got in a fender bender today

I feel so horrible- I cant shake it when I'm in an accident

Im waiting behing a minivan at a stop sign.
He takes his foot off the brake to go but a car whizzes by on the side without a stop sign and guy in front of me slams his brake so I end up bumping him from behind!

We pull over and I see that he only has two mini scratches from my liscense plate on his rear bumper - my car is scratched up anyway. but his wife is grimacing and holding her neck.

Right away I'm thinking- they are going to sue me or make a false claim cause she couldnt have gotten whiplash from the bump I gave them. She tells me her head hurt from the clip in her hair when her head hit the head rest.

In the end, and heres where Im confused cause Ive never had an accident before- he takes my plate #, my name, address, and phone and I take the same from him but he gives me his wife's name instead. I never saw his liscence or his insurance card.

He said he didnt want to claim any damage on the cars cause there wasnt any but that he was going to take his wife to the doctor to check her head out and he will let me know.

What do you all make of this? Im so freaking out cause Ive never been in an accident before that was my fault.

Calm down! I know accidents, even when small, are scary things.

There's no police report, right?

I don't believe he can claim any medical as a result of the accident, because there's no police record of any accident! It's just plain weird that he gave you his wife's name...maybe he doesn't have a license? or it's suspended? It's fishy to me.

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Posted by Shorty McBride

Calm down! I know accidents, even when small, are scary things.

There's no police report, right?

I don't believe he can claim any medical as a result of the accident, because there's no police record of any accident! It's just plain weird that he gave you his wife's name...maybe he doesn't have a license? or it's suspended? It's fishy to me.

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Thats what I was thinking- I mean what recourse does he or she have if theres no report. I offered to call an ambulance but he was quick to say no. Im not saying I think he was a con artist or anything - I was very fl;ustered and didnt know what info to get.

But my alarms went off when he woudlnt give me his name....of course i wish i coudl do it all over again and demand to see his liscence but i cant exactly do anything now but learn from my mistake

if they go to the dr..they have to file a police report. medical is covered differently for the reason you are going. regular checkup, you use your regular insurance. car accdient checkup goes under your car insurance...

chances are, they probally wont do anything..and if anything does happen, the dr wont allow the visit beucase of the above reason

shouldnt she call her insurance company and just file the claim and have it on file, in case the other driver decides to be a jerk and try and sue?

You should have gotten their plate no. and insisted on calling the police to file a report. Call and report the accident to your insurance company ASAP.

Wouldn't this be a no fault kind of thing because that car ignored the stop sign? If the couple would make a false claim and sue, chances are people like them would settle for whatever your insurance company will give.

I'll try to search for it, but there was an article I read that recently stated that there is no such thing as whiplash.

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Posted by Shorty McBride



I don't believe he can claim any medical as a result of the accident, because there's no police record of any accident! It's just plain weird that he gave you his wife's name...maybe he doesn't have a license? or it's suspended? It's fishy to me.

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I (along with two others) are currently being sued for six figures because a man claimed he was injured from a MINOR fender bender. He fled the scene of the accident but the guy who caused the accident stayed with me while I waited for police. That report saved my a$$.

People can be REALLY crappy when it comes to trying to get money.

I hope they can't sure without a police report, but you'll never know. Unfortunately there are always dumb people looking to make a buck anyway they can. It will all work out though...if you're really concerned I would call your insurance company or better yet a friend that workd in insurance and ask for their opinion.

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Posted by JanuaryBride06

Wouldn't this be a no fault kind of thing because that car ignored the stop sign?

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No because even though somebody else blew the stop sign causing the minivan to supposedly stop.... its up to the original poster to maintain enough distance between her and the car in front of her to be able to suddenly stop in a case like this.

Most likely the OP will be found at fault for this fender bender. Blame 99% of the time in these cases always goes to the person behind that did the 'rear-ending'.

The whiplash thing though I think is a little far-fetched and I doubt will have any merit without a police report.


And feel better that this was only a fender bender you had with a few scratches. My wife last night totalled her brand new Jeep on the LIE. It wasn't her fault... and she is OK thank god. But this whole process is going to be a major pain in the *** with insurance and all. It also leaves me without a car... probably for a few weeks. But she is OK which is the good thing.

I literally tapped a guy's rear end...(what did I just say...?!) and had a nice claim for $33k! My insurance company said they know it was a false claim, but he had the 'doctor's' reports, etc. and if it went to court it would have gone above and beyond my limit. So...I said thank you!

Like everyone is saying...if there's no police report...I doubt it will have too much hold in court or with insurance company.

Good luck.

Sorry that you went through this! I doubt you'll get sued without a police report.

I dont really have anything to add, but Jenn and DJpill (to your DW)- i'm glad you're both ok

DJPill....omg...so sorry to hear about your wife. Puts my worries ina different light. Im glad she is ok but sorry about the jeep.


Thank you everyone for all your contributions to this thread- hearing different takes on this really makes me rethink the entire situation.

i will post of anything comes up.

I don't know the exact laws but I think the fact that there is no police report doesn't give them much of a leg to stand on. She could have bene hurt but probaby wasn't, and if she planned on suing she would have gotten a police report. Try not to worry about it. And next time, get ALL the info! And be glad you're ok!

NO-FAULT is not a 'it's not your fault ' deal.
NO-FAULT is medical which pays for the medical treatment for any one who was in YOUR vehicle at the time of the accident .


you can make a claim without a police report(they will question it)
all the insurance company has to do is make contact with the peopl that were invlived in the accident . they will also send out forms that need to be singed and sent to motor vehicle..

NOW can he make an injury claim YES ! WILL he get paid for the claim PROB not!
if the damage to both vehicles are under $1000.00 ins company usually do not pay unless something is broken .