@ thumper we’ve thought of that too. DS doesn’t want to ask him. If DS ends up having to pay it, he may change his mind on that.
@BunsenBurner I think you’re right.
Is it too late to call the police and tell them he gave his driver’s license, but now refuses to give insurance info?
Or text the other driver and say, dude give me your info or I call the cops
A lot of time has gone by now. One option is to just report the accident to your insurance company. They will handle your claim and then after settling with you they will go after the other driver. It will be more helpful if you have the license plate of the vehicle but they can track the driver down with his license number. If the other driver was at fault then your rates should not go up. You might have a policy that forgives one accident also. The problem is really that you’ve waited so long, insurance claims usually have a certain time limit to report not sure what that is.
You can self report/file a accident report online with the state highway department. Then you can use that for reporting to the insurance company.
You could ask your local police detective / investigator for help getting his insurance but they probably can’t unless you have the make of car, name of driver and his address, even then it would be out of the kindness of their heart if they sympathize with you, since they have access to a database.
By putting his phone number into facebook it might pop up with his facebook page. There are for pay databases you can use to find his address and possibly car ownership information.
You can, finally send him a “demand” letter, and then follow up with an actual small claims court lawsuit where you and your son represent yourselves, and get a default judgment against him.
At this point if you want to pursue this in an aggressive way, take over the whole thing from your son. He is obviously wasting his time with his calls and not capable of dealing with it.
I have to say that for $1,000, as other commenters have said, is it better to just get past it and move on, or do you really want to pursue the other driver and “make him pay.” At some point it might turn into more a thing of vengeance rather than being about the money. Just make sure you stay within the law, at all times. Don’t turn this into a “threatening” or “harassing” situation where they can lodge charges against you or your son. The purpose of the law is to avoid people shooting each other, so small claims court might be the way to go but pretty hard to collect. You’d have to place a lien on the driver’s property after you get a default judgment. You have to decide, what your time is worth, and do you really want to spend all that time and emotional energy on this, frustrating as it may seem. Your son should think twice before he lends his car to a friend again and needs a good checklist on what to do in the case of an accident. The demand letter might be the next obvious step. Do you have a local lawyer friend or know someone who does who is willing to send the letter?
Anyway…lots of possible routes depending on your inclination to keep on with this situation. Unfortunately justice is not always served in life.
I suggest looking at the rules regarding accident reporting and also uninsured motorists for the state of NC. Every state is different as you can see by the various responses on this thread .
My D was hit recently in a parking lot and her car was unoccupied. She got the phone number and insurance info of the other driver but not his driver’s license number. Our insurance company couldn’t find him without his driver’s license number and his insurance company claimed to not know who he was! D and I finally tracked him down on Facebook and got him to call our insurance company.
The moral of the story is - tell your kids to get all the information and even take photos of the documents if they can. When the insurance companies fail, do some legwork yourself. Good luck!
Yes, your rates can rise if you are in an accident that’s not your fault. It happened to me but not all states allow it.
Op, even if you don’t tell your insurance company, you should let the cops know that this guy is up to his tricks again.
You never know what an insurance company will do with rates if they can get away with it. They’re tricky and in the business to make money.
“Your insurance company should be able to look up the other guys insurance based on the info you have. Your rates will not go up unless they pay a claim, so do not be afraid to give them a call.”
it is the law that you report auto accidents with injury or property damage in north carolina. and without a police report, the other party may be at “fault” but claim otherwise and sue. always call the police and always get a report. and never lend your car. (frat brother or not)
http://www.ncbar.org/media/209965/what-to-do-in-case-of-an-auto-accident.pdf
At D2’s school, fraternity pledges were commonly required to serve as designated drivers (though there was no requirement to loan out your car to them). After all, they weren’t legal to drink anyway, and it served a “higher purpose.” D2 even benefited from this a time or two. But they recently stopped this completely as it is considered to be “hazing.” And technically, that’s true.
also does the guy who was borrowing the car have auto insurance? did he report it to his insurance?
I get your son wants to be cool with his frat brothers but, the responsibility kind of falls on the guy who borrowed the car.
Maybe the frat wants to pay since it happened “on frat business” and this will also keep the brothers agreeable with each other?
I agree with gardenstateegal. If I was driving, I’d offer to chip in. If no one does, I’d tell son that he now has to earn the $1000, & no one but him will drive it
Thanks all. Lots of good suggestions. I am inclined to agree that it’s best to move on at this point. The other driver claimed to have insurance at the time of the incident, but hasn’t been forthcoming with any information, saying at first that his dad would pay, then that they wanted to use a family friend’s business to do the work (which DS rejected) and then hasn’t responded to any sort of request for resolution. I don’t want to bore with the details but DS put in a fair amount of time getting his own estimates and trying to request a compromise solution. At this point I think he’s done about as much can be expected from an 18 year old. School gets out in two weeks and then DS will be back home in VA, so the distance will add another complication.
A demand letter sounds tempting, and I will look into that. We don’t know any attorneys in NC but this may be one of those legal things that can be done online.
At this point I think DS and his friend are both dreaming that somehow the other guy will come through. When they realize that he won’t, perhaps DS’s friend will step up. We will certainly encourage DS to broach the subject; he feels awkward about it (as I think most people do when asking for money). And yes, we had a long talk about what to do in case of an accident (which DS claims to be very familiar with from his drivers ed days, but this certainly reinforces the lesson).
I would also talk to him about lending out the car. Make sure the insurance policy covers guest drivers, or if a friend drives the car and gets into an accident and is at fault, your S could face being sued directly (not all policies cover guest drivers, especially among the ‘cut rate’ insurance agencies), and I still would be reluctant to have him lending the car out.