Originally Posted by
himespau
Yeah, well actually it's a little old lady, and, while she does have insurance, there's a part of me that doesn't want her to get kicked off of it (and another part that just wants this done fast - more likely to be the case if I can just get her to buy something). On the other hand, the longer this takes the more annoyed I am with the whole thing.
Well, yeah, that isn't nice. But she has insurance for a reason and maybe she shouldn't be driving if she is going around hitting things. Her getting kicked off her insurance is a bigger ethical dilemma regarding the way insurance companies work in this country, but I'm not trying to make this overly political.
This isn't between you and the old lady. It's between you and her insurance company. The last time this happened to me, there was no beef between me and the guy (who was in a work truck). I told him I felt mostly OK, but I had to call the cops to get a report filed for insurance purposes, nothing personal. The cops asked me if I was interested in pressing charges against the guy, absolutely not, it was an honest accident. In fact, the guy even gave me a ride to work (I was commuting).
The cop didn't want you to involve insurance because it creates more work for him. It's totally self serving for him to ask you to settle it personally. So my perspective is like, ok do your job, I pay taxes, and to the insurance company, now it's time to collect something back from the continual dues they are getting from us (collectively).