Should I Have Made a Claim?

jen202

New Member
9
In November or December of 2001 I was headed home west on Walnut St. in Philadelphia, PA in the evening. It was a cold and snowy day, the first snow we had had all winter. Walnut St is three driving lanes 1-way with a parking lane on each side. I did not have collision or uninsured motorist.

I, Driver A, was in the slow lane, going about 25-30. Driver B was next to me in the middle lane going about the same speed. Driver C was either in the fast lane or middle lane trying to pass driver B. He was very impatient, despite the fact everyone was driving slowly. He tried passing Driver B, but side-swiped her car, which then side swiped my car, and broke off my driver side-view mirror. Both Driver C and B kept going. Driver C sped off too fast. I flashed Driver B to pull over, which she did. A fourth car who had seen everything, pulled in behind us. I said to Driver B you broke my mirror. Driver B then said Driver C was driving like a maniac and hit her, which caused her to hit me as she lost control of her lane. Up to this point, I had no idea there was a Driver C, as he was always on my extreme left, two lanes away, and then sped off. The neutral witness confirmed this.

I said to Driver B I would like your info anyway to make a claim. But the neutral witness stepped in and said don't bother. Driver B was not at fault, so I would not win any claim. Don't waste my time. I said ok, and we all went home.

Years later, in 2010, my mom told me I should have pursued it anyway, since it was technically her fault, even though another car had pushed her. Is that true? I drove for six years without a driver side-view mirror and almost got pulled over by the police because of it. Still bothers me to this day sometimes.
 
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Currently dealing with a claim like this at the moment. Its technically a hit and run and your own collision would have to take care of it.
 
The way to think about it is what caused the accident. Driver B didn't cause the accident at all. Maybe, if you hadn't claimed it was snowing, you could make the argument that a small side swipe didn't push the car into you, but with the snow, you would lose that argument, probably.

Its not worth losing sleep over, especially now. Fix the car and keep going. Heck if you had the car in 2001 and its now 2017, that was at least 16 years ago. At this point, time for a new car.

Dan
 
Currently dealing with a claim like this at the moment. Its technically a hit and run and your own collision would have to take care of it.

Wow, good luck! I hear in some states your uninsured motorist policy covers hit and run (as long as there was actual contact, not like some driver forced you to swerve into a ditch, but no contact, and then he took off,at least in California).

[EDIT: I know some states will not let you have both collision and uninsured motorist, such as California. I guess they want you to pursue any such claim under collision so your insurance company can raise your rates and have you pay a deductible?? That's the only reason I can think of.]

The way to think about it is what caused the accident. Driver B didn't cause the accident at all. Maybe, if you hadn't claimed it was snowing, you could make the argument that a small side swipe didn't push the car into you, but with the snow, you would lose that argument, probably.

Its not worth losing sleep over, especially now. Fix the car and keep going. Heck if you had the car in 2001 and its now 2017, that was at least 16 years ago. At this point, time for a new car.

Dan

Thank you Dan! I feel so much better knowing there was nothing I could have done any differently. Oh, and I got rid of that car a long time ago, in 2007. That would be old!

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I am trying to give both of you a thumbs up, but it's won't let me.

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It only let's me give you a thumbs down?? Seems strange.
 
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