I can feel the bad critics coming, but I need advice.

[Zreberlcoe]

So last Friday (1/17/2014) I was heading out of school (high school with assigned parking spaces) to go to lunch. I get in my E30 and get ready to back out, firstly I always always always check my shoulders before I back out, and so I did . I check over my left shoulder which is the way cars would come from in this parking lot, and I check over my right as well as where I can see out the back window and I stay in thus position as I start to creep out. Now so you can picture my parking lot the parking aisles are east to west with the cars facing north and south. The flow of traffic through the aisle's is from east to west. my car is facing south and i back out towards north. Also I'm about 4th or 5th from the end so I cant see people wheeling around the corner into my aisle. Anyway, I get mostly out into the aisle then I hear a crunch. I then pull forward and see that i had collided with a Chevy cavalier, just my luck. Now heres where I need advice, I had hit the left front of the car. but he had hit just left of the center of my rear bumper. Now I did not see him one bit, keep in mind I did check my shoulders and was watching where I was going, so that means I had to be almost all the way out of my parking spot for when we collided. Who is at fault? This kids mom wants me to cough up $1200.00 for the accident and i don't even know if I'm at fault. She just went and got an estimate and gave us the bill assuming I'm at fault. Here's the kicker, the kid said he was messing with something at the time of collision and he didn't honk or back up and he admitted these things to me. As of right now I'm going to see if the school has the security camera footage of us colliding and I'm going to talk to the resource officer. important things to note for your understanding: he had passengers that say I'm at fault but I know for a fact they would cover his ass so they're not trustworthy, he did not honk, he didn't reverse, we did not document, we don't want to involve insurance because of spikes in rates, I do not know how the accident happened I just can assume, and his mom is not letting up on how it's my fault. But for whoever made it this far into my novel, I need some good non ass hole "stupid high school kid shouldn't have an E30" kind of stuff.

I know it's hard for me to read through threads with this many words and no pictures of cool shit so for whoever does thank you very much and I'm very appreciative.

[mrcheezle19]

Personally the best advice I can give it hope they have security camera footage. Obviously his mom is trying to pin it on you because she does not want to be at fault and have to pay up if her kid is at fault, hoping you will just cave in. Get camera footage and hope for the best.

[NotColtonOrr]

How bad is the damage on his car? Don't give in right away and fork over $1200 when you could possibly source a used bumper or fender for $100.

[Zreberlcoe]

Alright I managed to muster this up for you guys so you can get a visual.
This is legitimately my schools parking lot, the black circle is my car in the actual spot I park in everyday and the arrow is in the direction i'm backing out. the red arrow is the cavalier. Now the blue circles are where cars are located in between me and seeing the cavalier approaching, tomorrow when I see the footage I will see exactly the cars in the exact positions since that's a little hazy in my memory.

[Zreberlcoe]

How bad is the damage on his car? Don't give in right away and fork over $1200 when you could possibly source a used bumper or fender for $100.

The taillight is flopping so a bracket is broke, there is paint swap on mine and his bumper and two plastic clips are broken on his bumper. But his mom won't lift up her foot on me being the culprit and she is assertive on the fact that she wants it done "professionally" and not some parts from a junkyard. Obviously she doesn't know the know the value of sourcing parts from a junkyard like us E30 guys do.

Personally the best advice I can give it hope they have security camera footage. Obviously his mom is trying to pin it on you because she does not want to be at fault and have to pay up if her kid is at fault, hoping you will just cave in. Get camera footage and hope for the best.

I really hope they have it. Because I want to see if I'm blatantly at fault or it's a toss up. But I put you guys mostly in the situation I am in now so the more advise I can get, the better and more fair the outcome for me.

[tom d]

stupid highschool kids shouldn't ..........

1, if you're at fault then she is required to get three quotes and you only have to pay the lowest.

2, usually but not necessarily the person backing up is at fault.

3, by not involving the law there is no way of telling who's fault it is, if she wants to pursue this she will have to take it to court.

4, do not pay her a dime, do not agree to anything except that it was an accident and that at the very least you split the cost of both of the damages.

[Zreberlcoe]

stupid highschool kids shouldn't ..........



1, if you're at fault then she is required to get three quotes and you only have to pay the lowest.



2, usually but not necessarily the person backing up is at fault.



3, by not involving the law there is no way of telling who's fault it is, if she wants to pursue this she will have to take it to court.



4, do not pay her a dime, do not agree to anything except that it was an accident and that at the very least you split the cost of both of the damages.

This. This helps a lot. But how do you know these things? Also I'm in Colorado.

[tom d]

looking at post 4, I would have to say (IMHO) that because the other driver turned onto the street where you were backing onto and you were already in that street then he failed to grant you the right of way. if he had stayed straight and you backed into his path then you would not have granted his right of way.

[NotColtonOrr]

Talk to the guy tomorrow and record the conversation. If you can get him to admit that he was messing around with something in his car and not really paying attention then you at least have some evidence that he could be at fault.

[mrcheezle19]

I know it's on all our minds so I'll just say it, pics of said mom, if she's hot give her the gentleman's sausage and get her to buy you a new bumper. Win?

[E30_Pare]

moms trying to shaft you. If you can get the driver to admit fault might as well tackle insurance. He was driving not his mom

[IRON-E]

In regards to "Tom Ds" answers.

#1 is partly wrong, if you're at fault, you will have to pay the shop of her choice.

#2 is correct but, 9 times out of 10, it won't be an easy fight.

#3 is incorrect, Police are there to collect "hear say data" not to verify who's at fault.

#4 I would personally do the same, do not pay out a dime, until the Mom can agree to split the fault in half.
Get a notarized letter stating that each one of you, will take care of their own damages without any further involvement of insurance.

I would also suggest, you get 3 estimates of your damages as well. If worst comes to shove, just have the insurance deal with it. It'll be cheaper than dealing with this lady, who sounds unreasonable.

Good luck.

[Sean325is]

Be careful with this one. In some states, it is illegal to record a conversation unless both parties consent. Good idea, just do not do it unless you are sure in Colorado you are allowed to do so.

Talk to the guy tomorrow and record the conversation. If you can get him to admit that he was messing around with something in his car and not really paying attention then you at least have some evidence that he could be at fault.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Where I'm from if you would get the law involved they would declare it a no fault since it happend in a parking lot and they would send you your separate ways.

[Ether-D]

Don't pay that lady. She's leaning on you because she thinks she can bully you into paying. That, not only saves her money, but she can continue to think her son is perfect. Don't doit!