Quote:
Originally Posted by Tractionless
What to do in the event of an accident is something parents and schools should teach. Another failure in our crappy educational system.
NEVER assume ANY stranger is a good human, people you (think) you know will probably surprise you one day as well. A stranger will simply block your phone number when you call to settle the crash and your insurance REQUIRES a police report to make a claim.
ALWAYS involve the police, it's the only way to hold the other party legally accountable.
I work in roadway construction and see people just exchanging crash info. weekly. Once I had a discussion with the victim of a rear end crash where the guilty party only wanted to exchange info. and she was being very cordial. When the victim said they wanted a police report the guilty party about faced and went venomous. Mostly likely she's uninsured, has a ton of points on her license already, doesn't want upped rates due to being her fault, etc. Any person on the up and up will want a police report.
Also realize Florida has the highest amount of uninsured motorists in the country, most likely the case in your hit and run. Don't do ANY stranger a favor by thinking you're being nice only exchanging info. The world is full of opportunists and will screw you all day every day if they can. The sooner you learn that the better.
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Yes, always involve the police! I work at a golf course. A couple of months ago one of our members got overserved wine. Being she lives in adjacent private, gated community it was decided that she would call her husband and have him make the 3 minute drive to pick her up.
Turns out she decided to drive herself home. She t-boned a staff member in the parking lot as he was leaving for the day. She begged him not to call the cops and promised to pay out of pocket for his damages. He agreed.
Flash ahead a couple of days and he calls her with the repair estimate. It was under $2000. And asked her when he could pick up a check.
He doesn't hear from her for a couple of days so he keeps calling her...
After multiple phone calls over a weeks time, she walks into the clubhouse and denies she hit him.
Worse yet, she's demanding he get fired for "harrasing" her. Management wanted no part of this either way for obvious reasons and told them to work it out.
Needless to say, he never got a dime from her but kept his job. Until he quit.
If he had called the cops she would have gotten a DUI which is an automatic $5000 fine, loss of license for six months and a hefty raise in insurance premiums. Not to mention the club would have been dinged for overserving her.
Bottom line is Tractionless is right! Never trust anyone to do the right thing anymore. Call the cops and cover your ***.