Cab driver bumped me...should he pay? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cab driver bumped me...should he pay?

O

Owen

Well-known member
Forum Sponsor
A cab driver bumped me from behind at a red light and knocked me over. He let his foot of the brake, while on a hill too, and rolled forward enough to bump me. I'm assuming he came to a stop way too close to me to begin with since anyone who's close enough to roll forward and bump someone is way too close. I was also the first person at the lights and could have been pushed in to crossing traffic!!!

My engine and frame guards did their job on my Triumph Street Triple so there's no cosmetic damage to the engine or plastics. My bar-end mirror and bar end protector is a bit scratched/slightly bent.

If I was driving a car, I wouldn't even have taken his license and insurance info. But people need to be far more careful around bikes! The guy is supposed to be a professional driver too!!

Should I make him pay for it out of pocket or let it slide since it's minimal damage? Should I let his company know and potentially affect his livelihood? If you're driving for a living, you shouldn't be making mistakes on the road like that.
 
If you can get money out of the cabbie do it.

"professional driver"...really? That is funny on so many levels.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just send it through his insurance and be done with it.
 
From what you describe, the other driver is 100% at fault. Here's the thing though - your own insurance company pays for your damage (assuming you have collision coverage). The only way the other driver may benefit from paying you directly is if you don't report the collision and it doesn't go on his record. This arrangement is a little bit shady IMHO and sometimes people end up with nothing and trouble later on when they go to report it.
 
Cabbies in this city are among the worst skilled and most distracted drivers out there (and the cops know this). I nearly got hit by one about a month ago...just pulled out of a driveway without looking. You should be report the incident and the driver should be charged with distracted driving.
 
Report!
 
I don't think it makes a difference if it's a cab or not....why wouldn't you report it? Your property got damaged....you had ZERO fault and did nothing wrong.

If you were in your car sure, **** happens. But you weren't.
 
Go through insurance. I bet if you contact him now for your repairs. he won't pay you OR he will try to pay 50% of what the actual costs are.
 
If you got his ins. info, go thru your insurance. The claim will be paid by your ins. and then at the end of the year the ins. companies balance the books for at faults. It will go against him in the end. If you didn't get his info on the spot, report it to collision center. That may be all you can do if he says he doesn't want to pay. They are always surprised at the cost of bike parts. Replace everything damaged!
 
Not sure why it makes a difference that it was a cabbie. Would you have been happier had it been a 88 year old lady? Or a 16 year old kid?

Go report it, thus means travelling down to CRC, (Collision Reporting Center). Insurance co will insist it be report to police. You may have an issue given you have delayed reporting it. He could deny even being in that area at the time etc. Hopefully, you recorded a whole bunch of info., IE cab name, number, drivers name, description of driver, plate number, even better if you got his insurance and drivers licence number.
 
Check with your insurance on the need to report this (CRC). I was bumped lightly in the rear in my STi last winter, just hard enough to leave a licence-plate bolt-head dimple in the rear bumper cover. Went to the CRC and was basically laughed out of the place because the damage was too minor. I reminded the cop that removing, repairing, prepping and painting a urethane bumper cover won't be cheap and could easily eclipse $1000 when done properly. He didn't care and then gave me a hard time about my licence plate covers, saying he could ticket me for them.

In the end I didn't get any number or paperwork from them and my insurance company didn't care.

If the extent of your damage is a slightly bent bar-end mirror and a scuff on the bar-end I'd seriously consider not bothering with insurance or the CRC at all. Your time to deal with this will be worth more than you'll recoup through that process.
 
FLSTC said:
From what you describe, the other driver is 100% at fault. Here's the thing though - your own insurance company pays for your damage (assuming you have collision coverage). The only way the other driver may benefit from paying you directly is if you don't report the collision and it doesn't go on his record. This arrangement is a little bit shady IMHO and sometimes people end up with nothing and trouble later on when they go to report it.
Click to expand...

Only if the other driver is a convincing liar. Otherwise as far as I'm aware you have up to a year to make a claim. I've made a claim 2 months after the accident and had pretty much no problem.

Owen, I'd say it depends on your own opinion of the guy. I usually give people the chance to pay for damages and save their records. But if they are ***** or drive like idiots and I want to make a statement I'll file a claim or a complaint. You have several options in this situation: insurance claim, complaint to his company, and complaint to the city. I think it might be too late for a police report if you didn't already get one so you've likely lost the option of having him charged with following too closely or something like that. If you liked the guy a lot just suck it up and pay yourself. Not so much? Go through insurance. Really huge wanker? Go through all of the above options and cost him his job.

When I complained about a taxi for simply making multiple lane changes without signalling to the city they took it seriously and called me for more details. Unfortunately I only had the cab number off the back which they said wasn't enough to do anything but if you have his name or more details they can do something about it.
 
unL33T said:
Only if the other driver is a convincing liar. Otherwise as far as I'm aware you have up to a year to make a claim. I've made a claim 2 months after the accident and had pretty much no problem.

Owen, I'd say it depends on your own opinion of the guy. I usually give people the chance to pay for damages and save their records. But if they are ***** or drive like idiots and I want to make a statement I'll file a claim or a complaint. You have several options in this situation: insurance claim, complaint to his company, and complaint to the city. I think it might be too late for a police report if you didn't already get one so you've likely lost the option of having him charged with following too closely or something like that. If you liked the guy a lot just suck it up and pay yourself. Not so much? Go through insurance. Really huge wanker? Go through all of the above options and cost him his job.

When I complained about a taxi for simply making multiple lane changes without signalling to the city they took it seriously and called me for more details. Unfortunately I only had the cab number off the back which they said wasn't enough to do anything but if you have his name or more details they can do something about it.
Click to expand...

They took it seriously enough to do nothing about it?
You mean that they don't know who's driving their cabs or when?
 
Yes you have up to a year to make an insurance claim, not so for reporting the collision. You are required to report the collision as soon as is practiable. Think about it. I have your plate number and have a beef with you so I call my insurer and say you rear ended my car 11 months ago. How are you to defend against that, (unless I am an idiot and say the date of the accident happens to be when you can prove yo were in Cuba on vacation)..lol This would be another way for insurance scammers to make hay, if they could do that.

Sounds like the city took your complaint very seriously... Thanks for calling us but we are doing nothing. The cab owners MUST keep records of who is operating what cab at all times. The police wouldn't lay a charge of following too close as they were stopped at a red light. All the driver has to say is my foot slipped off the brake and I panicked and didn't hit the brake in time. For all we or the OP knows that is exactly what happened. There is no regulation in the HTA that sets out a specific space one must leave between vehicles at a red light.

unL33T said:
Only if the other driver is a convincing liar. Otherwise as far as I'm aware you have up to a year to make a claim. I've made a claim 2 months after the accident and had pretty much no problem.

Owen, I'd say it depends on your own opinion of the guy. I usually give people the chance to pay for damages and save their records. But if they are ***** or drive like idiots and I want to make a statement I'll file a claim or a complaint. You have several options in this situation: insurance claim, complaint to his company, and complaint to the city. I think it might be too late for a police report if you didn't already get one so you've likely lost the option of having him charged with following too closely or something like that. If you liked the guy a lot just suck it up and pay yourself. Not so much? Go through insurance. Really huge wanker? Go through all of the above options and cost him his job.

When I complained about a taxi for simply making multiple lane changes without signalling to the city they took it seriously and called me for more details. Unfortunately I only had the cab number off the back which they said wasn't enough to do anything but if you have his name or more details they can do something about it.
Click to expand...
 
The city took it seriously enough to follow up. That's more than I usually get out of them. They said they tried to get info from the cab company but the company refused and aren't legally required to provide the info. If you have the info they would likely do something. The guy from the city really wanted me to ID the driver but there was no way I could.

Nevermind, you're right. You can't do anything. Owen is screwed.

In regards to reporting the accident, you only need to do that for damage over $1000. I've only had that happen twice and one of them there was no way the cops weren't getting called since two cars were destroyed, one person needed an ambulance, and a telephone pole was damaged.
 
Your confusing the term report, as I used it, it was in reference to reporting the collision to your insurer, not the police. In your example of course the police had to be called regardless of the vehicle and pole damage, it was required to be reported as it was a PI, (personal injury), collision.

unL33T said:
The city took it seriously enough to follow up. That's more than I usually get out of them. They said they tried to get info from the cab company but the company refused and aren't legally required to provide the info. If you have the info they would likely do something. The guy from the city really wanted me to ID the driver but there was no way I could.

Nevermind, you're right. You can't do anything. Owen is screwed.

In regards to reporting the accident, you only need to do that for damage over $1000. I've only had that happen twice and one of them there was no way the cops weren't getting called since two cars were destroyed, one person needed an ambulance, and a telephone pole was damaged.
Click to expand...
 
hedo2002 said:
Your confusing the term report, as I used it, it was in reference to reporting the collision to your insurer, not the police. In your example of course the police had to be called regardless of the vehicle and pole damage, it was required to be reported as it was a PI, (personal injury), collision.
Click to expand...
Well twice I didn't report it until I made the claim. One was a month after and the other was 2 months after.
 
I wonder....tables turned...in a moment of inattention or distraction some of the same members suggesting you immediately report it to insurance were the ones who were at fault instead. Minimal or no damage to the other vehicle, you willingly offer to pay for any and all repairs...yet the other person takes a "screw you" attitude and files a report. Would you feel the same way?

Happened to me. I bumped the back of a POS 15 year old Cavalier about 10 years ago - the thing was a rustbucket one wheel out of the scrapyard. Cracked the black plastic bumper in the cold weather. I admitted it (hey, I bumped him), politely exchanged info, and told him to get a quote for me and I'd pay him. Instead a week later I get a call from my insurance company telling me that not only had a claim been filed against me, but asking why I hadn't reported it... In the end he made an insurance claim for a $250 scrapyard bumper (I asked for and got a statement with the description and dollar amount of the settlement) and it cost me a LOT of money over the next 3 years in increased insurance premiums for having an at-fault collision on my record.

So yeah, there's something to be said for trying to give someone a break.

Now, if the guy was a total knob when he got out of the cab and/or he isn't willing to follow through on his offer...yeah, call the insurance company.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom