Imagine if you will, you are a mild mannered piano player, who has just completed a successful performance, when suddenly
You pass through a portal into, The TWILIGHT ZONE
You and the car in front of you are in a right turn lane, that is a yield lane, you both have stopped, you both are looking both ways, you both are barely rolling forward.
You look once more to the left, very quickly, and in that SPLIT SECOND, the car in front of you stops.
It is rush hour, you both get out and determine that no one has been hurt.
She looks down, and says "so, do you want to lets just pull over there out of traffic?"
I said "Of course"
When we got out, I looked at her bumper, and I saw that the strip across the lower 1/3 of the bumper, had just popped out. I squatted down and with very little effort, got it popped back into place. Nothing but scratches left.
Mine, however was a little more damaged.
I said "so, I will cover the damages, if you don't want to involve the insurance companies", she said "If it were my car, I would say yes, but my wife will be pissed, she loves her Audi" so, she called the police.
When he arrived (quite quickly, I was very surprised by this [cue the twilight zone music]) he asks HER, "What do you want to do? We don't HAVE to file a report".
"Well", she says "if we DO end up calling the insurance companies, they will want a police report so..." He takes both our licenses and insurance documents.
I asked "so tell me, how much does it cost to file a report?"
"I don't understand the question" he said.
"Is there a fee for filing a report? Some sort of processing fee perhaps?" (I was fishing to see what it was going to cost) he still didn't seem to get me.
He went to his car, and when he came back, I had a CITATION, and a COURT DATE for "following too closely".
So now, tell me when did the issuance of a citation depend on a civilian to decide yea or nay for said issuance?
The lady in the first car, the one that I hit, seemed very nice, she seemed to hate that it had come to this, and seemed willing to get estimates and let me pay, but at the very least, the fine, if I DON'T go to court, will be $150 + state fees.
The repair bill shouldn't be much, but it is an AUDI.
News at 11
Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure I see much wrong about this scenario. I mean, things COULD have went differently (benefiting you), but unfortunately they did not.
First off, the person you rear ended didn't have to get the police and the insurance company involved, but chose to being that it wasn't her vehicle. Maybe if it was her car, she would have been cool about leaving those two out of the equation, but that wasn't the case. Honestly, if I were driving someone else's car, I might have done the same thing for legal purposes. If this accident had to go to court, a police report would probably be a huge factor in the case. Now IF it were MY truck (2002 Toyota Tacoma ) I might have let it go.... but, my truck has been rear ended four times (that I can remember) and I've never taken it to the shop to repair because the damage was minimal.... the cars that rear ended me, however, well they were pretty fucked up.
... sorry, back to the subject....
The second thing that (obviously) didn't go in your favor was the ticket. In my experience, cops don't NEED to issue a ticket, they CHOOSE to. Maybe he took your question wrong? Maybe he thought that you were "challenging" him or something? But anyways, he CHOSE to give to that ticket. Kind of a dick move... I mean, talk about kicking a guy when he's down, right?
I'd try to fight that ticket btw.
Lastly, I hope for your sake that she doesn't take her new Audi to the dealership, because that'll be a pretty penny. Good luck, homie.
Yeah, the 'twilight zone' reference was mainly about him walking away to file "a report" and came back having a 'citation' in his hand.
How, exactly, would I fight the ticket? if it goes to court, surely my insurance will hear about it.
In my experience, nothing good comes of going to court.
I just went through something similar "hitting a parked car". :/ now im not diriving! one minute driving the next my insurance is through the roof and im not....
my life is such a roller coaster. Right after I got back on the road from dealing with the police et al, my phone rang with one of my long time ♫clients♪ calling, asking about me playing for them on Aug 2.
Today, my internet has been in and out, more out than in or too slow to be able to do anything, fighting with that has drained me.
THEN, just now, another long time client called to ask if I were able to come play TOMORROW AFTERNOON in Tucker Ga, which is just a few miles up the road from where the wreck happened, and from where my music class is held on Wed nights.
So, I'll at least be able to make some income tomorrow, then go to class.
Well, I guess it all depends on where you live. I live in California. Being that your license plate isn't 3 feet long, can I assume that you're from the states? West coast? Upper east coast? Possibly 🇨🇦?
In California, if you get a ticket, it goes down as a "point" on your driving record and your insurance company automatically gets notified. Now, if you go to traffic school after you get a ticket, the DMV doesn't put that "point" on your driving record, therefore, you're insurance rates won't go up.
As for fighting the ticket.... the police officer wrote you a citation for "following too closely"... now, how would that fat sum-a-bitch know if you were following too close? He wasn't even there?! I mean, sure, you got "close enough" to make contact with her vehicle, but that's neither here nor there. Maybe "her break lights weren't working"? Maybe "you had an allergic reaction to some shell fish and you pasted out at the wheel"? MAYBE "a water bottle rolled on to the floor board and under your break pedal, therefore, making it impossible to depress said break pedal."
Over here there is a company called "Ticket Clinic". I've never personally used their services, but my friend swears by them. He said that he only had to pay $200 for a ticket that would have otherwise cost $1000. He said that you don't even have to go to court, they go to court on your behalf...maybe something to look in to.
This happened in Metro Atlanta Ga. The city of Decatur, to be precise. They are much more forgiving than the City of Atlanta itself.
Thanks for the advice @cellardoorzero
I just did a search for 'Ticket Clinic', and got a bunch of results for Ga. Do you think you could shoot me a link to the one you are talking about there in Ca, so I can compare results @cellardoorzero?
www.ticketclinic.com
I hope that's what you meant by a "link" .... sorry, I'm not very tech savvy
The number on the website is 1(800) citation. The number for the one that I live next to is 1(562)314-3970 (Long Beach,CA)
Thank you @cellardoorzero