Auto Insurance Claims: please help asap, collision insurance, snow plow

Question
i have a question a county snow plow hit my parked car it was on the
side of my dads house about 49 inches from the white line and he did
not
stop he wasn't chraged with a hit and run because he said he didn't
know he hit me. the police officer didn't even look at the damage he
just
kinda said i was a traffic hazzard. pleaze give me your expert opion by
the way he only hit the middle not the fonrt or the back i have 3
wittness please reply asap thank you very much for your time this
happend at
7:15pm 11-10-06 last night 6 o clock your time
the county road commision sent me a paper they said i have to file a claim for there insurance should i sue them in court or file the claim and hope for the best please help sir and thank you for you time i appricate it very much please reply as soon as possible

Answer
Dear Josh,

This is a good time to just use your own collision insurance and then to let your insurer go after the county.  Don’t forget to make a claim for the entire sum to repair your car, AND ESPECIALLY your deductible.  So you put in the claim and you then get your insurance to repair the car.

That way, all you are out is your deductible should you fail to prevail with the county.  And it will be your insurer that will lose out if it cannot prove the majority of fault on the part of the county.

As for your question regarding the facts of the case, it is hard to know what was happening on the ground, given your sparse comments in description.   If you were parked four feet out into the roadway, as your statement implies (46 inches), then it will be hard to assign most all of blame to the city.  You would surely be partly at fault.  

The degree of fault will vary depending upon the conditions on the roadway at the time.  If that was the only place you could park due to the snow bank and difficulty in getting closer to the white line, then your negligence will also be diminished.  Under those difficult conditions, the snow plow driver has to exercise special care.  Hence his negligence would be on the increase, and you would succeed in your claim.  

So you will want to argue that there was no way to park any closer to the white line, and that other cars in the area were also out into the roadway, and in these conditions, it is the DUTY of the snow plow driver to exercise special care.  That should get them at least 80% negligent, and you might have to accept 20%, if the facts show some negligence on your part.   

As for the claim, be sure to get a thorough estimate to repair the damage.  

Best Wishes,



Doctor Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
Http://www.SettlementCentral.Com