Outback Rearended

Notify your local police and your insurance carrier. If your car was rear ended while stopped, your insurance will contact the offending driver's insurance and get payment from them. You did get her name, address, license # and insurance carreier, didn't you? In many states it is against the law not to report an accident with property damage over a certain amount, and with costs the way they are now, the likit can easily be exceeded.

The fact that you would even consider settling with "her body shop" makes me wonder if you should even be driving.

George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of youth that doth not grow stale with age." ---- J.W Muller

My 95 Legacy Wagon got rearended 3 years ago, it had 150K on the clock.....got it fixed it looked new $4500. body work. Gave car to daughter she has put 50K moe on it and generally beaten the crap out of it; but the AWD SYSTEM WORKS FLAWLESSLY! Just bought a 2004 35th anniv wagon.....looking to do it all over again......its our 3rd one.

Some guy backed into my car in front of my eyes in a parking lot - I started a thread about this a while ago.

Make sure you get all necessary info from the lady and have your insurance check if her insurance and given info check out okay - you can still tell them the other party would like to settle privately.

Then have YOUR body shop give you an estimate and give it to the lady. Stuff happens to everyone; I myself would certainly appreciate the opportunity to settle for cash.

That being said, be extra cautious. The guy who caused $900 worth of damage to my car never returned my calls and I am still waiting for my insurance company to recover my deductible (and their portion o the bill). If they lose interest - their portion isn't exactly hige thans to my deductible, I'll have to roll up the case myself and take the guy to small claims court - what joy.

Re AWD mechanism: you'd know by now if anything important was damaged....

good luck!

Florian

DO NOT JUST TAKE YOUR CAR TO HER BODY SHOP!!!! Its very important that this is taken care of through the insurance company. Once you by pass insurance company and police and just take your car to her bodyshop there is no guarantee that your car will be fixed. My brother just basically took his car to the bodyshop that the person hit him said and nothing got done. The car just sat there. Basically always report this stuff to the insurance and get a police report filed.

Paul J

There may be video tape of the incident on the store security camera - that would probably negate the "what if you backed into her car" accusation. It's too bad we can't just handle these things like gentlemen, but calling in your insirance carrier is probably the wisest move - plus, this person may have a history of these incidents and if so, shouldn't get insurance or a liscence to drive. You may be doing us all a favor.

Carl

Emmett Galsworthy wrote:

It was her fault, she pays, not you. You don't have to worry about your deductible.

My advice is not to settle, contact your insurance ASAP and hers as well.

Henry

Since it happened on private property the police will say, "Gee, tough luck. Contact insurance." At least that is how it works here. A guy got backed into at work. I am a security guard there and reviewed the footage. The guy had no insurance at the time so they are going to small claims over it. Happened almost 2 months ago and court date is in 2 weeks now.

Henry

I completely agree with you, George. Why would anyone even consider not reporting it?

June

Thanks, Henry and to all who replied. The counter worker did call the police as he'd had some exchange with the person about her not finding space. This is a no-fault state so when the damage is under $1000 it can be done either way. I was wondering about the likelihood of the AWD having been affected. It probably is best to file a report. All info has been gathered. The police were just annoyed that she left without talking to them but said just to let them know in a few days whether to file an accident report. All the best, ej

File ASAP. Gathered info will disappear fast, if not already. Get it reported before the officer's lose recollection of it. Collision damage repair costs are a lot higher than most people estimate.

Steve

I agree. Report it. Get it on the record. If it's something she's never done before, no big deal. If it's something she does a LOT, her little scam to keep people from reporting it is probably the only reason she still has a license.

-DanD

She may have had some problems to make her so edgy. Just a cursory check on Google revealed she's appealing a lawsuit wherein she's seeking damages after being injured at a homesite where she was working. The company that hired her said she'd been warned of the dangers which she's apparently refuting. Without being aware of the possibilities, I wouldn't want to be part of something to impede her receiving her due if she was truly injured. It just seems an awful mess to be involved in something like that. Just some thoughts. Thanks for your view. ej

Another vote in favor of reporting this. This might be innocent, but she might be an extremely bad driver with a record of this kind of thing who is trying to avoid loosing her license. If that's the case, you do not want to be the reason she's still on the road. :/

My 2002 Outback was rearended at a stop sign by a little old lady doing 5 mph (I was not moving). Good thing I got all the insurance information even though damage seemed very small and I could still close the liftgate. The actual damage included not only the entire bumper, but the left quarter panel as well. Total cost $1382. Her insurance company even paid my $500 deductible. Always get the info on the spot and fill out a police report!