show up fast enough because they are all off writing up minor accident reports.

 

Yeah, I really hate it when they catch criminals, or recover stolen property, or give up their lives to protect sh*theads like yourself. Next time, take a second and <U>think</U> before you post ignorant crap like this.

 

Ouch. Bad move, dude.
I once didn't file a report when some lady in a van with 20 kids ran over the back of my bug on the last day of my senior year of HS cause the cop said don't worry about it.
When I filed with my insurance, they said there was no record of this lady, and the cop who came out to the scene denied ever having been there. Who's to say if he would have destroyed the report if he'd actually taken it, but still!
I found out later the lady was the sister of a local trooper. So go figure.
I ended up driving a bug with a squashed rear for 3 more years...
ALWAYS get a report.
PS I managed to get out of liability in an ice storm cause the other guy was in a hurry and didn't want to wait. So my insurance claimed no fault on my part because I was heading home when the storm started and got caught in it.
Also pays to have a local agent, not some Geico guy 500 miles away...

 

I ended up getting a police report today at the station the dude works at. So now i've got a document to show my insurance company. They told me that with the police report i wont have to pay a cent not even the deductable.

 

the guy hit you with a full size chevy pick up and all you got was a 3" crack on the rear bumper?!
Wait until they remove that thing and see what kind of damage he caused

BTW, I would have filed a report right away!