Since I had chronicled my last car accident here, I figure I’ll mention this latest one too that happened last December. The quick and dirty summary is that he made a left turn in front of me in a parking lot without either stopping or looking, coming from my right. The details aren’t terribly important, but I am 100% confident it was completely his fault. Damage wasn’t too bad on either car, but even minor damage these days costs $1k+ to fix. After the accident, we exchanged information, and I got him to admit it was his fault. It occurred in my work parking lot, where we both are employed (though I don’t know him — its a very large company). After he admitted fault to me personally, I trusted him to tell his insurance what happened (oh Miller… what were you thinking?) especially since we work for the same company. You can see this one coming a mile away, right?

Perhaps I started getting worried when I emailed him at work right away and never ever heard back. I called my insurance right away and called his insurance too. I got my estimates, etc. When I call his insurance a week later, they say my version of the story doesn’t match his and that they weren’t going to accept viability. Yep, I’m pretty much seething at this point.

I call my insurance (Geico) and explain the story. Now I’m really kicking myself for not getting a police report. However, I was smart enough to do one thing. While we were exchanging insurance information right after the accident, I snapped a few shots with my cell phone camera. The shots clearly showed how our cars were positioned after the collision. The car positioning made it very clear that he made a left in front of me (which he didn’t admit). Ultimately, this was my saving grace, and Geico called me just last week to tell me his insurance had finally accepted liability and I would be getting my deductible back. Phew.

Lessons learned:

  1. I don’t care who it is — if you’re in an accident and you are convinced its not your fault, call the police. Get a report. Usually it’s the only evidence you will have for the insurance companies to battle it out.
  2. Thank God for my cell phone camera! In general, I think cell phone cameras are pointless, but here it saved me $500. So take a few shots if you get in an accident. Get pictures of the damage and the positions of the cars and environment.
  3. If you have witnesses, use them! I didn’t in this case, but insurance explained to me that without witnesses, police reports are the only form of evidence (besides my handy cell phone shots!).
  4. Insurance companies are a business (duh) and don’t care about you at all. But instead of taking that comment negatively, try to take it your advantage. Geico preferred not to be involved and that I just go through his insurance. It wasn’t until after his insurance denied me damages that I got them involved.

Overall, when all is said and done, I am happy with the outcome of this. I was afraid I would be out $500 simply because this guy lied (or at least twisted the truth, which his insurance then creatively interpreted). But I made that all harder on myself by not calling the police right away. And ultimately, while I’m happy because I didn’t loose my $500, the whole affair was nothing but a headache. Car accidents suck. Period. So drive carefully!