I was in a car accident with my ex girlfriends dads truck, the accident was my fault entirely but the amount of money he is requesting my family does not have. We asked that he go to our usual shop and he did but never followed up as well as he never took pictures, got a written statement, or filed any sort of police report or insurance claim. About 6 months later he goes to the police about it and is expecting to get the amount of money he wants, is there anyway he can get money for the damages? And I live in NJ

Did you notify the insurance company which insured the truck you were driving? If not, notify it immediately.

You said he has gone to the police about it. I don't see them prosecuting you after all this time. For one thing, it is very doubtful that they would be able to prove that any crime was committed. So I'm wondering what he thinks reporting it to the police might accomplish. What, if anything, did they do after he reported the accident to them?

Yes, he can get money for the damages, if he can prove, in a civil suit, that you were in the wrong. If the truck's owner had insurance, the damages will be paid by the insurance company.

He can of course sue you, you can not tell them what repair shop to use. You do have the right to ask for a written copy of the estimate, and to have your own company give you an estimate. Not that you can require it done any certain place.

If your estimate and his does not match, that is why we have courts and law suits.

It should have been reported to his insurance , you need to do that.

I'm also curious about what he thinks going to the police will do. How did you find out about it?

But the truck owner's liability insurance should cover this. If it doesn't then he can file suit against you and the truck owner.

I hit his truck with my car, and as of now they haven't done anything. Like I said as well he doesn't have any proof because he did not follow up with anything nor did he take any pictures or anything of that sort


Scott, most of the police around here are close with my family and the one he reported it to called my mom and told her he had reported everything

Ok that explains how you found out. But it doesn't explain what he expects the police to do. Did the officer tell your mom what he wanted or what he was told?

I don't know that he needs a ton of proof - you have admitted here that you hit his truck and I would "guess" that you've admitted it other places.

I'm a liability investigator - there is no requirement that he use YOUR facility to repair his auto. You should have reported the accident to the insurance company as soon as it happened AND called the Police. Lesson for the next time.

Report it to the insurance company and see what they do. They might disallow because it wasn't reported in a timely fashion.

He can demand anything he wants. A Court (if it comes to that) will award him whatever the Court feels is appropriate. If it's covered by insurance, they will pay what they think is appropriate.

How do you know he never took pictures? Was there damage to the vehicle you were driving? Who covered that?

Is he asking for money (and the Police wouldn't know the dollar amount of his claim so something is missing here) for vehicle repair OR for personal injury and/or medical bills?

Well I know he didn't take pictures because this was at the time I was dating his daughter and I wouldve known all of this through here since everything was just peachy at this time. I know I couldn't make him go to a mechanic of our choice but I'm just stating that we would pay it there because since the mechanic is a friend he would help out on the bill. There was damage on my car and no one covered that because we all decided we wouldn't go to cops or insurance just to save money and not raise my families rates. I'm not too sure what he asked the cops but it wasn't personal injury because no one was in it and the car was parked (I was run off the road)

Sorry, but you don't know he didn't take photos. You just know you didn't hear about them. Maybe he didn't tell his daughter. The repair shop is, as you said, totally his choice.

You were run off the road and no one was in the vehicle? Your insurance would not have gone up.

But there wasn't any way of proving I was run off the road, the driver floored by me and just kept on going and the reason I know he didn't is because I spent everyday with her and always had my car on hand so not only would he have to take it either when I was sleeping or away I'm almost 100% positive I wouldve known if he took pictures

It really doesn't matter at this point about pictures. They won't show when the damage was done.

Like I said, you report it to your insurer and await his next move.

Sorry, this is not CSI on TV, the local small claims or civil court will not really care if there is not a photo from then, and they will look at the fact you had the wreck and did not pay.
Again, you can not demand they fix it anywhere, you can pay what you think it should be, ( and they can sue the rest) but at least you paid or offered to pay something.

The estimate from the other garage to fit it, is all they need to prove the damage.