Lady backs into my car, then lies about it

Yesterday I was in a shopping center parking lot at Sunset and Green Valley Parkway in Henderson NV, or maybe it's Las Vegas...sometimes it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Anyway, after a great corned beef sandwich at Weiss Deli, I was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass so I could make a left turn onto the long driveway that exits onto Green Valley, my left turn clicker going, and me at a dead stop.

BANG! All of a sudden there was a little jolt. A woman had backed her car out of the space right into my car. Fortunately there wasn't much room for her to pick up steam, so the damage isn't too bad. I'm the orange rectangle, she's the green one.

Under normal circumstances we would have exchanged info, reported to the insurance companies, and that would be the end of it.

Not so. She said, "I'm sorry. I didn't see you." and I replied, "Well, I was standing still right behind your car." A normal exchange.

I asked for her driver's license and she proceeded to pull everything out of her purse...no driver's license. Then she gave me the number of a State Farm insurance policy in someone else's name, took a cell phone photo of it and emailed it to me. I didn't bother to look at it right then. Should have. She also gave me a passport number and I did see that card.

When I got home, I opened her email and saw that what she photographed was a temporary insurance card that expired in November and it wasn't in her name. Since I'm also insured with State Farm I called to make a report. Ooops. Yes, the insurance was in force. That was the good news, but more pertinent, the owner of the car had already called to report the accident and said he didn't want a claim filed. Excuse me. His car hit and damaged my car. No claim?

Well, the woman was not on his policy, so the question at this point is whether she was driving the car with his permission, which would make it covered. If not, she is individually responsible. Did she actually have a driver's license. Who knows? There is a law in Nevada about driving uninsured. She could be in lots of trouble.

But worse, she LIED. The adjuster said the account of the accident was based upon what she told the owner. Apparently she told him that she had already pulled out of the space and I was moving and hit her. Hmmm. I didn't know I had a car that could drive sideways, since that is the only way my damage could have been sustained. After it happened, she pulled back into the space slightly, and it's a good thing I took a cell phone photo just as my phone battery was dying. It's fuzzy, but tells the story. Check the position of the cars. The damage to the rear right side of my car is directly in line with the back of her car. Impossible for me to have hit her. So, I sent the photo and diagram to the insurance company.

Truthfully, I wouldn't have told the insurance company about her not being able to produce a driver's license. If everything was taken care of, that wasn't my problem. But now creating stress for me by lying and trying to put the blame on me, she is messing with the wrong person. Depending upon how this all works out and if my own insurance has to pay for the repair, I will report her to the DMV in writing for not being able to show a license and not being insured. If she has insurance for a car of her own, that should get a black mark. If not, well, time will tell, but I simply don't like liars. If DMV takes any action, they can trace her by her U.S. passport number. Whatever she gets, she deserves.