Insurance help needed
 

I just bought a car.. 89 caddy fleetwood. Literally bought it wednesday. Got insurance thursday, but still haven't transferred tags. The tags are up to date, but registered for the corsica. I have the signed title, but still not in my name. Last night somebody rearended it, in the street, while it was parked. How someone can miss that very well defined car, I do not know. However they clearly were speeding because it really fucked up the rear end... and crushed in the rear driver's side door a bit. Anyways, there was a card on the car from the local cops saying they have the driver's info and to call them. Called, still no call back [I even called dispatch... did I mention that i HATE cops?].

Well, I need to know what i'm looking at here... I have no experience with accidents or insurance companies in general, and neither does my mom. But it definitely wasn't my fault, because I was sleeping and the damn thing was parked. I need to know if I am going to get money out of this, who's insurance is going to pay what, etc. The KBB value is about $1,200, and the car will probably be totalled.

Oh yeah, and I took it around the block, and it drives fine still... but should I avoid driving it for the time being [insurance wise... not so much causing more damage]? All I did was park it in my driveway... lesson learned, don't park in the street.

Your insurance should cover the damages under uninsured motorist since it was a hit and run. The tag doesn't really have much to do with it since you just purchased it. However, you should not have any tag on the car once you purchased it. You definately don't need to be driving it with someone elses tag on it. Did you do a police report?

The cops know who did it and has their info. I have my corsica's old tag on it... registered in my name. The cop gave me shit about it, but because it was parked he couldn't do anything about it. There is an accident report that will be filed tomorrow. The cop said, because MI is a no fault state, that i'm going to have to sue the other guy's insurance company to get the money for it. Because I have PLPD. Which is bullshit because I wasn't even in the car, the damn thing was parked! I'm so infuriated about it, it's about driving me to drink before noon. Luckily I have tomorrow off of school, so I will go to the insurance company, file everything and see what happens. We have a good clean rep with the company, and have been with them for 6+ years. My mom knows them, and they know her... so hopefully that will help.

Just make sure she brings the police report with her to corroborate the facts. Let us know how it goes.

Here in MA they give you Seven days to register a vehicle. If you have a similar law in your state, your damage should be covered by the other guys insurance not yours.

I have had that happen to me as well. Bought a Suburu Brat and the next day I got hit while driving it. I had insurance on it and I put my plate from my other car on it and it was still covered since the seven days had not yet passed. I ended up with the Book value of the car.

I"ll bet that as long as you had it parked reasonably well in the street, and not hanging out in the road, you'll get something from their insurance company out of it. I thought i've heard that you can sue only up to $500 or something like that though, could be wrong though, just one of those random thought floating arround in my head. Good luck man, and i don't know how anyone can hit a parked car like that either... :bdrunk:

We had a thunderbird totalled in much the same fashion, get the info from the cops and hit the ins. guys. Open and shut case.

What do you guys use for reg tags? We got stickers on the windsheild that are insanely annoying to swap from car to car, But mounting them on saran wrap and using packaging tape to affix them to the windsheild works great. I've got '83 chevy pickup plates, '90 Geo inspection and '93 Bonneville reg on my 83 Chevette. Not to mention when I drove the Chevette from NC to GA, around GA and to Texas I had NC plates off a mopar on it...

We talked to an insurance friend [retired ins owner] and she said that because it was parked it's a whole different story. I need to wait for the police report then a few days after. If the guy calls his company and tells them what happened, they should be calling me, because that's who i will be dealing with, not mine. She also said that because the car is old, that they will probably total it. Basically that no matter what I won't get screwed, and in all likelihood should come out ahead. I think this was a sign that I will be driving the b'ville instead of the caddy for winter... unless they don't total it. If they don't, winter beater to the max [the trunk doesn't even close on one side and sticks up about 4" from the seal].

Little side note, in our town of 1,500 people, this happens about every other week. In fact, one guy works for comcast, and has had 3 trucks totalled in the past 6mo.

WOW! I always knew us MI drivers where bad but that just sounds like an insane ammount of people hitting parked cars... or one person who gets away with it too much! :shock:

we just hvae a bunch of drunks here in three oaks