here is the fact situation:

my car is parked in a parking lot at work. i make it a point to park far away and in well lit places. despite that a woman (who is also an employee) backs her truck into my car even though it is not raining/snowing with clear conditions. the car is dark coloured, under and massive light standard, and the lot was freshly salted from friday's snow giving it a nice grey colour. even with all that contrast in the environment she still hits me. her excuse "i worked 12 hours and, i , um have tinted windows". right. now i know most will wanna say "well, at least she stayed". i can't comment on her intent since she was spotted by the security guard and could have been easily ratted out as a result.

here are my questions:

1. the lot is public (priate propoerty) and as i understand it accidents in public lots are split 50/50 through both party's insurance. however, i was not in my car, does this affect the claim?

2. while the lot is public it is different from say, a walmart parking lot, in that it is owned by the government. what effect does this have?

3. she has offered to not go through insurance, which i can understand but is unwilling to pay for a rental. the damage will not take 1 or 2 days to fix, we're talking upwards of a week. with the amount of travel i do, this just isn't going to cut it. if i go through insurance, i get a rental.

4. as i recall you do not have to file a police report if the damage is less than 1k. is there a time limit on this? say you find out 3 days later the damage is over 1k, can you then file a report? i ask b/c i assume there is a time limit to file.

5. she did leave the scene of an accident, does her leaving contact info exonerate her from this charge?

the person i'm dealing with is rather self concerned and so i want to know my options. her actions also lead me to believe that if there were no witnesses she would have just left.

Honestly Mike, if you want the correct info, you should ask @ the police station, or call one of those Pointts places for some free info. People will give you what they 'think' is right and might guide you in the wrong direction.

Moe got hit in a parking lot the other week and he convinced the guy to pay for his damage because he was unaware of the 50/50. You could maybe threaten her to go through insurance if she doesn't pay for most of the damage?

Originally Posted by Slawek

You could maybe threaten her to go through insurance if she doesn't pay for most of the damage?

i don't want to make empty threats though. i'll give points a call though.

was Moe's damage serious?

From my understanding:

1. It's only split 50/50 if both cars are in motion. as your car was parked then it is 100% her fault.

2. It's still a parking lot.

3. Tell her you want it to go through insurance then, as it should affect your policy, only hers.

4. I believe there's a week time limit on this, for insurance claim, but Police report had to be filed at the point of incident (i think)

5. I dont know what exonerate means

I'm not 100% on my answers, but I believe that's how it works. u could always ask SPOC

Barky, #1, #3 and #4 are incorrect.

This is what I mean Mike, it's best to call a place that knows the law on these situations.

Moe's damage was non existant, he ended up getting cash from this poor sucker. What goes around comes around tho...

PS: nice avatar Barky

^ which is why I said I wasn't sure. Slawek's right, ask someone who does know for sure

I had my car hit in the parking lot of Futureshop 2 years ago while working on boxing day. It was hit by a delivery truck.

All the staff's cars were parked in the no parking loading zone per store managements instructions. The truck struck my car and peeled of the rear bumper trying to manouver into the loading dock.

The only reason why this claim wasn't considered 50/50 is because the truck driver wasn't the smartest knife in the drawer.

I managed to use a demo digital camera to take pics and print them instantly on a demo printer. I then wrote a statement saying that my vehicle was unmanned and stationary and that the truck drove into my car causing the damage.

The truck driver signed the statement and backs of the printed pictures stating that the storey was true and not fabricated by myself. I also had 2 witnesses sign and date as a precaution.

My insurance company told me that this evidence was the only reason why the claim didn't go on my record at all.

Funny thing was, truck driver tried to pay me $50 to not report it. I was lucky because it was as he was arriving so he had to stay while the truck was being unloaded.

I attempted to solve the situation without going through insurance but desepite the evidence I presented to the trucking company they basically told me to go to hell and report it.

Im familiar with parking lots having NO fault collision policy.

The terms of the rental, i am pretty confident that it depends on your company.

Originally Posted by 2gen99GS

Im familiar with parking lots having NO fault collision policy.

the firm told me that is correct except when you hit a non-moving car.

i'm getting the run around. spoke to some people and the insurance firm, a claim has been filed. i have a security report to back me up in case of any lies.

i tried being reasonable with these people but i get treated like a child. they must know i'm the youngest in my dept. so they think i'm a punk. meh.

I hope u get your Capt. Slow rocket all fixed up Fidel.

Originally Posted by Castel

the firm told me that is correct except when you hit a non-moving car.

i'm getting the run around. spoke to some people and the insurance firm, a claim has been filed. i have a security report to back me up in case of any lies.

i tried being reasonable with these people but i get treated like a child. they must know i'm the youngest in my dept. so they think i'm a punk. meh.

interesting perspective. Thats unfortunate. Not very professional.
Im pretty sure i seen you in emergency, i was there to aid a friend last week.

I was always curious about getting a rental after something like this, let us know what happened, thanks.

Originally Posted by 2gen99GS

interesting perspective. Thats unfortunate. Not very professional.
Im pretty sure i seen you in emergency, i was there to aid a friend last week.

I was always curious about getting a rental after something like this, let us know what happened, thanks.

Enjoy your hundai accent!

If you travel and she won't pay for a rental what are you supposed to so? Shell out yourself when she hit you?

Fuggetaboutit.

mike i asked my girlfriend who works for statefarm insurancem, and this is what she had to say about the accident

he was not in the car so he should be 100% not at fault. The woman probably just offered the money to him instead of going through insurance because it's probably cheaper and much less hastle to do it that way. The rental car there's nothing he can do about it though unless he puts a claim through, and if he puts a claim through she has to put a claim through. And he risks the chance of them saying it was partially his fault (I mean that likely won't happen but I've seen stragnger claims).But if he really wants the rental car money I would suggest he go through insurance

I was hit in a parking lot before and the guy wanted to go thru insurance. It is no fault insurance and my insurance paid for the damages on my car but his insurance went up and my didn't. Weird.

i tried being reasonable by getting quotes and leaving the rental car issue on the sideline. i was finally able to contact her on tuesday, spoke to her and her husband, offered to meet to go over the quotes. they tell me they are "extremely busy" and can't meet. they require that i leave the quotes at our mutal workplace (in two days!) and they'll go over them.

i ask why they can't meet, at say a tim hortons, for 5 mins. they say they don't live near one and are extremely busy. i read them their address and inform them they live a 1 minute drive (mapquest ftw) from a tim hortons. again, the extremely busy shit. so i'm thinking they are stalling.. why? i dunno... what i did know was that she hit someone else in the summer and they might have info on insurance claims. i'm thinking they know the time limit to file claim and tried to stall.

so i call back later in the day asking for their insurance info, they refuse(crime), i say ok, have a good day. long and short is, police told me to call again and if they refuse once more they would be charged with hit and run. they then offer to play ball and threaten me with a police report during the same conversation.

claim has been made with it 100% on them. i have a security report which while weak is more than they have. like i said, i tried being reasonable but the cocky attitude of the husband was too much to let slide.

hah cant wait to see how this plays out

go through insurances mike.. my girlfriend says do it to.. ur in the clear and they have been trying to avoid this situation.. its in the bag for u.. u shouldn't even called around to get quotes.. u should of let insurance do it right away because they are trying to get out of paying

and when you get quotes, make sure you go to the place that YOU would be comfortable with. Go direct to the dealer (usually most expensive) or one of these exotic places that fix porsches etc (name escapes me now).

i got quotes and made the claim last week, i know it's all on them. this morning my deductable was waived and the car is being fixed. tomorrow i pick up my rental dodge charger.

*eats more popcorn*
What color did you get?

Same thing happened to me in the Laurier parking lot few yrs ago. Lady backs out as I drive by. They didn't want to go through insurance and were giving me a hard time on getting repairs done.

I just called up my insurance and they took care of the rest, no deductible. I'll go through insurance for any accident, I pay it, I'll use it.