Rear-ended today. Have a few questions.

Rondinone · 06:01 PM

So some dope with no insurance rear-ends me in my Frontier today. Not too fast, I figure about 10-15 MPH. Truck lept forward maybe 8-12 inches.

There is no apparent damage because I have a class-IV receiver, and his bumber hit square with the receiver. Left a nice perfect square in his bumper, but didn't punch through entirely. The plastic panel on my bumper step right above the receiver was displaced but not broken, I pushed it back and it's fine.

So my questions are:

Should I be concerned about the hitch? I actually tow with it, usually around 4000lbs. I crawled underneath and checked all the welds, everything looked good. Didn't appear bent.

Because everything looked OK, he didn't have insurance, and I didn't feel like wasting 3 hours with the police, I didn't call for a report. I did get his information. But since I know that this guy has no insurance, am I obligated to report him? In my shock I didn't think about him just driving off with no insurance, possibly to clobber someone else.

What would you all have done?

One more thing: my own insurance card was expired, and my new card was at home on the counter. Another reason I didn't want to call. My wife was right, she said put it in the truck or you will be in an accident, duh.

stomachmonkey · 02-03-2007, 02:08 PM

You should report the no insurance driver.

Odds are he has other violations and his license may not be valid.

You'd be doing society a favor.

As far as you not carrying a vaild card with you that's no big deal. It's meant to show proof of an in force policy.

If they write you for it you simply send along or take to court proof that you were insured at the time and the ticket goes bye bye.

Rick V · 02-03-2007, 02:35 PM

If you can make life hard for someone who decides to break the law by driving without insurance you should do it. This a complete disregard for the law and every person on the road who he can hurt. I say rip him over the coals.
I was taged by an un-insured idiot a few years ago, it took him several years to finish paying for my BMW he hit. He also got many moons of weekend jail time. I will bet a couple of paychecks he won't soon drive without insurance.
I did have to make a couple of court apperances but well worth it.
An uninsured person can ruin a family. IE, he hits a young couple living paycheck tp paycheck.............he has no insurance................they have lots of hospitol bills....................they are responsible for the payment to the hospitol..........................bankrupt.
Turn the moron in. JMO

Joeaksa · 02-03-2007, 02:57 PM

Agree with SM and Rick above. Report him and get him either taken off of the streets or he can purchase insurance.

Have someone inspect the trailer hitch and personally I would replace the bolts holding it onto the car if its not welded.

Rondinone · 02-03-2007, 05:59 PM

Yeah I've been thinking about it all day and I will go ahead and turn him in. I'm not sure who to call, but I'll start with the city police. They probably won't care, but I'll do anyway.

Thanks for the insights about the hitch.

competentone · 02-03-2007, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rick V
An uninsured person can ruin a family. IE, he hits a young couple living paycheck tp paycheck.............he has no insurance................they have lots of hospitol bills....................they are responsible for the payment to the hospitol..........................bankrupt.
Turn the moron in. JMO

The minimum liability limits required in most states is so low that, for those who carry the minimums, they might just as well have no insurance if they were the cause of a major accident.

You have to protect yourself by carrying enough un-insured and under-insured coverage.

More specific to Rondinone's question:

I doubt that your telling the police alone would be cause to get this guy ticketed; the police would probably have to stop him while on the road before they can ticket him.

It sounds like you really have no loss in this case, so you really have nothing to gain personally by reporting him. You might help someone else if you report him and it effectively forces him to get insurance and he causes damages at some later date for someone else. He'll only get minimum coverage -- I guarantee that -- so it won't be a situation were anyone will be helped if he caused a really serious accident.

As mentioned already, there could be more serious issues behind why he doesn't have insurance too.

Rather than contacting the police directly, you could just relay information about the incident to your insurance company and let them notify the authorities if they wanted to, but I would suspect that with no damages for you, they wouldn't do anything.

fastpat · 08:48 PM

Many or most states have a minimum damage that has to occur before the accident meets mandatory reporting. Your risk, though low, is that he'll try to make a claim against you to get his car fixed.

Personally, I'd keep his info just in case, and not worry about it. As far as the guy not having insurance, that doesn't mean he's off the hook if he did significant damage to your vehicle or any other property. Insurance is to protect him as much as it is to make you whole. If he broadsided a $50,000 car, and your insurance only paid $45,000, you'd be able to sue and get a judgement against him for the $5K.