My son is 18, hasnt been driving long. He was driving in a parking lot, and someone hit him right in the passenger side. It hit both doors. He only has liability and the other vehicle didnt get a scratch. He exchanged insurance with the guy. Then he called the other guys ins and his ins. The other ins was suppose to call him back (this was sunday). no call back yet (today is wed). My question is............ whos fault was it? nobody ran a stop sign, nobody was speeding. Someone (dont know which one of them) wasnt paying attention. Is the person who ran into my son at fault bc he ran into him? Or is there a rule on how wide the lane was they were in? Since we havent heard from the ins co, I really want to know what they will think. Of course, I am on my sons side. The other driver wasnt a young person. My son can open the doors on the side that was hit, but they are pretty dented and scraped up. Nothing to just forget about. Anyone have any thoughts?

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A mother holds her children's hand for awhile; their hearts forever.

Would the police not come and make a report on a parking lot accident?
That's the first thing my dad taught me, always, always call the police no matter what. Tickets are not issued in parking lot accidents (at least around here) but the insurance companies usually want a report.
I would say that each party is responsible for their repairs since there isn't a police report. It's one person's word against the other.

No police report. My son called me after the accident, and after exchanging info with the other driver and he had already left. My son had his friend with him, and the other guy didnt have a passenger. So, my son has a witness if he needs one.

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A mother holds her children's hand for awhile; their hearts forever.

My minivan was broadsided in the parking lot where I was employed as I was walking to it at the end of my shift in 1986. There was over $2000 damage and we called to police. They weren't going to issue a citation since it was private property. The next morning I went to the police station and was insistant that they issue one. After about an hour talking with various ranks in the PD, they decided to issue one to the gal that hit me. I was then able to have her insurance cover all of my damages. Actually we had the same insurance company but they charged it against her policy.

Aren't there a few states that have no-fault insurance whereby everybody always pays for their own damages? I always heard Michigan had no-fault. Not sure though.

We are in Texas. I dont know what the rules are. The guy who hit my son probably wont file anything because it didnt hurt his vehicle at all. He was in a mini van, my son in a car. My sons car has damage on both doors and around the tire. With just liability insurance, it wont cover him. I dont know how it will work out, if the other guys insurance will cover it or not. I hope they are opened tomorrow, I want to call and find out.

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A mother holds her children's hand for awhile; their hearts forever.

I am not sure on this, but it usually goes whoever hit with the front/back of the car is at fault. That is, your son did not hit the other car with his passenger doors, he must have been hit with the front or rear of the other guys car. Unless this was a sideswipe type of a thing. Keep calling the ins company. And around here, you have to file a police report yourself if the police were not called. Sounds like the other guy didn't report it yet..

I would keep calling but tell your son next time no matter how small make a police report. In Kentucky there it is a no fault state so there are no tickets issued unless the police "SEE" it. Even if you rearend someone still not a ticket. I hope you can get this resolved.

Here in CA the police will not usually even come if there are no injuries. Did the other guy hit your sons car as he backed out of a space? If so by hitting the middle of the car I would think it was his fault. If he hit your ds car he should have already contacted his insurance company. Unfortunalty your ds called his own insurance company and even though they will not pay to fix his car be ready to have his insurance go up. When my then 17 year old had a car accident my insurance agent said that they figure that every young person will have at least one accident. I hope that this minor one is your sons "one accident". Good luck.

You said your son was driving in the parking lot, was he driving down the main aisle? Was the other car coming out of a parking space or coming from a side aisle? I work for an insurance company in claims (don't hate me, lol). I haven't done reg claims in about a year but when I did and I was trying to determine who was at fault for an accident I would look who had control of the lane and did the parties try to avoid the accident. Alot of times parking lot accidents are partially both parties fault - I'm not saying that is the case here but just in general.
If your son was in the main lane used for travel at the time of the accident I would think it would be the other drivers fault, especially considering the area of your sons vehicle that was hit. Since his car was hit in the doors the other driver should have probably been able to avoid the accident. If your son was cutting through the parking lot (which we've all done from time to time;-) it will probably be a majority his fault.
Even if technically it is the other person's fault I can't say whether the other insurance company will pay for the damages or not because I'm not sure what the law is in TX. In Ohio you can collect for damages if the other party is more than 50% at fault, but all states are different (like the above poster who mentioned no fault in MI)
The inurance company claims department is probably closed today. I would call the other parties company again tomorrow - if it was reported they should definately have called your son by now. Good luck to your son, I hope everything works out ok for him.

JessieProud Mom to Kyle(17), Garrett(14), and EMily(10)

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I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width as well. - Diane Ackerman

I called the ins co today(the other guys). They have not talked to the other guy yet. They did have an adjuster assigned to the case, but they are closed today. My son was driving down a lane in the lot, and the other car pulled into the lot from the street and hit him as he went by. My son was on a main isle at the edge of the lot (not cutting across, as I told him that was a no no). The other guy pulled in off the main street. There were no stop signs for either of them. But at the intersection where he was hit, another car had stopped as he went by, but the car from the other direction was the one that hit him. My son was traveling from south to north. The car driving from east to west stopped for my son to go by, and the car that hit him was driving west to east. Thank you for your reply, it helps out a little. I am not off work again until Tues, so I cant call and talk to them bf then. My son can talk to them, but I have alot of questions he cant ask for me. My name is on the car title with his. He shares an auto policy with his brother (was a better price) and I have a different policy with a different company.

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A mother holds her children's hand for awhile; their hearts forever.

Right of way-- this means whomever was on the right had the right to go.

Sorry about this being a mother of a 25 yr old son I know the nervousness and fear! Everyone has to have an accident sometime so God Bless Him he had his first accident nobody was hurt and because of the shock and fear he will most likely drive very carefully for a good long time thus preventing him from careless behaviour.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

Ooh! Knock on wood! LOL In my 13 years of driving, I've never been in an accident where I was the driver. I think I've been in a couple of reasonably small accidents where one of my parents were driving when I was a kid. I've been very fortunate in that respect.

peapie