At fault, no insurance

[monowhite]

I was in an accident and didn’t have insurance at the time.
Without getting into details, the other driver’s insurance company deemed me at fault and sent me a bill for $9000.
This seems crazy to me. I saw the damage and there’s no way that it would cost $9k to fix that. It was a small dent on the back door.
My question is, do I absolutely have to pay the whole $9k or would they possibly settle for less? I’m new to this and not sure how it works.
I can’t imagine paying $9k when I live paycheck to paycheck for an accident that really wasn’t my fault.

 

[adrian99]

@monowhite There are 2 parts to most claims: Liability, and damages. If a court determines that you are 100% responsible for the crash, then you are going to be 100% responsible for any costs involved. Those will be the damages. If the $9,000 is derived from the cost to repair the vehicle AND those repairs are the result of the crash, you are going to be responsible for those damages. However, if you can produce evidence that the vehicle can be repaired for less than $9k, it will require an expert, such as another body shop estimate or similar.

If there is a judgment entered against you, most likely the insurance company will set up a payment plan or send you to collections. Not good news I'm afraid.

 

[davelew86]

@monowhite You’re welcome to try to dispute it if you have proof that you weren’t at fault. But it is entirely possible that your license will be suspended in the meantime. The amount is going to be be hard to dispute if that’s what it cost to fix the car and provide the other driver with a rental.

 

[resjudicata]

@monowhite Cars are expensive to fix. And some parts you can’t just “fix” and have to replace the entire part.

Don’t drive without insurance for this reason.

You can argue it was their fault as well but it depends on what happened.

 

[tlmnaegame]

@monowhite some guy recently backed into my SUV with his "SUV" while I was parked on the street. Decent guy came knocking on the door at 1030pm when it happened.

He got off easy, all the damage I have is a 1/2"-3/4" scratch through the powder coat on my bumper, the part which is super easy to replace is $530 but has a 8-10 week wait for the part.

His is more of an issue, he needs a new outer bumper, new inner bumper, new tailgate, new tail light new license plate light bracket

 

[thatguy94]

@monowhite You're always going to be at fault without insurance. You may spend almost the same amount trying to get someone to determine it's not 9k worth of damage. I know times are hard but rolling around without insurance isn't worth it. Find another means of transportation if you can't get insurance. also, disputing could make you end up in court paying more plus lawyer fees.

 

[ayenew]

@monowhite The cost to repair Vehicles is high. The 9K problem includes rental as well as the repairs. If you don’t resolve the 9K they can garnish ur wages, suspend ur license amongst other things. Your best bet is to call the insurance and see if they would negotiate taking a lesser amount. A lot of times they will take some of the 9K if they can’t get all of it. If you share what took place in the accident we can let you know if you can dispute liability.