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labrat1001001 wrote:A woman came into my lane a stuck my vehicle yesterday. I collected all information with pictures! She asked if I would accept direct payment from her instead of filing through her insurance. I got a quote from a local dealership and it came to $1,500. I own my vehicle. I’m OK with meeting her at her bank tomorrow and taking cash to close this out. Any advice?


Thanks,

Labrat

You usually are better to go through your or their insurance company for claims as it provides you a guarantee of going back if there is something that is found that wasn't planned for when the estimate was provided.

I have done this for small amounts, but not for that large an amount. If you feel comfortable with the meeting, make sure it is in cash or a certified check or money order. You also need her drivers license information so you have a way to contact her. I would also write up a release form for her to sign stating she is not going to try and make a claim against you and the form releases all parties from any future liabilities.

For that amount of damage wouldn't a report need to be filed with DPS as well?

Why not have it fixed & let her go to the body shop & pay your bill.
Witnesses, receipt, & if she does not want to do that

red flag, Red Flag, RED FLAG

longtooth wrote:Why not have it fixed & let her go to the body shop & pay your bill.
Witnesses, receipt, & if she does not want to do that

red flag, Red Flag, RED FLAG

I vote for LT's suggestion.

My experience, if it helps: One of my neighbor's son's friends (got all that?) backed into my wife's Caddy awhile back...causing about $2,500 (or maybe even more) in damages. The father of the driver wanted to pay for it out of his own pocket instead of going through insurance (I think it was a case of "1 more claim and your gone..."). That was fine with me, I took it to the Caddy dealer, got an estimate, told the bodyshop guys that "hey, this is a cash deal, give this guy the best price you can"...the father paid the bill, all was well.

longtooth wrote:Why not have it fixed & let her go to the body shop & pay your bill.
Witnesses, receipt, & if she does not want to do that

red flag, Red Flag, RED FLAG

LT, for a country boy, you sure do have some smarts!

longtooth wrote:Why not have it fixed & let her go to the body shop & pay your bill.
Witnesses, receipt, & if she does not want to do that

red flag, Red Flag, RED FLAG

This is a good option if you're sure she will pay the entire bill and not skip out if it exceeds the initial estimate. If she bugs out, your car is stuck at the shop until somebody pays the bill. If things go south and the body shop wants their money, they'll slap a lien on your "once clear" title.
I think once the work is started, the body ship will ultimately look to the vehicle owner for financial responsibility, even if you have a signed document from her.

I would let the insurance company's handle it. That is what you pay your insurance premiums for so you don't have to deal with this stuff. I got stiffed that way one time, won't happen again. If the accident wasn't your fault then turn it over to your insurance company. That way you know your car will be repaired and you won't get stuck paying the bill yourself.

My advice would be to get the cash. The only accident I've ever had was about five years ago: believe it or not, I was rear-ended on the Beltway in Houston while I was going over 70 (long story). Young woman who was driving her boyfriend's pick-up. I called my insurance agent (who's been handling my auto and home accounts for almost two decades) and he informed that if I went through my insurance, an accident report would have to be filed. He also said that, regardless of whose fault it was, that accident report would find its way back into my insurance rates because it would be on record in Austin.

He recommended I take up the offending party on the offer to pay me directly, and if that couldn't be accomplished quickly or satisfactorily, to call him back and turn it over to the insurance company. I got two estimates, and faxed her father the amount. Two days later, I had the money in my hand.

YMMV, but that was my one and only experience with the situation. The damages came to over $2,200.

The only time Ive been on the receiving end of an accident, the trucking company just wrote me a check to keep it off their insurance. If she's willing to pay cash, I'd take it.

BTW, I used their check to pay my little pickup off and I repaired the damage myself!!

Blue Form?
Once I was in a wreck and police hadn't showed up hours later, so we both left and I filed a blue form like I was supposed to and she didn't.
My insurance rates went up since the blue form put it on my driving record, her Insurance company filed bankruptcy, ended up being an Uninsured Motorist claim and my insurance company made me file a lawsuit to get them to pay.
By the time it was over, I was only out a couple thousand dollars. (Yes, I traded in for a better insurance company now instead of AIG after they also required a lawsuit to be filed for the time my Ex-Girlfreind (intoxicated) ran the car into a tree in the yard .... I traded in that girlfreind too )

Let us know whether to watch :
Judge Judy
Judge Alex
The People's Court
Street Justice
Judge Joe Brown
etc etc etc ...



Seriously, I hope it goes well for you.

If you are the "hitee" it's also better that you get paid cash BUT certainly through the body shop, since going through insurance companies will mean both vehicles - and drivers - are likey to appear on a claims database as having been involved in an accident. My wife's car was a total loss after being wrecked by a taxi that spun out, jumped a curb slid across 10 yards of grass and went through a fence before hitting her PARKED car. For years we showed up as "accident involvement" everytime we tried to buy and renew our auto insurance.

My son was recently in such a position, which concluded just yesterday with him texting the other vehicle's owner to ask her out to dinner.

That's my boy!

He was at the gym a month or so ago, and both he and another driver backed out of opposing parking spaces at the same time and touched bumpers. There is no mark on his car at all, but the other driver claimed that the mark on her bumper came from his car. Rather than go through the insurance, she was willing to deal with it without involving them. He stipulated that he was willing, so long as the expense was not too high and she was able to provide quotes for the repairs.

Here's where it gets a little complicated... the woman driving the other car was not that car's owner. In fact, she employs a nanny, and it was the nanny's car. My son reached an agreement with the nanny that he would pay for half of the cost of the repair, since they were both at fault. I assume that the woman driving it paid for the other half. The nanny got a quote of $600 to repair the damage, and my son agreed to pay the $300, balanced against what it might do to his insurance rate over the long haul, as this would be his second incident since he started driving 3 years ago. (In the other one, he lost control of his car on ice and whacked both ends of it on a concrete barrier.) Anyway, he just met the woman yesterday and paid her the $300, by check, after having her sign a release of further liability at my suggestion, which I wrote up for him.

It turns out that she's a real hottie. So when he got home, he sent her that text message asking her out to dinner. Unfortunately, it turns out that she has a boyfriend. Oh well, I guess you can't blame a guy for trying.

flb_78 wrote:BTW, I used their check to pay my little pickup off and I repaired the damage myself!!