paulswagelock
Well-Known Member
So I was sitting at a train crossing, 3 or 4 minutes go by. I am in park, foot on the brake so my lights are lit, broad daylight. Reading something on my phone to pass time as it would be another 5 minutes or so. POW - truck jumps forward a foot.
Gather my senses and realize there is a car under the rear of my truck. Mind you, there is 1600’ of straight level road behind me. In a bit of a daze, I get out and the car backs out from under my truck. Kid gets out, 20 ish. Polite and apologizes and says “sorry man, brakes are bad in my car.”. Car is truly a $50 car.
I make sure he and passenger are ok, verify I kinda feel ok, and start asking for license, registration and insurance. “Hmmm, not sure I have any of that with me” is said. So I dial 911 and ask for an officer in case he can’t identify himself. While waiting, he finally finds his wallet and produces a valid drivers license. Can’t produce registration, but gets me a screen shot from The General insurance. Ask if it is current and he states “I don’t know, might be”.
I call the police and they state there is nothing else they can do because they can’t check real time if insurance is current, so I waive them off. We all leave the scene. My truck is new and expensive, and likely has $7000 or more damage. Is driveable, but the tailgate doesn’t work, the exhaust needed tied up, the hitch is damaged and a stabilizer link is bent. Bumper is mutilated as is the left lower bed from the bumper crushing into it.
Contact My insurance as it is unlikely he has valid insurance and they can chase down the verification from The General. Go through the likely scenario assuming he is uninsured. I will be out of pocket about $800-1000 between deductible, rental prorate, etc. I need to drive a mangled truck until it is all sorted out. I will likely suffer a $1700-2500 diminished value for my truck now having a wreck show up when I try to sell or trade that I have no path to recover. So, I am out $2000-3500. The kid who chooses to drive with no insurance, not out a cent. Police said it is unlikely they will chase him down if uninsured as it is low on their priorities. He will literally have zero financial consequence from the event.
People suck, rant over.
Gather my senses and realize there is a car under the rear of my truck. Mind you, there is 1600’ of straight level road behind me. In a bit of a daze, I get out and the car backs out from under my truck. Kid gets out, 20 ish. Polite and apologizes and says “sorry man, brakes are bad in my car.”. Car is truly a $50 car.
I make sure he and passenger are ok, verify I kinda feel ok, and start asking for license, registration and insurance. “Hmmm, not sure I have any of that with me” is said. So I dial 911 and ask for an officer in case he can’t identify himself. While waiting, he finally finds his wallet and produces a valid drivers license. Can’t produce registration, but gets me a screen shot from The General insurance. Ask if it is current and he states “I don’t know, might be”.
I call the police and they state there is nothing else they can do because they can’t check real time if insurance is current, so I waive them off. We all leave the scene. My truck is new and expensive, and likely has $7000 or more damage. Is driveable, but the tailgate doesn’t work, the exhaust needed tied up, the hitch is damaged and a stabilizer link is bent. Bumper is mutilated as is the left lower bed from the bumper crushing into it.
Contact My insurance as it is unlikely he has valid insurance and they can chase down the verification from The General. Go through the likely scenario assuming he is uninsured. I will be out of pocket about $800-1000 between deductible, rental prorate, etc. I need to drive a mangled truck until it is all sorted out. I will likely suffer a $1700-2500 diminished value for my truck now having a wreck show up when I try to sell or trade that I have no path to recover. So, I am out $2000-3500. The kid who chooses to drive with no insurance, not out a cent. Police said it is unlikely they will chase him down if uninsured as it is low on their priorities. He will literally have zero financial consequence from the event.
People suck, rant over.