TheWizard

Playing Devil's Advocate here.....his insurance may say you were driving too fast for the weather conditions and that you need to maintain control of your car at all times. Compared to everyone else, you were going must faster and seemed to be accelerating when you can clearly see red tail lights ahead.
On another note, you shoved him into oncoming traffic....luckily no one was there.

Hope insurance settles in your favor and the repair is flawless.

Torii

Im nervous about getting a dashcam for my wife as it may prove its her fault :P

is the dashcam always on/recording?

ItzFilyO

I bet u that fool didn't bother to look before merging. Happens all the time, they think the world revolves around them.

mikesd1980

Depends on settings. You don't have to provide footage on your dash cam if you choose not to. It would be good to see for reference later though.

UDel

A accident does not always kill resale value especially when it is minor. The owner has proof this was a very minor fender bender with video and pictures, I would just document and keep everything to have to give to any potential buyer or dealership. There is no reason something so minor like that can not be repaired to look and function as new. It would not bother me to buy a car with a minor accident or two which is rarer and rarer these to find one without a accident these days as long as there is some proof it was minor. If someone or a dealer tries to give you much less for the car just because there is a record show them the proof it is minor and make a copy to give to them so they can show a buyer and say there is no reason to lower the cost for a minor accident like that when I have proof it was minor and nothing serious/possible frame damaging. Some people may skip it because it has record of a accident or some may skip it because they can't take money off but likely someone is going to buy it especially if it is attractively priced.

I really wished accident reports/carfax went into more detail about the accident/damage/severity and could provide pictures so you know if it was something serious with really bad damage or just a minor fender bender which is not something to really worry about.

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

minor accident doesn't bother me.. but you can be assured that I'll be look for an extra 10 to 15% discount vs a PERFECT never fixed car..
there's no such thing as a PERFECT paint match job.. it's along the same lines as saying "It feels like a new car now.." I cringed EVERY TIME someone says that.. especially if they bought the car used.. lol

UDel

The other driver entered his lane from another lane and caused a collision so it does not really matter the speed, the other driver should have looked first to make sure there was no oncoming traffic to enter a different lane. He was traveling faster then other traffic because traffic in the right hand lane was pretty much stopped while his lane was wide open.

I do agree that based on my previous experiences with inattentive drivers/drivers doing stupid things especially in the rain I would not have been traveling that fast even if it was the speed limit. I would be coasting with my foot over the brake in anticipation of other drivers doing things like what happened but it is not illegal to travel the speed limit in the rain even though it increases the likeliness of not being able to brake soon enough. If the streets were dry the OP might have been able to brake and avoid the accident especially if he had his foot over the brake while coasting.

Torii

when I traded in my 06 lexus I got top value and it had 2 minor collisions on it...gave me 8k on trade and highest blue/black book was 7k...ofc they had wiggle room with trade...but I valued my car much lower than what the dealer gave me, sight unseen, dropped the vehicle off later that evening.

UDel

His is a base black car with no metal flake, no real paint matching issues thankfully. He can always reject a lower offer based on the accident and say the accident is minor and repair is perfect and I have proof with pictures and video, that is what I would do in his position, some may walk away but I doubt many would pass up a car in their area within their price range, especially priced attractively just because it had that minor damage at one time. Maybe if it was a rare collector car a minor accident would affect value more but this is a relatively common basic 4 door sedan with no collectibility.

korupted

I've been planning to buy a dashcam for awhile now. After seeing incidents like this, it's definitely worth the investment especially when the other party tries to point fingers.

ChronoR

I ordered my dashcam the moment I brought my GS450h home. Was nervous all week until it arrived since so very often you hear stories of people getting into accidents with their new cars.

Torii

some states have no fault insurance so it may not matter unless you get sued or dont have enough coverage.

CTNYC

Yup - my insurance company viewed my footage and said that they are putting 100% blame on the other guy... but that doesn't necessarily mean that the other insurance company will accept liability. I'm just letting my insurance company take care of it.

He seemed to be one of those people who would never admit that they are wrong - didn't want to hear it, in his head, I rear ended him, end of story. Didn't pick a fight, just went back to my car and patiently waited for the tow truck.

Thanks. The dashcam is a Falcon Zero ( ) Very reasonable $100. Althoguh I only had it less than a week, my only complaints about the dash cam is that there is no way to fast forward through a clip on the unit. Also, the buttons/navigating through the options is not very intuitive, but it's one of those units that you pretty much mount and the factory settings are there and will record every time the unit gets power and turn off when the power is off. I'll push a bit, but from the sounds of it, I'm not going to get far.

Ouch seeing that, maybe so... I am guesstimating, but seeing that an OEM head light can go upwards of $2k for parts alone (although my insurance probably will use CAPA certified parts)
yeah - you would assume that it would be cut and dry...
No citations were made.

Mine is/was just plugged into the cigarette lighter, so whenever the accessory power is on, the dash cam is on.
That's more than fair - While I personally don't think any blame should be put on me from an insurance standpoint for this particular accident. Just my personal experiences with driving in the DC the last 5 years has made me the driver I am today.

ssmoked

yea most likely you paid very close to msrp for the new car.

dealers aren't in businesss to lose money

spoogenet

If the other insurance company accepts their client is responsible, you may be better off going through them, as what they owe you is independent of whatever coverage you do/don't have with your own policy.

Demand Lexus parts for the repairs.