MY LESSON: I get out to run my errands, and Im all done, been in and out of traffic for 6 hours,in constant rain and wind, I drop my son off at his place, and am about to leave. I get into the car, and start to back out, trying to see around this huge F 150 parked next door, which is blocking my view. I get around the truck, no one in sight, and the next thing I know BAM!( NO one hurt though, and thats a good thing). NOW Im in the road, dropping it from reverse to first when this happened..take all of two seconds?

She has come from about three houses down, but is going so fast, that when she swerved to miss me, she went sideways, stopping at the other side of the yard about 100 ft, and narrowly missed another vehicle coming toward her..and still managed to hit my car in the process. My BRAND NEW (6575 miles) '06 Copper Red SHINKA has a crushed driver's bumper, cracked uncover bumper on that side that holds the drivers exhaust in place.

This woman has NO INsurance ( required at least liability in AL), not even her license with her, and driving a car that doesnt even belong to her. SHE GETS TICEKT, for not having possession of her license!!!.THATS IT!

Here's the KICKER: I "failed to yield the right of way" when I was already in the street!!!!!!!!!! MY FAULT..BULLS***!!!!!!!! and to top it all off, while I was taking my turn in the back of the police car, she has the NUTS to walk up to the car, ask the COP if she can leave the scene( still having no possession of her license), and he tells her....................I cant give you permission, but I wont TICKET you again....Its in your hands.!!!!!!!!!IS that CRAZY!!, and she gets in her car and drives on her merry way.... THe cop tells me.AL is backward in its laws and agrees with me on that ppoint when I questioned him on that one, but still ITS MY FAULT. She blatently has NO Regard for the law....as long as she doesnt get another ticket....I am seroiusly thinking about getting this to my attorney....I dont care if my insurance is covering the damages, Its not fair to them to have to pay for her car too.....My premiums go up, my resale just fell through the bottom, my license has points and it was spotless...What would you do?

 

I don't think it would be legal for me to post what I think you should do.

 

My sentiments exactly.......lolol but from a legal standpoint...LOLOL and oh I left out the best part....she's the "neighborhood crack head too", from what I was told by neighbors.

 

I'm not a lawyer, so I can give you advice. It's up to you if you use it or not.
Speed isn't relivent if you did violate her right of way. But, I would think that if you were out in the street and moving forward, then you didn't do that. She would be guilty of failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. Definetly talk to a lawyer and get your court case settled. Then if you didn't violate right of way, get your insurance company to go after her and her insurance.

 

if she hit you squarely on the rear bumper, that would show you were already on the road and she had to have been speeding to fly off the road that far.

 

i would say go after her if i thought that she had the money, but what good will it do to go after a crack addict that is broke to the point of not having insurance? i mean its not like she'll be able to pony up the money for you... now if she does have the money, then by all means go for it and clear your record

on another note, if i had a way of contacting you on the fly, we went to go take pics of the 8's at the overlook on montesano, we coulda had some shots of your car up there b4 the wreck, too late for that tho

 

There may be a way to go after the owner of the car. Consult your lawyer.

 

I will lose my $50 deductible, thats all, there were no injuries, and thats good. Now that I've had time to calm down, I think Im just going to deal with whatever happens unless it does get outrageous. It was just an unfortunate accident, no matter which way you look at it. I know if I pushed it, I know I could get it cleared, but I look at my kids and my family and we are safe, and have a pretty good life, so why kick another when they are down.

The best thing....my baby will be fixed! and there will be other trips to Monte sano, and other places, for photo ops. I was up there just last week, its beautiful.

I've seen you around Praxis, she is pretty.....

 

Sorry to hear that. That completely SUCK!!

I'm telling you, I want to install a video camera in my car for situation like this. People like that should never be on the road and should have HEAVY penalty when caught.

 

I went to the Body shop today. I'm using Joe Hudsons (for ya'll locals)..Not only did my insurance company recommend them, but the dealership did as well. The cost of repairs at this point is 700+ to replace and repaint bumper, blend and all. I may have them do a buff job on the car out of pocket just for SH**s and Giggles., I might as well right? Anyhoo....She goes in the 24th, and barring no complications after tearing it down to look things over, I'll have it back the 27th. Sounds good to me..My camera battery was dead so still no pics but its charging...and its supposed to be pretty tomorrow..Ill post as soon as I can...

 

I hope the repairs went well. For what its worth, you can't get blood from a turnip as they say, so you're better off trying to get the report changed instead going after someone who has nothing. The law does allow for the other driver to be cited for no insurance, so she should have gotten at least two citations.

 

I have decided to accept my lumps on this one. I had a perfect record for almost 6 yrs, but its not my first "violation" so Im ok with the outcome, and my premiums will not go up.

The officer ran her number and it did show she had a license, just didnt have possession, no citation there. The other driver didnt even fill out the address for the owner of the car on the police report, so I doubt that my insurance company will have to worry about touching that car. I did however find out that there is a 2 yr. statute of limitations on the claim so we'll see.

After a second trip to the body shop for "blending" purposes, I have her back right as rain. They did an excellent job. Unless you knew it had been hit, no one would have been the wiser that this bumper and paint job wasnt factory. Now why they didnt blend to begin with? I dont know. I knew it needed it when I saw it the first time..

Next week she goes back. When whomever buffed the clear they put swirl marks in it. The tech said it was done by a hand towel.....balony!. I knew by the marks that they used a power buffer and buffed it too soon after spraying it. I've had her almost a week, but I'm giving it another to make darn sure that the clear is hard enough to handle a power buffer. It will take that to get the marks out, I know. Anyhoo, she is getting entirely detailed, and the swirl marks buffed out, for free. That I can live with.

I can say this about the shop. They were gracious in admitting that they do make mistakes at times, and made every effort to recoup any ill feelings I may have had, and they didnt screw my insurance company knowing that they were going to pay for it.

All in all a good experience. I do know that If ever the need be, I will take any auto that I own, to another shop, only because of the type of paint that this shop uses. Mazda uses PPG, this shop didnt, and I know from my husbands body shop ownership that PPG is the BEST automotive paint to use, on any vehicle.

 

rdd FWIW, its also a violation not to have your license in your possession.