Assignment:
Imagine that you are driving a brand new car. You pull into your local gas station to fill up and after doing so you drive toward the exit. You are waiting for an older pickup truck to pull onto the street ahead of you. In the next moment, you see that the pickup driver has shifted into reverse and is backing up towards you. You beep the horn and back away and the truck driver shifts out of reverse gear.
Then suddenly, the pickup truck accelerates without warning in reverse directly towards you. You attempt to back away but are too late and the truck slams into your driver's side front end. The truck driver, in his 70's, steps out of his vehicle and tells you he was attempting to turn his vehicle around to a different gas pump. He also states that he did not look in his rear view or side mirrors when he backed into you. He adds that " you probably have $1,000 worth of damage."
You live in Massachusetts which is a no-fault state when it comes to auto insurance and car accidents.
Q1) What should you do immediately in this situation?
Q2) Explain how the insurance claim process would work: Who is deemed to have liability and what types?
What insurance company should you call - his or yours?
What questions should you ask?
Q3) If when backing up, you had backed into a third vehicle who would have liability?
Q4) You spend an afternoon to have the car appraised and it comes to $5,000 damages.
Taking another day off from work, you have the car repaired at a reputable auto body shop but notice in the ensuing weeks that the replaced headlight flickers periodically.
You learn that body shops do not employ certified auto mechanics and are reluctant to take more time off from work to bring the car back to have the headlight repaired properly, fearing the body shop would be unable to do so.
What would you do in this situation?
There are a few methods available to provide insurance for high-risk drivers. Describe the method that you feel is optimal for the insurance companies, fair to low risk drivers and leads to the best result for the state's driving community and residents?