ICBC would not pay - retrospect what do you think?

[MUSKAMIKE]

Hey guys,

This actually happened to me awhile ago, and after being frustrated I let it go, but I think now maybe I should of followed up on RFD for opinions. Better late then never!

December 17th I was heading to Calgary, about 20 minutes past Banff going 85-90km on a straight stretch. My prego sister and my gf were riding with me when over top of a hill comes a older white ford bronco/truck. It darts directly into my lane, so essentially we are going head on. I give the breaks and turn right and finally he swerves out of my lane missing us by inchs (I mean it!) I tried to bring it back around but the ice/snow was too much and the back hit, then the front right hit, against the side merridien. We went from about 30-40km into the wall to 0km. I look back and the guy tapped his breaks once as if he was thinking of slowing down, then continued on.

My whole car was pretty messed up on the passenger side, I couldn't go after a license because the tire was messed up.

Anways, ICBC qouted me 3800$ in damage and said that because I did not actually hit him that and that my sister and gf were not legitmate witnesses there was nothign they could do. Pretty much made me cry (kid you not, my car is my baby)

So, just wondernig, I know it's not much to make an opinion on, but is there anything I coudl do to follow up or am I outta luck?

I have had 0 acciedents prior to this, clean record, safe driver.

[dmatthew]

If I'm not mistaken, unless by some God given chance that a witness shows up to verify that the driver in the white truck actually was heading straight to you...you may be SOL

Your best bet is to go around that area I guess and see if you recognize that car again...and either find some way to make him admit at what he did (highly doubtful)

[pandaharo]

Almost exact same thing happend to me when I was near golden last december. I too had to pay by myself, but if I hit the car I'd probably wont be here typing right now. I have a v clean driving record (0 acc and tickets), and I was not about to let icbc jack my insurance so I paid the repairs off myself an added it to the write offs column.

FYI, if a car is repaired over a couple thousand dollars, ICBC will add it to the record even if it's not claimed. So if you are fixing the car yourself, have the shop do multiple receipts so your car wont be depreciated when you sell it. In my case the dmg was all cosmetic so I put it on multiple receipts. Just the rear wheel cover was $1200! Total came to about 5000 after tax.

[dark169]

yeah it sucks but theres no a lot you can do.

[MUSKAMIKE]

Almost exact same thing happend to me when I was near golden last december. I too had to pay by myself, but if I hit the car I'd probably wont be here typing right now. I have a v clean driving record (0 acc and tickets), and I was not about to let icbc jack my insurance so I paid the repairs off myself an added it to the write offs column.

FYI, if a car is repaired over a couple thousand dollars, ICBC will add it to the record even if it's not claimed. So if you are fixing the car yourself, have the shop do multiple receipts so your car wont be depreciated when you sell it. In my case the dmg was all cosmetic so I put it on multiple receipts. Just the rear wheel cover was $1200! Total came to about 5000 after tax.

Brutal, I had heard a few times that I woudl of been better off to hit him, or lie later and say a deer jumped out, etc, etc.

I can't believe the system sometimes.

[Xiggy]

Go back to ICBC and get them to consider it as a "phantom hit-and-run". You will still have to pay the hit-and-run deductible. Similar thing happened to me a few years back. Had to swerve to avoid a motorcycle which cut me off while on a high-speed curve. Tail end came loose and ended up in a single-car accident with the median. The motorcycle was long gone. It took a lot of talking but ICBC finally gave in and paid the claim.

[pandaharo]

ICBC is really stupid, this happened recently to my gf's family. 2 cars parked out front was hit by a drunk driver

car A: worth about 15000 max, ICBC repairs the car and bill comes to 12000 + the month or so $50/day rental= 1500 + they didn't repair the engine properly it had a crack so another $2000 in repairs. Total is 15500 and lots of time loss and admin costs.

Car B: worth about 40000, repair bill is 32000(est was ~25000) and 2 month of rental= ~35000 in repairs.

Both cars should have been written off, ICBC could have taken the cars for parts or sell them. Even offered to take the cash for what the car is worth but no, they have to do things the stupid way.

[gheart008]

Car B: worth about 40000, repair bill is 32000(est was ~25000) and 2 month of rental= ~35000 in repairs.

WOW 32000 in damges and it wasn't written off? That's just wrong...

[nx2k]

it's not the insurance company's decision, atleast not until they figure out the numbers, it's the shop's decision, it can be $50 worth of damages and as long as a certified mechnic says it's not worth it, then it'll be written off, if the shop owner wants to milk the insurance company for as much as they want, then they can just recommend they fix it and then get them to flip the bill.
$20k of that repair bill probably went straight into the shop owner's pocket
insurance companies' will usually go on a certified mechanic's recommendation

but staying on topic, u really screwed yourself, u either should've hit him or u should've lied from the beginning, there's not much that you can complain about since u went this route, and really, ICBC is not doing anything wrong either, there was no collision with another vehicle, reporting hit and run would've been the best

[gilboman]

not sure about ICBC, but in a lot of places, if you get into accident due to trying to avoid one, you are outta luck.

similar case with hitting animals, if you swerve to avoid hitting one but hit something else/lose control its your fault, if you just hit it, its not your fault.