Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Help... Im being sued

Let your insurance company handle it. You might asked the other guys insurance company to fax you the 3 estimates for repairs that they should have obtained.

Sorry I'm late to join this thread, just got back after a week out of town.

1) YOUR insurance company WILL line you up with a lawyer IF this situation turns into a lawsuit. Yes, you should contact your insurance company about the demand letter immediately.

2) So you were following the car ahead of you too closely to be able to stop and you want to blame it on the guy ahead of you? Who forced you to follow him so closely? Keep that up and some day you will no longer be able to sit because of how badly you will be reamed for it. I make a major chunk of my living off of insurers for people with driving habits like yours.

3) Deny you were there despite witnesses with whom you exchanged info, simply because no cops arrived? That's a GREAT IDEA if you want to be a known/proven liar and take over more than your share of everybody else's damages. Get yourself one of those inflatable donut cushions women use to sit after childbirth with an episiotomy.

4) So someone thinks it should only cost $1000 to fix the back end of the middle car? Did someone with that opinion put that car up on a rack, pull off the bumper and cover and inspect all the unibody welds? (Don't you just love people who give their opinions before they know the facts?) And if you know only the bumper had to be replaced, you must have X ray vision. Riiiight.

5) There's a really strong chance the other guy's insurer and/or his body shop took pictures of the damage that was found or claimed. Maybe you'd think those pix are part of a scam. If so, here's another example of how you screwed yourself by NOT bringing up this crash immediately with your own insurance company. You being too sly for your own good kept your company from being on top of this to get its own pictures and verify the damage done.

6) You're worried about what this will do to your liability insurance rates? How about how the rest of us should be worried about how YOU will raise OUR rates?

7) Even if people feel like they are not hurt at the crash scene, they often get worse over the next 24 hours. Don't be surprised if an injury claim still is made by car #1 against you and car #2. What's the statute of limitations in your jurisdiction? It might be a year or two or three after the crash before an injury claim deadline hits.

I apologize for being harsh. But not for giving it to you straight.

liberal.

For one thing I was not following too close. I had plenty of room to make a quick stop, but this guy literally did 30 - 0 into the back of an SUV before I could get my foot on the break pedal. Looking back I would compair it to someone driving into a brick wall. How the hell would you expect anyone to combat that kind of situation. For another thing we were going up hill and I could only see the car in front of me. I had no idea what the cars ahead were doing. Car #1 was in a huge mammoth SUV and had a clear view of what was happening ahead which is why he was able to stop accordingly. If the cops really thought I was following too close then they would have issued tickets.

I think it is you who is making assumptions here. I work for an insurance company also and handle auto claims every day. I never make assumptions unless I know the area the accident happened in or our insured is a repeat offender.

If you have never driven D.C. streets than dont make assumptions. D.C. drivers are some of the most arrogent a$$holes I have ever whitnesed behind the wheel of a car. The whole thing started because some guy ahead of all of us almost missed his turn and decided to try and make it at the last second. You could see the guys skid marks from where he slammed on the breaks to make the turn. Then the guy behid him came to a complete stop wich started the chain reaction.

The points you make are IDEAL for an experienced attorney to use against you on negligence for improper speed, lookout or control: "I had plenty of room to make a quick stop [but hit him anyway]" and "I could only see the car ahead of me, I had no idea what the cars ahead were doing..." You couldn't see around the SUV and no one forced you to follow that SUV, yet it's not your fault you gave yourself a blind spot directly in front of you.

You want to talk about horrible assumptions? Chew on this: You assume your lack of a ticket carries some weight. Wrong. Cops are busy everywhere. Too busy to respond to every crash. Too busy to write every possible ticket. That you did not get a ticket is NOT admissible in evidence unless plaintiff's counsel is snoring. Even if you got a ticket and beat it in traffic court, that is usually not admissible in a civil crash claim trial in the jurisdictions where I'm admitted. But if you were such an insurance/auto claim expert, you would already know you're hanging your hat on a point that will not be heard by a jury. I call BS on your claim of auto claim experience.

And blaming the guy up front who made the turn? I follow your point, but the biggest problem with that logic is that the next guy came to a complete stop without hitting anyone. And you could not figure that out as an auto claim professional? Again, I call BS. Next, you'll use "The Martian Defense." It's where you blame everybody else for you messing up until plaintiff counsel says in closing argument to the jury: "Next thing you know, Mr. Red92784 will blame his crash on little green men from Mars. Everybody except himself."

If you work with auto claims every day (like you now say) then why did you keep your company in the dark about this crash for 6 months? Again, I call BS.

Yes, I've driven in DC. And Boston. And NYC. And LA. And SLC. And MSP. And DFW. But crappy driving is crappy driving in every jurisdiction.

You're such an auto claims insurance professional that you'd ask a board of car nuts for guidance.

Good luck with your credibility if this crash ever requires your court testimony. You sound like your own worst enemy here.

Don't take my word for it. Print this thread in full. Take it to an MVA-personal injury plaintiff attorney for a freebie first consultation. And start following less closely.

This doesn't make much sense.

Originally posted by Red92784:

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I was in an accident about 6 months ago where the guy in front of me creamed the stopped car in front of him. He never once touched his brakes so I had no warning of the carnage just ahead.
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Luckily there were no injuries, so we all just exchanged info and went our seperate ways.

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So he creamed the car in front of him, but no cops were involved? Creamed/30mph hit, that sounds like some hefty damage did (could have?) occurred. Sounds like too much of an accident for no cops to be involved.

Originally posted by Red92784:

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I had plenty of room to make a quick stop, but this guy literally did 30 - 0 into the back of an SUV before I could get my foot on the break pedal.
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If the cops really thought I was following too close then they would have issued tickets.

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So there were cops?