BEWARE the It's not a big deal accident

[svofcols]

Last Sunday my son borrowed our pick up to go get fast food. While in the drive through, another young boy came around the corner too quickly and bumped into the trailer hitch on our vehicle. Everyone got out of the vehicles, looked over both cars. There was no damage at all to our trailer hitch and only a very small scratch on the fender of the other car. Both boys decided that they didn't want to wait 45 minutes (average response time) for the police to show up ( our police are WAY understaffed) and since there was no real damage they both went their seperate ways without doing a report. Michael told us about it, there was no damage so we forgot about it. Until yesterday. I was very late getting back from Howl O Weenie Saturday night so didn't bother to check Saturday's mail. I get the mail yesterday evening and "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?" A summons from Hit & Run unit of the police dept. It seems that for whatever reason, the other boy took my tag number and after the fact reported the event as my son's fault and a hit & run. There is now a warrant for MY arrest for H&R as the vehicle is registered to me. I will have to spend the entire day trying to sort this mess out. Hopefully I will be able to get it sorted out with minimal hassle.
If you are ever involved in an accident - doesn't matter how simple - CALL POLICE. Doesn't matter if you are late, it is pouring, CALL POLICE. Get a report. Protect yourself.
If there is an upside to this? When it is discovered that the young man filed a false police report, they will take action against him. It won't give me back my day or my lost hours at work but at least maybe he'll learn to accept the consequences of his actions.
Will update you this evening as to how things are going.
Sandi

[TessieMom]

Take care! Hope it is resolved swiftly and that the boy assumes responsibility!

[Orchid Crazy]

Oh Sandi I am so sorry you are going through this! The stress!

I totally agree with your "call Police" thing, many people don't want to, but it honestly is the best way to protect yourself. I learned that the hard way 23 years ago. When I was 17, I rolled into a woman at a stop sign. We were both stopped, I was painting my fingernails while stopped (foolhardy youth), saw her start up and so I took my foot off the brake and rolled (driving a stick shift) into her bumper. No damage, no nothing, no injuries. I was upset as all get out, she was a mother said she had sons who had incidents and was quite kind and compassionate about it. She told me not to worry about the police since no harm was done, we did exchange info just to be safe.

About a month or so later, my parents get a phone call, medical bills, back injuries, car repair plus a 'necessary' full repainting, even a beach vacation that was 'doctor recommended' due to the extensive injuries. It was a nightmare!!! Thank goodness I had and still have a great insurance company. I called them, explained everything that happened and they ran with it from there. She never did get anything from them, but they sure tried to screw my parents out of a major amount of 'hush' money.

Unfortunately, in our world today, too many people only see dollar signs in front of them. I would assume maybe this boy was frightened of telling his parents what happened, so he made up a story. Hopefully he will get caught in his lair of lies and learn a good lesson. Keep us posted on your ordeal today.

[blueyezz74]

Some people can be real jerks and take advantage of situations.

Hopefuly you can work this all out!

I had a woman rear-end me on my way to the hospital to get chest x-ray (go figure!). She knocked my car into the interesction. At the time I was drive a little '91 eagle talon. She was very disoriented when me and my mom went to her car. Her windshield was cracked and she had no clue how she did it. We called the cops. Afterwards my mom and I were talking and saying that we could have taken full advantage of this woman but we're just not like that. But there are some people out that that would have!

[lotsadox]

I'm so sorry this happened. I got the same advice from my chiropractor when I had a guy hit me last spring. Luckily mine was resolved more easily. I hope this doesn't turn into too much of a hassle for you.

[SirOliversMom]

I'm really happy you posted this story because that is so like something I would do. No damage, everything looks fine..have a nice day! I will keep your story in mind in case this ever happens to me. Good luck and I hope the guilty party in this gets his just rewards.

[juliette]

Janet - this is where "no fault insurance" really does help us Canucks out. As much as I do have some issues with it - this sort of fraud can't happen against the victim of an accident.

For those of you unfamiliar with government regulated no fault - if you get into an accident, even if not your fault, your insurance company pays. Yes, in SOME cases it means you get penalized even if you did absolutely nothing wrong - but the plus side is that what happened in this incident can't happen here. It also means that up here, little minor incidents really can be a "smile and drive away" (face it, with icy conditions it's not that unusual to have somebody tap your bumper).

It's happened to me twice (one I was the tapper, once the tappee) in the last year and in both cases it was no harm, no foul.

Yes, we do live under a more "socialized" government than the US - which also means that we don't have the legal litigation issues that exist down there.

[Steven]

:( It sucks to get something on a good day, but at least you didn't read it that day. I wonder why the boy filed the report later? Maybe he caused more damage later on to get more money? Or perhaps his parents filed the report. I agree with others, get a police report. It sucks having to wait, but now look what happened. You never know what others will do. :(

[Patt]

Sending positive thoughts you get this worked out, suggest you contact your insurance agent to see if you have no-fault insurance. Unfortunately it's his word against your son's, hopefully the police will see the scam, do you have any witnesses? I guess his parents or the boy saw an easy way to make $$. Good Luck!

[kpm_tex]

Most states require No Fault insurance coverage in the US. I was hit by a hit and run a few months ago. I don't know how he was able to run because his hood and front were all bashed in. But he took off... he did leave his tag behind... but either it or the car turned out to be stolen.

[dutchman]

Yep always doing a police report is the best policy to protect yourself. Heck even if you are possibly to blame and might get a citation in a no damage accident that is better than having someone coming back a few days latter claiming they have serious medical issues related to the accident.

When my car received some hit and run damage in a prking lot I even went to the trouble of going down to the local PD to file a counter report. Who knows what idot might show up at some point down the line claiming you had hit them in the parking lot damaging their vehicle. IF you file a report and they didn't guess who's going to look more innocent in court.

I one had a bicyclist rear end me went over my trunk (he ran a four way stop and ignored me turning into a driveway. I insisted we call the cops he only had minor road rash than goodness my car had about $800 in paint scratches not sure what if any damage his bikie had. I tilk him we were going to file a police report and not to go any where. I wnet inside to call and by the time I got back outside he was long gone. At least I had my police report on file so if he had come back in a few days claiming he had injuries and doctor bills I had the incident report on file and he would be sited for leaving the scene of an accident. In colorado at least bicycles are considered vehicles and all the same laws that applie to any other vehicle also apply to bicycles.

Yes a reprot can be a pain and it can seem like the cops take forever to respond. At least give them a call. Many times on winter roads in this area they will as anyone injured can the vehicles be drive damages only minor and then tell those involved they have 49 hours to come in and fill out counter reports on the incident. At least they did that when we too were under a no fault insurane law now that we are back under tourt law I'm not sure how they plan on handling mindor winter bumps. The good think about returning to tourt law from the no fault was my insurance rates dropped by about 25%.

[quavec]

Well, down here, we have "mandatory" liability insurance. This is a joke. You are 10 times more likely to get hit by someone who doesn't have insurance, no inspection sticker and an expired tag. And the best thing to do if you get into a "no one is hurt, no damage" accident, is to be dialing the police # before you step out of the car. We have a tremendous amount of hit and runs here and a HUGE amount of false insurance claims. Vehicle AND medical. Insurance is one thing I hate to think about. Thanks to so many frivolous lawsuits, we were down to one neurosurgeon on the entire MS Gulf Coast during a holiday weekend last year. None of these docs could get malpractice insurance in the state for a while. I know it was a nationwide epidemic for awhile. Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I agree w/everyone ~ always file a report. Even if you are the only one at the accident site and have to wait 1 hour for the police. Good luck Sandi!

[svofcols]

We just left the police department. They are refusing to press charges and are investigating for possible fraud in false reporting. It seems that the young man didn't bother to call police from McD's - he went all the way home and then called. On top of that, my son could perfectly describe the young man, his passenger and what they were both wearing. Didn't fit with their idea of a hit & run driver. He had too much detail about what happened. Told us to go home, not to bother reporting to our insurance company. They will send us a letter, possibly a summons if they do arrest the young man.
Thanks for all the good thoughts from everyone! Needless to say, no one around here got much sleep last night! TOday will be a brighter day!!
Sandi
Just too bad that we will now call police for every little event - instead of trying to be nice. Sad when you can't try and be nice in this world anymore. :(

[Anatresia]

Glad things worked out for you. I hope that bratty kid gets what he deserves.

[lotsadox]

It sounds like things are working out and the police saw through whatever the kid was trying to pull. Go take a nap :sleep004: and catch up on your missed sleep.

[quavec]

Chaulk it up to a lesson learned. Seems the kid who did the hitting is going to learn the best lesson of all. Thankfully no one was hurt and the police are on your side.

[SirOliversMom]

It's nice when the good guys win...hopefully this is all over.

[Patt]

:appl: Good news, thankfully it all worked out. I'm sure today will go much better for you. :D