We had ice on Saturday... first crappy weather of the season. So that means the idiots were out on the roads in full force, and as a result... I kept my butt at home.
Friend had his truck parked on the street, in front of his house... like he has done for years. Residential neighborhood, 30 mph speed limit. It is somewhat of a "collector" street, which does see a higher amount of traffic.
Bam! Car slides into his truck. A teenager comes to the door. Come to find out, it's his accountant's kid. All three of them get on the phone together, accountant Dad agrees to take care of the damages... don't call the cops... don't call the insurance company.
Less than 30 minutes later, a woman slams into his truck, and hits it so hard that she pushes it 40 feet up the street. Not that it wasn't damaged before, but it is *really damaged* now. The cops are definitely called on this accident, since it was painfully obvious that she was driving WAY too fast for conditions, and could have seriously hurt or killed someone if she had hit an occupied vehicle or a pedestrian.
Now he has a huge dilemma on how to determine who is responsible for what damage and how much each should pay for the damage that they caused.
Of course, his accountant friend is pushing on him hard to pin most of the damage onto the second driver who hit it... who clearly had hit it harder. The insurance company for the second driver is pushing back hard on the fact that the truck was already damaged before their insured hit it. And to make it worse, between the two accidents, the truck is now on the verge of being totaled (the frame might be bent) ... so that makes determining a level of fault even more important.
I didn't ask him if he had good pictures of the truck that were taken after accident #1, but before accident #2. If he does, that will be a big help.
I'm so glad that this isn't me...
Friend had his truck parked on the street, in front of his house... like he has done for years. Residential neighborhood, 30 mph speed limit. It is somewhat of a "collector" street, which does see a higher amount of traffic.
Bam! Car slides into his truck. A teenager comes to the door. Come to find out, it's his accountant's kid. All three of them get on the phone together, accountant Dad agrees to take care of the damages... don't call the cops... don't call the insurance company.
Less than 30 minutes later, a woman slams into his truck, and hits it so hard that she pushes it 40 feet up the street. Not that it wasn't damaged before, but it is *really damaged* now. The cops are definitely called on this accident, since it was painfully obvious that she was driving WAY too fast for conditions, and could have seriously hurt or killed someone if she had hit an occupied vehicle or a pedestrian.
Now he has a huge dilemma on how to determine who is responsible for what damage and how much each should pay for the damage that they caused.
Of course, his accountant friend is pushing on him hard to pin most of the damage onto the second driver who hit it... who clearly had hit it harder. The insurance company for the second driver is pushing back hard on the fact that the truck was already damaged before their insured hit it. And to make it worse, between the two accidents, the truck is now on the verge of being totaled (the frame might be bent) ... so that makes determining a level of fault even more important.
I didn't ask him if he had good pictures of the truck that were taken after accident #1, but before accident #2. If he does, that will be a big help.
I'm so glad that this isn't me...