bluedd

I got into a minor accident last week. I was on my way to get some gloceries after work. There was one car in front of me while we were at a stop light waiting for a right turn. We waited for a while until the traffic cleared and both the car in front of me and I got ready to make the right turn on red. There were stilll some cars coming but they were still far that we had enough time to make the turn. The car in front of me started to move and I followed.

Then I made a careless mistake by taking my eyes off from the car in front for a while and looked left for incoming cars while giving gas. Bump, I hit the car in front. The lady in front chicken out and stopped the last minute and I hit her rear. As you can imagine, the impact was not significant and we pulled off to a parking lot to check out the damage. Her bumper was scratched and tilted downwards a bit. My front bumper was basically fine with some scratches that buffering might cure. As the damage was very minor and more like parking lot accident, I suggested I'd just pay for her damage instead of going through insurance.

She basically was ok with it but she said her neck might be hurt. I asked her to do physical check and let me know what we can do. She went to her doctor the next day and was given some pain killers and she planned to go back to the doctor this week. She also got an estimate on her car damage and it came up to be (~99 accord) $6xx. I got an estimate on my car also (although I don't feel fixing is necessary but I wanted an idea), and it came out to be $4xx if I pay for it and for insurance claim it's probably about $6xx also. I guess that's pretty much the minimum charge for a bumper job then.

Now we talked again this week after her scheduled doctor visit. I asked for copies of auto estimate, and her doctor's visits for settlement purpose and she said that now she's feeling fine and skipped the doctor appointment and she didn't feel anymore need for medical treatment. She has the estimate and the first doctor's visit paper and she's willing to settle it instead of filing a claim as I showed my apology and seem honest enough.

Now my question is what do you guys think that I should offer her? She's saying that she spent time taking a rest after the accident and didn't go to work the next day and she's expecting some compensation on the work schedule she had to skip to rest at home and going to see doctor. I think I should definitely pay for her car damage and I'm not going to bargain on that. But I'm not sure how much compensation I should pay her for her time. I doubt if she can show any justifiable income though. She might be working part-time at a small store and probably paid cash too. I'm not sure if she really took that much time off or just want to get some extra cash. Anyhow she has the right for it the question is how much.

So my questions are:
- How much do you guys think that I should pay her?
- If we go through insurance, how much would she be able to get?
- I know accident claim will impact my insurance some (allstate), but bodily injury will impact the most. But is my case treated the same as accidents that involve more serious bodily injury insurance surcharge wise?

Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

aklucsarits

Wow, with anything medical involved, it is best to go through the insurance company IMHO. What if she accepts whatever you agree to settle for and then comes back and files a civil case against you for more damages later? It's best to get your insurance and their lawyers involved immediately. This kind of scenario is exactly why you have liability insurance to begin with.

Andrew

bluedd

Yea, I thought I was going to do that but the associate at my insurance agent office asked me to see if I could settle it as a friendly advice, mainly due to the fact that the accident is so minor. I understand the other party can always get a lawyer later on but do you think she has a case? My friend was in an accident that caused the airbags to deploy, around $11k in auto damage and went to chiropractor for 2 months but still only got around $5k minus $1k medical bill minus attorney's share. Would any lawyer be interested in $600 auto damage case? But I don't know, I guess you're right about going through insurance on the safe side though.

littlerocket777

Not to intimidate her, but you should get some legal help in this matter if you pay her off in that she won't come after you later. There are a lot of tricky scamming folks here and to protect yourself and her, there should be some final agreement. This is America, anyone can sue for anything.

steven975

have her sign an affidavit saying that any action related to this incident will not be taken after this settlement. then have it notarized.

mbilderback

You're ok to pay the damage, just make sure to get her to sign.

Also, you are in no way legally responsible for any lost work. It may be better to give her a little pocket money to avoid lawyer/insurance involvment, but legally you don't have to.

aklucsarits

It does not matter if she signs an affadavit or has a legitimate legal case or not, she can still sue you and she can still cost you money (lawyer fees, court costs, time wasted) even if you win the case.

If you do this through your insurance, which is what it's there for, the potential lawyers and court issues are all covered. The insurance companies lawyers represent you. That's what you are paying your insurance coverage for.

Andrew

hpark

let's say 1 year later she starts having chronic neck pains and the doctor (who could be crooked and linked with a crooked lawyer) attribute it to this accident.......she will sue you and it doesn't matter whether she signed anything, it will go to court for sure.......

go with ins co.

and yes an at fault accident with bodily injury payout i think counts as 2 points and you are no longer a "good driver".....aka your insurance will go up for the next 3 years.

mbilderback

This does sound like good advice to me.

And BTW, it's 5 years for accidents, 3 years for tickets.

bluedd

Thanks guys. I'll go with insurance then. I was curious though with only $600 auto damage and pretty much insignificant medical proof how much she'd be able to get from the insurance though. Well...