by boulderite » Tue Feb 12, 2008 02:40 am
Arrgh! I just typed this all out and my daughter hit the power button on the computer and turned it off!!!!! So here goes again....
Please advise on this one! I am really worried about how this situation is turning out.
Friday afternoon (3PM) my husband was driving home (in my parents company minivan). We live in a small mountain town west of Boulder in Colorado. Dirt road, hard snowpack. The plowing makes snowbanks on either side of the road, making the already narrow road narrower.
My husband is taking a middle line in the road. Many places along this road are single lane this time of year and we all know the pulloffs etc.
He is approaching a slight right-hand bend, slight uphill, when he sees a car coming the other way, pretty fast. First reaction is to brake hard, slides a short way, lets up and steers towards his snow bank slowing down at the same time. He is in control of his vehicle. He is going well under the speed limit (uphill I have to add so gravity is on his side). He is almost stopped, sallying up to and hitting the snowbank on his side of the road trying to make as much room as possible (absolutely no damage to our car).
The approaching car passes, still on the road (since there is a snow bank on her side we can see clearly where she actually left the road). She leaves the road (approx 100 feet after they pass), meaning her right tire is on the other side of the snow bank, and she hits a tree that is right on the edge of the road. Car is not driveable. Later we can see that her skid marks start well before the cars pass and continue all the way up till she hits the tree (ie. she slammed her brakes, they locked, and she slid the whole way till she left the road).
The width of the road we measured to be 14-15 feet where the cars pass. A car (including wing mirrors) is almost 7 feet. YEESH!
The driver of the other car is a neighbor and a friend, I'll call her D. My husband parks his car at the top of our driveway, which coincidentally was only about 50 feet from where he stopped.
Runs up to her to see if she's OK. Says she's fine, but is FREAKING OUT, she is in a big hurry, late for a meeting in Denver, says that an audience of 50 people are waiting for her, don't know the details. My husband immediately offers her our car (not parents) to drive, tells her not to worry about it, to bring it back the next day. I told him on Friday night that I was worried that this situation could get complicated and that if she said anything about fault, to simply say that he'd be glad to exchange insurance details with her.
D and her husband come by the next day, she says that he 'ran her off the road'. Her side is that she admits that she was driving too fast, she says 30mph, but that he was 'in the middle of the road' and that he didn't move out of the middle, so she was forced to leave the road.
She asks for 'our help', husband is a car enthusiast, and has repair body shop type connections, so he tells her he can help; meaning he can find a good guy to do the work, or help her tow the vehicle etc.. (we know that the car would be 'totalled' insurance wise, but if she wanted to keep it and get it fixed etc.) He mentions exchanging ins. details but she insists that she doesn't want to get the insurance involved.
She clarifies that by help she means money, but hubby is not very straightforward, avoids conflict and is simply a nice guy all round' so he doesn't straight out say it's not his fault, or that they absolutely need to let the insurance handle it.
At first it honestly didn't occur to us that this had anything to do with us, so we didn't think about contacting our insurance company. This was a single car accident and our vehicle was not involved. She went off the road well after the cars passed, she was driving too fast and not in control of her vehicle. We felt awfully sorry for her, and bad that it happened; but we don't think he's at fault. Are we mistaken?
Today she called DH when I was at work, saying that she 'needs help' that she has severe whiplash, that her own policy won't cover! YIKES! What kind of insurance does she have that it won't cover her medical? An hour later DH got a call from her insurance company asking for his version of the incident. She informed us she filed a police report.
We had not contacted our insurance, not filed a police report etc. But this is going downhill fast. I think from the way she's talking that we might hear from a lawyer soon!
What is the best next step?
Please advise on this one! I am really worried about how this situation is turning out.
Friday afternoon (3PM) my husband was driving home (in my parents company minivan). We live in a small mountain town west of Boulder in Colorado. Dirt road, hard snowpack. The plowing makes snowbanks on either side of the road, making the already narrow road narrower.
My husband is taking a middle line in the road. Many places along this road are single lane this time of year and we all know the pulloffs etc.
He is approaching a slight right-hand bend, slight uphill, when he sees a car coming the other way, pretty fast. First reaction is to brake hard, slides a short way, lets up and steers towards his snow bank slowing down at the same time. He is in control of his vehicle. He is going well under the speed limit (uphill I have to add so gravity is on his side). He is almost stopped, sallying up to and hitting the snowbank on his side of the road trying to make as much room as possible (absolutely no damage to our car).
The approaching car passes, still on the road (since there is a snow bank on her side we can see clearly where she actually left the road). She leaves the road (approx 100 feet after they pass), meaning her right tire is on the other side of the snow bank, and she hits a tree that is right on the edge of the road. Car is not driveable. Later we can see that her skid marks start well before the cars pass and continue all the way up till she hits the tree (ie. she slammed her brakes, they locked, and she slid the whole way till she left the road).
The width of the road we measured to be 14-15 feet where the cars pass. A car (including wing mirrors) is almost 7 feet. YEESH!
The driver of the other car is a neighbor and a friend, I'll call her D. My husband parks his car at the top of our driveway, which coincidentally was only about 50 feet from where he stopped.
Runs up to her to see if she's OK. Says she's fine, but is FREAKING OUT, she is in a big hurry, late for a meeting in Denver, says that an audience of 50 people are waiting for her, don't know the details. My husband immediately offers her our car (not parents) to drive, tells her not to worry about it, to bring it back the next day. I told him on Friday night that I was worried that this situation could get complicated and that if she said anything about fault, to simply say that he'd be glad to exchange insurance details with her.
D and her husband come by the next day, she says that he 'ran her off the road'. Her side is that she admits that she was driving too fast, she says 30mph, but that he was 'in the middle of the road' and that he didn't move out of the middle, so she was forced to leave the road.
She asks for 'our help', husband is a car enthusiast, and has repair body shop type connections, so he tells her he can help; meaning he can find a good guy to do the work, or help her tow the vehicle etc.. (we know that the car would be 'totalled' insurance wise, but if she wanted to keep it and get it fixed etc.) He mentions exchanging ins. details but she insists that she doesn't want to get the insurance involved.
She clarifies that by help she means money, but hubby is not very straightforward, avoids conflict and is simply a nice guy all round' so he doesn't straight out say it's not his fault, or that they absolutely need to let the insurance handle it.
At first it honestly didn't occur to us that this had anything to do with us, so we didn't think about contacting our insurance company. This was a single car accident and our vehicle was not involved. She went off the road well after the cars passed, she was driving too fast and not in control of her vehicle. We felt awfully sorry for her, and bad that it happened; but we don't think he's at fault. Are we mistaken?
Today she called DH when I was at work, saying that she 'needs help' that she has severe whiplash, that her own policy won't cover! YIKES! What kind of insurance does she have that it won't cover her medical? An hour later DH got a call from her insurance company asking for his version of the incident. She informed us she filed a police report.
We had not contacted our insurance, not filed a police report etc. But this is going downhill fast. I think from the way she's talking that we might hear from a lawyer soon!
What is the best next step?
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 04:44 am Post Subject:
Call your insurance company NOW. Go in to find out if she filed a police report and have your husband add his version to the report. But get your insurance carrier involved NOW. It is always nice to be nice to neighbors, but time and time again I've seen one neighbor stab the other in the back over money.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 07:32 am Post Subject:
Hi boulderite, I'm so very sorry to hear what had happened. May be the first thing that you need to do is....... change your opinion about her. May be she isn't that good as you guys think she is.
Secondly, keep a track of this thread. The experts will be shortly around to help you out. Best of luck!
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 07:45 am Post Subject:
Honestly, I feel she is only trying to make some money.
Today she called DH when I was at work, saying that she 'needs help' that she has severe whiplash,
However, its not unlikely that people complain about injuries long after the accident happened. Some soft tissue injuries may develop later on. But, that definitely doesn't make you liable for it, if you haven't caused it anyway.
that her own policy won't cover! YIKES! What kind of insurance does she have that it won't cover her medical?
If she doesn't have PIP coverage on her policy, her insurer will not cover her medical expenses.
I too recommend that you should contact your insurer/agent and ask the future course of action. Also stick to your narration of the incident, don't alter it. Your husband should tell the same story what he had said to the other party's insurer. I guess there was no photograph taken at the time of the accident. Please feel free to return to us for any further help and also keep us update with the developments.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 01:37 pm Post Subject:
First things first... you need to go out and take photos of the location... yesterday! If you have a digital camera you can't have too many photos. You -really- want photos of those skid marks and a photos showing the location where she ran off the road.
You then need to report the loss to your insurance company. You need a defense in this case as it appears your "friend" is under the impression that your husband is at fault and that he should be addressing her loss.
I'd highly recommend that your husband not give a statement to the other carrier. He can feel free to call them and give them your insurance information. He can also let them know that he pulled to the side of the road well before the person approached his location and that she then left skid marks on the road as she slid off the road (obviously traveling too fast for the conditions). Just leave it at that.
Colorado got rid of PIP about 5 years ago so people won't have medical coverage from their auto policies. They should have health insurance to addresses their medical expenses. If another party is at fault in a loss, they can also file a Bodily Injury claim under that person's policy. If this person wants to pursue their injuries it is likely that they will hire an attorney. Your policy will provide a defense but they need to start that process now. Having photos will really help.
Colorado has comparative negligent laws. This means if you contribute 50% or more to an accident, you are bared from recovery. So the other party does not need to be 100% at fault in the accident, only 50% or more and then they legally cannot collect anything. I mention this as even if there is some indication that your husband did something wrong, it would need to be proven that he contributed 51% (not 10%, 20%, 30%, etc.) to the cause of the other person's. Any less and they other person is still bared from collecting.
It sounds like the insurance on the van is with your husband's parents. If this is the case, that carrier needs to be informed of the accident.
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