Car accident
car accident attorney Ohio Jul 26, 2026
I’m not exactly sure which flair to use for this but for starters Location: Ohio. On July 7th my partner was in an accident she was hit from behind by a driver who admitted fault immediately in front of not only me but the police and fire crew that showed up. There was extensive damage to the rear driver side. Involving the tire being popped , Axel being snapped , fender the whole 9. Here’s where our problem starts the lady wants to handle this privately. Me being the policyholder for our vehicle I’m not opposed Aslong as she covers all the damage , tow and impound fees etc. she agrees in front of the officer to do so. The officer says we can handle it privately, I ask just on the off chance she doesn’t want to cover what should i do he says we have a report number for you. I mistakenly didn’t take down her insurance or license plate but I did get her number and a picture of her license, i followed later that night with a recorded phone call of me getting her Insurance policy just in case. We talked about the process of what she would like to do if the vehicle was totaled and some other things we came to the agreement again that it would be handled privately I wouldn’t contact her insurance. The next day we called for the location of our vehicle she paid for the impound fees but not for the tow because I didn’t have a receipt I paid cash and the tow truck driver was supposed to leave me a receipt but didn’t. The vehicle gets towed to collision center where we’re charged another 165 for diagnostic fee which will be waived to half if we get the work done there. So while we’re waiting for our quote I let her know that we’re waiting for the quote I would contact her when we get them. This is where I think I made a selfish mistake i call back up there to also add the front brakes and a oil change to be quoted in, I also forgot to get the display screen quoted because a object flew up and cracked it which we had no idea until we got to the tow yard ( this was not mentioned when we asked for the quote because the quote was started through pictures I showed the body shop) so I added that on there. So when she received the quote she had some questions she calls up there and ask about the charges mainly the Front brakes and oil change she asked the shop and he tells her those were not apart of the initial damage which when she asked me I told her the truth in correct those are not apart of the damage but we’re asking you to cover them as a courtesy for not going through insurance. She declines instantly and this is when she starts to get aggressive and hostile in messages. I tell her that’s okay I’m going to leave them on there I will pay for them myself. I was planning to get them done before the accident ( I had bought the oil change and brake stuff to do myself it was in the vehicle already) then she also tries to claim the display screen and a 2$ clip holding plastic under the car also wasn’t her fault ( clip broke when my partner had to run over debris from her vehicle) we go back and fourth for multiple days she claims the shop told her she didn’t do that to the display ( this was confirmed untrue) so we tell her okay we don’t need to talk anymore you’re refusing to cover the damage we will go through your insurance. She instantly says “ we had an agreement “ which I respond we did but you’re refusing to cover all the damage you caused. So we give her until that following Monday to come around she doesn’t I call her insurance I speak with a adjuster about the claim she says she is still investigating she will reach out in a couple days for more information. I hear nothing and receive no callbacks when I call and leave a voicemail. So day 13 i finally get ahold of one of the adjusters team members and she lets me know that she is 99% that their insured was not covered at the time of the accident. My instant response is that makes sense to why she wanted to handle it privately. She was uninsured at the time of the accident ( my suspicion is that while we were on the phone call and me asking for her policy , she was signing up for Root insurance as she was stalling when i asked for the policy claimed she forgot her password and to give her a moment) so I then reach back out to the lady like hey your insurance told me you weren’t covered at the time of the accident. I don’t want to get you in trouble with the dmv , your job ( she’s a LPN) etc. can we solve this she basically denies what root claimed and she was. I said regardless we want to get this over its been about 3 weeks the shop is ready can we get this started she continues to disagree about the screen being fixed and now she is also denying the back brakes which need replaced because of the damage she caused. She accuses us of adding them on and that the shop told her that wasn’t apart of the damage. We go that’s not the case whatsoever. We tell her we’re going to go to the shop and we can all 3 have a phone call she agrees and we call her 7 times collectively. At this point we’re 3 weeks in you agreed to pay now you’re making up lies about what the shop has said is damage caused by you and what’s not. You have spoken with them once they can’t get in contact with you about your damaged vehicle. So I authorize the shop to start repairs setting me back the 6150.43 and then an additional 887.11 in a car rental for 2 weeks while our vehicle is getting repaired. I’ve exhausted pretty much all of funds at this point. ( she offered us a rental at the start because she claimed she owned a car rental business we denied as I didn’t want to risk a contract with her that could screw us over on our vehicle and she holds it hostage) so she’s also now declining reimbursement on the rental. I feel like the obvious answer is get a lawyer but I’m just looking for some advice. ( my insurance for that vehicle in particular had liability only) I have audio recordings between both me and her , the insurance company and a lonnnnnng list of text between not only me but also her texting my partner. Any help would be appreciated thank you.
