Rear ended and pushed into car in front

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R

rjundi

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Hi
Bad week....

My wife was rear ended and then pushed into vehicle in front while rolling to stop. No else one hurt except wife neck/back stiff. Rear driver took off and but left scratches and license plate impression in rear bumper. Front driver got minor damage + exhaust noisy. Wife's car got $2k+ of damage front/rear.

The front driver seems to think we are at fault. My insurance say no and told other driver to chase the one who rear ended wife.

Is this how it all goes down?
 
Sorry to hear, hope your wife doesn't have long lasting neck/back injury, hopefully it's just temporary stiffness pain. I think your insurance is correct, the driver that ran away is at fault for both you and the car in the front. In a chain accident, usually the one that is at fault for causing the chain to start is responsible for everyone involved from beginning to end. If you have full coverage or uninsured insurance, your insurance should cover damages to your car and your wife's medical bills, the front driver need to go through their own insurance, and if they find the runaway driver, then both your insurance companies will go after that guy and his insurance.
 
Yeah, your wife insurance will not pay to repair the car on front.

My wife was the front car got rear ended by the middle car which was rear ended by a SUV who left the scene after accident, another driver followed that SUV and called police, they caught the SUV driver. The SUV's insurance company paid for both cars without much problem, mainly because there was witness(es) and police report.

In general, the vehicle that cause the accident, rear end the other vehicle(s), will pay for all damages.
 
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Unless your wife was totally stopped before the third driver hit her, they are going to try and pin it on her.
 
Originally Posted By: Carbon
I think this varies by state. I think that in some states, your insurance will need to pay for the car in front, and they will try to collect from the guy at the back for both. That is what I have heard, but I have no real knowledge on it. I did find this: http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/i-had-a-3-car-collision-who-is-at-fault--114962.html

Let your insurance company deal with it, and try to not fret over the injustice.


Same thing happened to my wife. Idiot that caused it was uninsured, so it's a little different. My insurance paid for our car and went after the idiot. The person in front's insurance paid for theirs.

John
 
I know someone that was in a similar situation in a 5 car pile up. The result was each driver had to pay for the damage to the person in front. Sounds unfair.

Next time leave plenty of room between you and the car in front. So it doesn't further complicate accidents. I don't understand why people much drive inches from my rear bumper. Are they trying to get to their destination faster?
 
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Same thing happened to me on 16 December, last year. But no one took off...I stopped, was rear-ended and pushed into car in front of me. Insurance company covering the Lexus (behind me) paid for 100% of repairs to my car (no deductible on my part) and 100% of repairs to car in front of me (no deductible) via our own respective insurance companies.

Total bill for my car was $4,000. Not cheap.

Moral of the story - make sure everyone is OK, call the police and get a police report. VA State Trooper (very nice guy, thorough professional, by the way) interviewed all 3 of us, took care of paperwork and wrote up the report.

That report is what my insurance company used to go after the other driver's insurance to cover my car.

Hopefully, your insurance company can do the same - she did call the police, didn't she?

Hit & run is a serious offense - if they find that other driver, he's got bigger problems than paying for your two cars...
 
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Same EXACT scenario happened to my wife years ago, except there was no personal injuries or damage/repairs done to my wife's car, or car #1 at the time of the incident. Car #3 fled the scene. Detailed police report written for whole incident.

Hate to tell you this, but days before 3yrs later, my wife was served with a massive lawsuit from driver of car #1, claiming massive neck/back injuries, etc. Something like $1.5M.

We contacted our insurance carrier, but were instructed to turn it over to the insurance carrier my wife (then girlfriend) had at the time.

We did and they handled everything, but ultimately driver of car #1 got the entire amount of the liability coverage my wife had at the time, $50K. In the end they sued for negligence and won.

I was a long, stressful, worrisome process for us. It took years. Multiple trips to attorney's office and ultimately a full-blown courtroom w/ jury experience. No matter what the circumstance, you're liable if you rear-end someone- in NY anyway.

Like said, let your insurance carrier handle the who thing. Unfortunately, they're all too familiar with this process.

It's been a few years since the process ended for us and we've had no negative effects other than more gray hair! Part of the agreement was car #1 had to agree/sign off to never pursue anything further in regards to this with us. It all ended that day in court.

Joel
 
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Thanks.

I got a few messages from the person she was pushed into asking for rental+cost out pocket, telling me about my mean insurance company etc. Thankfully my wife gave the front driver my work # which is a forward not a home #.

My insurance did call my wife about the rear driver who ran away and asked the color/type of vehicle which all matched up.

Injuries are the real bummer, she is a physcial therapist and would not lift anybody heavy this week at work due to accident. Hopefully next week is better.

thanks I will leave it to my insurance who were great with us thus far.
 
Originally Posted By: sunfire
I know someone that was in a similar situation in a 5 car pile up. The result was each driver had to pay for the damage to the person in front. Sounds unfair.

Each car, except for the one in front, failed to have an assured safe distance. Sounds fair to me.
 
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: sunfire
I know someone that was in a similar situation in a 5 car pile up. The result was each driver had to pay for the damage to the person in front. Sounds unfair.

Each car, except for the one in front, failed to have an assured safe distance. Sounds fair to me.


If you are stopped at a red light behind a car and someone plows into you at 60 mph you think it's fair to be deemed "at fault" for hitting the car in front?
 
Originally Posted By: cchase

If you are stopped at a red light behind a car and someone plows into you at 60 mph you think it's fair to be deemed "at fault" for hitting the car in front?


In that case you'd be OK from a legal standpoint because there's no way car #3 is going to bail the scene.

If car three is nowhere to be found, it's all on #2 unfortunately.

Joel
 
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If the driver of the front car insists that it's your fault, tell them to go to your insurance company, don't pay them off out of your own pocket just to get rid of them, sometimes courts can interpret if you made a payment then you are admitting guilt. If your insurance says no, then let them sue you in court if they want and let the court decide, but don't pay anything unless there's a court order for you to pay.
 
There are goofy laws around.
Some have it so anyone who hits the rear of another car is at fault, or at least partially - no matter what.
But your insurance agent should know about this, and go with his advice.
 
In Colorado, who ever's in the rear is at fault...period. So in this case, car #3 would have to pay for car #2; car #2 would have to pay for car #1.

One reason why, especially in snow/ice conditions, I leave more then 100' of distance between the car in front of me at a light.
 
Originally Posted By: cchase
If you are stopped at a red light behind a car and someone plows into you at 60 mph you think it's fair to be deemed "at fault" for hitting the car in front?

Good point. My fear (since the poster is from New England like we are) was if the accident took place in Massachusetts, how would have that been handled since you have the "no fault" clause which seems very complicated. I know that up here in New Hampshire the person who rear ends the other is usually (if not automatically) at fault. I can see where any injustice could have been done if the accident took place in NH.
 
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