Accident on private property

A girl just backed into me in a grocery store parking lot. NBD. Happened to Mrs. Poop last year. Cop showed up. Wrote a report or whatever. Dude’s insurance covered it. This was on private property.

This time, cop shows up, asks her (the girl who backed into me) what happened. She was cool and apologetic, and said “I backed into him.” All good.

Then “Daddy” shows up. His car. Possibly his insurance(?) (Girl is in college.) He starts with the “It ain’t that bad. How did you not see her? I don’t think it’s her fault” etc.

Cop says because it was private property, “there’s not much he can do.” I asked “Uuuuuuh, but she’s obviously at fault, right?” He said it would “be up to the insurance companies to figure it out, or it would go to small claims court.”

He gave me a case number, and told me to check on it next week.

What’s next? Do I need to contact *my* insurance company (last time I did this, they told me there was nothing for them to do unless I wanted to file a claim with *them.*) Should I just go ahead and plan on having to take dick-nuts to small claims?

Would you not take her to small claims?

If it were me and that was the situation I would contact them and ask, are you going to pay? Either way you have X time then I will take her to court. Thank you and have a nice day.

Suprf1y said:

Would you not take her to small claims?

If it were me and that was the situation I would contact them and ask, are you going to pay? Either way you have X time then I will take her to court. Thank you and have a nice day.

Not if her insurance company just makes it easy-peasy like last time. But the cop on that one basically said “you’re at fault” to the other driver. Not sure on this one.

Were you in your car when she backed into you? Was your car in park? If it was in park, why didn't you look a little harder for a 6MT, since that's what you really wanted in the first place?

poopshovel again said:

A girl just backed into me in a grocery store parking lot. NBD. Happened to Mrs. Poop last year. Cop showed up. Wrote a report or whatever. Dude’s insurance covered it. This was on private property.

This time, cop shows up, asks her (the girl who backed into me) what happened. She was cool and apologetic, and said “I backed into him.” All good.

Then “Daddy” shows up. His car. Possibly his insurance(?) (Girl is in college.) He starts with the “It ain’t that bad. How did you not see her? I don’t think it’s her fault” etc.

Cop says because it was private property, “there’s not much he can do.” I asked “Uuuuuuh, but she’s obviously at fault, right?” He said it would “be up to the insurance companies to figure it out, or it would go to small claims court.”

He gave me a case number, and told me to check on it next week.

What’s next? Do I need to contact *my* insurance company (last time I did this, they told me there was nothing for them to do unless I wanted to file a claim with *them.*) Should I just go ahead and plan on having to take dick-nuts to small claims?

Cops don't write reports on private property, so no surprise there.  The officer was also right in that they don't make liability decisions anyway, even if they did write a report. 

Call her insurance company and deal with them, leave Daddy out of it.  Or you can go through your carrier and let them deal with Dad.

Tangentially, I find it maddening that parents don't teach by example integrity to their offspring.  "What happened kiddo?  That sucks, we'll call the insurance company, lesson learned, right?".

I mean, I get the other side of it, some people are going to play it up all they can and try to juice you, but generally speaking most of us are going to try and play fair.  

At most you pull the kid aside and tell them, "don't say anything other than a 'I really don't know, all the sudden there was a collision'".

Pulling the dickish "how could you not see her"  bit just feels troubling. 

She ran into a stationary object.

How is this not her fault?

Mrs. 'Maro got rear-ended last year. Other driver claimed it was my wife's fault. Insurance felt otherwise.

Contact your insurance company.  It's part of their job to get payment from the other person's company.

poopshovel again said:

This time, cop shows up, asks her (the girl who backed into me) what happened. She was cool and apologetic, and said “I backed into him.” All good.

She admitted fault to the officer.  Tell Daddy she admitted fault to the officer and you'll have the officer so testify in small claims court.

OldGray320i said:

Tangentially, I find it maddening that parents don't teach by example integrity to their offspring.  "What happened kiddo?  That sucks, we'll call the insurance company, lesson learned, right?".

I mean, I get the other side of it, some people are going to play it up all they can and try to juice you, but generally speaking most of us are going to try and play fair.  

At most you pull the kid aside and tell them, "don't say anything other than a 'I really don't know, all the sudden there was a collision'".

Pulling the dickish "how could you not see her"  bit just feels troubling. 

 

Thank you. This is what’s keeping me awake right now. When I saw she and the boyfriend were just kids, I immediately went into dad-mode; “It’s okay, nobody got hurt, that’s what insurance is for” etc. I was as nice as I could be to both of them. When her Dad pulled up I greeted him and smiled. He totally ignored me and was kind of a dick to his daughter. It was an “accident,” but it was 100% her fault. I get the “don’t admit fault” thing, but that doesn’t mean “assign fault to the guy who’s car you just berkeleyed.”

/rant I’m still kinda pissed.

I was driving in a parking lot and I watched as a cherry 1st gen taurus plowed into my right rear wheel from a stop.. I pulled the company truck over and parked and the passenger got out (A quite intimidating to most people 6ft 5 inch 300+ pound guy)(I don't care who you are, I will admit I am at fault if I believe I am and if not you can blow off) yelling at me about how fast I was going and how the lawyers were going to have to sort out who was at fault. Being in a work vehicle I was required to document and take pictures of the incident site and damage to both vehicles. Turns out that if you run into the side of a moving vehicle at the rear wheel you are at fault. YMMV 

stuart in mn said:

Contact your insurance company.  It's part of their job to get payment from the other person's company.

Done. The lady with the lizard was super helpful. Proactively going by the body shop tomorrow or the next day. When the COP chimed in with “At least your car doesn’t look that bad” it took everything in me not to reply with the douchey “You realize this is a VEEEEEE with WHITE DIAMOND TRICOAT paint, RIGHT!?” I am a little worried about that, but the local shop did a fantastic job on Mrs. poop’s Mazda after the last incident.

Woody said:

Were you in your car when she backed into you? Was your car in park? If it was in park, why didn't you look a little harder for a 6MT, since that's what you really wanted in the first place?

Lol. Dick. Would’ve been nice if she’d totalled it :(

poopshovel again said:

Woody said:

Were you in your car when she backed into you? Was your car in park? If it was in park, why didn't you look a little harder for a 6MT, since that's what you really wanted in the first place?

Lol. Dick. Would’ve been nice if she’d totalled it :(

^That's what I was waiting for!

Sorry...

I don't understand this it was on private property deal. If she ran you over and killed you would it be your fault for being run over?

Rons said:

I don't understand this it was on private property deal. If she ran you over and killed you would it be your fault for being run over?

Blame America. On private property, the government has less involvement than public roads. It doesn't mean fault can't be obtained just that the state has less(no) desire(legal ability??) to be involved.  

stuart in mn said:

Contact your insurance company.  It's part of their job to get payment from the other person's company.

No, it's not...not unless your own carrier makes a payment.

gunner said:

Rons said:

I don't understand this it was on private property deal. If she ran you over and killed you would it be your fault for being run over?

Blame America. On private property, the government has less involvement than public roads. It doesn't mean fault can't be obtained just that the state has less(no) desire(legal ability??) to be involved.  

I'm pretty sure that stop signs in a mall parking lot are more of a suggestion, rather than anything legally binding.

Klayfish said:

stuart in mn said:

Contact your insurance company.  It's part of their job to get payment from the other person's company.

 

No, it's not...not unless your own carrier makes a payment.

So...what exactly DO insurance companies do?

That happened to Mrs. 914 last year in the Jetta.  She backed out of a spot in a mall as was another woman.  Boink!  A rub.  Woman gets out of her car and starts banging on Trish's window, screaming.  She called the cops.  Officer explained that as private property he had no juristiction, but because the woman was so irate he would write a report.

He had to ask her to back down a few times, then finally "Maam, if you don't get your finger out of my face you will be arrested for assault on a police officer".

Trish called our insurance company. We have a no-fault State so they pay everything, we pay the deductable; but once the dust settles, they go after the other person's company for the money. 

I would call your own company and explain what happened.  In our case there was an exchange of information and the bitchy woman called our insurance company right away demanding settlement.  When Trish called, they said "Yeah, we have a flag on her".

I would call.

Dan

poopshovel again said:

Suprf1y said:

Would you not take her to small claims?

If it were me and that was the situation I would contact them and ask, are you going to pay? Either way you have X time then I will take her to court. Thank you and have a nice day.

Not if her insurance company just makes it easy-peasy like last time. But the cop on that one basically said “you’re at fault” to the other driver. Not sure on this one.

No, I meant in the event that you have to take someone to court, wouldn't you take the daughter not the dad?

Appleseed said:

Klayfish said:

stuart in mn said:

Contact your insurance company.  It's part of their job to get payment from the other person's company.

 

No, it's not...not unless your own carrier makes a payment.

So...what exactly DO insurance companies do?

If he has collision coverage (assuming he does on the CTS-V) the they will pay for those damages minus deductible if he files a claim with them. 

If they believe the teenage girl is at fault they will subrogate against the vehicle owners liability policy for what they paid . Depending on how successful they are at recovery he will get part or all of the deductible back.

They aren't going to get involved with her or Dad's carrier unless you file a claim with them and they make payment.

This happens, and your Ins. will pay and go after the other folks or not,   I had no fault and mine paid them and gave me back the Blazer. I felt I could win a case, the other person had fogged the taillight covers with black paint, got a ticket for that, but I hit her 

I saw the title of the thread and instantly thought of flaming vehicles and birthday partys with interesting lawn mowers and was afraid that something had gone horribly wrong!

This happened to my oldest son. Waiting in line to get out of the high school parking lot, a girl backed out of her spot right into the side of him. It was only a small dent on the wheel well, but it was a dent. The school resource officer told him it was no big deal and to forget about it. It was an inexpensive car, but it was in good shape, and he took really good care of it. The girls dad was a dick, and he didn't want to turn it into insurance so would pay for it out of pocket. That is until he found out that little dent cost $800 to fix. Then it was turned over to his insurance. 

I wouldn't be happy about my kid doing something stupid, but I wouldn't take it out on someone else. That is just a dick move.