Teen Auto Accident- Help

[Anonymous]

You need to let insurance handle it

[Anonymous]

The other person backed into a stopped vehicle and it’s your daughter’s fault?

[Anonymous]

If the woman backed into her. It’s not your daughter’s fault!

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure “fault” is ascertained in private parking lots. For some insurance it is 50/50 regardless of who caused it. Do you have a good enough relationship with your agent to ask the question?

[Anonymous]

It’s Geico so no personal agent which is why I can’t even call to ask!

[Anonymous]

What's your deductible? My new driver DS pulled into a parking space that was too tight, hitting each car on either side. One car he hit had pretty bad dent/scratch on side door, the other car pretty bad dent/scratch on front corner bumper.

We went through insurance, paid our $500 deductible, got our body work done, the other two got theirs done, end of story. A police officer came by (no one called the police, I think they were just on patrol) and the officer talked to DS, said, oh wow, and then left. There was no claim of fault, it was not considered an accident or even a moving violation. I think parking is a whole separate category in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

13:36 here. Should also add that we also have Geico, and when we called the hotline number, the representative we got said that this type of collision doesn't cause a premium increase because it's not a moving violation. I don't know if it matters, but we're in Maryland. Really, just call the insurance company and stop dealing with the shady lady.

[Anonymous]

If the woman backed into her and said she did this is the woman’s fault, and you don’t pay.

[Anonymous]

Go through GEICO, OP. I very lightly rear ended someone ages ago (rolled foward, speed less than 5 mph) and there was minimal damage to their car. They ended up suing for lost wages and physical pain/symptoms and it was such a circus.

I had to go to court with GEICO appointed lawyer and judge ruled in her favor! She was a scam artist with a history of this.

But insurance paid, I didn't. I know how you and your daughter feel. When things like this happen, I never want to tell my husband because he reacts like my dad would have. But actually he was great this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the woman backed into her and said she did this is the woman’s fault, and you don’t pay.

I would tell her you will be happy to pay the $350 so that neither of you needs to go through insurance. If not, you will go through insurance and be crystal clear about who was at fault.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter is not at fault if she was parked. Either this an inaccurate version or someone is lying. Don’t do a thing and don’t pay the other party a cent.

[Anonymous]

This is literally what the insurance is for. Put it through, she’s not getting a dime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:36 here. Should also add that we also have Geico, and when we called the hotline number, the representative we got said that this type of collision doesn't cause a premium increase because it's not a moving violation. I don't know if it matters, but we're in Maryland. Really, just call the insurance company and stop dealing with the shady lady.

Your situation is entirely different. It was not a driving accident whereas OP’s daughter’s accident was.

OP, as a lawyer, I would never speculate as to who was at fault based on a second hand account from someone with a personal stake in the outcome and no actual evidence to review.

That being said, I don’t know what you should do. I’d be concerned about how you are going to prevent this person from extorting more money from you if you pay what you already believe to be extortion. But if you go through insurance, your rates could increase significantly. (I had a teen have an accident and we lost all of our good driver discounts along with having an accident on the record and it caused a few thousand dollars a year increase). Plus after five accidents in three years, regardless of how minor, you get put into a high risk pool which increases the cost for that one kid to almost $13k per year for three years for basic coverage, leaving you vulnerable for excess damage and your daughter isn’t starting out well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the woman backed into her and said she did this is the woman’s fault, and you don’t pay.

I would tell her you will be happy to pay the $350 so that neither of you needs to go through insurance. If not, you will go through insurance and be crystal clear about who was at fault.

Yes. Do this.

[Anonymous]

How do you know there is no damage to your daughters car. Get the other drive to admit that she backed into you in writing and then hand it over to insurance to fix your daughters car. Tell the scum bug that you won't pay for the damages unless she put it in writing that she backed up into you. Then ghost her and send it to insurance.