[Rick Lee]

On my honeymoon last Thurs. I trashed my rental car in San Fran. when a very young and new driver panic braked inside an intersection and I rear-ended her. Yes, it was my fault (Under CA law anyway. VA/DC/MD have contributory negligence laws). But she stopped for no other reason than the light turned yellow after she had already entered the intersection and she admitted to my insur. co. that she was already inside the intersection when she braked. She had four passengers and my rental tore her rear bumper pretty badly. It was a good jolt. First words out of my mouth were "Is everyone alright?" They all nodded. I then asked each occupant individually if they were alright. They all said they were fine. I did this again once we were done with paperwork and before we went our separate ways. All said they were fine. 30 min. later when I called USAA, they asked me if I thought the other party might claim any injuries and I said yes. I just had a feeling. The other girl was actually already on the phone with another USAA claims person when I called in, so the lady I spoke with could yet view the report, but told me it was being typed in. A few hours later, I got a call from USAA and the guy said one of the passengers was claiming back and neck pain, but that USAA felt it was fishy. They asked the guy if he'd had any previous injuries - yes, from another rear end hit two years ago. USAA asked him if he had completed treatment for those injuries. Yes. When? Can't remember. What kind of treatment exactly? Can't remember. Basically, the guy couldn't answer any questions and then said one of his injuries from the previous hit was - get this - memory loss, and his atty. could answer all those questions.

Anyway, USAA seems to think something's going on here and, while the driver may not have tried to cause this accident, she clearly had some fault. Doesn't matter though. They say I'm liable for this one and can expect a rate hike.

On the good side, I paid for the rental car with my Amex and they and USAA are taking care of the rental. Worst case there for me is having to pay for loss of use while it's being repaired. I could have repaired it myself in a few hours with a new hood and bumper. Anyone have any suggestions here other than to get out my checkbook when the insur. policy renewal comes up?