The August Accident

   In late August of '99, I was driving with one of my best friends, Kristy, to spend a day at Universal Studios before I headed off to college and she started her senior year in high school.  There, on the 170 south freeway, was a truck (with a low, empty flatbed trailer) driving no faster than 45 MPH.  Other drivers ahead of me were driving quite rudely, whipping by the truck on the left then merging back in front of it.  Soon I was the car right behind it.  Rather than whip by him, as the other cars had done, I waited behind him, thinking he might speed up.  Eventually, I tired of going 25 MPH slower than the rest of traffic.  I signalled, checked the lane beside me, and started to merge to his left.  As SOON as I started to merge, the empty truck/trailer slammed on its brakes, causing me to just bump the trailer's left rear corner (while I myself was braking) with my right headlight.  The impact poked out my right headlight, popped the plastic coolant reserve tank, and bent the A/C condenser, rendering it useless.  We pulled to the right, and checked for damage.  The impact was so minor that that my airbags didn't deploy, and there was no visible damage to his truck/trailer whatsoever.  We exchanged insurance information and departed. 

   I was suspicious of the accident's circumstances from the beginning.  But there was no doubt in my mind of the guy's crook-status when my insurance company reported that we were being sued for $25,000 for "personal injury, loss of wages, and property damage."  Since the repairs on my car were limited to some paint, a new headlight, and a new A/C condenser, I knew that the damage to a truck/trailer that weighed twice as much would be insignificant.  Also, as an Emergency Medical Technician, I'm trained to quickly recognize and diagnose emergency medical needs of patients.  Since Kristy and myself were only startled in our light car, it was a scientific impossibility that the riders of the heavy truck would have any injuries whatsoever.  Besides, the Kelley Blue Book places the value of his old Chevy truck at no more than $500.  How, then, could there be $25,000 total damage?

   Approximately two years after the accident, I was finally summoned to a deposition by the crook's lawyer.  My insurance company sent a lawyer too, and the two of them, a court-reporter, and myself sat in a conference room and talked about the events of the accident.  It turns out the crook was a "swap meet vendor," and couldn't go to work because of his injuries following the accident.  My insurance company repeatedly offered him sums of ~$2,000 if he would drop the case and stop wasting our time.  He refused, and the case was destined for court.

   Well, right before I left for school my Junior year, I opened a letter from my insurance company that informed me that at the preliminary hearing of the case, the judge dismissed the case on all counts.  :-D  That means that for all his effort, and all my emotional trauma for two and a half years, the insurance-fraud crook and his Personal Injury firm didn't make a dime.  Aaah, sweet justice.

    So the moral of all this is, don't WORRY about having a car accident.  If you DO, you won't have time to think about it, and it'll come at you out of nowhere.  There's no way to predict when or where it will happen.  God-willing, it will not be a life-threatening accident.  However, no matter HOW MINOR the accident, be sure you get a police report/documentation.  I know it's not what you'll want to do at the time.  It's so easy to WANT to trust the other person, that they won't sue you, that they'll let it all go away and that your insurance company will never find out.  But my experience taught me it's not that easy.  So long as there are people out there that see free and easy money in insurance fraud, they will gladly put you through hell to get it.  So protect yourself with decent insurance and a police report for ANY accident involving your car and the car of someone you don't know.