Ugh...DD in two accidents in a week.

[Ready2Go]

20 years old. 1st accident was technically not her fault but inconclusive. Word of a 20 yo compared to a 50+ yo. 2nd accident was 100% her fault...rear-ended a car into another car in traffic.

Anyways, I have no experience with this. I'm nervous about my insurance company getting wind of both accidents. I'm still trying to get a copy of the police report from the first accident so I can contact that driver before he calls my company. I'm planning to suggest that we each pay our own damage. If he balks, I may offer him some additional money to go away.

I'm guessing that the 2nd accident will need to go through insurance because the damage is more extensive...newer cars too. If I remember right premiums go up 20% for each accident/ticket. Is that still the going rate? She doesn't think there will be any injury claims from accident 2 but I'm not ruling it out.

What else should I be worried about? Any suggestions?

[ivinsfan]

First of all, I'm, glad she and others appear to be OK.

Secondly do not offer anyone extra money to go away. If there is a police report it's public record the chips will fall where they may.You say technically not her fault, what does that mean.

Thirdly, insurance rates are pool rates that we all pay and honestly your DD needs to pay more based on the info you just provided. Maybe you pay the bills and then that's between you and her. Stuff happens just be Thankful everyone is in one piece and move on.

[W2R]

Might want to think about paying for further driver training through one of those private driver training schools? Not to punish or embarrass her, but just to help her pick up any further skills she might need.

As you can tell from the above, I'd be more worried about the 3rd accident than the first two. You know, some future accident in which someone could get hurt, even killed or maimed, and she ends up bearing the guilt for that for the rest of her life.

[Dash man]

I’m also glad everyone is okay. I think you should play it honestly and report it. They will find out. If you try to cover it up you may lose your coverage.

[bigcmagor]

My 25 year old DD has had 7 accidents, so I feel your pain.


Let the insurance company sort it out. It's why you buy insurance.


Yes, your rates are going up for a few years or you may be cancelled. She will likely be on her own in a few years and you can get back to normal rates on your own policy. Relax, time flies.


After the last of her incidents a year ago, we insisted that our daredevil driver get a car with collision avoidance features - primarily autonomous braking. Lord only knows how many times that feature has fended off incident #8.


Good luck!

[Newventurer]

If accidents are reported I think your ins company will find out when they pull the records, I believe they pulled annual records when we had kids that age driving. I believe we always got a notice in the mail that they had pulled the records.

When our kids turned 21 we put the car title and registration in their name as well to head off liability issues.

Good luck!

[Hermit]

A teaching opportunity. Suggest she be responsible for her actions. Have her pay the additional premiums and all other expenses. If not now, when she has a job. And no fair writing it off as a gift later. IMHO, there is no excuse for a rear ender. Either following too close or not paying attention or both.

[Texas Proud]

If I were involved in accident #1 and thought it was your DDs fault I would not be willing to pay for my damage... might not even be willing to accept money...


Accidents cost money... even a small fender bender that you cannot see damage can run up to $1500 or more... there are parts that have to be replaced that you cannot see..



As for #2... that has to cost a lot... damage on one car on both the front and back and a second car in the back... plus your car...




As for paying it yourself, I do know that one of my sisters did that with her kids.. if it was a minor accident she would ask the person if she could pay out of pocket and save the increase in insurance... some took the cash... make sure you get them to sign a release though...

[txtig]

A couple of years ago, I had two accidents in one week, both were attributable to my drivers. The first was my college age son returning home from school. Rear ended two vehicles in the rain on the interstate (he pushed the first car into the second). All three vehicles had several thousand dollars damage each. The second wreck was my older son who had borrowed my truck because his was in the shop. Ran into a car while making a turn. Significant damage to both vehicles, including settlements with both occupants of the other vehicle for bodily injury. I was sure that my premiums were going to increase dramatically and I was just hoping that I didn’t get cancelled altogether. It turned out that I only saw a small increase, which I likely would have seen anyway. Quite a relief.

[mystang52]

DD at that age also had a couple of at-fault accidents. Fortunately, each accident did not involve any injuries. Her last one was very shortly after she graduated college.

After that last accident, I told her that once she landed a full time job, she would have 6 more months on my policy, then her car goes in her name and she would be responsible for getting, and paying for, her own insurance. I kept to that promise. No accident or ticket since then (18 years).

[Bestwifeever]

DS was in an accident at 16 and although it was both (young) drivers’ fault, insurance went superhigh for him—we had to get a separate policy for him thereafter. But that’s the breaks.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit A teaching opportunity. Suggest she be responsible for her actions. Have her pay the additional premiums and all other expenses. If not now, when she has a job. And no fair writing it off as a gift later. IMHO, there is no excuse for a rear ender. Either following too close or not paying attention or both.

+1
This could be a wonderful learning experience in the school of hard knocks. In fact, it could be beneficial to her for the rest of her life as she remembers it and drives very defensively.

As for insurance premiums, every company has their own policy, and they will tell you what it is.

[Teacher Terry]

From the time our kids could drive we paid for them to have their own policy so ours didn’t go up if they had a accident. My 16 yo rear ended someone and we took away license and car for 6 months. Most teens have one accident when they first started to drive.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit A teaching opportunity. Suggest she be responsible for her actions. Have her pay the additional premiums and all other expenses. If not now, when she has a job. And no fair writing it off as a gift later. IMHO, there is no excuse for a rear ender. Either following too close or not paying attention or both.

Probably texting, it's a fact I see plenty of drivers texting all the time, even at 80 mph.

Sometimes they are Sexting I haven't seen that yet

Regardless, she needs to pay, even if she cannot afford her cell phone .... oh gosh what a lesson.... needs vs wants....

[Red Badger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Might want to think about paying for further driver training through one of those private driver training schools? Not to punish or embarrass her, but just to help her pick up any further skills she might need. As you can tell from the above, I'd be more worried about the 3rd accident than the first two. You know, some future accident in which someone could get hurt, even killed or maimed, and she ends up bearing the guilt for that for the rest of her life.

+1.

And forget about contacting the other party. The crash is in a database- this aint the 60's. Cowboy up and decide if you or DD are paying the rate hike.

[FlaGator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit A teaching opportunity. Suggest she be responsible for her actions. Have her pay the additional premiums and all other expenses. If not now, when she has a job. And no fair writing it off as a gift later. IMHO, there is no excuse for a rear ender. Either following too close or not paying attention or both.

+1

My 16 yr old rear-ended another car just a few months after getting her license-following too close while fiddling with the radio. Everyone drove away unhurt, but the damage to both cars totaled $8-10K. I covered the deductible under my policy of "the first one is free". Nothing in the year since.

Although I provide the vehicle, I made her pay the insurance from the first day she was licensed. Her monthly cost doubled to $200, and she'll be paying that for several years.

Inattention has consequences, and costs. Sometimes it sucks to pay the costs of having some of the independence of an adult

[Ready2Go]

Thank you all for the feedback! Good stuff.

[Chuckanut]

A while back a relative was hit by another driver who turned into the lane he was driving in. Less than a year ago, the other driver had also totaled her car in an accident that was her fault. She did not want to report this new accident to the insurance company. They made her a lousy offer to settle - a small payment for damages only if the work was done at the shop of one of their 'friends'.

They were in no position to bargain hard for a good deal.

When her insurance company found out about the accident, they investigate and ruled it was the her fault, not my relative's. One thing that brought them to that conclusion was that the other party not only never reported the accident on her own, but took a week to return calls from her insurance company - hardly the behavior of a innocent person .

Thankfully, my relative did report it. He ended up with some soft-tissue damage and the bill for that was far higher than the car repairs. And he got the car repaired at a local shop with a good reputation, not at the shop of her 'friend'.

I agree with those who think that this is a relatively cheap lesson that may save her from a far more serious situation in the future.

[Jerry1]

Good advice above, but have you got the the bottom of what happened? Was she speeding, texting, . . . Sometimes even though it’s your fault, there’s nothing you could have done about it. For example, deer runs out in front of car ahead of you and you just happen to be the last car slamming on your breaks and therefore, it’s your fault. Something like that is a lot different than texting, etc. What happened is important to know how to proceed. As for these two accidents, I agree with playing it straight up. This is now an insurance matter. That’s what it’s there for and trying to go around that process could cost you way more than you’re going to pay from them increasing your rates. I don’t know about you, but every night I get all I can stomach of personal injury lawyer commercials. They would exploit any mistake you make. Don’t do it.

[jollystomper]

Always report the accident, even if at fault. I have seen folks offer the other party money to not report the accident, the other party requests a cash payment , but then reports it anyway. They deny receiving any money and claim they are being harassed by the at-fault party.