fender bender and insurance question

[fledgling]

Last week my husband got bumped by a SUV in his Camry. The woman was trying to get into the left turning lane and bumped the back side of our car. She didn't stop. My husband had to chase her down and get her to pull over.

She denied it, said she didn't hit him. She probably didn't feel it in her huge SUV but my husband certainly felt it. There's a dent there, the paint is peeling off and who knows if there's internal damage. Initially we thought there was just a dent but there's been some scratching sounds on turns from that left, back side of the car. She said the dent was probably there before. She says she has a witness (another person was in her SUV). My husband was in the car alone.

My husband got her insurance info and her cell phone. He phoned her and left a message to pay him $200 and he can do the work himself. He hasn't heard back from her. If he goes and gets a quote and submits it to her insurance, will our insurance get affected or just hers? He's normally the type of guy to let it go but since she's being difficult about it, he's really pissed. Any suggestions?

[B0000rt]

Go through insurance. They'll assess the situation and should find her 100% at fault, of which you should be fine with your insurance. Just don't start putting in claims too often, as that will raise your rates.

[akira1971]

Even if you decide not to go through your insurance company, you should go to one of the three Collsion Reporting Centres in the GTA. Detail everything that happened (time, weather conditions, the need to chase the SUV down, etc.) They'll take a picture of the damage. What will concern the police the most is them leaving the scene of an accident (regardless of how minor the bump was.) I believe it's 6 or 7 demerit points in Ontario.

I wouldn't bother trying to deal directly with the driver at this point if they're being difficult. Let the police sort it out and let them get possibly charged instead.

[kcorscadden]

Considering that she drove off, that's a hit and run which is very illegal. Simply get her license plate # and call the police and let them handle the rest. The SUV driver lied to you by saying she didn't feel her car hit yours. Regardless of the size of your vehicle, metal hitting metal can be felt and heard no matter what kind of vehicle you have. She simply didn't want to admit she hit your husband.

Also, what your husband should have done was grab witnesses immediately. Easier said than done, but it will help your case when the police arrived as it would have only been your word vs hers. With a witness they can verify your story.

The police will track her down and get her side of the story. If she is guilty (thus why you need witnesses), then she will be charged with "failure to remain at the scene of an accident." The police will also obtain her insurance information and then you go about putting in your claim.

Now you can still call police if you want as long as there is $1000 damage or more (which doesn't take much), but unless you have proof (witness) your case is very hard to prove as again it is your word vs hers. Before you say that you have proof, damage to your car isn't really proof as that could have come from any vehicle that has that color type.