If it was me, I would insist on going thru insurance. You never know. you could be in for a long list of problems do to this, and it may take much more than a single 'here is the invoice.' Just me tho.

 

Did the cop charge her?
if she doesn't pay call the cop and ask him for his intervention.

 

NNJ: The reason that I don't want to go through Insurance is because I don't want my rate to increase over this. I am thinking that I will wait to see what the dealership says. And the end of the day I just don't want to have to pay for the other persons mistake.

KFC: No the cop didn't charge her. He let her go....what makes the matter worse is that she was an Off-Duty Toronto Police Officer. The accident happened in Milton, On.

 

You know what?..I'll bet dollars to donuts you got nothing to worry about.
As an off duty cop, I doubt very much she'll jerk you around. She doesn't need the bad publicity if you need to take this to the next level.
Put it this way...if she doesn't pay, then you go right to the nearest cop shop and file a complaint. You got all the details and names involved, and by law the investigating officer is required to compile and archive his own notes about the case.
It a shame about your new vehicle. but it will be good as new in no time.
I think by the end of next week, everything will be cool.

 

Do rates increase even if it's not your fault? I've only been in one accident, when I was 16, and that was my fault so I'm ignorant to the facts there....

Each case is different, but my thinking is that the 'no insurance involved' kinda accident is one where damage is easily identifiable and diagnosed. Like a dent in a parking lot, or a very low speed fender bender. those seem easier to say "OK you have a dented fender, I'll pay you."

It seems like it may get more involved with more severe or unknown damage. If multiple trips to the dealer are required to get it right, the person responsible would have to be chased several times for $$ and they may then start getting reluctant to pay.

fwiw.. If I were you right now, I would just stay in constant but pleasant contact with the person responsible and keep them completely in the loop with the dealer and what they say. Any paper you get, fax to her, anything they tell you, call and tell her.
If the damages start adding up, at least she'll know as it goes, instead of a phone call in 2 weeks, saying you owe $6500.

I would also get a copy of whatever the officer on duty wrote up asap. (Unless you have it of course)

Holidays are stressfull enough without help like this.
Good luck with it all,
Jim

 

I'm going to side with Jimmy on this because at the end of the day, if you have more damage than initially thought, the lady at fault can still balk about how much she has to pay. There is nothing wrong with at least telling your insurance company about it and keeping them in the loop. There is a difference between letting them know and actually making a claim! Remember, they don't pay for the damage..the lady's insurance does.
I know the cop suggested that the lady pay so she could keep her insurance rate good too, but if he let her off (meaning no one was assigned fault in the accident) then what's to stop her from saying "no, I decided I don't want to pay"? Neither your OR her insurance company WANTS to pay and the only way they would pay is if the insured is at fault. This may be something that your insurance agent can tell you in better detail and he should work with you to make sure your rates do NOT increase since you weren't at fault.

Yea, at the very least you have alignment issues but the problem is-why? Something is now bent and that's usually cashy.
Good luck with getting your Jeep fixed and more luck getting her to pay for everything without balking about it.
We'll be watching this one to see how you fare!
Randy

 

Remember, they don't pay for the damage..the lady's insurance does.

Unsure if this ever came out in this thread, but in the Province of Ontario, they have a 'no-fault' insurance system.
The way it works is, it doesn't matter whos at fault, each insurance company is responsible to fix their policy holders vehicle. As far as personal liability/injury I think it goes back to the other way..you know the big buck claims..whiplash..etc.
I agree, its the most stupidest system I have ever been invoved in, and I still bitch to my member of provincial parliament about it.
Man, you walk on egg shells because you can never comfortably put in a claim for the smallest thing without worry about your rates going up
The insurance companies can still go after each other if need be and they fight it out,
Once again, I would file a complaint with the cops once again, and let them do the dirty work and show how left-handed these 2 cops were.

 

I just learned that my insurance won't go down any until next year for get this NO FAULT crap. I was in my house, car parked outside where it sat all the time, a cop came out of city hall and smashed my car. This was in 2004, their insurance paid for it. Here we are going in 2008 and my insurance is a little higher. Yeah funny I didn't know it until a month or so ago. I was trying to get my insurance lowered. At 30 I was intitled to a 7% increase. I have to wait for the 7% until next year which is a bunch of bull. I think this who NO FAULT crap with insurance is BS.

 

So the lady called me and told me that she isn't going to pay for the rental. She said that it was my choice to take it to my dealership and that I should have just taken it to Canadian Tire (almost like a walmart with a repair shop.) Now, I don't want to take my 2008 Jeep to Canadian Tire....I'd rather take it to Jeep since they know how to deal with my ride. So i told her all that and she said that the only thing that she is paying for is the alignment. She then goes on to say that she really doesn't have to pay for anything because she didn't hit me, and that the damage to my jeep was caused by me avoiding her. She then said, before you get it fixed I want a second quote from my mechanic. My dealership told me that my Jeep isn't drivable....so am I supposed to tow it to her mechanic? And what if I don't want her mechanic to fix my jeep?

I took your advice and called me Insurance. They said that they will make a note of it and if I decide to pursue things then they will make it a claim, but for now I am just keeping them in the loop.

Oh...and if forgot to mention the best part....the Lady that caused all of this was of Off-duty police officer! So I think that I am going to have a battle on my hands.


I to

 

Well to begin with Canadian tire would only be able to change the oil and tires on a Patriot I am not even sure their alignment machine would have Patriot specs yet but maybe. Secondly if you hit the curb with any force it will most certainly require front end parts which once again Canadian Tire would not have. So you see you pretty much have to take your Patriot to the dealer just to get it repaired properly.

 

This off duty police officer is no lady..She is a Class A piece of crap.
Get down to the cop shop and get the ball rolling on this thing.
The investigating officer should be shot and P_sd on for leaving all these loose ends.

 

BRRRRUUUNNNKKKKK

Game over. No more mr nice guy.

Full on insurance involvement. Call yours and hers. Time to make this official and not this 'my mechanic' crap.

Full on report from police.

And from the sounds of it, be ready to pay a lawyer for an hour of his time just to see where you stand and what you should do to make sure you are not inconvienced by any of this. It seems like she is not going to be easy to deal with and give you what you deserve.

Do you know her insurance company? My old girlfriend was hit by a guy who didn't want to go thru insurance and then started being a pain. She called his insurance company (before he did) and they were more than happy to help her and filed the claim.

 

Here in Nevada & back in California the person that did the damage doesn't get to dictate where you take your car for repairs.

I don't think you need to even tell your insurance company though - unless she is uninsured and you have unisured motorist - which I'm pretty sure will raise your rate if you use it. I don't know about the difference between making a claim and asking for advice about a crash you were in - I might make a call to my ins. co. and ask a hypothetical question about that.

She should definately pay for your rental - you brand new car is undrivable - no matter where you were to take it - she's lucky you drove it at all, you could have pulled over the second it wasn't driving straight and called a tow truck.

Since she is already being difficult, I would make sure I had a police report saying it was 100% not my fault pronto, get her ins info if you don't already have it, get an estimate including rental and give it to her ASAP to see if she wants to pay with or without her insurance getting involved - you might want to register mail the estimate & get a response in writing if at all possible. I bet it comes down to the estimate - if it's under her deductable or a little over it's in her best interest to just pay for it, but if it's something crazy then she might wish to go through her insurance. Either way I would give her ONE chance to make this right or you're "calling a lawyer & the insurance co".

How's your neck, arm & sholder? I tore a muscle under my shoulder blade during a wreck from a red light runner and I still have BIG problems with it - that was 16 year ago - it totalled my car, his car flipped over and he didn't have liablity insurance.

I know it sucks to deal with this now, but don't let it slide! GOOD LUCK!!!

 

Be sure to make a written note of the call between you and the lady (don't be afraid to call back and restate your expectations), with the content and the time of call.

Be sure to include that in your complaint against the lady in question and the responding officer- if he went easy on her because of her status as an officer, he is the problem as well.

Plus, as the others said, get a written report and contact the appropriate insurance agencies; they will often have a legal department who does nothing but sits around and sues people for failing to uphold their end in such things.

 

Crazy lady! She shouldn't tell you where to take your vehicle to. It's 100% logic that in case of an issue like this, we take our Jeep to a Jeep dealer. It's almost like if the electric power goes out you claim to the telephone company...

I've been through this and I know how you feel. The other day at night (11pm) I was parking my pat and just before entering the garage a S.O.A.B. hit me at the left front wheel. The next day I took it to my jeep dealer to get it revised for alignment and he told me that the only way to know if it's an alignment issue is if you detect some irregularity with the steering wheel (the same your'e mentioning). Fortunately nothing happened but only a few scratches in the fascia. I got paid for the repainting job and that was it.

As the others say, it's time to get insurance involved in. And I think the lady's insurance should pay for what she caused you to do. As simple as if the lady wouldn't have been there you wouldn't be writing this post.

I'm deeply sorry for you. Stay calm and wait until you have the final diagnostic from the dealer. We support you!

 

you are paying insurance every month for times like this.... use your insurance...

 

Course we pay for times like this but I guess none of us want to pay the deductible if there's a responsible. In that case the freaking lady, off-duty police officer or whatever must to.

 

I hate to say this, but I actually expected this to happen. (been there, done that)
First call should be back to your insurance agent (and I hope you get along with him well) because he should act on your behalf to get this resolved. He can even (if he is helpful) get in contact with her agent and let them two work it out, but I'm sure it's going to require a copy of the accident report and maybe even a talk with the reporting officer (the dumbass who helped a fellow officer out by not calling her 'at fault' in that one). Unless the report clearly states who was at fault (I doubt this will be the case since no tickets were issued), then she can continue to say "it's my way or the highway on paying". Hopefully your Ins. agent is a standup guy and can help you get what is rightfully yours.
Again, here's hoping you have good luck!

 

I don't beleive it...this is what a friend sent to me:

"I feel for both of you in this one. If I were you I'd call my insurance company
and file a claim to ensure the vehicle gets fixed to my satisfaction, especially as it's new. But your rates will go likely go up since fauly in a single-vehicle accident is 100% apportioned to the involved vehicle regardless of circumstance.

(From http://www.insurancehotline.com/romanov/romanov55.html :
"2) To Swerve Or Not To Swerve: If you have a single vehicle accident it’s your fault. Even if you swerve to miss a dog, deer, kid or an oncoming car, and you hit the ditch, the guard rail, or whatever, and damage your vehicle, you’re completely at-fault, and your insurance rate will go up.") "

Can you beleive that....I might be responsible for the total repairs!

 

You know what kills me?...Is this 'lady' as you keep referring her to, is an off duty cop. Thats why I'm so angry and ultimatley would want to start to get the ball rolling and get get both of those cops reported through the nearest cop shop.
Once again, it was the investigating cops direction that you persue it in this manner, the cop went on record and said it was her fault, she said send her an invoice, and now she's making up the rules as she goes along.
Get moving!!!!!!!!

 

In the United States you can always take her in to small claims court for the rental. Not sure about Canadian laws. She has no right and you have no obligation to go to her suggested repair places or for you to do without a car. She knows better as an off duty cop.

She "caused" the damage by her actions and is thus responsible.

 

Use your insurance! At that speed, you could have very well bent your frame or a number of other things. I had a friend that hit a curb at high speed and he ended up bendning the frame on his car.

 

myself,i woulg go through the insurance, i was once involved in a very similiar accident like you and the other driver volunteered to pay for the repair but attempted to dictate me the conditions [where to fix it etc] so i send her to hell and went through insurance,yes the insurance hiked up my rate the next year and so i dumped the insurance and went with the CAA insurance and I pay so much less these days,I think CAA is one of the top insurers in CAnada and I can recommand CAA to anybody,you'll be surprised how much you may safe over your existing insurance company

 

Go through insurance formalities, damages may be more than you expect!

I lost control once and my passenger back wheel hit side of sidewalk. Had dammage to wheel but also had to change everything from there to differential (shaft, drum etc.) The impact bent everything. Not only had the rim to be re-balanced !!!!

 

You're screwed.
Consult a lawyer.
It's not going to get pretty unless you roll over and take it.(ie shell out the $$ yourself)

 

why does everyone keep refering to her as an off-duty cop, thats not her profession, she really is a cop, just so happened to be off-duty at the time...sorry it was kinda bugging me... but goodluck with everything

 

Im calling her the off duty cop so people know Im not talking about the investigating officer.
its much better than continuing to call her 'they lady'

 

Off Duty is often used in terms for jobs like Police, Firemen, EMS. Since these people perform a public service as their job, their duties in and around the public change when they are 'on duty' from when they are 'off duty'.

Putting the designation before the title lets the reader or listener know where the person stands contractually.

 

As much as I hate to say it but Your screwed. The Off-Duty police officer is not liable to pay anything as she never hit your vehicle. It would be a different story if she was charged for careless but she wasn't so that makes it that much more difficult.

Now dependant on what your situation is, if its your first claim on your insurance I would put it through and your will only go up a little and I doubt it will go up any. If you have more than one claim on your insurance I reccommend just paying for it out of your pocket and rack it up as a learning experience.

Trying to fight this will more than likely cost you more than the repair and your chances of winning this one are pretty slim especially when your dealing with police services. I know they swear up and down that they are treated like any one else, but after seeing a few things that have gone on in my city with police officers, I know they get a little preferential treatment.