Got hit in a parking garage, other driver's family pressured me to keep it quiet — now what?
Still kind of processing all of this so bear with me.
About six weeks ago I was pulling out of a parking spot in a covered garage attached to a mall. A guy in an SUV came flying around the corner way too fast and clipped the entire passenger side of my car. The impact shoved me sideways and my shoulder slammed into the door pretty hard. I was so rattled I just stood there while he got out.
Here's where it got weird: his wife and what I assume was his mother-in-law were with him, and they immediately started hovering around me, asking if I was really hurt, saying things like "these things happen, no need to drag lawyers into a simple fender bender." The guy straight-up offered me cash on the spot to walk away. I said no and insisted we exchange info, which we did, but the whole thing felt off.
I drove myself home feeling shaky but figured I was just adrenaline-crashed. By the next morning I could barely lift my arm. Went to urgent care, then got referred out for an MRI — turns out I have a partially torn rotator cuff. The doctor said it's consistent with a sudden impact/bracing injury.
Now the other driver's insurance is being super slow, keeps asking me to resubmit the same documents, and hasn't confirmed liability yet. My own insurance is involved too but I don't totally understand who's supposed to be doing what here.
I have:
- Photos from the scene
- Both drivers' info
- Urgent care and MRI records
- A repair estimate (it's significant)
I've never dealt with anything like this. Is the document runaround normal? Should I already be talking to a lawyer? What am I even entitled to ask for?