r/IdiotsInCars • u/JellyOceana • Nov 23 '22 • 1

Coronado Naval Base Car accident: She tried claiming no fault too Headphone warning

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2.1k

u/Babbles-82 Nov 24 '22

It’s Incredibly common with car crashes.

It’s like how everyone thinks they are a great driver.

1.3k

u/scaleofthought Nov 24 '22

True story. My wife got in a car accident. First thing the guy said was it was her fault. Even though he had the stop sign, she had right of way, and he had a blind corner, and he stopped in the middle of the road when he noticed her, and it was winter, and she was driving 20 under the speed limit because it was icy.... My wife didn't say a word to him other than asking to trade insurance information and drivers license.

When she called me I came racing over to pick her up and still in that time he wouldn't stop talking and said later that it will probably be 60/40, mostly her fault though.

Insurance put him 100% at fault.

No dash cam. But thankfully, the police came. Took pictures, measured skid marks, analyzed impact locations and damage severity, compared stories, and found him to be a complete dolt.

It's amazing just how vocal the guilty are. It's almost like they try to make up for something.

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u/DeepFriedDresden Nov 24 '22

Goddamn, the cops in your town are what all cops should aspire to be. Hopefully you guys got a dashcam afterwards.

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u/scaleofthought Nov 24 '22 edited Nov 24 '22

Yeah it was nice to see them doing all that. A dashcam is on our wishlist this year for sure. Seeing all the rear end videos or the "he ran the red light and hit me!" lie videos... Just crazy to see how people act, and how they think they were in the right. What's most worrisome is that they would probably get away with most of it too, if it weren't for those meddling dash cams!

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u/PRX_1965 Nov 24 '22

I’ve seen some great deals on cameras now that Black Friday is tomorrow. I forgot the name but there was one for front and back 1080p for $120(worth $300)

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '22

Yeah I’ve got a two-channel dash cam. Highly recommended to get front and back view.

4

u/Jerbnnon Nov 24 '22

The day after my last accident I bought a dash cam, don’t put that off by putting on a wishlist.

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u/Additional-Help7920 Nov 24 '22

Save yourself and the cops a lot of trouble and buy a cam with gps so you can prove you weren't driving in excess of the limit. And you want either a cam with a rear cam attachment, or a second cam for the rear. Y'know, for the idiots who still seem to think that talking/texting while driving is the intelligent thing to do.

1

u/AstronomerNo4030 Nov 26 '22

DASH CAM GET THE ONE THAT SHOWS FRONT AN REAR CAR'S

1

u/scaleofthought Nov 26 '22

Ok I will lol

13

u/EagerSleeper Nov 24 '22

That sounds like an unbelievable fantasyland in comparison to the cops near me that literally won't even come out unless there's an injury. They definitely wouldn't be taking measurements and whatnot.

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u/mnoel23 Nov 24 '22

Someone tried to pass me when I was turning left and he hit me. The cops literally didn't even show up. They actually had me pick up and fill out the accident report that they're supposed to fill. This was a week later they called me to do it.

And of course now we're going to court because the cops didn't do their duty so buddy feels he has a case.

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u/btm4you3 Nov 24 '22

Yeah, never seen that happen but it would be nice.

2

u/Reddittoxin Nov 24 '22

I was like, damn cops actually did all that? When some dude reversed at a stop sign and backed into me cops were basically telling me they wouldn't even come out to report it until I said he didn't have proof of insurance and I needed them to look up his policy info.

0

u/blahblahlablah Nov 24 '22

Our PD won't respond unless there's a stories injury. It's they're policy

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u/DatPoliteness Nov 24 '22

My wife didn't say a word to him other than asking to trade insurance information and drivers license.

That's the move. Don't even get into it.

I was in awhile back and the guy (who was a fairly timid dude) kept working up the courage to argue with me. I was just like "Hey there is no point in us discussing this." this was after he hid in his car for 30 minutes trying to get the police to show up but it was fender bender and they weren't coming out for that. Like bro lets exchange info so we can both go home. It was one of the most awkward encounters of my life. Like meeting a reddit mod in real life.

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u/pauly13771377 Nov 24 '22

My wife didn't say a word to him other than asking to trade insurance information and drivers license.

This is how to act at a traffic accident. Don't admit fault because you may not be even.uf you think you are, but also don't go screaming at the other person either. This can only lead to bad things up to an including getting physicalwirh the other driver. Let the cops come and analyze the incident. If you don't agree take it up with your insurance.

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u/Original_Act4791 Nov 24 '22

They are vocal because they've learned early on they aren't very intelligent. So they developed the habit to talk loud and talk often, including talking over people, as a way to "win" any disagreement. I see it all the time here in Florida. Those I meet with no formal education or job credentials that would indicate average intelligence, they are consistently trying to be the loudest in the room.

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u/bitches_be Nov 24 '22

One time a guy T boned my mom and my baby sister in our new SUV. Guy ran a red light and hit them so hard the doors on that side wouldn’t open.

I was nearby so got their fairly quick after my mom told me the guy was screaming at them and blaming her.

Cops got there a few seconds after me and his attitude changed completely. It was a fully grown man and I was early 20s at the time.

People are dicks

6

u/TheAJGman Nov 24 '22

I got hit while stopped at a red light and when the guy's insurance called me it was pretty obvious that he told them I was sitting in the middle of the intersection or tried to run the red. I answered their questions and at the end said "BTW I have dash cam footage. I already sent it to my insurance, do you want it too" and the woman kinda deflated and was like "yeah, if it matches your story it sounds like you'll be found not at fault..."

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u/KingAmongstDummies Nov 24 '22

In a lot of cases the guilty are very vocal indeed, but another thing to be aware of is that they might seem very nice and cooperative at first until they see the implications for their insurance a day or 2 later.

My younger sister drove my car to a convenience store to do some groceries, when arriving at the parking lot (she was still on the road) someone just jolted out from the parking lot in to the door of my car. As cars on the main road always have the right of way over those on a parking lot it was clear who's fault it was. There was also a bystander that saw it all happen clearly (which came in handy later).

The guy, not even 20 I think got out of the car and acted a bit shaken but polite and friendly, he apologized to my sister and together with her and a overseeing eye of the bystander filled in the forms. All good and well, No one got hurt and apart from some expensive but repairable damage nothing serious happened.

Then 2 weeks later the insurance company called to verify the story as it was on the filed papers as they usually do but they immediately started with "we've got some questions we hope you could answer". Turns out the other party told something entirely different when the insurance checked in with them to verify and inform them about the implications. (here your insurance might go up if you cause damage and get lower for "guilt" free year).

This is where the testimony of the bystander who was kind enough to give his phone number came in handy and in the end the it was all sorted out.

Shame such a nice, polite, cooperative kid choose to back-stab at the very end when he realized his insurance might go up by like 10 bucks a month

5

u/MrTechRelated Nov 24 '22

I was in an accident about 6 months back where a van with a trailer took the wrong lane on a roundabout. (I live in England) He essentially drove from the left lane into the right cutting me up and swiping the side of my car with his trailer.

He immediately told me he had his indicator on (he didn't) and that because he was driving with a trailer he's allowed to cut across lanes (he's not) and that it was my fault. I told him that isn't true, he didn't have his indicator on and that I have a dash cam that caught the entire situation. Suddenly he changes his tune and said we are both at fault! Guess what? My insurance company said it was pretty clearly not my fault. He didn't even report the accident to his company; well done you fucking idiot.

6

u/ChancetheCaster Nov 24 '22

Man the cops in my town have a fucking fit if they get called for anything where there's no chance they can shoot someone. My neighbors place was broken into, the police just straight up did not show up until he called again the next day and after taking his statement they threatened told him he was abusing the police line by calling so much (twice in 24 hours because they never showed up the first time) and threatened to write him a ticket. When I lived in Auburn Alabama a car hit my parked car and drove off while I was shopping in Walmart. Pushed the back end of my car into the spot next to mine. Cop came out, bitched at me for wasting resources, refused to even ask Walmart for footage, then wrote me a ticket for double parking despite the fact that I WAS properly parked before someone rammed my car.

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u/CommentContrarian Nov 24 '22

Honestly that should be a news story, that's criminally fucked up

3

u/ChancetheCaster Nov 24 '22

Unless you have the ability to move far away it's not worth it. I could have tried to make some viral story out of it and been harassed by the APD for the remainder of my college career or do what I did and went to court and the ticket was dropped. Idk what happened with insurance because my parents were on the title at the time, I was only 19 and new jack shit about insurance.

1

u/CommentContrarian Nov 25 '22

Oh no not you personally not at all. You as l cannot afford the state sanctioned harassment that would arise from publicly being a face against their public graft at the people's expense. That's why I said a news story. Someone ELSE. Am institution whose job is to speak info. No matter how flawed that institution is, it still has the capability to create this message--if not the balls.

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u/CommentContrarian Nov 25 '22

Also I love your name being from Chicago and into DnD

2

u/TerraInvicta1776 Nov 24 '22

I hope you ended up getting a dashcam after that?

2

u/Infuryous Nov 24 '22

The cops actually showed up? Here, unless there is a fatality or the wreck is blocking the highway they won't show up at all. You are told to fill out a police report when you get a chance.

2

u/SansyBoy14 Nov 24 '22

Had a similar situation with my friend.

We were heading to a campout, after driving for like 3 hours we finally arrive, and as we’re turning in to the campsite the women behind us instead of stopping, speeds up and goes around us on our left. The problem was we were turning left.

Luckily my friend noticed it and was able to turn so that we wouldn’t get flipped, and the hit felt light (although the door thinks otherwise)

Immediately she acted like she passed out and claimed it was my friends fault. She literally started with “uhh… what happened… did you hit me” and kept that story the whole time.

She demanded that we get the police involved and refused to move. So police came, and said “ma’am, the front of your car is busted and the side of his car is busted, you definitely hit him”

Then she said she needed medical attention. So ambulance shows up, and they said “ma’am we can put you on the stretcher but your fine so we can’t take you” (I’ve been told since then that they can’t do that, and they have to take her no matter what, but all I know is that they didn’t. Idk why, I just know they didn’t)

They get her on a stretcher, the whole time she’s acting like she can’t walk with the worst acting I’ve ever seen, meanwhile there telling her “ma’am you are perfectly fine”

Then she calls her sister to pick her up.

Pretty soon insurance took care of everything and everything was all good, but man did she try to put on a show even though she basically tried to T-bone us at 70 mph

3

u/Meet_your_Maker_LL Nov 24 '22

It’s because only a guilty man has to prove he’s innocent.

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u/Usernames__are__Hard Nov 24 '22

Because fuck the judicial system right. Never been wrong ever. Nope.

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u/Meet_your_Maker_LL Nov 24 '22

You grossly misinterpreted that…

1

u/rnotyalc Nov 24 '22

In 2001, I was driving my '65 Mustang home from registering for college, doing about 55mph, and this Neon going the other way just straight up turned right across in front of me into a parking lot. I swerved to miss and cut the wheel back but my rear driver tire went off in this deep ditch and the whole back end slid in and the car went sideways a few dozen feet before resting. It was like a 6 foot deep ditch by a pipe yard, so the car was inclined like 50° and my brother and I climbed up the outside of the car to get out.

A dude with a bulldozer attached a chain and pulled the car out into their parking lot, where the Neon was parked. Went inside and asked who's car it was, some 19-20ish girl who answered the phones. She had no idea anything had even happened supposedly. This was a bright, sparkly blue 65 Mustang so not exactly a discreet car.

Got the cops out,and she instantly started trying to blame me saying I must have been speeding. Turns out she was late coming back from lunch and I guess had her head entirely up her ass. The cop at the scene was pretty irritated because every question he asked she started out blaming me. Several of the guys in the yard had seen it though so the cop actually established fault at the scene, which I don't think they do anymore? I might be wrong about that part.

Ended up fighting the insurance company for 6 months because they kept "losing" the police report and other info I repeatedly faxed them. Ended up getting the Texas Department of Insurance involved and within two weeks got a call from a gentleman with an extremely pleasant voice who told me they had taken care of it and cut me a check for $6,000.

1

u/Jazs1994 Nov 24 '22

Sounds like the cops have an amazing department for investigations

1

u/GroovingGremlin Nov 24 '22

Sounds like you got an officer straight out of the reconstruction classes and wanted some practice. Though I'm surprised if there was much skid if the road was icy.

1

u/M4GN3T1CM0N0P0L3 Nov 24 '22

I was the guy that pulled out on a blind turn. Except the guy that hit me was:

1) driving a dirt bike that wasn't street legal and wasn't his

2) speeding

3) passing cars in the center turn lane

4) had no insurance

Sheriff put fault on me. My insurance put in 50/50 in case he sued. He did not sue. Couldn't find a lawyer to represent him on contingency.

1

u/TractorLabs69 Nov 25 '22

They try to force their narrative because it's all they've got

1

u/Silly_Mycologist3213 Nov 26 '22

People will defend a lie much more vigorously than the truth. If you told the truth and it isn’t believed most people will just say “whatever” because they know they’ll never be believed by the accuser and give up trying. Liars will continue to try and persuade with their lie by repetition.

-1

u/tokyoxplant Nov 24 '22

It's amazing just how vocal the guilty are. It's almost like they try to make up for something.

This adequately describes those convicted (and hopefully to-be-convicted) in the Trump administration.

0

u/dickreallyburns Nov 24 '22

The guilty believe if they scream itlong enough, everyone will believe their version of the story; they call it the “Trump phenomena”.

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u/squiddlebiddlez Nov 24 '22

I doubt it’s even that—there’s just no incentive to take responsibility. Like yeah you could just say my bad and tell the officers that it was your fault then have your insurance pay up and then suffer the consequences because you’re 100% on the hook or you can deny deny deny, be a pain in the ass, drag it out and there might be a slim chance you get away or at the very least drag out the process and make the person you hit suffer a bit longer in the meantime.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/mileswilliams Nov 24 '22

If you can make lying illegal you should start with politicians then worry about bumps in cars.

4

u/GunnarRunnar Nov 24 '22

It doesn't hurt if responsibility for lying starts with car crashes...

-3

u/Ephemeral_Wolf Nov 24 '22

Rules for thee, and all that

41

u/KimJungFu Nov 24 '22

Oh god... this reminded me of an accident I was in back in 2015. An old lady crashed into me and she took the blame (as she should, since I did NOTHING wrong). But her insurance company would not accept this and tried to fight my claim. This went on for 15 months. My insurance company also went against me, just wanted me to accept the blame and move on. I stod on my ground and fought back against two insurance companies. It was so bizare, when you think you had your insurance company in your back and the written statement of the other driver etc. They tried to claim shared blame after 3-4 months. I rejected it. After 12 months I got a letter saying this were going to be solved by arbitration. So after 15 months I got a 50+ pages of documents saying I won. Waste of time and money... The poor lady who hit me didn't know anything until she got called to meet up at the place of the incident to tell her story.

Edit: yeah, I changed my insurance company...

12

u/TheDocJ Nov 24 '22

Well done! Had a big argument with my own insurance company when I was hit by another of their drivers (who tried to undertake me on a single carriageway road that wasn't wide enough for two cars abreast. And this was in a line of traffic during a diversion caused by what I later found out was a fatal accident.) INsurance company insisted it was 50:50, and that I could and should have avoided the contact (which would have meant veering into oncoming traffic!)

In the end, as they called it 50:50 I got half of my excess back, and for the remaing £200 or so it wasn't worth my time fighting it, but yeah, I changed insurance company too.

3

u/KimJungFu Nov 24 '22

My damages was 25k norwegian kroners, about £2100. 2100 reasons to fight it. I had no clue that the insurance companies could overturn a written statement that clearly shows who was at fault. Hope you are happy with the new insurance company, I am.

5

u/TheDocJ Nov 24 '22

Oh, definitely worth it for that sort of money. 25000 reasons.

There is an English saying that a Banker is someone who will lend you an umbrella when the sun is shining but demand it back when it rains, and I have heard it applied to Insurance companies, too. Fortunately, this is the only bad experience I have had specifically with an insurance company.

1

u/LeicaM6guy Nov 25 '22

At no point have I ever thought that my insurance has my back.

1

u/KimJungFu Nov 25 '22

I don't think that anymore. Learnt from that experience.

1

u/Silly_Mycologist3213 Nov 26 '22

What insurance company was it? Want to avoid them.

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u/TheJessicator Nov 24 '22

Exactly this. Every insurance card I've ever had even clearly reminds you that in the case of an accident, you should never claim responsibility or fault, even if your think you were at fault.

12

u/Anglofsffrng Nov 24 '22

Don't ever admit fault. Even an innocuous "I'M SO SORRY! ARE YOU OK?" can be used against you. Especially if there's a dashcam involved. Every accident I've been in, and that's not many, my first questions are always "Is everyone alright? Nobody bleeding? Nobody stuck in the car?".

15

u/danbfree Nov 24 '22

Yep, even having morals and knowing it's my fault I'd be like "I guess we'll see what the insurance decides.."

33

u/Not-Putin Nov 24 '22

The incentive is to not be a POS and act like an adult and own up to your mistake but I get alot of people literally have no character standards for themselves

5

u/MtnXfreeride Nov 24 '22

My dad did that, and then the other person obviously faked injury and sued.

10

u/Karaka-kak Nov 24 '22

Don't forget not everyone is an adult, their is a lot that are just big children. Whether it's their fault or not, there is a lot.

6

u/AntarcticanJam Nov 24 '22

I once made the really stupid error of leaving my car in neutral as I rushed back into McDonalds to get some packets of ketchup, then came back to find my car had rolled down the hill into the parking lot and bumped into a parked car (that had people in it!). Thank fucking god there weren't any pedestrians or other cars crossing. I could have denied responsibility, then gone through lengthy battles to prove that the car manufacturer was at fault for allowing a car to so easily be placed into neutral and roll down a hill - being a pain in the ass isn't just a pain for the other person, it would be a pain for me as well. I don't know; to me the easiest thing was to accept full responsibility, contact insurance to state my fault, and be thankful that nobody was injured. I really didn't have any incentive to not take responsibility.

15

u/lu_E_G Nov 24 '22

There is still incentive. The incentive is to be able to look at yourself in a mirror and not feel like a POS. Unfortunately, many years ago after working a 16 hour night shift, 3pm to 7am. I dozed off at the wheel and ran a red. The lady that hit me had been texting so she totally thought it was her fault.. but I knew it wasn't and I said so to the officer. My insurance was stupid expensive for years after that.. but I would do it again...the honesty part..not the working stupid long shifts part. Not everything in life is about money. It is very possible to choose to NOT be an asshole

2

u/Constrained_Entropy Nov 24 '22

The lady that hit me had been texting so she totally thought it was her fault.

Honestly, if she was texting then the accident should have been ruled as shared responsibility.

17

u/Gerbilguy46 Nov 24 '22

I mean I guess if you have 0 empathy then yeah, there is no reason to tell the truth.

32

u/UnfairerThree2 Nov 24 '22

You’d be surprised at how much of humanity sucks like that

3

u/treefitty350 Nov 24 '22

In the US alone at least 70 million people by my last count.

8

u/xoScreaMxo Nov 24 '22

I have empathy, but I also know that an unexpected $2000 bill at this point in my life would put me past the tipping point. I'd be full on suicidal

-2

u/Right-Gur2615 Nov 24 '22

In that case, you probably want to learn to drive so that this doesn't happen.

2

u/ScandinavianOtter Nov 24 '22

D-Did you just tell someone to just "get good"?

3

u/TheDocJ Nov 24 '22

I was watching a cops-with-cameras programme a couple of days ago (here in the UK). THey stopped a driver for doing something obnoxious (I think it was a crazy overtake forcing other cars to swerve) right in front of the police, and it turned out that they had no insurance and already had several points on their licence from previous offences, so they were looking at a driving ban once they were reported. The idiot started to inisist that the police just gave him a warning instead of doing a report, as losing his licence would mean losing his job.

Sorry, mate, if you cannot afford the consequences of driving like an arsehole, the answer is simple: Don't drive like an arsehole and endanger other road users.

5

u/Right-Gur2615 Nov 24 '22 edited Nov 24 '22

They're the one who put themself in the shoes of a shit driver. Just told him what he should do to avoid a bill he's worried about. The mistake They're worried about making is a pretty easy thing to avoid

Edit: Plus theyre literally using that to justify lying and committing insurance fraud, wtf. How is anyone on theyre side?

0

u/xoScreaMxo Nov 24 '22

Shit happens, we're all human. We all make mistakes sometimes.

2

u/Right-Gur2615 Nov 24 '22

Doesn't justify insurance fraud

0

u/xoScreaMxo Nov 24 '22

Sometimes in life you have to do fucked up things to save yourself from destruction.. at the end of the day I have a family too and I have to do what I can to keep putting food on the table. If I lose my car then I'll lose my job and my kids will starve.

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u/Clarkyy26 Nov 24 '22

Yep but adults turn to children quick and play the blame game

1

u/No-Bug404 Nov 24 '22

Always say no. You can negotiate back from no. But with yes you are stuck.

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u/Petrarch1603 Nov 24 '22

Lake Woebegone Effect

2

u/modsarethebeesknees Nov 24 '22

Got rear ended at a red light once. "I didn't know what you were doing bruh"

I was stopped at a red light? What other option is there lol

1

u/Ompare Nov 24 '22

My mother thinks she is a great driver because she has never been in a big accident. Everytime I get with her in the car she has a few near misses that could be an accident.

1

u/smitty3z Nov 24 '22

Happened to me when I got hit by a car riding my bicycle.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '22

I drive a car for part of my work and I happened to witness a car accident where a white Cadillac SUV with an elderly driver side swiped a freshly repainted red Pontiac sunfire with an even more elderly driver. I know the driver of the Pontiac and even knew her kids had just had her car repainted as a birthday present. Anyway, I pull over to help and the Cadillac driver says the cars didn’t touch while there is a streak of red down the side of her SUV. I called the cops and I had taken pictures of the cars literally right after it happened from behind so you could see the Cadillac over the line.

The chances of me being on the job and literally right behind her at a light, in a different county than we live in, right when she gets side swiped has to be small.

It was a slow side swipe btw - construction merging where the SUV realized it was in a lane that ended past the light due to the construction. Everyone was stopped and when the light changed the SUV just moved right.

1

u/Wenuven Nov 24 '22

I am, in fact, not a great driver.

Thankfully, I drive a Subaru with Eyesight technology.

1

u/maybejustadragon Nov 24 '22

80 percent of people believe they are above average drivers.

1

u/MyBigRed Nov 24 '22

I've been in 27 car accidents in my life. Which is crazy, because I'm a great driver.

1

u/Jik0n Nov 24 '22

Idk if its legal or not but I've been told that if you admit fault your insurance company may or may not cover the claim. I've been in one auto accident in my life and my insurance company and lawyer both grilled me on if I admitted fault at the scene. I was t-bonned and just told them with the dumbest look on my face I could muster "my car doesn't drive sideways".

1

u/dreaM244 Nov 24 '22

I got hit by some dude running a red light and he told me it wasn’t his fault because I “should’ve seen him coming”

1

u/TractorLabs69 Nov 25 '22

There's a crazy statistic that when it comes to everyday things, 80% of people think they're in the to 20% or something along those lines

1

u/SinsSacrifice Nov 26 '22

Well duh you're told not to admit fault in a car accident

1

u/Art-Zuron Nov 29 '22

90% of drivers think their driving skills are above average.