Ask Me Help Desk - No insurance in accident but am victim

I was in a car accident where the person that hit me left a huge dent in my car and estimated at about $1,200 worth of damage to my car. He hit me when I was coming into a parking lot and he didn't stop completely at a stop sign. He has insurance, I do not. Am I liable for anything? Also, he is threatening to take me to court because he is saying that it is my fault? Can anybody help me on this?

Shed some light on these questions, let's see if someone can help: Need to know 1) What state did the accident happen in ? 2) was the accident on a public right of way (street) or were you both in a private parking lot 2) Was any acc report taken by law enforcement - (most law enforcement are not required to complete an acc report if on private property and no injuries).

The accident happened in Washington State and the accident occurred at Weisfield Shopping Center Parking Lot. No acc report was taken because the man that hit me said he would fix the damages because he owns a shop. After taking my car to his shop he stated that I would have to pay part of the damages and if I took up the claim with his insurance he would take me to court and say that it was partly my fault.

Here's the link to the State of WA DMV.

WA State Licensing: Mandatory insurance

I was looking to see if your not having insurance might preclude or stop you from filing against his insurance and collecting /and/or pursuing him for the damages. I didn't find any such info, therefore, I would call his insurance company, file a claim against it for your damages. If he continues to insist that the acc was your fault, you may want to seek the services of an attorney to defend yourself. By the way, if you have damages and it's proven to his insurance company, they should reimburse you or you could possibly pursue him in court for your damages and you might prevail. By the way, the fine for driving in WA w/o liabilty insurance is $ 450.00.

You didn't ask but I would be remiss in reminding you that in WA it's mandatory you have liab insurance or post either a $60,000 deposit or a $60,000 surety bond. I think you can forget the last two as most people don't want to give the State $60,000 and I don't know of many surety companies that would issue such a bond and even if they did, the cost would probably be $50.00 per $1,000 and that's $3,000 per year plus you might have to give the surety collateral for at least $30,000.

You were very nieve to not call the police. You might still try to fill a police report but they may refuse. I'm in Illinois but I thought Washington had mandatory insurance laws, am I mistaken?

Never hurts to call the police, but my experience is that most law enforcement will refuse to write an acc report if the acc occurred on private property (not a public street) unless someone was injured. Even if you called them, I doubt they would file a report.

Normally when someone tells you not to call the police they have something to hide ( like maybe he does not have insurance either)?

Of he has no drivers license, or it is suspended and so on.
So unless he is paying you cash at the scene always expect to be cheated.

Ok, you did not call the police so that saved you a traffic ticket, like he said 450 plus most likely a state filing that will increase your cost to get insurance.

So do you have some witnesses, if not if he changes his story, you will have to fight it out in court.

So how much is he saying you are to pay, remember basically his labor is free, and materials if he merely beats the dents out is very little ( just some paint)

So your choice is to due him in court, you file first in small claims, or pay him, but reemmber he is already trying to cheat your twice now, so how many more times will he change the deal when he does your car.

Anyone who is willing to cheat you, I would not let him touch my car persnally

Quote:

Originally Posted by cneace

had accident was hit in the rear of my truck, had no insurance but
am suffering neck and back pain. am i responsible for the damages
to his car? is there anything i can do about my damages and pain?
do i have the right to sue without having insurance?

First, its not a good idea to piggyback your question on someone else's thread. So I'm requesting this be moved to its own thread.

If you were rear ended, the other driver is usually considered fully at fault. So you need to file a claim with his insurance. The fact that you did not have insurance doesn't preclude you from filing ot getting paid.

However, if it can be determined that you were at fault, you may be held responsible for damages.

You may want to check into your state's laws. Granted it may be different in your state but in the state of Florida (where it is required to have insurance), if you are driving without insurance you are automatically at fault for the accident. My sister was hit once by a man who ran a red light. There were many witnesses to the accident and they all told the officer that the man was at fault but she was legally responsible because she did not have any insurance. Their logic was that she should have never been driving in the first place because her car was not insured, thus, making the accident her fault. Before you try to take this man to court you should definitely determine whether your state's laws work in the same manner otherwise the judge might rule against you.