QuestionMy daughter was backing out a parking space at school. Another driver was approaching in the lane. My daughter did not see the other driver.
The other driver told me that she saw my daughter was backing out but she did not want to wait for her to finish. She further told me that she hit her gas peddle because she thought she could go around my daughter before my daughter completely vacated the space.
The vehicles collided. There was no damage to my daughters truck. The other driver has a dent in her back fender over the tire. They did not call the police because they did not think they would come onto school property.
There were no witnesses.
The other drive came to my home with a repair quote of $750. She asked that I pay half of her repair bill.
I told the young lady that because the was a minor, I was unable to negotiate with her. I asked that her father call me.
They now want $1500 in full and want to file on our insurance.
Without admitting fault on our part, I offered to pay them cash to keep our insurance rates down. We have a $1000 deductible and our insurance company told us our rates would increase. They want to file on our insurance because he does not want his daughter to feel bad about taking money from us.
We have been leaving messages and trying to set an appointment to discuss the matter for over two months.
Last week, the young ladies father told me that he would ask her again if she was willing to accept cash over an insurance settlement. I still have not heard anything back from them.
My husband and I are at the point of telling them that we will no longer discuss the matter and they will need to take us to small claims court because we have made every effort to settle this amicably.
Should we just send them our insurance information and let the insurance company sort it out even though it will cost us more than the $1500.00? Is is possible the insurance company could find my daughter only partially at fault since the other drive could have prevented the accident? We live in Texas.
Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated.
AnswerHi Anne,
You should not just ignore them or tell them to sue you in small claims court. Since your daughter was backing out of a space and hit a car in the lane, your daughter will be considered to be 100% at fault.
Your deductible on your insurance only applies to your vehicles. It does not apply to vehicle that you (or your daughter) damage. So your insurance company would pay 100% of the cost. If you can settle with the people for less then you should do so but only if you can get them to sign a document called a "Release of All Claims". That way thay can not come back later for more money. If they will not sign the document then let your insurance company handle it. You may get an increase in premium but at least it will be over and you can move on with your life.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
