You are driving alone in your car, you are thinking about the holiday season or some other event, you come to a stop, and then wham – some idiot has just rear ended you.
You neck jerks back, and then forward, your body hits the seatbelt going across your body. You are shocked. You did not imagine that a mild rear end car accident would sound so loud, or violently jerk your body like it did.
You heart starts racing as you realized what happened. You may not feel pain yet because your body is producing chemicals which mask pain, or your may feel mild pain or stiffness at this point.
You head feels light as you unbuckle your seat belt and get out of the car. The person who hit you is a nice clean cut guy or gal. They run over to you apologizing greatly about how sorry they are, and that they did not mean to hit you.
They offer to pay for the damage to your car, sometimes on the spot. They usually have the same story; they do not want to get their insurance involved because their rates will go up, or their spouse will get upset, etc.
You empathize with the person who hit you; you know that they are required to exchange insurance information with you, but they are so nice, and they are offering to pay, you actually feel bad for the person who hit you. They are talking a good game. They give you a $100 or $200. You go on your way; later that night you realize that you cannot turn your neck and you have the worst headache in history. It turns out that you are going to miss work for a couple of weeks recovering.
You find out later that you have $3,000 damage to the back of your car.
What have you done; you screwed yourself out of thousands of dollars in just compensation that you were entitled to because you let an accident scammer and con artist talk you out of doing what was right.
Make no mistake about it; there is no way to know right after a vehicle accident what your damages are. I have seen people who thought they were not injured after an accident, turn up with shooting pains a numbness hours later, they had nerve damage.
The California vehicle code requires all persons involved in a vehicle accident to stop after an accident, and to exchange identifying information and insurance information. You can be nice after an accident, but firm at the same time.
The first thing you should do is to call the police if you can, and then ask the other party to produce their driver’s license and insurance information. Ask them if the address on the license is current, and request their phone number.
If they try to play the same old con I discussed above simply tell them, look the law requires that we exchange information and I cannot take a chance on getting in trouble, can you please give me your drivers license and insurance information? If they refuse, tell them that you have already called the police.
Make sure that you note the model and make of their car along with the license plate information.
The vast majority of persons out there will comply with the law. However, there as those few asocial assholes that will try to scam and con their way out of not being responsible when they cause harm. Don’t let yourself be a double victim by being injured by them, and then turning around and letting them get off for a few hundred dollars.
If you have been the victim in a motor vehicle accident anywhere in California, call my firm ASAP for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x.1, or go to http://www.thepersonalinjury.com .
By California Motor Vehicle Accident Attorney and Lawyer Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2009
Welcome, my name is 
Interesting this article came up. My car go rear ended back in Nov.20 2009. Smash up the rear lights and folded the trunk. The police officer helped with exchanging info. The person hit my car tells me her husband works at an auto body shop. Having them do the repair was the least on my mind at the time. I was able to drive the car home. Few days after, I find out from my insurance agent the other party didn’t have inusurance. The phone numbers she gave on the exchange info card was bogus. Now it becomes covered under my uninsured motorist. Over a month now, my insurance company finally called 12/30/09 and tells me my car is totalled. The payout for repairs has fall short of $1700. @#^&%&^** I still need to see the doc for my sore neck and shoulder. I’m open for any suggestions…
Ok, sounds good…
No problem Norm. That is OK!
I do not give legal advice here on the blog. However, if you have uninsured motorist coverage I would use that. If not, get it in the future.
Here in California if you did not have uninsured motorist coverage, you could sue in small claims court. You could also send an SR19 to the DMV and get the uninsured motorist drivers license suspended for up to a year for driving without insurance.
If you are in California you may call me for a free consultation at 800-816-1529 x. 1.
Good luck to you,
Norm
Tim if you don’t mind I would like to update my article with your uninsured motorist experience. With the economy being what it is, I would like to suggest that everyone get uninsured motorist coverage to protect against scammers and con artists as well. Do I have your OK? I would only use your first name.
Norm
This is such an enjoyable blog! Love it. I grew up in Utah and so many people fall victim to scams there it seemed like. Everyone ought to read this.
Having uninsured motorist insurance is extremely important, I learned this the hard way when I was young and had an experience very similar to Tim’s. The only problem with that is depending on your deductible and extent of damage that was done to your vehicle/you. If the cost of fixing the car is less than deductible for uninsured motorist accidents, you are going to come out of pocket either way. It is always best to stay on the safe side and make sure you have that uninsured motorist coverage. Hope everything worked out for you Tim, I feel your pain.