My recent bill of $20,000 – A cautionary tale

After a year off from blogging working hard at sea and with what little time I have off spent with my boyfriend, an incident happened that I would like to share. In fact, it would be irresponsible of me not to attempt preventing another from the hassle I endured due to one poor choice I made three years ago.So, let me start at the beginning. Please bear with me as I seek to explain as brief as possible, but with enough details to paint the picture of my three-year saga dealing with bodily damage liability. It’s not a subject I knew anything about prior to this incident, nor do I hope I’ll ever have to deal with again.It’s spring 2014, and I’m fresh off an eight-month deployment living in San Diego. I was immediately requested to ship off two weeks later for a humanitarian mission with the Navy. Up to that point, I had only been away at sea while assigned to my unit. When I moved from Hawaii the previous year, I deployed within a month. I purchased a new car overseas that had not yet arrived in the states during those two weeks off between Navy assignments.So with no transportation of my own, I rented a car to explore the city during my two weeks off between military assignments. I had no insurance coverage. Being an extreme cheapskate, I decided to decline additional insurance coverage the rental company offered me.Never would I have imagined the consequences of that fateful decision.On the evening of May 4, 2014, I was driving in downtown San Diego using the rented car. While looking down to adjust the radio, I lightly tapped a stopped car in front of me. After getting out of the vehicle, I visually inspected both cars and saw no damages to my front bumper or the other car’s rear bumper. However, the driver insisted on calling the police. Turns out he was an Uber employee and wanted to ensure for his job everything was documented properly. He also had a female passenger in the car. At the scene, I was unaware that either party had any injuries.However, one month later my parents (whose I address I was using at the time) got a letter from the passenger’s lawyer stating that she was “severely injured.” I later found out that she was claiming a concussion and soft tissue damage. It shocked me. I do not recall hard impact, but I am no expert on these types of injuries so not only did I feel bad for an injury where I was at fault, but I had no insurance protection and could be facing severe financial consequences. I was told at the time by the passenger’s lawyer to sign a form stating I had no insurance so they could file a claim of uninsured motorist coverage.Her lawyer assured me that by me signing the form, it meant no financial responsibility on my end. Just that she could make a claim on her insurance and receive a payout for her medical bills. Her lawyer gave me bad information, likely because he just needed me to sign the form.Three years pass. April of this year, I received a bill from a company that represented the female passenger’s insurance agency. The letter informed that I owed them $20,000. I had ten days to either pay the claim, or at least make contact. Otherwise, they would pursue legal action against me. There was no itemized list of what I was paying for. I had no idea so many years later, I would be held financially responsible for her medical bills. I was shocked, my heart dropped, and I sat at my desk in a momentary state of despair.I hired a lawyer the same day my parents notified me of the letter, and I made contact with the company to give them my lawyers contact information. I then pulled every piece of documentation I had on the accident and sent it back to my lawyer.Apparently, according to my lawyer, these collection agencies make a profit off collecting this debt. They determine the amount to bill after researching the person who owes, so they know what I can afford to pay. My lawyer asked if I was broke. I’m not. In fact, I invest wisely, which was of no use to him for bargaining with the collection agency. Basically, I was going to pay this bill. I started preparing to call my investment adviser. I decided instead of freaking out over this bill, I would stay calm, relaxed and worry as little as I could about it as at this point it was out of my hands. I went on an awesome pleasure cruise in the Caribbean and told myself that money does not buy happiness. I needed to be thankful I can weather an expense like this. I know so many cannot.Two weeks later, I got the call. My lawyer did some research. Apparently, in California a claimant or company has only two years to go after the at-fault party (me) for bodily damage. They waited three. So a technicality that my lawyer caught saved me from paying a claim of $20,000. Neither the company nor the victim can now sue me as it’s been more than two years. I was relieved and ecstatic. And I hope the victim got the compensation she needed to move on with her life.I share this tale in the hopes you will always carry insurance liability and understand the ramifications even if you do not own a vehicle. I was offered Liability Insurance Supplement coverage, but declined it. I never imagined being in this position, and while I’m grateful things turned out the way that they did, I’ll never drive unprotected again. You never know what might happen. In fact, my Washington State bodily damage liability to another party is $25,000, or $50,000 per accident, which could still leave me unprotected should the injured party claim an amount that’s higher than those deductibles. I hope to never cause an accident again, hurt another and be financially crippled with enormous medical or property bills. But I’m human, which means I make mistakes and accidents happen.I feel very fortunate, but it also reminded me that sometimes being cheap does NOT pay off. Please don’t make the mistake I did.