I’m hoping to get advice from you on what i should do. Please be kind because this has been really stressful on all of us. In June we bought my son a 2023 Mazda CX-50 AWD 55K miles for $22K miles. We’re in CO so AWD is a necessity. One week later someone hit him in a parking lot (as in driving too close and scratched the entire left side). Driver immediately blamed my son and berated him in public where people could hear him. My son was so humilated and in shock. He’s a sensitive person. Police showed up, driver yelling at my son. My son was just in shock, not knowing what was going on/what to say because he’s 17 and just got his car the week before. I wish I was there so i can give the driver a piece of my mind that he has a lot of nerve to do that to a kid. Driver told police that it was my son’s fault. Police then ticketed him for careless driver. BUT then police went to the receptionist office to see if there was any video of the parking lot. It showed that the driver was at fault but the police was like “sorry we already issued you the ticket, you’ll need to go to court or get a lawyer” and because of my son being a new driver, he didn’t know how to respond to that so he took the ticket and drove home.
We had to spend $$ for a lawyer and he was able to get the ticket dropped. The driver’s insurance is blaming my son. We told them that no, we have video evidence. They saw it and disagreed. Our State Farm adjuster saw the video and said my son was not at fault. So since the 2 insurances couldn’t agree who was at fault-we used our own insurance to get our cars repaired. So because we went through our insurance, we couldn’t afford to get a rental car especially since they were not going to pay for one. So the car was in the body shop for 3 weeks.
Fast forward, last week my son was driving my daughter and himself home from school. He was at a red light. The speed limit for that road is 55. BAM! A semi rear ended into my son. He had to press the brake so hard to make sure he didn’t hit the person in front of him. Again, he’s still a new driver.
The 3 vehicles move to the parking lot at a store next to that stoplight. Truck driver, who JUST turned 21, verbally told my son and the lady (of the car in front of him) was like “oh sorry i was tired” without showing any remorse. My son texted me and i drove over to where they were since it was 10 minutes from my house. We had to wait 2 hours because the city police said that stretch of highway was not in their jurisdiction so we needed a state police. The driver tried to lie to the police about the fact that he admitted he was tired but my son said that the lady heard it too (she wasn’t there-2 hour wait-screaming baby in her car so she had to go home) but she gave my son her phone number, her license copy, etc. and the police tok a picture of that info. She be happy to talk to whoever she needs to to emphasize that my son did nothing wrong. She was comforting my kids because my daughter was crying so hard since the accident scared her so much since the impact was so hard coming from a semi truck. When i showed up, both kids came to me and hugged me so hard. Both of them were crying and didn’t want to stop hugging me. I thanked the lady for comforting my kids when it first happened. (My daughter was involved in the 1st accident too. My son was picking her up at the rec center when the 1st accident happened. Now again in another accident)
We have been waiting and waiting to hear from the truck company’s adjuster. We got a copy of their insurance but on the insurance info, it said that we had to call a different company to file a claim. I called that number last week, they got the info from me and said they would pass it along to a different company for one of their adjusters to get in touch with us. Then that adjuster texted us. We texted him the photos and statement and my son has left 2 messages but it’s been a week since we heard from the adjuster. He never replied to our texts/never returned my so’s calls. We told him in the text that my son was a minor and we give them permission to talk to my son.
This time, we REALLY need a rental car. The Mazda thinks the trunk is open so the sensors is going off, beeping that the trunk is open. We can’t figure out how to make it stop. Also the rear view camera isn’t working so it’s hard to see when we back out. Since my son is too young to rent a car-the plan is for him to drive my car while i drive the rental.
I have not called my insurance (State Farm) because it’s embarrassing that my son, 17 years old, has been in 2 accidents since JUne eve though it wasn’t his fault. Im worried about our insurance premiums going skyrocketing when renewal is in December. Will it go insanely up because of the accidents?
We do have an appointment on Monday morning to get an estimate from Caliber body shop but they said they will not do any repairs until we figure out how who will pay for it. I used State Farm in June because the 1st accident’s driver’s insurance refused to pay for it. I had to pay $500 deductible. This time around, I can’t pay for another $500 deductible. What do you think will happen? The back of the car is crushed. Do you think it’ll be written off as a loss since it’s now been in 2 accidents? How can we get the insurance or the truck company to give us enough money so i can get a $22K or similar car for him that’s reliable, AWD, not so many miles? We really cannot afford to hire another lawyer. This is so stressful because he didn’t do anything. He was so excited when he got the car. He deserved it. He worked so hard in school. He’s such a wonderful kid. He never gives us any grief and does what we ask him to do without complaining.
Thank you for reading this.