Auto accident along the way...

[monapoe]

Hi all!
We're halfway through our first ever Disney trip. 7 day trip with 6 day tickets, plus Quest tickets.. and I'm wondering how in the world we can squeeze it all in!

Left Virginia at 7pm, Friday evening, and at approximately 6am, another driver, for some unknown reason, came across to my right lane and slammed into the back of my van, on I-95 in Georgia. Luggage all over the interstate! Fortunately, everybody was ok, aside from being sore and a couple bruises but it was a horrible start to something I had been looking forward to for so long. After the police and rescue workers were able to locate us (I had NO clue where I was, except that I was on 95), the officer spent all of her time at the scene talking to the man who hit me (who was trying to say that I pulled into his lane, though I ride the right lane ALWAYS). She never asked me MY side of the story, and she actually refused to give me the other guy's name or share his insurance info with me (I think he had a rental). She said I could get all that info from the police report, which would not be available till the end of the week AND had to be picked up in Georgia. Anytime we kept saying "but you didn't ask this or that", she just raised her voice at us, telling us to refer to the report. THEN.. as we stood dumfounded, at the side of the road, wondering how we were gonna continue when my back door wouldn't even close, she drove off WITH the report on top of her car and it flew all over the interstate! She pulled over and jumped out quickly, knowing we had seen it all, and gathered it up. Hopefully, she recovered it all.

Anyhow, my daughter held the back door from the inside, as we drove slowly to the next exit. My husband then purchased some rope and tied the back down. We didn't want to make arrangements to have it repaired in Florida in case it took longer than our accomodations allowed. My insurance guy said to call him and let him know when we get back to Virginia and he'll take it from there. I've never dealt with this before... can anybody tell me what to expect from here?? And for the record, I know I was not at fault, I had just set the cruise control for 74 mph (speed limit was 70 mph), and was in the right lane. The guy came up behind me, in the middle lane, and my guess is that he must have fell asleep and came into my lane. I never saw it coming.. but like I said, never dealt with an accident, or insurance claim before.. what next?? Another kicker.. I just bought my brand new van a couple months ago- my very first "new" vehicle!

Oh- and Disney is awesome! But I think I may need a vacation from my vacation

 

[lindakmonty]

First of all, I'm so glad to hear that everyone is ok! That is the most important part. I'm not sure of Georgia's laws...but here in Ohio I've had the police fax the report to me Not sure it they normally do that, but they did for me. Your insurance guy will be able to get it as well, so I wouldn't worry about that too much. That is aggrevating when it isn't your fault! I drive almost 80 miles one way to work everyday so I've seen it all. I had a guy come in my lane and about plow me over once. AND HE TOOK OFF! I followed him! Grabbed my cell and called the cops...got his info and they told me to turn around He ended up paying so that worked out. I know it doesn't start a vacation off right, to say the least...but forget about it and enjoy Disney right now !!!!When you get back home call your insurance guy and he'll take care of you! Not sure who you use, but Allstate, you can drive your vehicle in and have it inspected immediately. They give you a check right then and you can have it fixed how and when you'd like. Then they go after the guy that hit you for their $ back. It is very simple and fast... good luck and glad to hear you're all ok and having fun at Disney!! Give Mickey a hug for me!

 

[3mickeys&me]

I am sooooo totally surprised that the officer wouldn't let you exchange info with the other driver. What if this person didn't have Insurance?!?!? In the State of NJ you do exchange info with the other driver infact my father would KICK my butt if I didn't get the other drivers info. Also IMO you should of been able to tell your side of the story to the officer.

Sorry you vacation started off so crappy. Hope it got better once you got to Disney!!

 

[lisajl]

Umm...maybe the police officer was new? I have never heard of NOT exchanging info. The fact that the officer left the stuff on top of her cruiser is not a good sign either!

Yikes!!


I'm glad everyone is okay and you are in the land of Mickey now!

Have a good time and worry about the repairs later!

Lisa

 

[suevee]

Hope you got the name of the officer and the tag of the other car. It could help. Good luck!!!!

 

[monapoe]

I couldn't believe that he was not required to give me his insurance info, either! I asked the officer "aren't I legally entitled to it?" and she said she didn't know as far as "legally", but I could get it from the report- at the end of the week. I then asked for his name and she said that would be in the report, too. I asked her if I was "allowed" to ask him for it and she said I could try, but at this point, he's thinking he's free and clear, so when I approached him and (very calmly) asked if he would like to exchange insurance info, he yelled at me, waving me away, saying "get away from me, I don't want to talk to you- you talk to her (the officer)!" The only reason why I think he had a rental was because when we had to pull out our license and insurance info for her, he pulled out a license and what looked like a computer printout for a car rental. What made my stomach turn was that the only damage to his van was a parking light knocked out while my entire rear end is smashed in and my bumper is hanging by a thread.

What about my deductible?? I have a $500 deductible. Will I get that back from his insurance company?? I appreciate all of your well wishes and helpful info.. our new family motto has become "it could be worse", lol.

Our Disney magic is letting us forget reality till we get back home. As long as I approach the van from the front, my mood stays upbeat, lol. Off to Quest tonight... again, thanks for your responses!

 

[pepperw23]

This officer sounds like she needs to be repremanded. When you get home, I would call her precienct. They should be able to tell you who handled that call. Maybe she knew the guy?

 

[3mickeys&me]

I am stunned that the officer was such a jerk as well. I have been in a few accidents in my life (No my fault yet LOL) Anyway each one I DID exchange info with the other driver and and the officer was involved with that exchange. Maybe that is just a NJ thing. .

I would think YOUR insurance co would sue his insurance co for the deductable and also for a rental if you need one while your van is being fixed. We did this when my van was hit parked infront of my house.

Luckily no one was seriously hurt and you could continue on to your vacation destination. That is the most important thing.

Enjoy your trip and have a DISNEY DAY!!!

 

[mm6mm6]

As a police officer myself, let me say this: you should complain. In writing.

I try desperately to be as kind as possible to people involved in traffic crashes. They're already upset and not having a good day. If I was on highway patrol and dealing with out of state drivers, usually on vacation, let alone going to WDW with kids, I would go out of my way to try to help with anything I could (your non-closing back door for example).

A police officer should always hear both sides of an accident no matter how overwhelming the vehicle evidence, debris field, etc may be. One of the toughest crashes to figure out (without a debris field to help, which on the highway with numerous other cars hitting the broken pieces of plastic, etc can be really tough) is a side to side impact between two cars going the same direction in side by side lanes (did Veh #1 come left and hit Veh #2 or did Veh #2 come right and hit Veh#1?).

Here in Illinois, you would have left the scene with a carbon copy of the report with all drivers' names and insurance info and tx numbers. For a $5 fee, you could have a full copy sent to your home or insurance agent by mail, once the report was approved and filed. Simple as that.

You didn't say that either of you received a ticket. I take that as a sign that the Trooper taking the report didn't issue any citations and is leaving it up to the insurance companies to figure out. Which may be why she was so insistent that she not hear your side. She may have figured it was a moot point if she had no debris field to show which car was in which lane when the accident occurred (you said there was quite a delay until she arrived...if the debris field was mostly in your lane, that would show that the other guy drifted over into your lane, if it was in his lane, it would show the opposite. But with cars dispersing the broken stuff, there may be no actual evidence.)....

Leaving the report on her roof showed she was a bit rattled by the incident (or maybe she really had to use a washroom!)....

Sorry a member of the law enforcement community didn't represent us well. If it was me, you would have left with everything you needed, a smile, AND some tips for your trip at WDW!

 

[aspcamhreditor2]

First... hope you are having a great time to make up for the trauma of the actual "travel" part of your trip.

Wow ... your whole experience seems odd to me. First, if you are the person who called in the accident, wasn't the officer obligated to talk to you? I think that's odd. It would seem to me, if one person is avoiding the exchange of info & the other party is advocating it .... well, it's seems pretty obvious who is at fault. If the other person was so sure you were to blame, he'd have been hopping mad to get all of your contact info.

Second, I've never had any type of fender-bender where I didn't get a copy of the report at the scene. Of course, I live in IL like mm6mm6.

Best wishes for your trip back home!

 

[OhMari]

I hope Georgia isn't a NO Fault State" Would it be okay to move this to Transportation board, you are getting lots of answers already, but you might want to do a lot of exchanging of posts with other DIS'ers.

 

[cheap traveler]

I don't know if you have taken any action yet, but my first piece of advice would be to call the police department and file a complaint against the officer, who had no right to treat you like that, and is required to take your statement. You can have the report mailed/faxed to you, but it may take a little longer. If the report makes it out to be your fault, go straight to your insurance company, and they will fight the case for you. If the report makes it obvious that it was the other driver's fault, then go through the other guy's insurance. There are a few reasons behind doing this. 1 - your insurance won't increase
2 - when you use your insurance, and they have to fight to get the other company to pay, you have to pay your deductable, and it can take a very long time to get it back.
Also, if you have a relationship with any body shop in your area that you plan to use, make that known up front, and try to avoid going to a drive up shop to get an estimate. You have the right to use who you want, and as soon as you step into the other shop, it makes it harder to get a fair repair price. The other shop works for the insurance company, your shop will work for YOU. Just a few tips from the inside ( I run a body shop ). Good luck!!

 

[Disneyrsh]

Love the GHP. Not!

Most of the government info in Metro Atlanta is all computerized, but if you were out in the podunks, there's no telling what kind of Dukes of Hazzard bozos you can run into.

Did you take digital pictures of the accident scene and the guy or were you too shook up? Did you get ANYTHING in writing from Miss Cletus?

They should be able to mail you the incident report, at the very least. Once they've figured out the whole mail system, that is ( can you tell I'm not a big fan of the southern part of Georgia!)

Hope your van gets fixed, what a bummer about it being new, but I'm glad you're all ok.

 

[jillyjoey]

I am so sorry that your trip started out this way. But, if it had to happen, at least no one in your family was hurt. I agree with all of those that recommend reporting the officer. My DH is a deputy and the first thing I look for now is the badge number. I don't think it is odd that you did not get an accident report at the time of the offense. Usually they are available 3-4 days after the incident. Unfortunately, you are not from GA thus making it more difficult. I also sympathize with the fact that your vehicle was new. I too have a new vehicle and Tuesday, while driving to work, something hit my windshield and totally smashed it, glass flying everywhere. UGH!! I am thinking that your insurance agent should be able to help you out -- someone earlier posted about Allstate and we have Allstate and have never had problems. (Actually, 3 minutes after whatever hit my windshield -- Allstate had approved my claim and had an appointment that day for me to get it repaired.) I would think that the amount and location of the damage would do alot for determining fault -- but I am not an accident reconstructionist. I think the other guy should pay for your repairs and for a rental car while your car is fixed. Also -- I would take it back to the dealership for repairs to make sure it is as close to original as possible.

I am really hoping the rest of your trip is enjoyable!!

 

[WDW LOVR]

Looking at an accident where one vehicle has a broken parking light and the other has the whole rear end a mess I'm not sure how it could be your fault?

If you were changing lanes how would your whole rear end hit his parking light? Even if you were in front of him and had to brake hard to avoid anything in the road and this guy hit you, it would still be his fault for not allowing an assured distance between the vehicles. Unless he claims you swooped in front of him and then jammed on your brakes I don't see how you could be at fault. Why would a family on vacation pull something like that?

I know I don't have all the facts from reading on the Disboards, but seems pretty clear to me who was at fault.

 

[brivers222]

As stated above, the fact that your entire rear end of your car is damaged and only the front light of the offending vehicle... I would have to gather that HE was the one that hit you (or at least that would be my first impression).

My wife was T-Boned at an intersection and the old lady kept telling the office that my wife HIT HER! Everytime my wife tried to say, "she's not telling the truth, she hit me!" the cop would shush her and get closer to the lady and only listen to her side of the store and didn't talk to my wife at the very end. This is what the officer told my wife, "Miss, the other party insists that you are at fault, No don't say anything...let me finsh. Unfortuantly for her I have been involved with traffic accident investigations for some 15 years. She is at fault and when you pick up the report all the information will be in there for you to review"

I was not there so that is just paraphrasing what she told back to me. but she never got to get the information from the lady. But the report DID have everything needed. I simply went to the Police Department (they will also mail it to your home if you ask politely!) and then forwarded it onto my insurance adjuster.

Also, we too have a $500 Deductable. Here is how it worked for us:
The repair shop finished the car before the claim was closed (i.e. before the insurance adjuster had a chance to look at the report to verify fault). Insurance paid the repair shop the total amount due MINUS our deductable. In order for us to get the car back we needed to come up with deductible. Then, once the adjuster reviewed the report he sent us a check for $500 in the mail. It was pretty hastle free, except the whole dealing with an idiot hitting you part!!!

Hope all goes well and don't worry, I don't see how it wouldn't come out in your favor... The damage to the cars is parallel to that of him rear-ending you (which is usually a clear cut fault to the person whos front is damaged).

Have a good rest of the vacation!

 

[Twingle]

Hopefully you are having a great vacation, despite what started it off!

I'm a neighbor to you - we're not far from Mineral!

Just curious, but did you drive straight through? Given the time you were in Georgia when the accident happened, I thought maybe you were?

Have a great time in Disney!

 

[Minniespal]

Hope you have a great time despite the accidnet.

 

[owtrbnks]

Like pepperw23 said, "Maybe she knew the guy?"
or MAYBE "the guy" was a police officer (they're not all like mm6mm6) or even a local or county bigshot (you know - the kind that get elected and then think they can do no wrong!)
Well, hope you had a great visit to WDW and will have many more!
BTW - What's an accidnet? Is that the pain you feel post accident when the officer won't hear your side of the story?

 

[monapoe]

Thank you all for your well wishes and words of encouragement- I'm still hoping for a positive outcome... we received a copy of the accident report the day before yesterday. The reason for the delay was that "it had to be approved", whatever that means. After reading the entire report over and over, I cannot find ANYwhere where it says who was at fault..??? However, when my husband called the Sheriff's Dept. to have it faxed over, he asked the person on the telephone who was found at fault and he was told the name of the other driver. Am I missing something here?? Wouldn't that be on the report or am I missing something encrypted here??

Also, under the other driver's name, the only thing listed under his insurance information is "rental". And it lists "GSP Transportation" as the "owner" of the vehicle. I tracked down the company and the address listed on the report, and it turns out it's a Thrifty Rental Car. I called the phone number I found online, associated with that address, and after 2 phone calls and a LOT of time on hold, I was told that it was a Charleston vehicle (the other guy was from South Carolina) and had to call a different office. We called the other office and after unsuccessful attempts by myself, to speak to a manager, my husband finally took over and got a call-back. The manager took the license plate number of the car and said he would get back to us with the insurance info the driver had listed. To date, he hasn't. Of course, my insurance guy was supposed to call me yesterday, also, but did not. Anyhow, my insurance guy said that if we wait to go after the other driver's insurance, we are looking at a couple weeks before I can have my van repaired, HOWEVER, if I pay my deductible and go with THEM (my insurance co.), I can have it repaired now. My husband doesn't want to pay our deductible ourselves, because it wasn't my fault and I'm worried about my rates going up. Plus, and I am kicking myself for this one... I just switched from Progressive to GMAC on April 30th, they had put the rental coverage on my policy but I told them to take it off cause I figured I would never need it. DUH! Who would have known I'd have an accident 3 weeks later?!! So now, even if I go with my own insurance company, I'd have to pay for my own rental. Aaargh... I'm getting frustrated as I type this..

So anyhow, that's where I'm at today. Still with a smashed-up van. I can't help but wonder if the other guy even reported the accident to the rental company, since there was no obvious damage but a missing parking/fog light. And I'm sure he'd deny he did that, either! The report did say that the other driver stated that HE was in the right lane and I pulled in front of him and cut him off, though the point of impact was at the left rear. I remember seeing his headlights coming up, at a distance, behind me. We were the ony two vehicles on that stretch of I-95 at the time. There was no upcoming exit, so why he would have to come from the left lane to the right lane, only leads me to believe he fell asleep or was distracted, and since I was the only vehicle around- I was the lucky one! Did I mention that the other driver showed up at the same gas station we exited to, where we had to buy rope to tie the back down?? I was on my cell phone with the insurance company and I heard arguing and realized my husband and the other driver were having words. I begged my husband not to do anything (my husband could have easily hurt him), cause I had these visions of him in jail, me stuck in lord-knows-where, Georgia, with 4 kids and a van that wouldn't close, lol.

I do appreciate any help and tips I receive here! From the law enforcement experts to the body shop owner, and everybody who's been there before!! Making a lot more phone calls today... hopeully somebody gives me the time of day, today... wish me luck!