I can has truck wreck?

[ShinyGreenApple]

You know that nice, shiny '06 Dakota I acquired in December? Yeah.

I was on my way to clinical rotations at the VA this morning and merged into the right turn only lane that would take me to the hospital. Next thing I know, a white pickup is suddenly merging in front of me, and not only does he do this with little notice, but then IMMEDIATELY makes to turn into one of the shops along side the road as well. I really tried to put on my brakes but you can only do so much, especially with larger vehicles. I could hear myself saying "Shiiiiiiiiiiiitttt!" since I knew there was little chance I'd be able to stop in time.

Trucks go crash.

I heard and saw some glass crunching and flying just outside my window, which turned out to be from my headlights, and pulled off into the shops there. Yes, both of us are fine and the police were called. They decided that due to conflicting stories and the nature of that area (They said they work a ridiculous amount of crashes on that corner), that no one would be charged. The guy's trying to say that I was speeding, but I wasn't, and I really did try and stop before we collided. And if he were really just merging into the lane, I would have rear ended him instead of smashing up his truck between the bed and the cab. My left headlight is smashed out, the fender is dented and smushed, and I blew the front tire on that side as well. I called my insurance company and I have AAA; the towtruck driver that came out said he didn't feel the truck was safe to drive with a donut since I hit something hard enough to blow the tire so he took me home.

Shit, fuck, and a thousand profanities known to man. I've never been in an accident before, I don't know when I'll get my truck back (they're taking it away to asses and repair any minute now), and if I miss another day of clinicals, I'll have to leave my CNA program. I called my instructor at the hospital to let her know what happened, since she's the kind to worry, and all she was concerned about was me going to the doctor's after the adrenaline wears off. Not that I have any way of getting there . . . but yeah. She said she might be able to pick me up and take me to clinicals herself since she thinks we live not too far apart, but I dunno . . .

And yeah, I guess there goes my Spring Break trip to NC to see my sister and get the doggy if we're stuck with a $500 deductible

At least I'm alive.

Look at my poor, poor truck! And I've only had it for two months.







P.S. Oh yeah, when the officers asked this guy what he did for a living, he replies "Oh, I'm a D.O.T consultant!"

*headdesk*

[protege]

Damn. That sucks. Still, it could have been much worse, and at least nobody got hurt. Damage seems to be confined to the left front corner. They'll replace the fender, light, and possibly the bumper as well. Oh, and let's not forget the tire Seriously though, because it's a newer vehicle, it shouldn't take long to get the parts and complete the repairs.

[Nurian]

I'm very sorry your new baby got hurt

Glad it wasn't you, though.

[ShinyGreenApple]

Well, my instructor called me back around 3 and had let the class know what happened in post-conference. One of my classmates has volunteered to pick me up and take me to and from classes/clinicals. She just came out here on a dry run on the way home from picking up her kids so she knows exactly where to come in the morning. I am incredibly, incredibly grateful, since missing more than one clinical and one class will automatically get me the boot from the program. I don't need to worry about missing today since there is a scheduled makeup day at the end of the class, and in all honesty, my instructor is still more concerned about how I am physically and such than the fact that I've missed.

Just after I made my OP this morning, a wrecker showed up at the house to take my truck away to the shop for assessments and repair. We called the shop a while ago, and the adjuster hasn't even come to look at it yet, and it'll be at least Tuesday until it's fixed. And this was our only dependable vehicle. While I do have class and rotations taken care of, that still leaves us stranded for groceries, animal feed, library, etc.

And I don't mean to sound ungrateful or bitchy, since yes, I was perfectly able to walk away from this one unscathed, and I doubt the truck is completely totaled. I have my health and my life to be very thankful for, as well as the people in my CNA course who showed concern for me (I was flooded with a list of phone numbers when my instructor called me later this afternoon).

But yeah . . . this is really a bitch. We just really didn't need this, especially not right now. And I was really, really looking forward to my road trip. I've been counting down the days, and now I guess there's really no point

[BookstoreEscapee]

Well, I'm glad no one was hurt...that's the important part. I'm no expert but it doesn't look like it would be totaled. Your insurance might cover a rental car. Mine covers something like $30 a day up to a certain amount (though when I had to get my car fixed a month or so ago I was able to borrow my dad's car).

Will you still be able to get the doggie even if you don't get to take the road trip?

[ShinyGreenApple]

We don't have rental coverage with our insurance, and the cheapest we could get it is around $45 a day. That's gonna be a big bill if we keep the rental for very long.

Not sure about the doggy. I just don't see how else we'd be able to get him across 500 miles.

[BookstoreEscapee]

There are pet transportation services out there...I don't know what they cost, though...

[ShinyGreenApple]

Yeah, cost is kind of an issue, and I doubt the people who have him now would be willing to ship him. They're extremely picky about where their puppies are going, which is probably the reason they still have several of them at 7 months old. Not that I can really blame them, though.

The police didn't fault either of us, but if the insurance company finds the other guy at fault, will we still have to pay my deductible?

[BookstoreEscapee]

The police didn't fault either of us, but if the insurance company finds the other guy at fault, will we still have to pay my deductible?

Assuming it works the same way as my accident(s) did:
If your insurance company believes the other guy is at fault, they will go after his insurance company. Your insurance company should send you a form to fill out describing exactly what happened, including time of day, weather/road conditions, which direction you each were going, whether there were any signals or warnings, etc. (mine even has a little map so you can diagram the accident); they will do the initial legwork with the other guy's insurance. The other company will likely contact you to get your side of the story, and if they agree that it was their customer's fault, they will then reimburse your insurance company for what they paid, and then your insurance company will reimburse you for your deductible. So you will have to lay out the deductible but hopefully you will get it back.

The other option is to go directly through the other insurance, in which case you wouldn't pay the deductible, but you would also have to wait to get the truck fixed (or pay for it outright) until they review the case and make a decision. Which is clearly not an option.

[Eric the Grey]

Assuming it works the same way as my accident(s) did: . . .

This is the way it happened with my accident as well. Both insurance companies called me and asked questions, and both companies determined that their insurer was telling the truth so neither of us got the other to pay up.

On the plus side, if they look at the way your truck is damaged, and why the police couldn't make this determination, I'll never know, it is obvious that he entered your lane and hit you. Unless the laws are quite different where you are, the car currently in the lane has the right of way.

Personally, I'd fight it. I have Farmers and they would have fought my accident in court if they felt there was enough evidence of the other person's wrongdoing, but in my case, there simply wasn't. In yours, the pictures may well be enough to warrant it.

Best of luck with it all. I'm glad you weren't hurt, and overall the damages aren't that bad, so you should be back on the road soon.


Eric the Grey

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've been in 3 accidents and I was rear-ended all 3 times...so it was pretty clear who was at fault...

[ShinyGreenApple]

So far the damage is tallied up to just under $2500. Man am I ever glad we have insurance. And my friend from school has been great about getting me there on time and such, and we had a blast the past two days. (Tired CNA students + practice work in the nursing lab + genitals falling off of plastic dummies = hilarity). My nephew has a friend with an older sister who was able to take Mom shopping for groceries and run errands today, so we're doing really great, considering. Although Mom says that spending the entire day with three teenagers was rather stressful

My Dad was able to stop by for a short time, and when he was in town, he stopped at the shop to look at my truck. *sniffles* Poor, poor truck . . . it must miss it's old owners, LOL. He says judging by the looks of things, even though the front end body was partially disassembled, there's no way I was at fault, especially also giving the area of the other guy's truck where we collided.

And did I mention that the driver isn't the owner of this vehicle? He was in a company truck. I hope his boss chews him several new ones, and I don't care if I'm evil for doing so

[Monica]

I have been in one accident. It was the guys fault. He had the stop sign, I had the right away. He claims, since he was out of state, he didn't know there was a stop sign there. Everyone who saw it said he was at fault. The damage to my car was around your amount, maybe a little more.

My insurance didn't cover a car rental. so I had to pay for that myself. I also had a ride to the hospital in an ambulance. There was nothing wrong, or no injuries, they just wanted to be safe.

[BookstoreEscapee]

He claims, since he was out of state, he didn't know there was a stop sign there.

Um, I've driven in several other states...Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island...I have not noticed any peculiarities about the stop signs in those states that make an out-of-stater unable to see them.


On company cars: My second rear-ender I got hit by a girl driving a Work Out World (a gym) VW Bug. We were on a ramp with a yield sign, and I had to stop to wait for traffic to clear. I inched up a little bit, and she was looking at the traffic coming on the road we were trying to merge onto, and hit me. Nothing major, though I did have some bright orange paint on my dented bumper.

Could be worse - we were chatting while we waited for the police to show up, and she told me about a coworker who had managed to hit 2 deer (separate incidents) while driving a company SUV. He was thereafter known as The Deerslayer.

[UncleImpy]

I highly recommend these little Accident Kits I got while waiting in line at the local Container Store. Get one, toss it in your glove box, and forget about it until Something Bad Happens.

Its a little zip up pouch that has a tiny clipboard, pen and pencil, little forms to fill out for the other driver's information and any information you have about the accident, along with a little envelope you can stuff it all in so you dont lose it. But the best part? It includes a disposable camera so you can IMMEDIATELY take pictures of the scene. That little camera ALONE helped me prove to the other insurance company that their driver was at fault - they were stonewalling me for a week until I got the piccys developed and sent to them. 1 day after they got the pictures? They paid my insurance company for everything. Heh.