Rear end car accident advice

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by GGG

Liking the cap is not siding with billion dollar insurance companies. Its siding with lower rates for a lower level of coverage. Insurance is competitive enough that the rate is essentially what they pay out plus 10%. So removing the rate cap just raises rates for everyone.

My dislike of the cap has nothing to do with billion dollar insurance companies.

If you and I suffer an identical injury as the result of another's negligence, and both effected in the same way (ie: duration of injury and treatment), yet the only difference is mechanism/cause of injury our injuries can be worth different amounts.

For example, if you get rear ended and suffer a WAD 2 injury to you neck/back, and I suffer the same injury as a result of an elevator malfunction the possible awards are not the same. An injury suffered in a MVC is capped, an injury suffered in a non-MVC incident in not capped.

I think that is wrong.

[Burninator]

If you don't have your own car insurance are you still covered by someone elses?

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Don't open a claim until they do, I know Insurance companies will tell you that a claim doesn't go on record unless something is paid out but especially in this case you would be opening a claim and admitting fault, it will go on your insurance.

These guys could be bluffing trying to make a quick buck and never open a claim, waiting doesn't hurt you in any way. If these guys put an injury claim in and file a statement of claim down the road and you get a letter saying you are being sued you would just forward it to your insurance company at that time and let them deal with the BS claim.

Pardon my ignorance on this issue but don't you have to submit a claim within 48 hours or something? Also what benefit is there to police reports? Can't the other party also submit a police report and lie on it?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Pardon my ignorance on this issue but don't you have to submit a claim within 48 hours or something? Also what benefit is there to police reports? Can't the other party also submit a police report and lie on it?

You have two years to complete an insurance claim from the date of loss.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by Slava

You have two years to complete an insurance claim from the date of loss.

While that sounds fair - not having to report it to the police within a specified time frame seems strange. How can people accurately report to police the events two years later and expect it to be judged fairly?

I'd just say they put the car in reverse because they'd gone too far forward and backed into me.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I'd just say they put the car in reverse because they'd gone too far forward and backed into me.

Now thats the spirit, you just splitt the claim 50/50 without a witness.

Do the police even want this reported? I thought anything under $1500 didn't need to be reported.

[ken0042]

Any accident with injuries needs to be reported.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Any accident with injuries needs to be reported.

There are no injuries in this accident, the wife simply states "she can't sleep" since the accident. If they truly want to pursue a claim they will report it. Waiting 2 weeks after an accident to document injuries (Doctor, Chiro, Police Report) doesn't help her case. I think they are bluffing.

This is exactly the situation that soured me to injury claims. I recall a similar situation, no damage, very low speed impact and the girl drove from the accident scene to work and said she could no longer work. She then gets the proper council and a clinic that plays ball and all of a sudden its a legitimate claim.

[CaptainCrunch]

I doubt that not being able to get any sleep is going to go a long way in a claim. Sleeping pills are cheap.

[ken0042]

In this case, I think the OP should make the report- and maybe even be the first one to make the report. Go to the police, and tell them the entire story. When they ask about it being below the limit to need a report, he can indicate that the "victim" is claiming his wife can no longer sleep.

Worst case, he gets a ticket for "following too close." However if the "victim" is trying to make him pay for damages that don't exist, that police report could be what saves him.

[kipperfan]

I handle injury claims (including MVA injury claims) for a living and have to say there is quite a bit of misinformation in this thread.

Firstly, you definitely want to report to claim to your insurance company, paying out of pocket for physical damages is rarely a good idea as there is nothing stopping the other party from accepting your money and five minutes later calling your insurance company and reporting the accident claiming injury, your insurance company will open a claim without even advising you first.

There does NOT need to be physical damage to a vehicle for someone to make an injury claim (though it does make it more difficult), and despite the cap being in place a person could potentially get tens of thousands of dollars for an injury stemming from an accident with little to no physical damage. If you'd like a good example, a recent claim handled in our office was just settled for $120K for a claimant claiming chronic pain stemming from a low impact rear end accident. There was no physical damage at all to the other persons vehicle and only $630 damage to the claimant vehicle. But she got a good lawyer, went to treatment for 5 years straight and found a few specialists (well, the lawyer did of course) saying her "chronic pain" stemmed from the accident and boom...$120K.

With regards to the cap, it was put in place for one reason and one reason only, motor vehicle insurance rates in Alberta were skyrocketing and at one point the highest in the country because every person who got a basic soft tissue injury (Whiplash, sprains and strains) was being awarded $10-20K minimum for taking 15 treatments over the course of 2-3 months. While there are certain instances that the cap is unfair and claimants actually should receive more then the $4725 (for accidents occurring in 2013) given the severity of the injuries and the impact they have, IMO (and from copious experience) those instances are rare and are far outnumbered by the cases of malingering and outright fraud that occurred under the old system.

And with regards to reporting the accident to the police, a total non factor with regards to a potential injury claim. Soft tissue injuries (and other injuries as well, but mostly STI's) can manifest days or (allegedly) even weeks after the event the caused them, in fact we get claims all the time where 2, 4, 6 even 12 months after the accident someone will call up, say their neck hurts and it "simply must have been that accident I was in 9 months ago!" and we have no choice but to open a claim and have no ability to deny said claim due to the person not reporting the injury right away or not reporting the accident to the police.

And to the poster above saying "waiting never hurts you" and "wait until they open a claim", I would have to strongly disagree. This persons wife might decide today that she is injured and might start treatment, obtain a lawyer, start seeing specialists (all of this is very worst case scenario of course), the lawyer could wait until 2 years from the date of loss before he files his statement of claim. Because a claim was never opened with the insurance company they won't get a copy and the lawyer doesn't need to serve for another year, so potentially if this person is injured the insurance company could learn about the injury as late as 3 years from now. In those three years a good lawyer can basically destroy any chance an insurance company has at effectively defending that claim and could potentially turn a $5k injury into a $100K injury. Again, worst case scenario, but trust me when I say this stuff happens all the time.

And my last point, to the poster saying "not being able to sleep won't go far for a claim", you couldn't be more wrong, the "not sleeping" is a 1000 foot blood red flag that should not be ignored. In fact, maybe she's been through the MVA injury claims process before because given the severity of the loss, that might be one of the better claims to start making. It is pretty easy to get a diagnosis for PTSD in this city and if this women is willing to go through counselling for a few years and claim nightmares and fear of driving she will get one relating it to this accident, and then you're looking at a large claim to say the least.

[Coys1882]

WTF is wrong with our society.

[Raekwon]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

I handle injury claims (including MVA injury claims) for a living and have to say there is quite a bit of misinformation in this thread.

Firstly, you definitely want to report to claim to your insurance company, paying out of pocket for physical damages is rarely a good idea as there is nothing stopping the other party from accepting your money and five minutes later calling your insurance company and reporting the accident claiming injury, your insurance company will open a claim without even advising you first.

There does NOT need to be physical damage to a vehicle for someone to make an injury claim (though it does make it more difficult), and despite the cap being in place a person could potentially get tens of thousands of dollars for an injury stemming from an accident with little to no physical damage. If you'd like a good example, a recent claim handled in our office was just settled for $120K for a claimant claiming chronic pain stemming from a low impact rear end accident. There was no physical damage at all to the other persons vehicle and only $630 damage to the claimant vehicle. But she got a good lawyer, went to treatment for 5 years straight and found a few specialists (well, the lawyer did of course) saying her "chronic pain" stemmed from the accident and boom...$120K.

With regards to the cap, it was put in place for one reason and one reason only, motor vehicle insurance rates in Alberta were skyrocketing and at one point the highest in the country because every person who got a basic soft tissue injury (Whiplash, sprains and strains) was being awarded $10-20K minimum for taking 15 treatments over the course of 2-3 months. While there are certain instances that the cap is unfair and claimants actually should receive more then the $4725 (for accidents occurring in 2013) given the severity of the injuries and the impact they have, IMO (and from copious experience) those instances are rare and are far outnumbered by the cases of malingering and outright fraud that occurred under the old system.

And with regards to reporting the accident to the police, a total non factor with regards to a potential injury claim. Soft tissue injuries (and other injuries as well, but mostly STI's) can manifest days or (allegedly) even weeks after the event the caused them, in fact we get claims all the time where 2, 4, 6 even 12 months after the accident someone will call up, say their neck hurts and it "simply must have been that accident I was in 9 months ago!" and we have no choice but to open a claim and have no ability to deny said claim due to the person not reporting the injury right away or not reporting the accident to the police.

And to the poster above saying "waiting never hurts you" and "wait until they open a claim", I would have to strongly disagree. This persons wife might decide today that she is injured and might start treatment, obtain a lawyer, start seeing specialists (all of this is very worst case scenario of course), the lawyer could wait until 2 years from the date of loss before he files his statement of claim. Because a claim was never opened with the insurance company they won't get a copy and the lawyer doesn't need to serve for another year, so potentially if this person is injured the insurance company could learn about the injury as late as 3 years from now. In those three years a good lawyer can basically destroy any chance an insurance company has at effectively defending that claim and could potentially turn a $5k injury into a $100K injury. Again, worst case scenario, but trust me when I say this stuff happens all the time.

And my last point, to the poster saying "not being able to sleep won't go far for a claim", you couldn't be more wrong, the "not sleeping" is a 1000 foot blood red flag that should not be ignored. In fact, maybe she's been through the MVA injury claims process before because given the severity of the loss, that might be one of the better claims to start making. It is pretty easy to get a diagnosis for PTSD in this city and if this women is willing to go through counselling for a few years and claim nightmares and fear of driving she will get one relating it to this accident, and then you're looking at a large claim to say the least.

I don't remember anyone saying that paying out of pocket was a good idea but yes you are correct its a horrible idea.

Also regarding physical damage correct again as I stated in my example.

I believe the CAP is great and serves the above purpose, I do agree though that some people get screwed by the cap.

I'm going to hold my position in this case on waiting to report a claim until they do, if they knew what they were doing they wouldn't have even bothered asking for money and would have silently went to a lawyer. If the OP claims this and nothing comes of it and his rates go up he gets screwed for nothing, if he doesn't report it and a claim does come out of this regardless of the amount paid out its just one claim on his record. Sure it makes the BI adjusters job easier not getting a SOC years down the road but thats the job, I'm advising whats best for the Insured not the Insurance company.

As for your comments on Not Sleeping I agree and have nothing to say regarding PTSD except that its sad what people will do to make a claim. I was rear ended pretty badly last year and I can see a persons point on PTSD from an accident like that but these low speed, low impact accidents drove me crazy. We used to run into each other harder than that on purpose when we were younger in our beaters.

[zarrell]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

WTF is wrong with our society.

Money! Cures all life's problems.