Chinese Buffet

I need your input on how I should go about handling this problem. This is what happend, basicaly I ran a red and I slammed on the brakes nearly hit the other car's rear end head on but I slammed my breaks and I came just short and gave my front left bumper a big *** scratch and the other person's right rear tire and rim scratches as well. I didn't not hit the person straight on or else I would have driven right into the rear axle and her car would have spun a 180.

OK I know its my fault because I didn't see the red light. But I swear to god this person is trying to rip me off. There's probably more damage done to my car than the person's car.

Here is what it looks like from my point of view:

I get out of the car the first thing the person points out is the right rear fender of the car. The person admits that its rusted (to hell) BUT also says there is a crack in the plastic molding. My point of view, all I see is rust, no paint from my car was visible. I do see paint on her rims and tire from my bumper.

As soon as I heard the person say quote "it is rusty but there is a small crack" and quote "it might not seem much but this is my only car" I knew she was going to take advantage of the situation. I even offered money on the spot if she wouldn't get insurance involved and she declined so I said fine.

How it stands now:
The person took my name, insurance info and plates. I got hers as well. The police was never involved in this whole thing and she has a name and address of a witness (the car that was behind . After this exchange of information the person told me that he/she was going to give my insurance a call. I never even said more than 10 words to her throughout this thing and it was over in about 10 mins. Then we went our seprate ways.

To be honest, right now I don't know what she can do to screw my over and what I can do to prevent from getting ripped. How would I go about handling this? I'm scared. My first accident since I got my licence (16 years old) I'm 22 now. :cry:

dvsadam

sorry to hear about your accident. If you have her phone number then attempt to call her and pay her cash for everything, cause once insurance finds out your rates will go up. As for the red light running, if insurance questions you then deny it, there were no cops on the seen to prove that you actually did run the red light.

PULOVR

Go to the accident reporting center (don't know where there is one near you) and see if they reported it yet. If they didn't, you might be in luck. Insurance companies rely on the Centers "report" for who's at fault. If they didn't report it within a certain time frame (not sure how long they have to report it) They might not be able to do anything.
This will be good for you, because it will make it look like she didn't want to make a report, or she didn't have damages or didn't care.
It happened to me about 5 years ago. I reported it but the other guy said he would, but never did, until about 2 weeks later (I was at fault). I'm glad I did. The other guy was sent a form in the mail that said (Failure To Report An Accident), and the incident was droped. (took awhile to drop it.......something about the amount of time it took for him to report it.) Talk to your lawyer to see if he can give you some free advice. ALWAYS CALL THE POLICE. You might have not been at fault in the Insurances eyes. (you tried to avoid an accident, which means that you WERE paying attention) The condition of the other car will be taken into cosideration as well as the road conditions (that is why a police report comes in handy).
ALWAYS HAVE A DISPOSIBLE CAMERA IN THE CAR TO TAKE PHOTOS. It might come in handy when the other party tries to lie about the damage....ie (goes home and dammages thier car more to get a bigger settlement):working:

Chinese Buffet

I haven't reported this incident to to police yet, do you think its too late? I mean its been 24 mours already. I will visit my insurance broker and lawyer on Monday to talk about this situation. I thought it was a good thing NOT to report to the police because they will put on an investigation and find me at fault for running the red and put it in an official report... but I guess not.

Another question. What exactly is the accident center place called? Where would be a good place for me to find one?

Thanks for your help.

imported_SumAzunGuy

pulovr good advice
buffet its called a collision center
dont exactly know where it is but its somewhere at lawrence
try calling 411 and ask them for the address

imported_JookSingKid

Here's my 2 cents.

You're caught in bad situation, and you should be scared. You're lucky you didn't seriously hurt someone, or get someone killed. There could have been someone crossing the street or someone on a bike.

You might want to consider going to the reporting center which is not a bad idea, but its not a way to get out of the incident depending on how much damage in dollar value was sustained. Remember only accidents over $1000 (i think) need to be reported.

Its also irrelevant that you tried to "avoid" the accident, since essentially you are the "cause" of the accident. As soon as the claim is made through insurance, theres nothing more that you can do than be a man and face the music.

Just be thankful, that you didn't kill anyone.

imported_SumAzunGuy

yup only damages $1000 + should be reported

imported_Tmak

When I had my accident, I brought my digicam with me....I never bring it out, but on this particular day, I brought it and it brought me bad luck, I won't be carrying it with me nemore when driving lol

PULOVR

You know why got into that accident? It was, because you haven't come by, to give me my membership card yet (someone is trying to get you back) LOL
(just joking..........have you gotten your car back yet?)