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Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 22 days ago)
35,705 posts, read 18,057,688 times
Reputation: 50763
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Kitten - U turns aren't illegal. They're only illegal if there is a sign saying they're illegal, and a few other instances. It appears this one was actually legal, and then she was hit by the person behind her for trying to pass her on the left, which is, in fact, illegal.
The car really is hers, paid for with her money that she saved. It’s a 2012 Kia registered in our names because she’s a minor.
She’s going to be 18 this month. It’s unrealistic to think I can restrict the driving privileges of an adult. That’s partly why I want her on her own policy. I think it will make her more mindful when it becomes her full liability and financial risk.
I'm thinking she would have gotten a ticket if the police had been called due to the illegal u-turn. This scenario is the exact reason they're illegal. Is she learning a good lesson here by having you divert all the consequences from this (financial, insurance, legal (if police came))?
While U-turns may or may not be illegal in that situation, a safe driver would not make a U-turn on a street where cars are going 50 miles per hour especially where you don't have a clear sight line for oncoming cars (in both directions).
Kitten - U turns aren't illegal. They're only illegal if there is a sign saying they're illegal, and a few other instances. It appears this one was actually legal, and then she was hit by the person behind her for trying to pass her on the left, which is, in fact, illegal.
I'm sure it depends on the state, but typically no, you can't just stop in the middle of the road and Uturn. Of course there wasn't a sign, do you really expect every roadway to be lined with "No Uturn" signs? It's dangerous to Uturn like that as other drivers are not expecting it. The other poster is right, the daughter most likely would have recieved a ticket. Your link is about Uturning at an intersection. This didn't happen at an intersection. She wanted a parking spot on the other side of the road, and couldn't wait to either turn around where it was safe to do so, or find another spot.
Kitten - U turns aren't illegal. They're only illegal if there is a sign saying they're illegal, and a few other instances. It appears this one was actually legal, and then she was hit by the person behind her for trying to pass her on the left, which is, in fact, illegal.
Pay it, have her pay you back plus credit card interest fees if they occur.
I'd give her a choice of getting her own insurance, since she owns the car, or staying on yours IF she takes a few driving classes.
I wouldn't believe the swerving to avoid a bunny thing either unless I saw it. Not sure how you get $1500 worth of damage from running your wheel into a curb at a reasonable speed. Highways don't have curbs, so she wasn't going 60.
This is why I was wondering if we should go through insurance after all.
The problem is that with no police report, it would be a “he said, she said” situation. So your insurance company would likely not assign the other driver to be 100% at fault. Another thing is to be sure that the u-turn was a legal maneuver. The fact that she didn’t have a clear line of sight makes me think it could be iffy. For instance, in Virginia, you can make a u-turn in the middle of a street as long as your car is visible to others from at least 500 feet.
You say she was stopped in the right lane. Which is not wise for a road where cars are driving 50mph. Was she waiting for an opening before turning? Did she have her left turn signal on? He could claim that he was passing on the left to avoid rear ending her.
I agree with your A and B assumptions in the OP and that she would be found at least 50% at fault in which case your insurance would pay the claim. Not his.
One bit of information you left out that would be relevant to my decision: is she still in high school or has she graduated? Is she going to college now or in the near future? If the answer to the second question is yes, I'd keep her on my insurance plan while she's in school so option C. it's likely to be less expensive even for now, even with the rate increase.
Call your insurance agent and tell them you're trying to plan for the near future when she turns 18. Ask how much she would have to pay for a policy vs. how much you would save taking her off your plan. Don't mention the accident for now.
I also hope that you talked to her about the importance of getting the full information of the other driver when in an accident in the future. Tough lesson for all of you.
I'm posting here because I need some quick replies. If it helps, this thread is in non-romantic relationships because my daughter has a relationship with her car and I have a (temporarily strained) relationship with my daughter over this fender bender.
Daughter was making a u-turn in the middle of an unmarked road. It's 2 lanes, but there are no lines painted on the road. She was stopped in the right lane, looking to get into a parallel parking spot on the other side of the street and decided to make a u-turn to do so. The driver behind her went around her car on the left and she u-turned into him. She said she looked to make sure no traffic was coming, but it's a stretch of road where cars go whipping down the street at 50mph or greater, there are slight curves at each end, and it's difficult to see/anticipate when fast moving cars are approaching. I assumed it would be her fault for a) making a u-turn in the middle of the street, and b) not looking more carefully in her blind spot, which she admitted to me.
Daughter called me immediately and I advised her to take pictures and exchange license and insurance info and that I'd be on my way down there to help out (it wasn't too far from home). When she asked the driver for his info he balked and asked her to call me to come out there or to have the police come out and make a report. When I got to the accident scene, the other driver had a single crack on the side of his passenger headlight and no other damage. My daughter's car had her front bumper pulled half off, dented front left fender, and cracked headlight and reflector.
The other driver wanted to keep insurance out of it as he admitted he was already in a lawsuit with another woman over an accident a month ago. He said he had insurance but was trying to give us a break by having each of us go our own way and manage our own repairs. I thought that sounded like the best plan because I knew it was at least 50% my daughter's fault. So we agreed to each handle our own repairs, shook hands and went our separate ways. We figured paying for the repairs out of pocket would be better than our daughter having an accident on her record, and cheaper than the increase to our insurance.
We've gotten some repair estimates and it looks like it's going to cost around $2500. Of course, our daughter is going to pay us back for this, but I'm wondering now if we shouldn't just go through our insurance. If we do that, they will probably want the other guy's info. We got his license plate number but never exchanged names or insurance info. From a human standpoint I feel bad because we shook on it and the guy seemed genuine in his motives, saying he also has teenage drivers and understands how insurance works. But I also wonder how the insurance company will view the situation since we've hesitated to report it for 4 days, and we let the other guy go with no more than his license plate number.
Here's the Non-romantic relationship part of it: This is daughter's 2nd fender bender in less than 6 months. The first one happened when she swerved to avoid a bunny in the road and ran her front right tire into the curb. She wasn't injured, and there were no other cars involved, so it was just $1500 worth of damage to her own car, for which we didn't go through insurance. We helped her out by splitting the cost with her that 1st time, but told her the next accident would be all on her to pay. We all still have a good driver discount and our insurance hasn't been affected. I'm surprised at her carelessness because she has taken very good care of her things growing up, so we naturally assumed that care would extend to her used car, something she paid for completely with her own money.
Her dad and I were thinking of giving her the option of:
a) We pay the $2500 repair bill outside of insurance, she pays us back monthly plus interest, and we make her get her own insurance policy when she turns 18 in less than a month, with no insurance claims on her record.
b) We have the repair done through insurance, she pays us back for the $500 deductible, and we have her get her own insurance, but now she's starting out with a claim, which means higher rates for her. However, we've eliminated any further claims against our insurance.
c) We run the claim through insurance, she pays us back the $500 deductible, plus she pays us monthly for the premium increase, which might be cheaper than having her on her own policy.
d) Some other solution we haven't thought of.
What would you do if this was your almost adult child? Please be gentle. Thanks for any and all advice.
Submit a claim to your insurance as an uninsured motorist claim... I do have an insurance license.
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