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Got in a minor MVA yesterday, need some advice.
I'm in right left-turn lane at four-leg intersection, which gets on to the freeway just past the intersection. Left left-turn lane continues up the intersecting road. Light turns green and I go through the intersection. There's about 5-6 moving cars in front of me in the lane, I have sufficient stopping distance for the traffic in front of me. Car comes up on my left, speeds up to get in front of me and changes lanes into the lane to get on to the freeway. At the same time, pedestrian is crossing in front of the freeway onramp and accelerating traffic comes quickly to a stop, with progressively harder stops since everyone was accelerating to get on the freeway. Car in front of me that pulled into my stopping distance slams on the brakes about a second after merging due to the slowing traffic, misses the car in front of them by a couple inches. I have no ABS, car locks up and rear-ends car in front of me.
The damages were extremely minor, no bumper or panel detachment, just a little bit of bondo and paint work. Both of us are fine so we exchange insurances and leave. There are no witness testimony, and no police report since we did not call the police because of how minor it was. I expected them to file a claim to fix the bumper, but now they're claiming neck/back pain and headaches. I'm talking to the adjuster on Monday.
Am I fucked? The person told me they were driving home from work, which makes me think they knew damn well the left left-turn lane didn't merge on to the freeway and thought they could cut the traffic that backs up in the right left-turn lane. I'm going to contest an unsafe lane change that contributed to the crash and that because of how minor the damage was to the cars, there's no way that they're all of the sudden pain and headache problems. Problem is, there is no proof of anything other than I hit them from behind. I think I fucked myself by not getting a police report though. What do?
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>>17647934
>I think I fucked myself by not getting a police report though
That might be an issue, but it could also not be. Insurance companies aren't bound to make decisions based on police reports. Contrary to popular belief, rear ending someone doesn't automatically make the accident your fault in the eyes of the law. It depends on if the person in front of you did something illegal or unsafe leaving you no choice. If you keep your story straight and logical, and maintain that you couldn't have done anything else, you might not be fucked.
I was in a sort of similar accident once. I was merging into a turn lane and the guy that was going to be behind me decided to speed up and pass me, only he wasn't fast enough and ended up rear ending me. Since he didn't have insurance, I got a police report, but he talked to the cops first and convinced them I was making an illegal turn. They ended up writing me a ticket without telling me about it, and my insurance company ended up saying the accident was my fauly beause I lied to them (after telling them I wasn't cited for anything because at the time I didn't know I was). The whole thing was a clusterfuck and the guy who rear ended me, didn't have insurance, and lied to the cops wasn't penalized at all. In a world where that can happen, you have a shot.
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>>17647934
Bodily Injury adjuster here. What state did it happen in?
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>>17648155
I'm in Nevada.
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>>17648218
So in Nevada you can only bar them from recovery if they are more than 50% negligent. The only proof is going to be the driver's recorded statements and the damage photos.
Unless the damage photos are blatant, just tell them he merged into your vehicle, and the insurance companies will have no choice but to resolve each of their insured's claims as a word-versus-word scenario.
But as far as the injury thing, even if you get nailed 100% at fault, 99% of people in Nevada have Personal Injury Protection or Medpay, and this has to be paid out to a high threshold before they can slap you with a Bodily Injury claim at all. So you're gonna be fine on that account, every smart ass thinks they'll make it rich by claiming headache, not gonna happen.
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>>17648218
Oh and also only give a recorded statement to your Insurer, they will back you up if each driver says two different things, and by complying only with your insurance company you are still cooperating.
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>>17647973
>>17648244
Cool, thanks for the advice anons. I feel less stressed about the situation now.
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