Accident, need advice

[Gravija]

This happened thursday morning, right before school and less than 50ft from the entrance of my school parking lot.

Im driving down the street at ~25 (school zone) and i see a pedestrian crossing on the opposite side (two lane street) and there are two other ones coming from the other side, but not into the crosswalk yet [no stop sign, but marked crosswalk]. Next thing i know, some green eclipse hits me from behind and sends me into the intersection (nobody was hurt) and i pull over to the side.

As I pulled over, I was expecting a huge amount of damage to my rear...but thankfully the bumper is just sagging a little and there are scratches into it. The eclipse's front was smashed in and there was coolant leaking out everywhere. The 3 passengers from his car left to go to school and he and i exchanged information (i was in a rush, did not get his insurance information or his DL #...) but i did get the VIN and where he lives.

So what im wondering here is, is this my fault because my parents said today that their insurance agent claims it was not his fault (i think its complete BS)?
Their insurance company is supposed to send over an agent for estimate and i want a private shop to get an estimate (anybody know any in the bay area?)

Thanks
(now the only side of the SVX that isn't hit would be the driver's side, but that's been keyed)

edit: what damage should i be worried about? (i drove it about 20 miles back from school fine, but i want my car to be healthy)

[94svxred]

Your agent is an A*SHOLE , No it's not your fault ,If there was a marked crosswalk and people crossing ,DUHHHHH people have the right-of-way. You need to fight this one!! Glad to here you weren't hurt ,but I knew you wouldnt be because you were in an SVX! (aka TANK)

Of course the other guy will immediately and automatically claim that it is not his fault. He doesn't want to get sued for whiplash or whatever by you, and he doesn't want to take responsibility for all the costs plus fines/points etc. But usually, the guy who rear-ended you is at fault. This is a general principle applied almost all over the world. Play the game and get a traffic lawyer or at least paralegal if necessary.

I'm assuming your location SF is San Francisco in California? You might find the following interesting:

California Vehicle Code Division 11 - Rules of the Road
Chapter 5. Pedestrians' Rights and Duties
Right-of-Way at Crosswalks
21950. (a) The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
(b) This section does not relieve a pedestrian from the duty of using due care for his or her safety. No pedestrian may suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard. No pedestrian may unnecessarily stop or delay traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
(c) The driver of a vehicle approaching a pedestrian within any marked or unmarked crosswalk shall exercise all due care and shall reduce the speed of the vehicle or take any other action relating to the operation of the vehicle as necessary to safeguard the safety of the pedestrian.
(d) Subdivision (b) does not relieve a driver of a vehicle from the duty of exercising due care for the safety of any pedestrian within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.
Amended Sec. 8, Ch. 833, Stats. 2000. Effective January 1, 2001.

Vehicles Stopped for Pedestrians
21951. Whenever any vehicle has stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle.

taken from http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vctoc.htm

More Help
California Courts Self-Help Centre: Traffic
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/traffic/

see also:
http://cobrands.public.findlaw.com/m...CA3DFE1D8.html
Rear-End Collisions
If someone hits you from behind, it is virtually never your fault, regardless of why you stopped. A basic rule of the road requires a vehicle to be able to stop safely if traffic is stopped ahead of it. If it cannot stop safely, the driver is not driving as safely as the person in front.
The other sure-fire part of the rear-end accident claim is that the damage proves how it happened: If one car's front end is damaged and the other's rear end is, there can't be much argument about who struck whom. Of course, the driver of the car that hit you may have a claim against someone who caused you to stop suddenly, or against a third car that pushed his car into yours. But that doesn't change his or her responsibility for injuries to you and damage to your car.

Keep in mind, however, that even if you have been rear-ended, in a few circumstances your own carelessness may reduce your compensation under the rule of "comparative negligence." A common example is when one or both of your brake or tail lights were out, especially if the accident happened at night. Another example is when a car had mechanical problems but the driver failed to do all she could to move it off the road.

See "How Your Own Carelessness Affects Your Claim" in General Rules for Proving Fault in Accidents, for more on comparative negligence.

[The Goat]

Agree with the two previous posts. In summary:

1) If you were rear-ended in any way, shape or form, and

2) Any insurance agent, yours, his, your parents, O.J. Simpson's, etc. suggests it is NOT the other guy's fault, then

3) Said insurance agent should not be employed.

Unless you were somehow driving backward, you win this case hands down.

As a side note, insurance agents representing other parties in an accident are notoriously diffivult - it's bad business for them to give you their money.

I was once a party in a three-car insurance claim because someone in a minivan lost control after getting side-swiped by an Acura, and plowed into my Mazda. The first insurance company gathered very quickly that I could not possibly have been at fault, but the second was dead-set against paying a portion of the repairs to my car. The resulting phone conversation went like this:

Agent: "The police report says you were drinking coffee at the time of the accident, and we are maintaining that you could not have been in complete control of your car due to that."

(I have a copy of the accident report in my hand, and immediately realize where this is going, that she hasn't quite grasped my whereabouts at the time of the accident, and start cracking up.)

Me: "Yes ma'am, the officer wrote my description down as "coffee, blue shirt" at the accident scene. I can assure you that I was as in control of my car as possible awhen the accident happened. My car wasn't moving."

Agent: "Sir, I understand that, but you may have been able to move to avoid the accident if you had been more in control of your car."

Me: "I think you're missing a key point here. I had a pretty good view of what happened, and there's just no way my car could have moved to avoid that accident."

Agent: "Why do you say that?"

Me: "If you look down under "location of car #3" - it explains it pretty clearly with the word "PARKED." I was inside my apartment at the time."

The rest of the conversation was fairly brief and apologetic.

[immortal_suby]

Funny story, Goat.
Agree with all the above - if you are rear ended (unless you just pulled out in front of someone) it is going to be the other guy's fault.

[NikFu S.]

There is an unwritten (or maybe it is in the books?) but widely followed rule that you need to give 2 full seconds of travel between you and the person in front of you. At around 25mph that's a good 36ft or so. No street legal vehicle I'm aware of needs more then 36ft to come to a complete stop from that speed.
I don't know about the DSM but my SVX needs about 10ft, 15 with winter tires on pavement.

Obviously the kid was:
-following too closely
-speeding
-not paying attention.
-not street legal ie faulty brakes, something hindering stopping/maneuvering ability.

You on the other hand were apparently yielding to a crosswalking pedestrian, or possible pedestrian hazard, excercising cautious driving. (:

As far as damage goes, you should check your trunk under the spare. If there are any cracks (like mine) chances are you got hit pretty good and need to get the frame checked out.

Other than that have someone go under the bumper and look at the connections and mountings, see if there's any chance it could fall off.

You should take a general look around the whole car to see if anything has popped loose as well.

The SVX is pretty hard to damage ;)

[ensteele]

I agree with all of the above. You are not at fault. You need to make sure your agent knows this and will defend you as such.

This is why I shop for an Insurance Agent, not insurance. It makes all the difference in the world if you have a good agent. If you don't, it doesn't make any difference what kind of insurance you have.

[n00b on demand]

earl i sent you a PM check your box

Just wanted so say you CAN be at fault for being hit from behind. I was hit while stoped.

I was stoped for 3 or 4 seconds at least and I was rear ended by a pick up truck and thrown into an intersection. However this driver was probably in his 50's and i was a teenager in a sporty car. So the cops come and he says I cut him off in this lane and slammed on my brakes when what really happend is about 1/4 mile up that road I enterd that lane and came to a slow stop at this red light. But long story short they did not ticket him and I was cited for improper use of a left turn signle. My car had no trunk left and was totaled his truck had a slightley bent hood and was able to drive away(and this from a 50MPH impact).

And my insurance agent called me and said himself he did not beliieve me and kept demanding to speak to my father since I was still under their insurance being a teen student. Really pissed him off when my dad said he was not there and pointed out I had never had a ticket before so he believed me.

Moral being if you KNOW its not your fault they can still screw you.

[US to CDN SVX]

North of the Boarder if you are hit from behind you are in no way at fault as you cannot see what the other guy is doing. You should be off the hook I hope? Try another agent.

Originally Posted by Eric's97

...My car had no trunk left and was totaled his truck had a slightley bent hood and was able to drive away(and this from a 50MPH impact)....
Moral being if you KNOW its not your fault they can still screw you.

Moral of the story is: get a good lawyer who will work ONLY on your behalf.

Insurance companies just want to maximize profit, which means that they mainly look at the bottom line - what is cheaper. In this case, with little damage to the other car, it might have simply been cheaper to pay for the repair and let you take the blame rather than fight it out in court. After all, it means you'll be paying higher premiums, but that doesn't really affect the company negatively, does it?