I got into an accident in Markham. Guy ahead of me stopped suddenly I hit him from behind. Of course I'm at fault. I got charged with careless driving - 6 points. Everybody not injured but my insurance is going to go thru the roof .
I'm going to set a court date and hope the victim/witness or policeman doesn't show up and plead it down to 3 points on a lesser charge.
Hiring Paralegal or Ex copper worth it?
Thoughts fellow pooners? Thank you in advance.
You already know you're hosed on the at fault portion of the accident, but I would strongly suggest you fight the careless charge (as you already intend to, and you should stand a very good chance of getting it lessened). "Careless driving" is considered a major ticket, and as it stands WILL cause you problems if it remains on your record should you want to change insurance companies.
Generally speaking insurance companies have a combination of things that can disqualify you from regular insurance... for example; 2 tickets is okay, 3 will disqualify you. 1 major and nothing else might be okay, but 1 major and an at fault accident will disqualify you. 1 cancellation for non-payment, 1 at fault, and 1 ticket and you're screwed... ect
It can get more complicated than that as you draw other drivers (like a spouse) and vehicles into the picture, but generally speaking you're going to do a lot better on your rates and ability to shop around if you just have the 1 at fault and are able to get the major "carless" charged dropped down to something like "following too closely" which would be a minor.
The ticket will remain on your insurance 3 years from the day you paid it, and the accident for 6 years from your next renewal, but will steadily get better with each year as you'll gain back another "star" rating. If this is all you have your current insurance company will probably still keep you.
If you have other stuff on your driving record I would recommend talking to a broker about Kingsway insurance as opposed to being forced into the Facilty high risk market. Kingsway used to offer 6 month policies, so if another charge is due to fall off shortly, taking a shorter policy can sometimes help as the picture will be better in 6 months.
Seems odd that you were charged with "careless" and not just "failing to stop", which is a much lesser charge.
Having worked in auto claims for a number of years I started noticing a trend a few years ago of officers charging people with "careless" instead of lesser charges like "following too closely" or "failing to stop". One day I happened to get a claim that belonged to a police officer so I asked him about that, and he's what he said;
Basically its harder to prove one of the other charges. How do you prove someone was following too closely and that's what lead to the accident. How do you prove he failed to stop... maybe the other guy backed up? Basically "Careless" serves as a blanket charge because its easier to prove... an accident happened so you must have been careless. This is all done of course with the the expectation that you will fight the charge and accept a lesser one by admitting to it.
Seems kinda like a big waste on the system if you ask me...
Assuming you are took care of the repairs outta your pocket...
I would say that if you open your door into another guys door then that's one thing to go out of pocket on, but an accident like this its not a good idea.
For one thing a proper bumper repair will run you about $1600, provided there's not hidden damage, and you'd be suprised how often that is the case with how modern cars are designed to crumple in accidents. On top of this you'll also have a rental car to contend with for the other guy. You can can then double the figure because you no doubt have damage of your own.
Say you have deep pockets and that's not a problem... here's where it can all fall apart;
1) A police report was filed for the accident.
Some insurance companies, I know State Farm for sure does it, "fish" for accidents. They do this to help head off potential bodily injury claims. Basically once the police department enters the field officers accident report it gets sent off to the insurance company (not all insurance companies do this as it costs them a tonne of money to opt into). Basically this is ethical to them because the policy clearly states that you MUST report all accidents to them within a prescrbed period of time.
2) Someone gets in the other guys ear a year from now and he decides to get a lawyer....
The minute he talks to his insurance company your insurance company knows it because they have to verify and send a report to your company. Even if he's not claiming for damages and just his accident benefits you're pulled into this, so you get dinged anyway. Plus, because more than a year has passed you're barred from being able to recoup the money you went out of pocket on for your own repairs (the money for his isn't claimable).
3) Nothing happens, but the other guy is one of those people who for some reason thinks he should tell his broker or insurance company about he accident anyway... just to be safe. Basically neither insurance company spends a dime and you're still screwed.
So end result in a case like this is that there's a good chance you're out of pocket and screwed on your rates... (to say nothing of the charge).
