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Her pants are on fire!

MaggieD

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Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??


 
NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED.
Oscar Wilde.
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??



This type of situation is where it pays to be an old curmudgeon, which I am. Gender, appearance or emotion don't phase me. I hope he gets it sorted out.
 
it's not age...it's heartfelt...and in the long run....he will win

I believe that with my whole heart

You're right, Sal. It is heartfelt. He is the kindest man I've ever known. It's just hard to see him taken advantage of.
 
Never trust anyone. Even if Tom was going to not call the cops, I would have had her sign an affidavit that said she hit him. If she refused to sign, the cops get called. Never trust anyone, period.
 
Never trust anyone. Even if Tom was going to not call the cops, I would have had her sign an affidavit that said she hit him. If she refused to sign, the cops get called. Never trust anyone, period.

One person I'm NEVER going to trust is a complete stranger. Who does that!
 
As soon as I got my new truck, I also purchased a dash cam, tucks up nicely behind the rear view mirror,, It may not catch every accident on camera, but it will have a video of what you were doing at the time, (setting/turning your cars orientation etc..)

I don't trust anybody anymore ( strangers)

djl
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??



Take photos with your cell phone. SO.O.P. Now a days
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??


Every time I've been in this situation I always tell the other driver: "I'm calling the police to protect myself".

I then tell the other driver: "Fix my car before court, and I won't testify against you at your ticket".

I then let the cops identify the individual, investigate the accident and prepare the paperwork.

I make sure I have a copy of the accident report, the citation number, type of citation, court date, time, place, and room number, and the other driver's name, license number, insurance carrier, and policy number.

I do this faithfully. I've never had a problem. I've has several individuals pay me in cash prior to court, and I followed through on not testifying (ticket gets summarily dropped).

It's the only way I operate.

Why?

When we were still teens, my brother was rear-end while stopped at a light on a snowy icy Christmas Eve. He felt sorry for the other guy and gave him a pass since all the damage was to the other guy's vehicle. The guy later that day called the cops claiming my brother backed-into him. The cops came during our family meal. We all learned a lesson that Christmas.

The rule is pretty simple:

- Call the police if the other guy's at fault

- Avoid the police, if you're at fault

I made one exception to this, when I inadvertently may have put myself in danger, and if I get motivated enough I'll post it further down.
 
Take photos with your cell phone. SO.O.P. Now a days
Very first thing during an accident - hop out immediately, and take a quick pic of the license plate, make, and model! :thumbs:

A quick pic of the driver isn't a bad idea, either.
 
Every time I've been in this situation I always tell the other driver: "I'm calling the police to protect myself".

I then tell the other driver: "Fix my car before court, and I won't testify against you at your ticket".

I then let the cops identify the individual, investigate the accident and prepare the paperwork.

I make sure I have a copy of the accident report, the citation number, type of citation, court date, time, place, and room number, and the other driver's name, license number, insurance carrier, and policy number.

I do this faithfully. I've never had a problem. I've has several individuals pay me in cash prior to court, and I followed through on not testifying (ticket gets summarily dropped).

It's the only way I operate.

Why?

When we were still teens, my brother was rear-end while stopped at a light on a snowy icy Christmas Eve. He felt sorry for the other guy and gave him a pass since all the damage was to the other guy's vehicle. The guy later that day called the cops claiming my brother backed-into him. The cops came during our family meal. We all learned a lesson that Christmas.

The rule is pretty simple:

- Call the police if the other guy's at fault

- Avoid the police, if you're at fault

I made one exception to this, when I inadvertently may have put myself in danger, and if I get motivated enough I'll post it further down.

Hell, out here the cops won't even respond to a fender bender unless someone is hurt. Best you can do is get a plate number and report it.
 
I probably would have made the same mistake. Here is me using my 20/20 hindsight. If I wasn't going to call the cops I would at least get her to agree to me recording her saying it was her fault and that she would pay for it.
 
Hell, out here the cops won't even respond to a fender bender unless someone is hurt. Best you can do is get a plate number and report it.
Wow!

That policy does get announced on rare occasion here during extreme snow days, but it's the rare exception and is announced via the media.
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??



It should be easily ascertainable who hit whom, by looking at the damage on the cars. If she clipped him with the front of her car, and his damage is on the side or front/side...she hit him. The cops should be able to see that and note it in their report. It gets messier if she clipped him while turning so that the damage is on the side of her car and she damaged his front in the turn. But that's unusual.

I hope it ends well.
 
I probably would have made the same mistake. Here is me using my 20/20 hindsight. If I wasn't going to call the cops I would at least get her to agree to me recording her saying it was her fault and that she would pay for it.

She could just later say that she only said that because she was afraid of you or you threatened her.

Best of all is to look around & see if there's a witness whose name and # you can get. Second is the damage to the two cars...where each has damage tells the story.
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??



Never trust complete strangers, some people just want to take you for a ride and bleed your bank account. It is not always even the person who caused the accident either, sometimes the person hit tries to take advantage of everything.

In cali I witnessed a ford taurus hit a mercedes at 2 mph. It was an old lady driving and her abs went haywire when she tried to stop normally. The guy in the mercedes falls out of the car screaming whiplash calls the cops and everyone witnessed him telling her he was going to sue her for every dollar she had. Clearly someone with a top of the line mercedes needs to sue an old lady driving a beatup ford taurus right?


Turns out later we found out that guy has no job, he just made money suing people for rediculous things, and he would move frequently because the local judges would wise up to his antics pretty quick.
 
Ok, so a 19-year-old girl made a left turn and clipped Tom's car as he was sitting at the stop sign waiting to make a left turn himself. She kept driving. Tom thought she'd turn around and come back, but she didn't. So he turned around and eventually saw her outside the car looking at the damage and her flat tire. He stopped, she was all upset. "I'm so sorry....don't call the police. I'll pay for the damage!" So they exchanged information, and Tom didn't call the cops.

Well, you KNOW what happened. She told her dad Tom hit her. Dad called Tom and asked him to stop over to talk about it. Tom told him his daughter hit him. Dad called the cops and they showed up at the door.

So we have a mess.

When you have a car accident, for God's sake! No matter how pretty, sweet and upset someone is! Call the cops at the scene!

The cop was going to call the dad and tell him Tom wouldn't be coming to his house. How old do you have to be to know what to do in cases of an accident??



Some old hippie backed into me in a parking lot one day, so we politely exchanged insurance info and I called the cops. The hippie got impatient at this new development and said, "You know, I don't really have the time for this."

I said, "Oh I think you're going to find the time for this." He didn't say anything after that.

Never trust complete strangers, some people just want to take you for a ride and bleed your bank account. It is not always even the person who caused the accident either, sometimes the person hit tries to take advantage of everything.

In cali I witnessed a ford taurus hit a mercedes at 2 mph. It was an old lady driving and her abs went haywire when she tried to stop normally. The guy in the mercedes falls out of the car screaming whiplash calls the cops and everyone witnessed him telling her he was going to sue her for every dollar she had. Clearly someone with a top of the line mercedes needs to sue an old lady driving a beatup ford taurus right?


Turns out later we found out that guy has no job, he just made money suing people for rediculous things, and he would move frequently because the local judges would wise up to his antics pretty quick.

What a frantic, unbalanced lifestyle. I can't even imagine.
 
Good grief folks, you all have phones that take pictures and videos, if you get in an accident, Use Them, give the pics and video to the cops and your insurance company and have a nice day.
 
Some old hippie backed into me in a parking lot one day, so we politely exchanged insurance info and I called the cops. The hippie got impatient at this new development and said, "You know, I don't really have the time for this."

I said, "Oh I think you're going to find the time for this." He didn't say anything after that.

A woman backed into me in a parking lot. I called the cops.

She said, "I don't have time to wait!"

I said, "Suit yourself. I took a photo of you and your plate. I think that's called leaving the scene of an accident."

She stayed. Quite pissed.

In the meantime, I approached a man I thought had seen what happened, he had. Gave me his name and work phone. Her insurance company initially told me, "It's she-said she-said. We aren't taking responsibility." I gave him the witness name, he called him and they paid for everything, including a rental car.

Good grief folks, you all have phones that take pictures and videos, if you get in an accident, Use Them, give the pics and video to the cops and your insurance company and have a nice day.

I bought Tom a dash cam a few years ago. He didn't want it. Took it back. Hmmmm. :lol

I will say that pics and videos do NOT take the place of cops at the scene though. Wonderful adjunct, but not instead of.
 
One person I'm NEVER going to trust is a complete stranger. Who does that!
Sometimes I do. Had a very minor fender bender in a parking lot a year ago. Lady was middle-aged with pre-teen kids and harried. I made a judgment call that she was sincere. We exchanged information and I talked with her husband later. We agreed to not involve insurance or cops. I was rewarded with having it work out fine.

But... I'm not saying you're wrong. Far from it. I'm just saying sometimes it's a judgment call. In the case you presented the fact that she drove away and made no effort to stand up for it would have made me not trust her.
 
Sometimes I do. Had a very minor fender bender in a parking lot a year ago. Lady was middle-aged with pre-teen kids and harried. I made a judgment call that she was sincere. We exchanged information and I talked with her husband later. We agreed to not involve insurance or cops. I was rewarded with having it work out fine.

But... I'm not saying you're wrong. Far from it. I'm just saying sometimes it's a judgment call. In the case you presented the fact that she drove away and made no effort to stand up for it would have made me not trust her.

It worked out well for you. That's a good thing. You're right that the signals she sent were not those of a responsible driver. Careless mistake. Drove away. And probably the ONLY reason she stopped was her flat tire. One can trust people as you did and have the best of both world. Call the cops. Get a police report with an interview right on scene AND not involve insurance. They aren't mutually exclusive.

If Tom had called the cops, not intending to turn it in to the insurance company, there's not much doubt in my mind she would have told the officer the truth..,and the officer would have seen that she drove a few blocks on a dead residential street until she pulled over.
 
It worked out well for you. That's a good thing. You're right that the signals she sent were not those of a responsible driver. Careless mistake. Drove away. And probably the ONLY reason she stopped was her flat tire. One can trust people as you did and have the best of both world. Call the cops. Get a police report with an interview right on scene AND not involve insurance. They aren't mutually exclusive.

If Tom had called the cops, not intending to turn it in to the insurance company, there's not much doubt in my mind she would have told the officer the truth..,and the officer would have seen that she drove a few blocks on a dead residential street until she pulled over.
I don't disagree with anything here. I also agree that she probably wouldn't have pulled over at all had it not been for the flat tire.

In this case, it was seriously small, we backed into each other on opposite sides of the drive aisle in a parking lot on private property. Very minor. And around here, like someone else said, police won't even show up for something like that unless there's an injury. Had it been on a public street I would have reacted differently.
 
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