Ask Me Help Desk - Driving without insurance in car accident.

In November of last year I was hit on the rear right side of my vehicle by a merging truck and nearly totaled my car. When the report came back it was flawed many times over. The reporting officer left out the rear damage that was very obvious, said that subject 1 (me) was phoned in as a seemingly drunk driver, and that I had hit the truck causing it to roll.
I first of all drive a very small car and the man drove a large truck... I know physics and the only way he could have rolled his truck is the way it happened. I also asked more than once for a test to be done on the other driver to see if he was intoxicated.
Anyhow, the man gave false information to the officer including insurance he didn't have. He not only didn't produce an insurance card but later when I called the officer and his Sgt to have the report amended, The officer lied and told me that Indianapolis police didn't have the means to run his insurance.
That night I watched the man jump over a barrier to get into his friends car. At the time of the accident he claimed no injury and now he is all of a sudden claiming a nice even numbered $38000 worth of injury.
My question is; If in Indiana it a class C felony to get in an accident while driving without insurance, how can he ask for any money out of me and my insurance company? Also, because the officer refused my request to have my report amended even after faxing images of the car taken after the night of the accident, is there any way I can still fix that? The report was contradictory and false. Not to mention, he blatently lied about not being able to run insurance from his squad car and didn't grant my request for a breathalizer.
Please help, I am so angry right now because I'm going to have to pay thousands just to fly back to Indiana from Hawaii to deal with this.

Hello K:

I think it would be cheaper and more effective if you hired a lawyer in Indiana instead of traveling there.

It really doesn't matter what the cop did, or what the other driver did, or the fact that you couldn't get the cop to document YOUR stuff. What matters is the quality of your lawyer.

OR, if you have insurance (you didn't say whether YOU do or not), let them handle it.

excon

First I agree with excon.

Second, You need to separate his insurance claims against you from his criminal activity about driving without insurance. One has little to do with the other. He can and should be prosecuted for the dirving without insurance, but that doesn't have anything to do with the accident.

What you (or your lawyer) needs to do is document the accident, forsensically. Since the officer didn't witness the accident his account has to be based on something. If you can disprove, either by witnesses or forensics that his version doesn't make sense you can prevail.

But what should be happeneing ins your insurance carrier should be paying your costs and THEY should be going after the other driver for reimbursement.

You need to find out who owns the truck as that is where any money that you are going to collect will be coming from. You didn't say how big a truck this was. Was it a semi or just a pick up truck?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohakitty

In november of last year I was hit on the rear right side of my vehicle by a merging truck and nearly totaled my car. When the report came back it was flawed many times over. The reporting officer left out the rear damage that was very obvious, said that subject 1 (me) was phoned in as a seemingly drunk driver, and that I had hit the truck causing it to roll.
I first of all drive a very small car and the man drove a large truck...I know physics and the only way he could have rolled his truck is the way it happened. I also asked more than once for a test to be done on the other driver to see if he was intoxicated.
Anyhow, the man gave false information to the officer including insurance he didn't have. He not only didn't produce an insurance card but later when I called the officer and his Sgt to have the report ammended, The officer lied and told me that Indianapolis police didn't have the means to run his insurance.
That night I watched the man jump over a barrier to get into his friends car. At the time of the accident he claimed no injury and now he is all of a sudden claiming a nice even numbered $38000 worth of injury.
My question is; If in Indiana it a class C felony to get in an accident while driving without insurance, how can he ask for any money out of me and my insurance company? Also, because the officer refused my request to have my report ammended even after faxing images of the car taken after the night of the accident, is there any way I can still fix that? The report was contradictory and false. Not to mention, he blatently lied about not being able to run insurance from his squad car and didn't grant my request for a breathalizer.
Please help, I am so angry right now because I'm going to have to pay thousands just to fly back to Indiana from Hawaii to deal with this.

I would have a couple of questions/comments here -

Who called you in (and when) for being a "seemingly" intoxicated driver? I would guess this was before the accident by someone not involved in the accident - ?

Perhaps it's a law of physics, perhaps not, but it is entirely possible for a small vehicle and large vehicle to impact and for the larger vehicle to roll. Drivers always have the argument "My little car couldn't possibly cause that big vehicle to roll" but I see it all the time. Depends on the angle of the hit.

It is not the decision of one driver whether the other driver is testing for alcohol. That is the decision of the Police. The Police have no obligation to honor your request - they apparently didn't believe, based on their training and experience, that the other driver was intoxicated.

As far as running the identification it is entirely possible that the Police couldn't get on the computer at that time, that the database did not have clear info, that there was some other problem. I see Accident Reports all the time that don't have the auto insurance info because of computer glitches, duplicate postings, incorrect info. I wouldn't assume that the Police Officer lied or was prejudicial.

Also not the least bit uncommon to leap around at the accident scene and wake up the next morning with injuries - any injuries the other driver is claiming have to be verified by medical reports and those reports either will verify injuries - or not. Always sounds like a scam, sometimes is, sometimes isn't.

Yes, you can demand an amended Police Report but the Police are under no obligation to amend it. In theory their Report is based on their investigation and questioning of witnesses and both parties at the scene. The form a conclusion and I see very, very few that are ever amended.

I've posted this before but I've investigated accidents that have the directions of the cars wrong and the Police have refused to correct the Report - they wrote their conclusions at the time and those conclusions have not changed.

If the other driver can PROVE he was injured/damaged by your negligence it does not matter if he had insurance in effect or not, not does his insurance or lack of insurance have anything to do with the cause of the accident. As far as the damages, Attorneys do not claim for uneven numbers, such as $1,000.38. They go for even numbers.

Yes, it's beyond aggravating that you pay for insurance and other people do not and then you get into accidents with them but if the harsh reality is that if the Police don't want to charge him there is very little you can do.

Why do you have to go back to Indiana? Were you ticketed?

To answear anything I left out... I do have insurance but it only covers $25,000 bodily injury. The only person who phoned in, did so three hours later and didn't even know what kind of car or what color but knew everything about the truck... It's not a matter of physics, It's a matter of knowing that I was clipped in the rear end and spun and he claimed that I clipped him and happened to flip. The Officer didn't do his job because it was the end of his shift on Thanksgiving night. He very well could have run insurance and yes his computer may not have worked but he claimed they didn't have the ability at all, EVER. My grandpa is the sheriff of a very small county and on his very limited budget his cars all had the ability to run insurance.
I was not ticketed but I do want to fight it. I do not believe he was injured at all. I just don't.
I really just want to know why he's even able to ask for money from MY insurance company without insurance on himself... that's illegal for him to be driving without it and I would be out of luck if he would've injured me. My insurance would have had to pay.

Ok, even if the other person does not have insurance that does not change who can be responsible for the accident, it only means that they can be changed with that and/or the other party can not collect from their insurance company.

His driving illegally, has no bearing on his ability to sue you or your insurance company.

What matters is who is at fault in the accident, the matter of insurance has no bearing on the accident as to who is at faut at all.

Thanks for your answears. Still royally pissed at the system, the guy should be paying loads of fines for getting in a car without insurance and then lying and saying he was with an insurance company who had never insured him. Oh well, the world is full of bags I guess.

The tickets for no insurace at least in GA is seldom ever inforced, the officer at the scene in GA is at least only written if there is proof of no insurance. So if the person says there is insurance, the person is normally only written a ticket for no proof of insurance, not no insurance..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohakitty

the guy should be paying loads of fines for getting in a car without insurance

And you don't know that he won't be. That is his own private business and has no affect on the accident. You are free to sue him for your damages as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alohakitty

To answear anything I left out... I do have insurance but it only covers $25,000 bodily injury. The only person who phoned in, did so three hours later and didn't even know what kind of car or what color but knew everything about the truck...It's not a matter of physics, It's a matter of knowing that I was clipped in the rear end and spun and he claimed that I clipped him and happened to flip. The Officer didn't do his job because it was the end of his shift on Thanksgiving night. He very well could have run insurance and yes his computer may not have worked but he claimed they didn't have the ability at all, EVER. My grandpa is the sheriff of a very small county and on his very limited budget his cars all had the ability to run insurance.
I was not ticketed but I do want to fight it. I do not believe he was injured at all., I just don't.
I really just want to know why he's even able to ask for money from MY insurance company without insurance on himself...that's illegal for him to be driving without it and I would be out of luck if he would've injured me. My insurance would have had to pay.

You brought physics into this; I didn't just make that up.

The other driver's insured status had nothing to do with the accident and is moot. I have no idea why he wasn't ticketed. In NYS this is often the case. You don't know why he didn't have insurance - whether it was a computer error, "check was in the mail," if he hadn't had insurance for some time, and you never will find out.

He is able to ask for damages from your insurance company because he is going to make an argument that he can prove he was injured and you were the cause. You are going to argue that he is presenting fraudulent medical info (if he is not hurt) and you shouldn't have to pay.

Then a Judge (if it goes that far) is going to make a decision.

OR your insurance company is going to settle, which is going to infuriate you, but you have no control over what your insurance company does.

(You have a relative who is a Sheriff - what does he say about the "no ticket" situation? He would certainly have more insight than I would.)