Well, it was inevitable to happen. One way or another, literally every vehicle has to face their first accident. And for my poor one-year-old, silver storm sport fit, it was Friday evening!

During a rainy Friday commute home in slow stop and go traffic, I got on the 99 freeway and as I slowly moved from the right to the middle lanes, suddenly I felt a “smash” from behind. The first thing I thought, “Oh hell, my beautiful new car was reared ended!” I looked in my rear view mirror, and it was a big red big rig truck. After impact, the truck continued to push my fit for few feet. Then I tried to pull over to the right curb, thinking the truck would, likewise, do so too. But, NO…it went back into the right lane and took off! I took chase after this truck for 2 miles, beeping my horn furiously, waving it down. Finally at an exit, it pulled over. A Hispanic lady trucker got out, and flatly denied hitting my car and refused to give me her driver’s info, instead opting to call a CHP officer. When the officer arrived, he looked at my damage (left rear smashed in) with her truck with a small dent on her right side front, and wondered if the accident ever happened! He then accused me of scamming her for insurance money! What the hell??? Here I am, just driving slowly, and suddenly I was rear ended! Then this lady trucker was almost literally a potential hit and run fugitive, and then flatly LIED to the officer! I was absolutely furious! What should have been a simple open and shut case of a rear end collision ended up as my worst nightmare!

In any case, after reporting the details to my insurance company, I am left forking out $500 for the repair deductible and waiting for possible 2-3 months before I receive a decision or resolution. Plus, like a virgin, my poor fit is forever deflowered with a big dented bumper, broken left rear lights and a small dent about the Fit logo! Luckily, since the impact was at a low speed, the structure was left undamaged. A new bumper assembly, new rear left light assembly and some body work on the dent will probably fix it. But then again, it will never be the same…

 

Hispanic....truck....no insurance? Where you in the middle of merging from the on-ramp or were you making a lane change?

 

Good excuse to now get a Jazz logo, LED tailights and a carbon fiber hatch

 

im confused why people would want to put a jazz logo on a fit.

make it more european ?

 

According to the CHP officer, the truck driver did have insurance. Why she decided to do a "hit and run" is unknown by me. I was changing lanes in slow stop and go traffic, and the coast was clear when I did so. The only thing I could think that might have happened was that the truck was behind me in the right lane and was also changing lanes as I was doing so...

 

You mentioned you were in traffic so I'm assuming there were a lot of cars around you...no witnesses to verify the incident?

 

In the course of the two mile chase, many of the cars who witnessed the accident took off. However, one car came by at the exit and yelled that they witnessed everything. When I asked them to stop and pull over so that I could get their name and phone number, they drove off. My rotten bad luck!

 

don't you just love how kind and helpful people are in california???
/sarcasm
Hope everything gets fixed soon!

 

you just got scammed. i don't understand how you let that go,if it was me they would not have gotten away with that. the woman lied because she was a truck driver, that is her whole life she depends on a perfect driving record, she could get fired for getting into just ONE accident or her insurance rates would go up like 300% she has a lot to lose.

 

Im so sorry to hear about your bad luck, hope everything works out for you in the end, and I hope karma pays that truck driver a visit........

 

How do you miss a huge 18 wheeler? The officer more than likely sided with the truck driver because your story is so sketchy. You were driving along and you merged lanes and all of a sudden you were hit? You claim you never saw the truck which is hard to believe; I always know where I am in relation to other vehicles on the road. You also hurt your side of the case when you allowed HER to call the police, you should have done that first thing.

So now you have a seemingly undetailed story that involves you hitting a truck that came out of no where, then to top it all off you didn't call the police the person you were accusing did.

I'm not implying that I don't believe you but I'm trying to shed light on why the situation probably went the way it did.

 

I didn't see the truck because I was concentrating on the traffic in front of me and all the oncoming traffic coming in from the right side (remember, this is a rainy rush hour of stop and go). I turned my head to the left to make sure there was an open pocket for changing from the right to middle lanes. When I was in the middle lane, I was trolling for a moment when I got hit. I did not cut anyone off when changing lanes, and the speed when I changed lanes was at a crawl.

I'm also one of those dinosaurs that refuse to have a cell phone! Guess that didn't work in my favor...

Well, I didn't cause this accident, because I got hit and didn't hit anyone. How this is going to work out, God only knows. I just hope my insurance rates don't hike up.

One thing in my favor: the CHP officer spotted red paint on my bumper and silver paint on her bumper.

 

dude call a layer... they might be able to help... the very least u could have them call an scare the shit out of the asshole who hit you... and that might make her admit it....

 

maybe she was undocumented


good luck.

 

Bummer man, what a nightmare of a story! But at least your Fit isnt dameged to bad!

 

Same reason people put Honda logo's on their Acura's. Style, boredom, insanity, extra $$ in their pockets...you name it....people will make a reason for it.

 

lol but the acura thing kinda makes sense cuz there is no acura in japan.

a fit is still a fit in japan

haha i just think jazz is a weird name for a car

 

The CHP guy sounds like a complete idiot. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to (a) match the shape of the damage to your back bumper to the part of her front bumper that hit you and (b) find evidence that it was your two vehicles that collided - paint and/or plastic traded. Unfortunately, the scumbag truck driver has probably destroyed *all* the evidence on her vehicle by now.

Good luck - I feel for you. (Not that I am anti-truck driver - my dear, late father-in-law was for most of his life, at one point in his career driving road trains in Australia.)

 

Wow that sucks...i feel for you...i myself live in fresno and i personally don't like the way people drive out here...i'm originally from the bay area and stockton area. I hate how careless people are out here about the way they drive. I've been rear-ended twice myself by careless people. One was from out of state (Nevada) and one was some idiot driving a friend's uninsured car on a suspended license. Sucks that you had no way to prove your case to the CHP officer. My dad got in an accident one time and the police officer sided with the other person when it was their fault. Had he not had a cell phone with camera on him to take pictures of the scene to prove that the accident wasn't his fault he would have lost that case. The police officer apologized to my dad after numerous attempts get a hold of him and winning his case with the insurance company. Both my dad and the person who hit him were under the same insurance company. The police officer never took a statement from my dad and falsified his report.

 

Yeah, it reminds me a little of the old Renault "LeCar". A little bit cutesy-sounding to the American ear. But a damn fine car nonetheless. The Jazz, that is, NOT the LeCar. The Aveo, on the other hand, is right there with the LeCar in my opinion.

Man, I'm sorry about the incident with your Fit. Glad it wasn't worse. At least you are OK and the car isn't damaged badly enough to drive or ride funny from now on. Might be a good time to get ya some LED tails. Best to you.