My girlfriend brought me some lunch last week. She just stopped by to drop it off and didn't intend on staying, so she just parked in the fire lane. Anyhow, while she went inside to give me my lunch, some guy backs into her parked car. He left a note and said he's willing to pay half.

Should she take this and pay half herself? Or should we take him to small claims?

The kicker about it all is she let her insurance expire or I'd tell her to just let insurance handle it.

What should we do?

 

I'd push for the person her hit her to pay 100%, but sounds like there's a lot stacked against her, so half may be best she can expect since she was illegally parked. How much fiberglass is crunched??

 

Take it up with his insurance company, if he has one. Being illegally parked is not contributory negligence, as far as I know. And, that only matters in a civil judgement for monetary award any how, as in this party was 20% at fault therefore the 100 grand award is reduced by 20 grand. It has to do with injuries and civil judgements and your own driving mistake. Can't imagine that it would apply to a parked vehicle and the property damage claim. On the other hand if a pedestrian walked out in front of her illegally parked car and got hit by another vehicle who couldn't see, then there would be contributory negligence between the parked car and the other driver. The car being driven is primarily at fault, but the illegal parker could be enjoined for contributing. You know what they say about free legal advice? You get what you pay for...

 

There are numerous issues here. I would first call the guy up and verify that the note he left is in fact lejitimate. I have seen people go through the motions of putting a note on the car only to put on a phony name.

The second thing, the extent of the damage would dictate what course of action to take. If it is minor, the offer to pay half is not a bad one. On say, $ 5000 this is not so good.

3rd. If the damage is severe, a reportable accident, then a mistake has already been made in the local law enforcement has not been notified. When filing a 10-50 (accident report) (MV-4000) driver information is only listed on a parked car when the car is "illegally parked". On legally parked cars this is not done. The distinction is this information is sent into the state DMV and will come back as a property damage accident Of course this will effect future insurance rates.

The final issue is what the insurance companies decide to do in assigning negligence. Sure he shouldn't have hit her car. But if she was parked irresponsibly in a fire lane, then the accident wouldn't have happened.

Not to be cruel, but I deal with these things all the time.

 

It does not matter if she was parked in a fire lane, if someone hit her they are at fault, unless it was a fire truck.

If you are driveing down th road and hit a car and the driver has no license and no insurance it is still your fault and you have to pay even though he should not have been on the road in the first place.

make him/her pay for it all.

Good luck.

 

Everyone's got an opinion and ultimately the judge or jury decides who is at fault and how much. However, in most cases, your girlfriend should win, since the illegal parking likely did not contribute to the cause of the accident. The argument that the accident wouldn't have happened if she wasn't parked there is weak, because people hit legally parked cars too, and those accidents wouldn't have happened if the parked car wasn't there!

The only time we would assess liability on an illegally parked car would be if it blocked the view of other drivers or made it very difficult for other motorists to negotiate a nearby turn or exit. In those cases we usually won't pay more than half of the damages, but those cases are rare.

 

I think that she was illegally parked and on private property, that will be a problem in court IMO!

 

With all the recommendations here, it looks like you need a judge to chime in here. If it were me though, under the same circumstances, I would talk to his insurance company first. If that didn't resolve it I would take him to small claims court.

 

a lot of issues here

1) in many states it is illegal to operate a car without liability insurance. Why is that important. Well, if the insurance company or their agent files a Statement of Financial Responsibility with the State, which they do for accidents, then the State waits for her Statement of Financial Responsibility. Each person is supposed to have insurance. When an accident occurs the insurance company for each owner files the State Financial Responsibility statement. Since your girl friend does not have insurance such statement will not be filed. Well what does that mean ?

2) It means the State now has notice that your girl friend was operating a car without insurance. A misdemeanor in many states.

3) The State may (probably should is a better choice of words) issue a notice to your friend to show proof of financial responsibility .

4) Well so what. OK, since she has no insurance company to state that she has financial responsibility, that is what insurance is for. She will eventually be asked to post a Financial Responsibility Bond or surrender her plates and drivers license.

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I would agree with some of the comments that the guy doing the striking is at fault. You have to keep a lookout for where you are going. Failure to do so makes you culpable (negligent) a/k/a GUILTY.

Most states have a comparative fault concept. That is what he is offering by paying half. I would negotiate . Why, because he does not want to turn it into his company and risk an increase in his liability rates.

What to do. Talk to him and say 50% sucks. We are willing to accept _______________ you fill in the blank. Depends on the amount of money involved . . . obviously a big big estimate for repair may make him turn it into his company. Be firm but flexible.

Work it out but do not tell him your friend has no insurance. That undercuts your position.

Tell him maybe we can keep your rates from going up by getting this worked out ourselves. He may want a release from her.

Good luck

 

I see you're in Dallas so am I and I happen to be a cop. Your girl friend isn't required to have insurance if she was not driving the vehicle so that should not be an issue. The fact that she was possibly illegally parked should also not be an issue. The private property also makes no difference. The issue is the other guy struck and damaged an unoccupied vehicle. He is required by law to leave contact info, driver's license info, and insurance info. I would obtain his insurance info and file a claim with them you don't have to deal with him at all. His insurance company will contact him and he may or may not bring up the issue of where the car was parked, I doubt it will make any difference as he was clearly at fault as the other vehicle wasn't even occupied. Only if he has no insurance would you have to take him to court. THIS IS ONLY MY OPINION AND IS NOT LEGAL ADVISE. I hope it helps you with your problem.

 

Most importantly, tell you girlfriend to go get the car insured

In some cases she may be able to get her insurance "re-instated" which will cover any uninsured period for compliance purposes by paying the back premiums. That may not (and probably will not) cover her for claims, though. It could help her out with the compliance issues js mentioned above.

Unfortunately, you are in Texas and that is the one state in the Union that insurance companies do NOT care for at all.

I'd say you need to verify the info on the note first, and get an estimate of the damages secondly before running off to any court. Generally a driver who hits a stationary object is at fault. But court decisions don't always make even the least common sense.

Everything is negotiable. The other party probably doesn't want it on his insurance and your girlfriend doesn't want insurance responsibilty/compliance issues. It would appear in both parties best interest to work it out. And if she doesn't get 100% - she's learned two lessons - 1.) carry the required insurance, and 2.) only park where you are supposed to.

Good luck.

 

Since the car was parked and on private property when hit, I don't see how a lack of insurance is even relevant unless Texas is a "no-fault" state (unlikely). To the contrary, I believe Texas is a "financial responsibility" state wherein insurance, per se, is not even required. What is more relevant is that the car may have been parked negligently (rather than illegally) contributing to the cause of the accident. A car parked at an expired meter is parked illegally, but that doesn't mean a person hitting it is not responsible.

But for me, the bottom line is the repair cost. If the damage is minor and the repair cost is low, take the guys offer and forget about it. Life is too short. If it was an expensive, major collision, go to court.

Monk

 

Hi agn Cajun . . . oh I can think of a few ... New Jersey not dissing anyone from the Garden State but those folks get screwed by the State Insurance Commissiner really bad . not intending to hijack this thread.

There is a system for getting people to insure and keep the insurance in effect on their vehicles. Posting a Financial Responsibility bond . . . well I have no idea how much that costs but it is just throwing money away . . you do not getting anything for it . .

 

Bad advice. Bottom line analysis = keep your financial loss to a minimum

Forcing the other driver with a lawsuit is going to have him turn this matter into his own insurer, if has not already done so.

Because the average person does not know the process : here it is . . . most if not all states require you to carry insurance. When you are in an accident most folks turn the matter over to insurers. Behind the scene here is how the process of validation of whether you had insurance required by law operates

Each insurer turns in a report to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). The BMV matches up the reports from the same accident. They wait until both (or all) reports are submitted. When his insurer sends in the Financial Responsibility Notice (FR) hers will never come because she is uninsured.

Then the state sends a letter to her saying 1) show proof of Financial Responsibility or 2) turn in your plates and drivers license

One form of FR proof is the notice from her insurer which does not exist. Then she can either surrender her state issued licenses (drivers and plates) or post a FR bond.

Posting a bond is going to cost her $$$$$ how much . . . guessing here but hundreds of $ $ $300 to 750. That is per year. Then she much renew the bond for several years. How many. . . probably 3 years.

You do the math . . . private property is irrelevant . . . . fault or negligence is irrelevant . . . the just described process is not adjudicating fault, culpability or negligence . . .it is soley for the purpose of validating that she had insurance.

I have seen parked cars get hit by drunks. The drunk being the bad guy turns out to be in compliance because he had insurance . . . the parked car owner let his insurance lapse . . . too bad . . . he will get some letters from the BMV and end up either turning in his plates and drivers license or paying big money over several years for a FR bond.


that is the system . . . most people do not know it because they are in compliance. When they are not in compliance they get lucky until they get insurance again . . .those that get caught do not come out of the closet as they do not want to let others know of their poor judgment.

Why do I know about the process : I am not an engineer I am a lawyer and know the law about this area . . I am also a VP in a fairly large insurance company . .. some live and learn by their own mistakes others learn by the mistakes of others . . . .

 

I have to preface this by saying that I'm not familiar with Texas law. But in California, your girlfriend would probably have a very good case. Even though she was parked illegally at the time of the accident, the driver of the other car still had a duty to act reasonably, i.e., not to hit her car. I would press the guy to pay 100%. If he refuses, going to small claims court is a very easy process. Just do a Google search and find the website for the county courthouse in your county. They should have all of the forms and all of the instructions for filing a small claims action on line. Again, it is a very easy and relatively painless process. She probably will have to give up a day sitting around waiting for her case to be called, but it probably will be worth it. Good luck.

 

I do understand, correctly, that she had engine problems, the car died and that's where it stopped,right? (Wink,wink)

 

i'm curious to know, how "lapsed" was her insurance? if this is a matter of she got the notice of cancellation and sent in the check, she can probably show intent before a judge. i've seen them take intent into account, and also disregard it. however, if her insurance has been expired for months and she hasn't done anything about it, i doubt there are any judges that are going to cut her some slack.
unfortunate but that's what murphy's law is all about. she probably paid for insurance for years and years and never had a claim. then the ONE time she slips and lets her insurance lapse, something like this happens. giving her the benifit of the doubt, you know.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all of the responses. We worked out a 70-30 split deal on a $1000 bill. I think this is more than fair since she was illegal parked and he was honest enough to leave a note. She has also paid her insurance up to date now.

Much thanks!

 

You're lucky with the 70/30 deal. Get the money and end it. Good Luck. Save the Wave.>George

 

jsd,
Excellent advice...and great credentials to back it up!

Betooz...are you listening???