Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

Gah, this has me pissed the **** off...

(This was the Forester XT, not the SVX)

A couple of weeks ago I was in the far right lane of an interstate and some woman who was in the far left lane moved across two lanes, without bothering to actually look, and right into my front left fender. Not a bad crash, but about $1800 in damage. The fender had to be replaced, bumper fixed in a tiny spot and repainted, and the door repainted.

So we pull over. The woman gives me some insurance info. I wanted a police report but she said she wouldn't stay for that because she had to get her son to a band thing (Her son was actually in the car). I can't exactly force her to stay so whatever.

Well I called the troopers to get someone to come out and write a report, but they said no, they wouldn't come out because it wasn't a major crash...

I filed the claim with my insurance instead of contacting her to take care of it that way (Which was the right decision it looks like). I got the car fixed and have been waiting to hear what's happening. I had to pay my $500 deductible and was waiting to find out when I would get it back.

I talked to my claims handler on Tuesday and they hadn't been able to get a hold of the woman, and had just been contacted by the other insurance company and told that the policy hasn't been active for over a year.



So now they're going to go after her with a collection agency, but I doubt that'll do anything. If she doesn't have insurance, somehow I think she won't pay a collection agency.

So how the hell does someone get to drive around illegally without insurance, crashing into people, and get off without any kind punishment since the police wouldn't come out. But I have to eat $500. (Although, I don't know what would have happened if the cops had left and she had already left).


So yeah, it has me pissed the hell off, and it seems like I'm just ****ed and she gets to drive around and hit someone else.

Do I have any other (viable) options? If the insurance companies collection agency doesn't get anything, I don't know what small claims court would accomplish. Also, I just wanted to vent a bit.

Oh, this is in Minnesota BTW.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

The cops should come and make a police report.

Few years ago. A bad lady hit my bumper at Walmart Parking. It was not major but you could see the black scratch on the bumper, and she was trying to run away. Good thing I was still in my car. I stopped her. She tried to give me a fake phone number and etc. I insisted on seeing her insurance card and I wrote down her license plate number. After done all the work and sending pictures to her insurance, few weeks later, they just discovered her insurance was not being renewed for a while. Needless to say, it sucked. I just had to let it go and it was just really too much trouble, time to track her down thru her license plate.

I'm sorry to hear this and losing your five hundreds bucks. At least, you still have your full coverage to help you.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

It's understandable in a way that the police would not come out to the accident scene. They often won't arrive here unless somebody had been hurt. This escalates the severity of the accident on their scale of seriousness.

The other thing that will get them out is if the drivers wont move the vehicles and the roadway is blocked. They don't like that.

You should forward the details of the accident to the police. Over here in Ireland if a road accident brought an uninsured car and driver to their attention, our police would go to their place and arrest and charge them.

;)

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

You actually can demand that they stay, at least in the state of Wisconsin. Also any damage appearing to be over $1000, a police report is required.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

Here in Quebec when you pay for your plates it's expensive but a large portion of it is for insurance to cover these kinds of incidents.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

If you tell them your neck hurts or you feel dizzy, they'll usually dispatch the police here.:D

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

Have her insurance company send you an official denial letter stating that the policy was cancelled, and then take that letter, along with her address, over to the local police station. Tell them you were hit by an uninsured motorist, and you want her ticketed for driving while uninsured. I don't know what the penalty is for that over where you are, but in NJ it is mandatory 1 year loss of your driver's license. Doing this probably won't help you to get your money back, but at least you might stop her from hitting someone else. Or another option is to get her address and phone number, and let her know that you are going to go to the police and have her license suspended unless she refunds you your $500 deductible right now. That will probably get her to cough up the cash pretty quick.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

^^^What he said. Up here driving without insurance will net you a $5000 fine at minimum.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

...because someone who will drive without insurance surely won't drive without a license. :rolleyes: ;)

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

that sucks. You can demand a police report, and should. Otherwise it's your word against hers, and that never goes well. They'll write it, even if they give you a bit of grief for it. You can demand she stays as well until hte police get there. Otherwise it's hit and run. And hit and runs really rape you.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

In this whole thing, I made one really really really big mistake. I'm not sure how I overlooked it, but I did, and that's all on me. I forgot to get her license plate number.

I spent today working with the information I have trying to track her down. The day started with talking to my local PD about how to handle it and the desk officer I talked to also recommended to go to the state patrol and "demand to talk to a supervisor." He also said (and I already knew this) that it would be easier if I can get her license plate number.

So far what I've been able to figure out is that some or all of the information was totally bogus. Apparently the policy did used to exist, but because of privacy rules the other insurance company can't give me any more information (no surprise). Through internet research and people searches I've got a few leads. The address on her policy thing doesn't seem to match the kind of car she was driving, but who knows.

The phone number she gave me is linked to another address as a land line which is also the number for a house cleaning "company" aka person. This is the number State Farm has been calling, but no one ever answers the phone. Same result when I called, and the answering machine is full.

By searching for the name on her policy, neither of those addresses match. But there are two people listed under that name in the twin cities according to whitepages and intelius. One is in Minneapolis and one is in Maple Grove, Less than a mile from the exit she was getting off at. This one looks the most promising, but the units (I'm not sure if they're apartments or or townhouses, or whatever) are attached and each have a garage. My hope is to come across the car so I can get the plate info.

If I can't, I'll still go to the state patrol and maybe they'll be kind enough to look things up by her name and vehicle make.

This would all be so much easier if I hadn't been a ******* at the time.


I've got nothing to do for the next three weeks, so this little project could help to blow some time. Honestly I'm not expecting anything to come out of it, but what the hell, it'll keep me busy.

EDIT:
The more I think about it, I'll probably just drop the whole thing. It's not worth my personal sanity.

Re: Hit by an uninsured driver...
 

I think this sounds like a fun project!