GOT REAR ENDED NOW IM A HANDICAP

[anusemoon]

Friday the 5th I was coming home from school a regular 23 mile highway trip…. Everything was fine until I reached home… I was going northbound on HARLEM ave…got to my driveway put my turn signal on… and what happens??? I dumb ass in a late model Lexus RX300 with his stupid cell phone yapping on and on…. Rear ended me… I would say I was going 10mph and he was doing a good 20mph…. he rear-ends me threw me about 4 yards forward and stops…….. I came out of my car so did he… he asked if I was ok…hell I was shaking…. He said that he called the cops and an ambulance …. Waited five minutes…. My brother came out and so did my sisters…. I was still in shock… the street that I live on is a 24hr traffic jam… so he asked if we should park the cars in my driveway… said ok…. He went in his car and took off…. We failed to take down his license plate # or any info against him… he took off my brother hoped in my car…. And went after him… my sister happens to come home that time… so my dumb ass took her 98 millenia S and speeded words him….my bro lost him… I saw that guy who hit me waiting in a traffic light…. Came behind him…. I guess I was still shocked or wasn’t thinking clearly… forgot to take his license plate # when it in font of me… he saw that it was me following him and took off again trapping me in an intersection where I hit an old man in a 2003 Camry…. Could go no where,,, now with nothing to gain and 2 damaged cars… the cops came and filled out 2 accident reports…. My fault…. Went home feeling miserable,,, still shaking even thou it was 3 hours after what happened… tried to sleep but no luck.. I have one way on my insurance and so does the millenia…woke up today Saturday and went to work… came home and took a look at my rear bumper and what do I see there? I say an IMPRINT of the guy’s plate # on the back of my bumper… got the # called the cops... and what do they tell me… YOU NEED TO COME DOWN TO THE POLICE STATION SO YOU CAN FILL OUT ANOTHER INVESTIGATION REPORT SHEET… I said fine thinking they have the plate # they can just go and arrest him now... NO… they have to send it down town to do the damn investigation… so now they have all the info… but I don’t have the guy’s insurance info... its ok, im getting me a good lawyer and suing him for a ******* load… I need some info on what to sue him for,,, attempted murder??? Give me some info, so now I have to wait and see what happened… if you have any suggestions on what to do to help me PLEASE HELP…..now my aurora is sitting at home with a huge damage in the rear end.. about my insurance,,, should I call them and tell them what happened… I don’t have full coverage… do you thing they will do something or no???

[omegaic]

That's ***** up.

[kobalt]

Thats a waking nightmare. No matter what happens remember that if you recover, you came out on top. Cars can be replaced, health cannot.

[erw38]

Now you can get him for hit and run. Other then getting your car fixed, he will have to serve jail time because it's a felony to leave the scene of an accident.

[stevensolds]

better hope the insurance company doesnt want to total the classic. Dont let them

[anusemoon]

thanks guys i know its messed up... tell me more about what he can get for leaving the scene... im not familiar with it......i was fine remember SEAT BELTS save your life and i tought myself never to drive without a seat belt... i hit my cheast on the steering wheel a little bit luckily no injuries...i will also take some pictures so you guys can see the damage done to my baby

[stevensolds]

yeah im curious to see how much of a slam this car can handle in the back like that. its painful, i know, but it can happen to the best of us. buckle up! its the law lol. your airbag didnt come out did it?

[anusemoon]

air bags didnt come on. that was odd.... you know that the back end is crushed about a good inch down??? the back doors are hard to open and close,,, the truck is sitting upworks and you need to put some muscle to it to close it... the right reverse lense broke... and the middle section on the truck lid the red part got cracked...luckily GM made the rear bumper in line with the RX300 front plate mounting evenly so i got his number printed backwords on my bumper...he regret this so bad... 30k dollar car and didnt wanna spent an extra $50 on his insurance....what a pitty

[stevensolds]

if you got plowed in the front the bags would have deployed, if they even work. you never know until you crash if the bags work or not.

[omegaic]

When I was rear-ended at 10mph, I thought the planet had exploded. I can't imagine what yours must have felt like.

Aurora vs. Accord

[Letitroll98]

Deepest sympathy for your unfortunate run in with one of natures aberations.

You cannot sue him for leaving the scene, that's criminal juristiction and will be handled (or mishandled) by the DA's dept. You cannot sue him (successfully) for the damage incurred in your (illegal) chase, you have an obligation to mitigate damages and this was not followed by chasing him thru the city streets and creating another accident. (That guy is on another board complaining about the jerk that rear ended him)

You will most likely not be hiring an attorney to sue him over rear ending you. That attorney will be hired by your insurance company and this case will never see court, probably not even see arbitration. However you can retain an attorney to advise you thru the legal morass of tort and criminal law, but you will not recover any of that expense.

The jerk (the other one, not you) will not be going anywhere near jail for this hit and run. No death or bodily injury? He'll get a fine, possibly a short licence suspension. You are more likely to serve time for reckless endangerment, as unfair as it all seems.

Lastly, this guy ran because he doesn't have a valid licence, valid insurance, was drinking or doing drugs, doesn't own the car, stole the car, or some other problem that is way more trouble for him than hit and run. Don't beat yourself up too bad because if you had asked to exchange licence and insurance cards as soon as you got out of the car as you should have, he would have bolted then. This is a good lesson in human nature and situational awareness that has/will only cost you money, no injury or loss of life. This fact is not to be discounted as many people don't get another chance to learn. Be thankful.

[stevensolds]

omega, that is AWESOME how well your aurora stood up dude. look at that POS honda lmfao. you know how the aurora does this right? Both bumpers have a smart-foam system which enables it to re-expand the bumper after a minor collision. The warmer it is outside, the faster it will re-expand and the more chances are it will come back out.

[Aurora40]

What Leitroll said. That whole thing sucks, but chasing the guy and putting other people at risk was a bad idea. What if you'd injured, crippled, or killed the person in the Camry?

Hopefully that guy will already have a record and the hit & run will put him back in jail, or he'll be busted for something else as a result of it (like stealing the Lexus or something). I'm sure a guy like that will get his sooner or later.

You can't sue for attempted murder or other made up stuff. You can sue for damages, but you'd probably be more likely to get that via your insurance company.

On the plus side, you and your family members are all ok, and that's the most important thing. If I were you, I'd call the police officer handling the hit and run on a regular basis (not like every day, though) just to keep track of what's going to happen and to show you are interested in a resolution of it.

Edit: why does the thread title say "and now I'm a handicap"?

[JimW]

Edit: why does the thread title say "and now I'm a handicap"?

x2...maybe I missed something

[Mr. Javi]

Dang dude anusemoon, hope you okay, like to see all the Aurora owners doing good.

About the guy and what can you do, if you have a good insurance, even if you have liability, as long as you a good insurance, you can still get him for the damages, no doubt on that.

You never said or mentioned what kind of insurance you have,

But I know that STATE FARM or even ALL STATE, would go after the guy once the imprinted plate info is ran through an insurance company, even if the car comes back stolen, if you have a decent insurance, they will get that person even if it means docking somebody's wages, know what I mean.

I'll give you a good example.

My Olds Intrigue was parked at work next to an off ramp from an expressway and a car came off, went through a set of pine trees, chain link fence, stricking two other cars and finally striking my car, which by then was totalled.

To my luck the person stopped and we found out later on that the person did not have insurance, my STATE FARM Insurance took care of everything from towing to a rental. My insurance went after that person and they told me that all I had to do was to pay my deductable and they take care of everything else, that they would dock the person's wages until they paid for my loss, so I do have trust in my Insurance Company.

Hopefully everything will be okay, but as far as taking the guy to court, maybe for emotional shock/pain and suffering or something like that, damn I sound like them bottom feeding public defenders.

I hope you had some decent insurance, not Tito's Family Insurance.

Let us know how everything plays out man and get some pictures up for us to see how bad was the damage.

Peace and Good Luck.

[erw38]

stevensolds said:

if you got plowed in the front the bags would have deployed, if they even work. you never know until you crash if the bags work or not.

Thank you, but I hope I never find out. Nor do I hope that anyone on this board ever finds out.

[Letitroll98]

erw38 said:

Thank you, but I hope I never find out. Nor do I hope that anyone on this board ever finds out.

Oh yeah! Air bags going off are a RUSH! Hit a truck tire (on its rim) at 95 mph (don't ask). The bags STINK! I mean smelly stink. Can't sit in the car after the accident stink. And they hit you like a ton 'o bricks. I had always worn my seatbelt for safety, but since then I wear them to protect myself from the airbag. The spin on bags is rightous, they will mos def hurt you without a seatbelt on.

[erw38]

Letitroll98 said:

The bags STINK! I mean smelly stink. Can't sit in the car after the accident stink. And they hit you like a ton 'o bricks.

I'm glad that noone has invented smell-o-puter yet!

[stevensolds]

erw38 said:

Thank you, but I hope I never find out. Nor do I hope that anyone on this board ever finds out.

i hope they dont either..

[scottydl]

Mr. said:

I hope you had some decent insurance, not Tito's Family Insurance.

LOL! ... although Tito has handled all my claims quite nicely so far. j/k ;D

Letitroll98 said:

The spin on bags is rightous, they will mos def hurt you without a seatbelt on.

And that's exactly how they are designed to be used... WITH a seatbelt, not in place of one. Crash dynamics are much more complicated than most people realize; it takes numerous concurrent factors to successfully prevent injury.

anuse, it's great to hear that you did escape without serious injury. I'm sure you realize by now that attempting to chase the guy down was not the smartest decision, and will probably cost you. Let the police and insurance do their jobs and build a good case on this guy that hit you. If they just went and picked him up with no questions asked, there could be a LOT of valuable information missed. Believe me, you will fare much better in the end this way, although I know how it feels to be waiting in this type of situation.

Earlier this year, my '98 Bonneville caught on fire and the engine burned up while at the dealership (their fault)... I tried to hold GM directly responsible and work out a payout deal with them, and after 3-4 weeks some rep on the phone gave me a offer so insulting I almost cried. I turned the whole deal in to my insurance company (Country Ins.), and they paid me full value for my Bonny. Then THEY sued GM for the amount they paid me, and WON. I recently even got my $250 deductible refunded, after Country collected their damages. Justice may not always be swift, but it's often worth the wait.