josh817 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Driving a 1962 Triumph TR3 to my fathers shop for some maintenance. Lady was tailgating me big time. I turned back to herband gave her a look, she backed off but by the next red light she was right on me. Literally right on me. Car stalled while in gear and she didn't even hit the brakes, plowed into the back of me. Crinkled up to the door, the rest is ok. Looks to be body damage for the most part and luckily these cars have body panels that come off. It was a $50000 show car, stored for a man who is over seas. I don't know how any of this **** works but right now I'm more shaken from what the Hell is going to happen with insurance rather than the accident itself. It was on classic insurance. I'm sore in the neck but I don't know what to think. I feel like I let my father and my family down. I don't know how we will ever take care of this.... The money just isn't there, not even the time. Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 You got her information and called the police, yes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeperZ Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Make sure you get medical attention as well. If you have issues later, then you have recourse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robftw Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Insurance will cover everything, no matter what the situation is the person behind is at fault nearly 100% of the time. I hope you called the police / took pictures and video. Goto the doctor tomorrow if you still feel sore, hopefully her dumbass has good insurance and will reimburse you. It's also a good idea to call a vehicle appraiser if you don't have anything on file for what the car is worth. that'll help you get money back to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Police showed up. He wrote me a ticket for the car not being inspected even though its an antique. Told me that if was inspected, then it wouldn't have happened because it would be mechanically sound. Little did he know the car drove two hours out for a car show, which it won second place... Guy next door saw it happen said the lady was on her phone. I'm not here to put blame on anything, the car sits low compared to a dodge pickup but I mean come on... Need to know how insurance will because whatever they don't put up, I guess I'm going to take care of with what little I have set aside for the Z. I will post pictures, in black and white, so this guys car isn't all over the internet. I asked father how much panels are. Quarter panels new are $1500, the rear spare tire plate, $1000, maybe a trunk boot $1500. As long as its just body, I think insurance can take care of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 You need to go to the hospital right now and complain of a massive headache, neck pain, and numbness in your left arm. That's assuming you have those symptoms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palosfv3 Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 (edited) Your situation can get quite complicated especially since your not the registered owner of the car . In the best case the other party has a great insurance company and they will take care of things but I dont think this will be easily resolved. Was the other driver cited for anything and did they have coverage ? You will have some difficulty in dealing with the other parties insurance company because they will owe the damage repair cost to the vehicle owner and must make payment to him to clear the liability. Notifying the TRs owner of the incident is important for several reasons. If this insurance company fails to acknowledge their insured's liability the owner may have coverage under his auto policy.( Keep your fingers crossed he didn't suspend the collision coverage since the car was stored ) In most states the insurance stays with the car . If he doesn't have coverage and they deny the claim, the liability coverage on your personal car may provide coverage . If your an employee of your fathers garage and you were test driving the car when this happened, there maybe coverage under the garage keepers insurance they should be carrying. The important things you need to do are , Make sure you are not injured ( Once the adrenalin rush subsides you may feel differently than you do now ). Make sure the an accident report is filed and it clearly states the events in the order that they occurred, make sure you have all the necessary contact info from the other party including their insurance info with policy number, notify the TRs owner of the accident, notify your insurance company and that of the garage if applicable., notify the other parties insurance company of the loss ( don't wait for the person that struck the car to do this, by putting them on notice of the accident they can settle the loss without the consent of the insured if there is sufficient evidence that the insured is liable ), make sure you have your neighbors contact info so he can give a statement to the insurance claims rep on what he witnessed. Oh by the way I have been driving manual trans cars for a very long time and I have stalled a car or two leaving the light . The police officer may have been correct to cite the car for no inspection sticker but he should not be making any statement or coming to any conclusion in the report that the cars lack of a sticker caused the accident. From your description of the accident it is evident that she was not paying attention to the traffic situation in front of her car . Best Regards Edited May 23, 2012 by palosfv3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 (edited) Called the ladies insurance, different name then what was on her drivers license. Insurance company is going to get back with me on it but if something goes wrong.... Suing her for the cost or whatever I can do to get it fixed. Getting with the owner as soon as we can, obviously don't want to hide it from him. I honestly wish it were my Datsun... Knowing that I can find parts. Only mark on her car, or whoevers car that she was driving was right in the sent it was dented in from my spare tire, which saved the TR from further damage. One of the local shops saw the entire thing and said that they will give their input. They may have security cams outside too. Ladies husband called up and told my father that I shouldn't be driving be size I don't know how to drive a manual transmission. I've been driving a manual tranny from the first day I had my license... That's neither here nor there, I just need to know how insurance will play out. Never had a car that was borderline write off and like I said before, these cars can be stripped down to the bare chassis. Everything is mechanically sound, no leaks, doesn't look bent in any way so let's cross our fingers that its just body panels. And if you knew the area, you would understand why the police officer was a Boob this time around. The car was studdering a bit until you brought her above 2500RPM. She was rolling, in first, and I guess she had different plans than I did and cut out temporarily. High compression motor though, and not a lot of momentum, locked the tires and before I could get back onto the clutch I was hit. She wasn't even close to having enough distance to react and apply brakes though so even at my slow roll, when I did get on the clutch, we still had some heavy metal to metal contact. Such is life. Thanks for the input Palo. Oh and I'm not positive but I think the owner out responsibility in my fathers name since he won't be back for months at a time. Edited May 23, 2012 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Donovan_ Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Get yourself a good lawyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRatt13 Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 No matter what they say it wasnt your fault, she hit you from behind so no matter what its her fault. And since you have classic insurance on the car it should be taken care of. Just make sure you get all the info you can from her and her insurance company and also go through the classic insurance company also. They deal with old classics all the time so im sure they can tell you the proper steps to take to get it taken care of. And yes go to the hospital and get checked out, it sound like you have some neck injuries and if so her insurance will hacve to pay for that also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24OZ Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 The ladies husband has some cheek. Don't blame yourself you've let no one down, this was an accident which wasn't your fault. Go and see a doctor you may have whiplash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 (edited) Emailed owner tonight and waiting for a response. We're pretty positive the car is on antique registration which exempts you from inspection. It's a self inspection, and upon self inspection today AFTER the accident... yup everything works. Every light works, every switch works, you know... how it should be when you restore a car for copious amounts of money. Classic insurance company said they weren't going to make a claim unless her insurance falls through. Things got even more complicated when her name was different than that of the insurance. Her license was from Texas, the truck plates were from Florida, and the insurance is from Florida with a different name; as if they were boring the car or just bought, god forbid it was stolen. We will get a call from whoevers insurance company that belongs to as to what will happen. Worst case scenario that makes me **** my pants is if they have nothing, then it falls back onto classic car insurance and if this man who is overseas doesn't want to take the blow he will come after us. He's a good friend and customer but we all know that sort of thing can flip around in situations like these. Dad keeps saying the car is totaled. We didn't check yet but he suspects the chassis is crunched. Those things are pretty beefy and I want to think its just body panels. Don't want to downplay the fact with "just body panels" but from the doors forward everything is immaculate. On the underside, no leaks, grinding noises, drives straight, hell the exhaust pipe isn't even collapsed so again... I'd like to think its all fixable without having to redo an entire car. Some pictures, altered color so it won't be obviously which vehicle it is right away... Probably doesn't matter but still I'd like to think so. The spare tire cushioned a lot of the blow. It probably pushed the fuel tank towards me a little bit too judging by that last picture with the bulge through that rear panel. The two witnesses from one of the local shops said my head came back and hit that back part where the snaps are. Glasses in the back kinda show that. Hah it seems like nothing happens when you are ok with money but when you get into a time where you're strapped for cash, everything goes wrong. Dad and I alike know it isn't my fault but just seeing the car, you know how that goes. He builds something from the ground up and then it's smashed and of course that's why I'm disappointed by it all because not only is it a loss of hard work but now you have to do it all over again and maybe on your own dime while you're at it. Edited May 24, 2012 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GarageRatt13 Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 That doesnt look that bad, Im not to familiar with those cars but it seems like it shouldnt be that hard to fix. Also I doubt that its totaled so as hard as it might be i would suggest just sittin down and trying to chill out. The accident already happened and it will get taken care of by either her insurance or the classic insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Consulting a Lawyer is a good idea. Getting checked out by a doctor, also a very good idea. Very important; Just because the responding officer didn't write her a ticket, doesn't mean YOU can't. A cop can't write what he doesn't see, or can't back up. Go to the police station, and file complaints. Examples;reckless driving, carless driving, cell phone driving, tailgating,etc. Provide witnesses names.......subpeonas will be issued. Once found guilty, the insurance will be a slam dunk. I used this strategy when some clown ran a red light, and totaled my '68 GTO convertible. Calm down, protect your health, and protect your interests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 I would agree sir... But again like I said, if he comes back at us suing or even if he just thinks less of us and the shop it's going to be a crying shame. Chassis should look like this. Even is something was a little screwy in the back, there isn't much to ruin. Maybe that rear bar or something at the most which is fixable. The back top part is crunched and that unfortunately is part of the main shell but it has a seam from the factory which is welded right behind the door. A lot of work but I suspect it could be cut and another could be put back on... We shall see, thanks for the input. I'm a lost sucker in all this insurance stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24OZ Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Get to doctor and go to the police station and file a complaint about dangerous driving with the witness details to back it up, forget about the damage to the car until you've done that. It is what it is, there is o way your shop is less competent then another, it could have happened to anyone else who was in front of her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 " Told me that if was inspected, then it wouldn't have happened because it would be mechanically sound." Your Texas Cop was ignorant with that comment. Statistics show absolutely NO correlation between mechanical-failure related accidents and a State Inspection Program. In states where inspection schemes were in place, and neighboring states where no inspections were done, the incidence of mechanical-failure related accidents was statistically identical. "Safety Inspections Don't Work" Interestingly, the same study checked the effect of emissions testing, and there WAS shown to be a decrease in vehicle emissions where testing was in place and tied to registration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh817 Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 (edited) I keep asking Dad to MAKE SURE the car is registered as ANTIQUE and not CLASSIC. He gets the two confused sometimes but once he confirms that it is a registered antique vehicle then I'm on my way to court. We also checked everything yesterday and yep... EVERYTHING works, even the broken light fixtures when we put new bulbs in them. Funny how everything works AFTER a collision but apparently nothing works before. Maybe it's Lucas! Lesson I learned here is shut the hell up when something happens. When I got out I was shaken, didn't know what necessarily happened. I knew I heard tire squealing and I was slowing down so I blurted something locked up. Cop automatically said brakes, probably because he doesn't know what a stalled motor does when in 1st gear. Even then, who says even a brand new vehicle CAN'T lock up brakes? Whatever the case may be, it doesn't really matter. For what it's worth I could have been parked in the middle of the road with my hazards on or pulled over getting a ticket, anyone he runs into the back its their fault as we have already said above. Attention should be on the road for good reaction time and enough distance should be left between cars so that hopefully with your good/average reaction time, you can apply brakes and actually stop. Jasper, thanks for the tips. I honestly didn't even think of that but it makes sense. I will file a complaint against her and I will have to think about if I will do anything against the officer for reasons listed below. Anyway I was sorely disappointed at the officer. He asked if anyone was injured, both of us seemed fine but he didn't bother listening to witnesses saying this dudes head snapped back and who knows maybe the ladies head snapped forward. As a flagging/safety crew for race tracks we know not to walk up to an accident and ask "are you ok" because even if your arm is hanging off and you're in shock, you're probably going to say yes. The officer then proceeded to rush and hassle me along, like a young punk, yet sooth the woman who was crying. Age and gender difference aside, he shouldn't have hassled. He completely skipped over what I personally would think are necessary steps to make sure peoples heads are clear so he could get correct statements from each of us. Of course I didn't know what was going on after the accident but 30 minutes later I had a clearer assessment of what happened and why or how it happened. The tragic thing is that this was not a big city, in fact this city is 2 square miles; he doesn't have anywhere else to go in a rush, he gets paid to do this sort of thing. When he wrote me a ticket for driving without insurance (false) and driving without inspection, he asked me to sign and I was a bit baffled as to why because I knew the car was insured, after all I HANDED HIM THE PAPERWORK. He wasn't satisfied with a photocopy and he wanted an actual insurance card. Last time I checked, insured vehicles were in the state system for officers to look up so even if I didn't have paperwork he could still see the car was insured. Before I signed for the ticket, being confused I asked him why am I getting these and again he clicked into pushy mode demanding what I was confused about. I explained to him and asked if my father could come over just to be sure I'm not missing something, maybe a document that wasn't in the glove box but perhaps under a seat or something. He asked how old I was, I said 21, he said I was an adult and that I don't need him. Wasn't going to argue so I signed for it, called up dad who was on the phone with insurance having them email him an actual card to print off. I asked the officer to wait just a second for Dad to walk over, he was literally within view coming towards us. He told me "he will only wait a minute and then he's leaving", again rushing to where, you don't get paid to do road duty? Showed the officer and he said "I usually would make you go to court for this but I will remove the no insurance part". Perhaps if he conducted himself in a proper manner he wouldn't have to "grant freebies". I have always disliked officers who rush but I understand in some situations rushing gets the truth out or it gets conflicting lies. It's an accident though, everyone is shaken so you're better off taking witness statements while you let the people involved in the accident chill out in the shade away from each other for a few minutes. I will thoroughly enjoy teaching the law and this is pretty black and white. If it is registered as a classic then I will shut up and defer, if its antique and I am pretty sure it is then I will go to court. I try to avoid this small town/city court and police as much as possible. They follow the good'ol boy system and protect each other A LOT and this particular officer is one of those guys (he has been known to thrive on his authoritative badge) so it's best to not even argue in court if your situation isn't as night and day as this is. Just my little rant. Going to the doctor today. Been avoiding it for the past day because I learned that my health insurance was pulled without my knowledge. The insurance company (USAA) said they will audit the bills to see if they're "reasonable" and make an "offer" after I am done with treatment but in the meantime I have to take on all the bills. If the doctor just sends me home today, then I only have to pay for the one visit but if it takes 6 weeks of physical therapy or something well then I get to pay 6 weeks worth of uninsured bills not knowing what type of stuff they may or may not cover. Good stuff. Edited May 25, 2012 by josh817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palosfv3 Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 If memory serves me correctly each state has a "Department of Profession and Ethics " that is charged with keeping tabs on local law enforcement . If your town or local police officer isn't applying the law or is playing around with things they should be made aware of whats going on. But before you pull out a big gun make sure those who are charged with the responsibility of overseeing the behavior of the local officers are aware of things and allowed an opportunity to correct things . I know of police officials that would welcome feedback on how their patrol officers are handling situations and for all you know there could be written reports of bad behavior already recorded . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Sorry man, hoping everything works out. I had my first accident a year ago, it sucks. Doesn't the insurance cover medical? If you have physical therapy bills you should have them covered by the auto insurance. Don't neglect your injury. Cars can be fixed, necks are harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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