So get this, about a month ago we bought a new Ford Escape for her and now shes already gone and rear ended somebody. It was at a stop light, turning right and she thought the car in front of her turned right so as she checked to her left and saw it was clear she went without checking in front of her then bam, you know. Obviously she is at fault here. The guy was in a hurry to get to work and took her insurance information, and phone number and apparently that was it. No police report, nothing. I don't think she even got his phone number in return. She was pretty emotional and upset so I don't think she was thinking right. This is her first ever wreck. This is the first wreck any of us have had. She texted me a picture of the car and it looked minimal at best. What I was wondering is how can I approach this? We just moved to the area, and I told her avoid the I-10/BW8 area since shes used to backwoods Minnesota country driving. I am from Houston so I already knew the habits. But she didn't listen to me because she saves 2 minutes on her commute to work instead of taking Bunker Hill. Ugh
I'm unclear on what type of advice you want. Do you want advice on dealing with your wife or dealing with the damage/insurance?
What advice are you looking for? You need to have your wife contact your insurance company and report the loss (give statements, etc.). The claimant will contact your carrier and file a claim for his damages. Nothing you really need to do there. If you want to file for your damages, again, let your carrier know and I am sure they will take care of, minus your deductible.
And thanks to the one guy who had the common courtesy for attempting to help. To everyone elses sarcastic remarks, get a life. Seriously
So is it common practice to contact your insurance company first and notify them of the accident first correct? The other persons damage was very, very minimal so there is a possibility he may not contact them at all. His vehicle is a late 90's Chrysler that looked like a 10+ year old car.
Literally the same way you would approach getting a pizza delivered, but to someone else's house, and with a pre-paid gift card. Low-grade accident claims might be the easiest product or service I've ever had to deal with; on either side of the issue. I spent three years trying to get my cell phone's caller ID to say my name instead of "Estate of Dead Dad," after he and I had already gone to the Sprint store and split out the plans to get it changed two years earlier.
to be fair, the snarky replies get a little old after a while. especially in a situation where someone is wondering what to do after an accident.
It depends what your deductible is. If the guy she hit is willing to work outside of insurance, have him get an estimate (and get one for your car, or can you live with the damage?). If the damage is less than or about what your deductible is, I'd recommend handling it outside of insurance. If the damage is significantly more than your deductible, then you'll probably want to go through insurance even though it will raise your rates. You don't really need a police report, especially since the fault was clearly your wife's. The only thing that would have done is add a failure to control speed ticket to the mix.
