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So about a week ago I was involved in a fairly minor fender-bender on a local highway (for those familiar with the Buffalo area, the I-290E). I was returning home from work in the afternoon, and lo and behold a guy driving a Ford Taurus decided to merge onto the highway and into my Silverado. I was in the right-hand lane headed for the 990N on-ramp, the other guy was changing lanes in an attempt to merge (hence his fault). Quite honestly I barely felt the impact and couldn't believe the guy smacked into me (how could he fail to observe a large black pickup truck??).
We both pulled over within 1/8 mile of where the accident occurred, I got out and made sure the other guy wasn't injured or anything. All I had was a scrape and some minor dents at the very rear of my pickup, as well as some scraping on the side wall of the rear passenger tire. His Taurus sustained much more damage - his entire driver's side quarter panel was destroyed from the brush with my tire, and his driver's side mirror was torn off. He was apologetic, stated he was trying to get around another car in his lane and simply didn't see me. He didn't have his license on him (forgot it at home), so I was already thinking the worst, that this guy wasn't even insured. Once we both determined there were no injuries, we agreed it was best to leave the highway and pull off at the first exit ramp on the 990N, so I called Amherst PD from the UB North campus. Amherst PD showed up about 10 minutes later. The driver of the Taurus stated he was changing lanes and hit me, and that I was simply driving in my lane. The LEO wrote up an accident info exchange report. When he stopped over to speak with me he informed me he had good news that would put me at ease - the driver of the Taurus had up-to-date insurance coverage and his license was good. I'm thinking all is good at this point - other driver was honest, didn't flee the scene, and the LEO from the Amherst PD had written a report with our statements documented.
After the incident I called my insurance to report the collision, then called the driver-at-fault's insurance to file the claim. Damage bill is about $1500. Come to find out the guy-at-fault has already tried to file with MY insurance (go figure). I called Amherst PD to obtain info about the police report, the clerk said they don't do accident reports unless someone is either injured or a vehicle is towed away. WTF. Why did I bother wasting 45-60 minutes dealing with the Amherst PD only to be told there would be NO accident report filed?? I have been trying to get a hold of the LEO who responded to find out if he took notes or remembers the statements that both of us gave in front of him, where the other driver admitted fault. He'd obviously be a key witness on my behalf, but he hasn't returned my calls to date (over 5 days have passed). I'm sure there were other witnesses to the collision, but I have no idea who they are as no one else stopped after the accident occurred. It was a fender bender so I didn't expect a slew of 911 calls or others to drop what they were doing to attend to a minor collision incident.
Have any of you guys been involved in something similar, and what would you guys do in this situation? I'm thinking of retaining an attorney asap, but I figure I'll wait and see how things go with the other insurance company before lawyer'ing up....
We both pulled over within 1/8 mile of where the accident occurred, I got out and made sure the other guy wasn't injured or anything. All I had was a scrape and some minor dents at the very rear of my pickup, as well as some scraping on the side wall of the rear passenger tire. His Taurus sustained much more damage - his entire driver's side quarter panel was destroyed from the brush with my tire, and his driver's side mirror was torn off. He was apologetic, stated he was trying to get around another car in his lane and simply didn't see me. He didn't have his license on him (forgot it at home), so I was already thinking the worst, that this guy wasn't even insured. Once we both determined there were no injuries, we agreed it was best to leave the highway and pull off at the first exit ramp on the 990N, so I called Amherst PD from the UB North campus. Amherst PD showed up about 10 minutes later. The driver of the Taurus stated he was changing lanes and hit me, and that I was simply driving in my lane. The LEO wrote up an accident info exchange report. When he stopped over to speak with me he informed me he had good news that would put me at ease - the driver of the Taurus had up-to-date insurance coverage and his license was good. I'm thinking all is good at this point - other driver was honest, didn't flee the scene, and the LEO from the Amherst PD had written a report with our statements documented.
After the incident I called my insurance to report the collision, then called the driver-at-fault's insurance to file the claim. Damage bill is about $1500. Come to find out the guy-at-fault has already tried to file with MY insurance (go figure). I called Amherst PD to obtain info about the police report, the clerk said they don't do accident reports unless someone is either injured or a vehicle is towed away. WTF. Why did I bother wasting 45-60 minutes dealing with the Amherst PD only to be told there would be NO accident report filed?? I have been trying to get a hold of the LEO who responded to find out if he took notes or remembers the statements that both of us gave in front of him, where the other driver admitted fault. He'd obviously be a key witness on my behalf, but he hasn't returned my calls to date (over 5 days have passed). I'm sure there were other witnesses to the collision, but I have no idea who they are as no one else stopped after the accident occurred. It was a fender bender so I didn't expect a slew of 911 calls or others to drop what they were doing to attend to a minor collision incident.
Have any of you guys been involved in something similar, and what would you guys do in this situation? I'm thinking of retaining an attorney asap, but I figure I'll wait and see how things go with the other insurance company before lawyer'ing up....