Grace (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} celestialblendr) wrote,@ 2009-03-07 09:44:00 |
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On not being a jerkwad...
So, now that the front bumper of my car is nominal again, it's the rear bumper's turn.
On the way home from tutoring on Wednesday, I was pulling off 91-S at Exit 18. There's a separate ramp for right turns, which has a yield sign at the end. There being fairly heavy traffic on Rte 5 shortly before 6, I stopped at the end of this ramp waiting for an opening. Then, someone smashed into the back of my car.
My car is pretty much fine; the damage is localized to the rear bumper: all my lights still work, my trunk opens and closes, and the bumper isn't dragging or anything, just scratched and cracked in a few places. The guy who hit me on the other hand, smashed out all but one light on the front of his car, had his hood crunched up impressively, bumper hanging by a single clip, and the radiator getting too familiar with the more interior parts of the engine. Seeing as his car was a 10 year old Saturn, and likely not worth much to begin with, I have suspicions that his car is totaled.
Short story is that the car insurance industry is going to have this kid by the short and curlies for quite a while. I do mean kid. He's 19 years old (his DOB is on my copy of the accident report from the state trooper), and being 19 and a guy is enough reason for the insurance companies to ask for the rough monetary equivalent of a kidney. To load on top of that totaling your car (at your fault), hitting someone else, and getting a ticket for it (remember that trooper?), puts it more in the monetary range of asking for your first born, and leaving a testicle as collateral.
So, I'm trying to figure out how I should proceed here so as to be as little of an asshole as possible. I need to make sure there's nothing going on with the rear of my car that I can't see, or will screw me later (à la the front bumper). I'm expecting, though, that the damage will be under $500. Does it make sense to get an estimate, then figure out if I should ask him directly or go through the insurance company? Am I thinking way too hard about this? Should I just take the absolutely not my fault pass and tell Mr. Insurance all about it?
So, now that the front bumper of my car is nominal again, it's the rear bumper's turn.
On the way home from tutoring on Wednesday, I was pulling off 91-S at Exit 18. There's a separate ramp for right turns, which has a yield sign at the end. There being fairly heavy traffic on Rte 5 shortly before 6, I stopped at the end of this ramp waiting for an opening. Then, someone smashed into the back of my car.
My car is pretty much fine; the damage is localized to the rear bumper: all my lights still work, my trunk opens and closes, and the bumper isn't dragging or anything, just scratched and cracked in a few places. The guy who hit me on the other hand, smashed out all but one light on the front of his car, had his hood crunched up impressively, bumper hanging by a single clip, and the radiator getting too familiar with the more interior parts of the engine. Seeing as his car was a 10 year old Saturn, and likely not worth much to begin with, I have suspicions that his car is totaled.
Short story is that the car insurance industry is going to have this kid by the short and curlies for quite a while. I do mean kid. He's 19 years old (his DOB is on my copy of the accident report from the state trooper), and being 19 and a guy is enough reason for the insurance companies to ask for the rough monetary equivalent of a kidney. To load on top of that totaling your car (at your fault), hitting someone else, and getting a ticket for it (remember that trooper?), puts it more in the monetary range of asking for your first born, and leaving a testicle as collateral.
So, I'm trying to figure out how I should proceed here so as to be as little of an asshole as possible. I need to make sure there's nothing going on with the rear of my car that I can't see, or will screw me later (à la the front bumper). I'm expecting, though, that the damage will be under $500. Does it make sense to get an estimate, then figure out if I should ask him directly or go through the insurance company? Am I thinking way too hard about this? Should I just take the absolutely not my fault pass and tell Mr. Insurance all about it?
