Questionhi, i had an accident with this girl in parkinglot of a store. i was going in opposite side of the girl. i was a bit (not completely)occupying the other lane.(in lot there are no cleaarly markled lanes). she thought she would hit me, so she tried to move away from my car and so on the curv and hit the poll. no damage to my car at all. her car right front damage due to poll hit. i gave her my insurance and drivers lic. info. she and her relatives denied to give info, or to call police.( i figured something could be wrong). now that she has my info. does she have right to claim to my ins. co? how it could affect me?
i don't believe if she has valid driver lic. or insurance..because they wouldn't call police or give me info. your answer will be very helpful. thanks a lot.
AnswerFrom the description that you've given me of the accident, it sounds like she hit the pole to avoid a head on collision with your car. If not for your car being on her side of the row, she would not have needed to take evasive action.
You must have felt responsible at the time or you wouldn't have stopped and given her your info. That little voice inside that knows right from wrong was telling you to do the right thing; at the time.
She may not have had a license or insurance, but that really has nothing to do with anything, especially since this occurred on private property.
She does have a legal right to make a claim against your insurance company and in the event of an accident, you have a legal obligation, per your policy terms (an insurance policy is a legal contract) to report the incident to your insurance company. Failure to report an accident is grounds for non-renewal. Honestly though, some insurance companies may not actually consider this an accident due to the fact that there was no vehicle contact and most insurers do not cancel people for not reporting.
A police report would help her credibility, but she does have other tools to present a valid claim. You provided her with your insurance info and she also had witnesses (the relatives) in the car with her. If you wanted to play hardball though, her claim has a good chance of being denied. The facts of loss could shine some light on comparative negligence, Could she have been going slower? Could she have gotten by your car without hitting the pole, etc? When it comes to accidents, there is often fault on the part of both drivers. Unfortunately, insurance adjusters hate to explore these gray areas because it's so time consuming and they're already being asked to handle twice as many losses as they should be.
As far as rate increases, that will depend on state law, company policy, number of claims, dollars paid out, etc. An agent can answer this question on a "general inquiry" bases.
I don't know how long ago this happened, but based on what you're telling me about her and the family's behavior, there is a good chance that they will never make a claim. If they do make the claim, then your responses to the insurance company will likely determine the amount of responsibility accepted. From a human standpoint, I would likely have mixed feeling as well. It's kind of a moral dilemma. Morally, I feel that anyone that drives around with no license or especially no insurance gets whatever they deserve and if they're car is messed up as a result, then they'll be off the road for awhile. On the other hand, that little voice inside of me might keep working away...
I wish you the best of luck and would love to know how it turns out. I'd also appreciate your feedback.
