Was he late or was his insurance cancelled? there's a difference. Most state I have lived in they are not required to have your cancelled notice in anytime. If you don't pay you are not covered.
I would take this as a lesson learnt. If you were covered this would probably be a 50/50 accident and they would take both of your bills add them up and each agency would pay 50% of the total bill. Thing is you are not insured, however, an attorney is probably going to be able to fight this to a 50/50. Problem is you are going to have to front the money for an attorney. A contingency attorney makes his living off of the personal injury so there is no money for them so they are not going to take it.
So your options if you are screwed:
1. Make payment arangements with the insurance. Since the guys car is new he should have uninsured motorist coverage and that will kick in and his insurance will pay then come after you. Whatever you do make your payments. All states now will suspend your license if you do not pay for an accident.
2. Get an attorney and pay possibly more then the accident for a 50/50 claim that you will still have to pay on anyway.
The one thing going for you is the other guys car value. If the damage estimate is even .01 cent below 50% value they have to repair. I'm looking at it and it's probably going to be about 5-7K in damages to his car. Then again I can't see under the fender so ?????? I'm pretty good at geussing damages though so you will be paying about 5-7K. Make sure you ask for the estimate of repair, and just like they would, call the shop that is doing the repair. Also make sure the guy does not go out and rent a car that is not like his while repairs are getting done. Ask for that reciept as well.
Last edited by kcobabe
on 2012-08-15
at 17-09-50.