Need car accident advice.....
 

Yesterday evening it was raining quite a bit here in the Dallas area and I was at this stop light (it was red). Luckily, I was the first car at the light rather than having some one in front of me. Anyway, this woman plowed into the back of my car and never even tried to stop.....she hit me so hard it pushed me into the intersection. She was driving a Saturn and I was driving a Honda Accord. It did nothing to her car but somehow she went up over my back bumper and smashed in my whole trunk and tail lights and dented the bumper a little. :mad:

The cops, fire truck, and ambulance all showed up. The paramedics said if I didn't have tingling in my fingers I was fine.....never mind I hurt all over :) So they left. The cop would not do a police report even though this woman admitted to him exactly what happened so I was a bit worried that she would turn around and lie to her insurance company. He said it has to be life threatening to do a police report. This is crazy to me but whatever.....

Anyway, the paramedics and police did tell me that I should not head back to my home (25 mins away) but rather find a friend and stay in the immediate area in case I needed to go to the hospital later because that way it would be the same hospital (more than likely) I would have been transported to and they could then arrive on the scene there and follow up.

Well, I had some major pain all night long and took pain killers for it and it didn't help much. :( I know I'll be sore but my left arm is killing me and kind of numb down into my wrist. I have dealt with her insurance company today and they tell me I have to pay out of pocket for injuries then MIGHT get reimbursed if they decide they were "accident related". WTF? My insurance company told me to open a PI claim only and they will pay my medical and lost wages and that hers will have to, too....eventually.

I have NEVER been in this situation before where there was an injury involved.....any advice so that I don't get screwed over? Sorry for the lengthy story.....

FUCK! Being pushed into the fucking road by being smashed in the back end by another car IS a fucking life threatening accident.

I'm sorry... that's fucked up. ANY public road incident by law here in the UK, MUST be called in. If it's not, you're breaking the law.

You need to go to the hospital and get your injuries on record... Then call an attorney so you can get paid what is due to you!

Sounds like someone either lied to you or Texas some fucked up laws.

the paramedics told you that if your fingers did not tingle you must of been fine???

i'd be sueing them aswell

they are suppose to give you the option of being transported or not
hell you can have a paper cut and they will transport you

as for the police not doing a police report
that sounds like a load of shit aswell?

sounds like you can sue all three

I just got off the phone with her insurance company (Progressive) and she has only been here in the U.S. for 2 months....she's from Albania but she did admit to her own company it was her fault....so I'm fine there and also fine if she goes back to Albania anytime soon. BUT.....Progressive.....her company is more interested in fixing my car than about me. They said I could go to the doc and pay out of pocket and then they would "review" the case and offer me a settlement based on lost time from work and my medical bills. Also, Progressive wants me to come in next week and submit to some kind of medical review.....what is this?

My insurance company says to go ahead and open at PIP claim with them (no deductible to pay) and they will pay my bills up to $2,500 in medical and then Progressive will also have to pay those same bills. I brought this up with Progressive....they tried to deny it and then finally came clean and then changed their story....now the story is they will also pay the medical bills they deem are part of the accident (even if my own PIP has paid them) and then they will give me an "offer" due to loss of work time and "pain and suffering from their BS" so to speak. I told them I want my car fixed at the dealership....period and they were telling me they use USED parts or AFTER MARKET parts first....is this true? Why not new parts? They were new before she ran into the back of me....well, new when I bought the car.

YES....Texas is a fucked up state when it comes to many laws.....try the child support system......great fun on both sides of the coin.....for the men and the women!

I was in a car accident last march 2006 just like you i was rear ended, the cops didnt come and make a police report either because i was able to move. What i would recommend thou is going to the doctors right away and get checked out and tell them how your hurt all over. I didnt feel any pain until a couple of days later and it progressed to the point i was paralized for a couple of days do to the pain. To this day i still feel the pain and have been fighting it ever since. It turned out that i have a bulging disc that is half an inch. Im only 24 and it has screwed up my life i cant even walk for longer then 30 mins without feeling leg numbness and have been out of work ever since. I hope this doesnt happen to you or anyone ever, just make sure you get the right treatment.

Getting in a car wreck is a total cluster fuck these days.

Interesting that your in Dallas, so am I.

Back in December I was doing about 70mph down 190 at the 75 overpass, and the guy next lane over got hit, then he went airborne and slammed me head on and we slid into the hwy divider really hard.

I thought I broke my fucking neck, I was rolling around in agony on the side of the hwy until the ambulance got there.

Pretty much everyone there saw what happened and all agreed. Even the police report indicated two other people tangled and hit me...not my fault.

Well guess what, their insurance (Nationwide) denied all claims to me.
My car had $17,310 worth of damage and I have a shit load of medical, ambulance and rental bills.

I had to get an attorney and we are in the process of sueing every motherfucker who was on the road that day, the insurance companies and everyone related to them in alphabetical order.
I don't like doing that, but thats the way it is these days....they will try and fuck you over.

if you have numbness in your arms or anywhere in your body i would ask your doctor for a MRI. numbness is due to pinching of a nerve.

also with your car getting repaired you can choose to get it repaired anywhere you want you dont have to goto their authorized centers.

and with you going to progreesive to get checked out by their doctors, i would hold off from that and just use your doctors and send progresive a medical record release form

I believe that because it wasn't your fault, Progressive has no right to say who you get your car fixed by. If it's a newer car, I'd take it to the dealership myself and get the estimate from them.

Bullshit! Not your fault some chick slammed into the side of you. I hate dealing with insurance companies. Although Progressive did great for me when I hit black ice up here in Oregon and totaled my truck.

They do not have to put new parts on your car because your car is not new.

You can turn down the parts, but they are only liable to replace as in existing condition before the wreck

i just hope whoever hit you has decent insurance... i got fucked because the person that hit me had the minimum coverage of 15k... didnt even cover the first 2 months of medical bills

I agree with the others that you should go to the doctor, regardless of whether or not you're in extreme pain. Sometimes, you'll have referred or delayed pain from an accident and if you're not checked out immediately (or shortly) following a car accident, you may not be able to recover any medical bills later on. Having hospital/doctor records related to the accident are important for any claim, whether to your insurance company or the person at fault.

Additionally, I would go to the police department ASAP and demand that a report be filed on this accident, even if it is a few days after the fact. I wouldn't take the officer's word for anything. Getting that accident on police record may also help your insurance claim. And, get a copy of the report for your records.

I'm assuming you have her name/insurance/address information. If so, bring all of that with you. Write down/document everything related to the accident.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

A lawyer will just end up costing you money unless you have permanent injuries. I would talk to your insurance company again and deal with them. Have them pay for everything and let them worry about dealing with Progressive to get their money back. Progressive will try to nickel and dime you to death. You do not have to accept anything they offer you and do not sign any waivers they want you to sign.

get a personal injury attorney first thing tomorrow. I used to be in the business and would love to have you for a client based on the circumstances described.

The atty will hook you up with a doctor that will work on a lien basis.

What the hell do you base that on?

any accident in michigan get s a police report written up, i think you had a lazy cop

yeah my attorney only gets paid after I get paid
33%

ya 33 percent of everything including medical money he recovers, then after that you have to use that money to pay your medical bills so its about 50/50

yeah but the process has taken months, I dont have time for that shit.

33% of something is still better than nothing at all

You are wrong.

Any decent PI attorney has doctors available that will accept 1/3 of the settlement as payment in full.

Atty = 1/3
doctor = 1/3
victim = 1/3

Most of the time all you will get is medical expenses and time lost from work unless, as I said, you have a permanent injury. The money you get for medical expenses goes to your insurance company to repay the money they shelled out. Then you pay the atty 33% (and quite often it is 33% plus expenses so may be a bit more). Unless you lost more work than the atty's fee and expenses you can lose money.

You can't enter into negotiations until the client has been released from treatment by the doctor, otherwise you don't know what the damages are. So yes, it will take months if there are injuries.

Settlements are based on damages and pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is usually based on how long treatment (including therapy) takes.

There are so many inaccuracies in you comment that I don't even know where to begin. I will give one free bit of advice, if available, get med pay on your policy.

what happens when the other party is under insured?? am i fucked

Settlements are based on damages and pain and suffering. Pain and suffering is usually based on how long treatment (including therapy) takes.

There are so many inaccuracies in you comment that I don't even know where to begin. I will give one free bit of advice, if available, get med pay on your policy.

what happens when the other party is under insured?? am i fucked

Unless you have under insured coverage, yes. Which brings up another point about Buster's comment re: permanent injuries. If you have permanent injuries you are most likely going to hit policy limits and should not need an attorney to collect that.

When I mentioned permanent injuries I meant that is when you are going to get a much larger settlement as you have a loss of quality of life. I was not referencing it as to do with future medical expenses.

You can't get a settlement larger than policy limits.

Example: I got into a wreck with some kid that had $100,000 policy limits. I broke my leg and foot in multiple places.

Since he had $100k policy limit, I got it all. If he only had $30k, that is all I would get. If he had more, I would have gotten more.

assuming he has no other assets and was not negligent right?

Ok....I followed the advice of many here and hired a PI firm here in the Dallas area that has an awesome reputation. I'm done messing with the insurance companies and no longer have to. Will keep everyone updated. Thanks for the advice!

I agree with all these points

Spent half the day in the ER today.....after 20 xrays I am now being referred to an ortho specialist and possibly neuro.....so we'll see. I woke up this morning with numbness on my whole left side....and pain pretty much in my neck and down my back ....major pain.....Monday will be interesting and this whole thing will be interesting as it plays out. We'll see how Progressive insurance handles the whole thing. One interesting thing to note to everyone....I tried to go to an urgent care facility today rather than the ER and I could NOT use my insurance since I was being seen for a car accident...I was going to have to pay out of pocket for everything and then get reimbursed but the ER will allow you to take a piece of paper and file it against the insurance company of the driver who hit you....just something that everyone should know. Not sure if this is a TX thing or not.

To be honest, they would have to be loaded, and even then lawyers usually don't bother going for anything beyond policy limits on the contingency basis.

Too hard to collect. It is difficult to make someone sell their home or business. Not worth the trouble.