Oh yay, my first car accident!

First off, I wasn't at fault.

The long and short of it was, this woman made an illegal left turn and sped out in front of me. I slammed on my brakes but still hit her. My right headlight is knocked out and my RF fender is damaged--but her rear bumper got knocked off.

I had my four-year-old son with me too. I had my seat belt on, and he was securely fastened in his booster seat in the middle row.

After sitting there for a few seconds and assessing things, I got out my cellphone and called 911, called my husband, and got out my license, registration, and proof of insurance, and basically sat tight.

I'm not really mad at the woman--I mean, maybe she'll learn a lesson, don't do stupid, illegal moves! :bash: I'm just annoyed. I'd just gotten two new front tires on my minivan yesterday and was hoping I'd get to help my mother-in-law out a bit, and this happens!

Now I get to learn first-hand the ins and outs of dealing with insurance companies. Never had to before, and I'll be 33 next month!

Well, I'll just be driving my husband's car for a while, I guess...just want to make sure my van doesn't have more wrong with it than it looks like....

Glad to hear it wasn't worse...

I just had my own first accident a couple of months ago. I was quite proud of my perfect record (I'm 42), but oh well...

Mine was only sort of my fault. I was in a line of cars travelling along a residential street during evening rush hour. We were approaching an entirely unimportant intersection-- the crossing traffic had stop signs, but it was a through street our way-- when a pickup sped through the intersection followed closely by three police cars. The entire line of cars of which I was a part slammed on their brakes, but I was just a bit too late to avoid sliding into the car in front of me. It did no damage to my car, and only bent the other car's rear bumper a bit.

We found out later that the pickup was driven by an felon who had escaped from the county jail. There were a total of 12 accidents as a result of the chase, and ours was one of the more minor ones. The felon eventually plowed into a tree and was recaptured.

It was technically my fault, since I was following, but that was set aside since the whole thing happened as a result of a high-speed chase, and all the accidents were held to be the felon's fault. It was a very dull and minor accident, but sort of an exciting cause.


Good luck with the insurance company. I hope that all works out fine. I didn't have to deal with them at all regarding my accident. They didn't even raise my rates, since the accident wasn't judged to be my fault. Honestly, that part of it sort of surprised me-- I figured they'd raise my rates anyway, just because that's what insurance companies do...

Hey Amethyst I am glad no one is seriously hurt!

My wife has been in 3 accidents in one year all of them rearends two of them within 3 weeks of one another (this happened about 5 years ago), It is like she had a big HIT ME sticker on the back of her car, nothing real bad has happened thankfully, only thing she really complains about is her lower back hurting, your right about the insurance companies though, what a pain in the arse to deal with!!
The last accident took about 3 years to settle, she had to go not only to our insurance companies "recommended doctor" but to the other companies "recommended doctor" and if they both disagreed on the prognosis it would drag on longer so she could get more opinions on what was wrong with her, more x-rays, and in the mean time go to a chiropractor and try to fix the missalignment of her spine so she was not in constant pain everyday, Thankfully they finally settled with my wife recieving $16,000, all of her chiropractic care payed for a year, and a physical trainer at a gym of her choice for a year.
All is good now, the chiropractic care helped a bunch, she hardly complains about her back anymore, but having to deal with insurance companies almost isn't even worth it, your own company seems to be against you, hope we never have to go through something like that again!

I hope your fight is a quick one with the insurance scampanies, but be ready to fight it out for a while too, and don't give in either because problems could arise in the future with you or your child. Good luck.

Hopefully nothing is wrong with me or my son. I wasn't going that fast--no more than 25 mph--and when I saw her flying out in front of me I slammed on my brakes. My airbag didn't deploy--my understanding is it would if I were hit at 30 mph or more.

My husband says that's one more idiot that didn't get away with making a stupid move!

I'll just keep an eye on myself and my son.

my first accident was when during sunset i was cleaning my windshield and the next thing I knew I saw these brake lights appear before me. Totalled my car. They were making a left turn and I never saw them since iw as focused on my windshield and not on the traffic ahead.

then the next two oI rear ended a person making a right turn on a 4 lane highway. took me those 2 accidents before I started watching out for peopel in fornt of me slowing down to make turns on 4 lane highways

I just called up the other driver's insurance...come to find out she was driving someone else's car (someone she lives with) and the car and its owner are covered under that insurance--but she's not; she must have a different insurance carrier. So now they're going to try to find out who her carrier is.

Great...should I expect a game of pass-the-buck-back-and-forth while my van sits there wanting to be fixed?

33 and no accidents yet till this? You're lucky!

My first was when I feel asleep at the wheel, totaled my car, and almost killed me and my mother when I was like 17!

The good thing is now I live in NYC and don't own a car and don't need to drive

Originally posted by djohnsto77
33 and no accidents yet till this? You're lucky!

Nope, just careful.

And I won't be 33 for another 26 days.

Now I'm REALLY upset.

I thought I saw some fluid underneath my van's front end. I looked and it's transmission fluid!

What makes me mad is that back in December I'd had a leakage issue and had had a bad gasket replaced.

No way I'm going to drive it to get it fixed. I'm going to have it towed. Otherwise I risk my transmission slipping out of gear.

Only 20 but still no actual accidents. A few little bumps that were partly my fault that scared the wits out of me but never any damage. My goal was to leave my teens without an accident and I can say mission accomplished.

I consider myself a good driver, that can be stupid at times but never dangerous.

I am glad to hear everybody was ok, it can be so stressful dealing with the insurance companies, even when it is not your fault. My stepmother had a young child run in front of her car and she bumped him. Totally was his fault, and this was admitted. Month later they threatened to sue the insurance company, they quickly settle and BAM! her insurance is through the roof.

Hopefully everything rolls as smoothly as it possibly can in a time like this.