Car Accident (rental, insurance, red light, trucker)

[SimranC]

Hello People!!

Today first time I have met with an Accident. The front car just stop on red light and I hit the car from back not so badly my number plate nut bolt made one little paint scratch on front car. The Guy start yelling at me even he started arguing with Police too. Because the front car damage is less than $1000 so police had not made any complaint.

Now the party is asking for $140 to fix the small scratch plus if the rentle car if the car will be in garage for a day.

Please some advice me what should I do. Should I pay or talk to my insurace people first.

[scottv]

Pay the guy $140 with a check and have him sign something saying he releases you from all liability. That's what I would do. That will teach you to follow so closely.

"front car just stop on red light"...yep, that's what they tend to do alright.

[JoshB]

I hope people stop at a red light. Even in small town Wisconsin I've had to many close calls with red light runners.

I'd do as Scott says, Pay by check and have him sign a waiver that releases you from liability.

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I agree with Scott. Pay him the $140 and have him sign a receipt. As to a rental car, that's tricky. He may very well ask you to pay the CDW, but I would refuse as his insurance covers the rental.

[Lucky Lady123]

Pay the $140 and get a receipt with a copy of the repair he had done. A couple months back an out of state trucker knocked off my side view mirror and even though the cops came out we handled it ourselves. The trucker was very apologetic and sent me a cashier's check overnite express with a few extra bucks for my inconvenience which was not expected. See, there still are some decent humans out there. Good luck.

[jtur88]

And do NOT tell your insurance company that this happened.

[Donn2390]

Any small scratch, no matter how small, will cost at least $500 to have repaired properly at a quality body shop. You can't just paint a scratch, you have to paint the whole panel and blend it in. That is a lot of time and skilled labor. I'd pay the $140 as quickly as I could, and have him sign off on it, before he finds out it's gonna cost a whole lot more...

[SimranC]

Thank you very much for giving me good and right advise. When we met the guy he asked for $480 but when I told him to come to my garage person and I will fix the car for him he agreed on $140 so I get signed the paper that every thing is settled for this minor accident and no claim will be made in future. I am so stressed free now.
Thank you very much!!

[steel7]

You got off easy.Body shops are VERY expensive.Be thankful but DONT follow so close behind a car next time.Use the 2 second rule when behind a car.I always do.Im sure other people know what i mean with the 2 second rule.Be a safe & aware driver at ALL times.Their are LOTS of lousey drivers on our roads & its sucks.