Friday, February 12, 2010

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........ More Life Lessons of a Vehicler Kind

Dave was in a wreck this week. A kid in a brand new truck backed into him in the Safeway parking lot and did major damage to Dave's little car. They exchanged information as the kid moaned and groaned about just having gotten this truck after another accident.

Dave felt sorry for him. Didn't pay the kind of attention he should and ended up with bogus information. That's right, the kid lied about everything. Phone number, insurance company, driver's liscense numberm they're all bad. Dave had to file a phantom driver claim to get his car fixed.

The things Dave has learned..........

1. Don't be sympathetic towards someone who has nearly totaled your car. Just because they're acting contrite doesn't mean they are or can be trusted.

2. When you write down the license number of the vehicle don't put it on the piece of paper you hand to the other guy with your information.

3. When getting the other driver's information, get proof it is valid.

4. Being a nice guy sucks sometimes.

At least Dave was not hurt.........but I'm pretty sure his ego is smarting some. Poor Dave!

7 comments:

  1. Glad Dave wasn't hurt. Can you believe a kid would be smart enough to do this with the information. Must have had a lot of practice at it.

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  2. I keep a camera in my car. Any accident details can be honestly forgotten so a few quick pictures have often (yes often, my husband is a French driver) saved us from people who embellish or divert the truth. Insurance companies behave better in the face of good documentation too. In addition, after photos you can pull over rather than blocking traffic whilst waiting for the police.

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  3. Arlene, Me too. He's had enough trouble lately dealing with a bad back. He sure didn't need anything more wrong with him.

    I suspect you are right that the kid had lots of practice. I remember many years ago when we had our addicent that caused my double vision, that kid lied to us too. He didn't give us bogus contact information but he said he had no insurance and had filed bankruptcy. Turns out he didn't file that bankruptcy until after the judgement for our wreck. I'll never forget how contrite he seemed to be at the time of the wreck. Yet he had no concern for the permanent injury he caused me.

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  4. I am glad Dave is ok...does Safeway have a security camera? I hope the police get the kid.

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  5. Really glad Dave wasn't hurt. Really, who teaches these kids to lie so well? It would never cross my mind to lie about my information if I was in an accident.

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  6. It's good that Dave is okay and I'm sorry about your little car. It's just so wrong for that kid to be giving all false information, isn't it? I'm with GHM, he must have done this before.

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  7. I'm glad Dave is ok.

    There are several things I always tell people who call me when the accident is non-reportable.

    1. acutally look at the driver license. Write down the name .exactly. as it is there, the correct date of birth and the oln (owner license number). Note if it is out of state also.

    2. see the registration card, make sure that the plate # on the card matches the plate on the vehicle. Plates are stolen off vehicles in parking lots all the time.

    3. actually see the insurance card. Note the name of the insured (may be different from the driver), the expiration date, the insurance co. name and contact (usually there is a phone # to go with), and make sure that the insurance card goes with the vehicle it is in. Write down the policy number.

    if there are any discrepencies...call for an officer and do NOT take "no" for an answer. The dispatcher may give you a hard time as this may be considered a non-reportable but if things don't match up or if the other person refuses to give you their information, you need help.

    and last, do not move the vehicles until you make sure all information is correct. Once you get home and find out the information is bogus there is little that can be done.

    One Christmas season I blocked up a mall because I got rear-ended and the insurance was expired. There were people behind me honking their horns, yelling out their windows ....I didn't care. The information I had was not correct and they could just deal with the wait. I knew there was nothing the cop could do, but I insisted on getting an incident number for the insurance company so *they* knew I had done my part.

    This does you no good now MiKael, but it's a lesson for the future.

    Oh...and I keep a notebook and a pen as well as a pencil in the glove compartment, just for such emergencies.

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