Car Accident Question

[slas7713]

I was recently returning from Santo Domingo on the new highway and on one of the little dirt feeder roads a beat up truck was waiting to cross left to right. He was waiting, I assumed for me, to pass. Right about the time I was to the crossing he began pulling out. I laid on the brakes and horn but it was too late and I plowed into his right side door. The police came and towed my truck to the toll booth and took us both to the Monte Plata police for the report. We both gave our testimonies and we were on our way, more or less.

Fast forward and I'm at Pepin insurance company in Santo Domingo with all the paperwork, I live in Cabrera. They read the police report and say that it doesn't say SPECIFICALLY who's fault it was so I will need to go find their client and take him to the judge in Monte Plata and get a acta de conaliacion with him claiming it was his fault. Now this seems crazy of course since I was on the highway and he was crossing. I'm also thinking that he's probably not going to be willing to do this.

I can't afford to spend days tracking this guy down so what are my options? Get a lawyer I'm guessing.

Dean

[J D Sauser]

Originally Posted by slas7713

I was recently returning from Santo Domingo on the new highway and on one of the little dirt feeder roads a beat up truck was waiting to cross left to right. He was waiting, I assumed for me, to pass. Right about the time I was to the crossing he began pulling out. I laid on the brakes and horn but it was too late and I plowed into his right side door. The police came and towed my truck to the toll booth and took us both to the Monte Plata police for the report. We both gave our testimonies and we were on our way, more or less.

Fast forward and I'm at Pepin insurance company in Santo Domingo with all the paperwork, I live in Cabrera. They read the police report and say that it doesn't say SPECIFICALLY who's fault it was so I will need to go find their client and take him to the judge in Monte Plata and get a acta de conaliacion with him claiming it was his fault. Now this seems crazy of course since I was on the highway and he was crossing. I'm also thinking that he's probably not going to be willing to do this.

I can't afford to spend days tracking this guy down so what are my options? Get a lawyer I'm guessing.

Dean

My experience so far is, that the fault question is not much of interest to you as long it wasn't clearly your fault and the other party did not claim bodily injury, because, IF it is the other party's fault and there is not other claim, the other party is likely to be so under insured that you will never see much more than a dime out the whole deal. In other words, we are left to hope YOU insured YOUR car for collision damage.
then the question will be, what is Pepin's claims department worth... will the pay up, will they repair properly (bring the vehicle to a condition as good as before the accident?) or will they waste your time with funny proposals and other BS?
If you feel the least bit uncomfortable, and have a lot of money in YOUR car, you may face what I have come to face and lawyer up to fight your own insurance company.

I had an accident with a 1 1/2 year old pickup which was in NEW condition on July 25th 2008, insured to the max with a policy issued by General de Seguros (AXA)... and to the day all they have come up is a terrible intend to bend the wreck into some kind of ridiculous shape... we will have to drag'em into court. And no, the accident was not our fault.

Good luck... J-D.

[slas7713]

Thanks for the input. I haven't even gotten to the point of being able to fight with the insurance companies yet. Can't wait for that. Looks like this might be another one of those DR learned the hard way lessons.

DL

[MikeFisher]

what coverage offers that "Pepin" insurance?
i know them from over here just as the basic insurer for motorcycles,
and yes, i know people who purchase that insurance for cars, just to show the AMET that they are insured when stopped.
completely agree to J.D.'s post.
first thing on a crash is, and that's even a requirement in a usual insurer policy, to contact the insurance company right away when the crash happened, before leaving the police station, better, before even arriving there.
to get something out of it afterwards is hard stuff,
mostly not worth the lawyer costs.
take an insurer who provides you with a 24/7 'crash' call number and if something 'banged' call thyem right away to let them tell the cops what papers they have to fill in for them.
i know,
it's a mess,
we're on the Island and to hit on the road is a mess.
wish you luck with your case.
keep us posted how it finally went.
Mike

[tflea]

I only buy the basic, required insurance. why? because I have found, twice, that full coverage of about a million pesos to actually pay off the 'victim', is worse than going to the dentist. The lawyers extract one tooth at a time.