Hey all, long story short, I had a fender bender with a taxi.
I bumped him from the back, leaving a minor dent (barely noticeable) on his bumper.
Police came, done their thing, we went to the station and singed the report.
I understand my basic insurance does not cover damage done by me, but I’m afraid what is yet to come, that his insurance may make big deal out of this.
Can anyone share some tips on what to be prepared for and what not to fall for?
Appreciate it in advance
Did you read report and understand its language?
Receive a copy of report?
I did the same thing several years ago. I tapped a taxi and scratched his car. I got out and apologized profusely in Chinese. He asked me if I wanted to do a police report or if I wanted to settle it. I opened my billfold and took out every last bill and offered it to him. I think it was about 9k or so and he was delighted and so was I. Honestly, I don’t think this will be a big deal. If you damaged his car, get it repaired and pay the bill. Most locals don’t carry much insurance on autos so we should pay out of pocket. Apologize and be glad that no one was hurt.
Police came, they seemed quite annoyed as they could barely see the scratch. We went to the police station. Had sign on the form with our personal information, official report will be sent out in 7 days.
Totally agree. The damage has been done, I will pay for it. I just don’t want to be bullied if you know what I mean. So I just wait for his insurance to send the bill? Can I inquire for the breakdown of the repair and details?
Other party insurance is not involved at all as you admit it was your fault. You will not be dealing with them. Fix your vehicle at own cost.
Your mandatory insurance only pays for bodily injuries. So they are also not involved unless the taxi driver got hurt.
The property damage is between you and the other driver.
You can ask the other car owner to get it fixed in a shop and you will foot the bill, or you can offer some money in advance to settle it quickly.
I had a similar accident where a Taiwanese slightly bumped into my car from behind years ago. We settled right in front of the police station after we came out. They gave me a few thousands and we drafted an agreement that it is settled and neither party will take any further action in this case.
Get third party insurance man. It’s cheap
My car has zero damage, basically my plate dented his bumper, I’m talking about other party. Thanks for the reply!
Tell that to my wife. 
maybe works after this.
Taiwanese prefer to settle and when I was in the military they told us to settle if that is on the table. If you go to court the cost and possible penalty will be much higher.
Don’t ask, just do.
Especially if company cars(ie. Taxi) smile, laugh. Offer to go for a drink and don’t get fucked. Taiwanese are easy to deal with 99% of the time. Easier to set the setting fromt he get go with smiles and politeness, not accusations and arguments. if they are angry, the switch gets flipped, look out! Just be nice, offer to pay, sorry sorry (their cars likely have video evidence and I assume you took pictures) so you probably won’t get totally screwed. Unless they end up pissed off and hate you.
A common thing here is fraud. People will get fake receipts from mechanics to drive up the bill. That’s what you want to avoid. Amazing how far a tea and a nice sit down when he is off work will go.
I was told, that if you got into an accident and it’s your fault, just pay the damage right there so he’s happy. If it goes to court, the amount you’re paying will likely quadruple, and possibility of further traffic fines or criminal charge.
And a bigger problem is if you’re in the military, you’re looking at a bunch of “article 15” when you’ve sorted out any legal issues.
Ask to have damage appraised at a garage. Ask them to email / Line you the photo of the statement. Call the garage to verify. When you are satisfied the appraisal is realistic start to negotiate. If no success ask police officer to mediate. Also, you have time on your side. Make sure you do not say you refuse to pay, but drag it as long as you want or be unavailable for long stretches. Worst that can happen is they sue you, but then you just say you were going to pay all along but they did not provide the appraisal documentation.
That works (possibly) once it’s a fight. Still easy to get fucked. He said/she said. Ideally, it’s better to avoid that level of time, energy and cost, buy the dude a beer and become friends and pay your fair share.
Okay, I received an official quotation for the fixes, it’s inexpensive and it takes total 8 hrs to be fixed, but he asked me to add a compensation of multiple days for business loss as “he is unable to work”. It’s taking a blackmailing turn from what I can see.
Edit: official shop says it really takes them couple of days for the whole process but quotation says total couple of work hours. Idk really.
I guess lost wage is a part of compensation.
Do you have liability insurance to cover stuff like this?
If its panel work its normal for it to be a few hours work over a few days, time for things like resin to gas out before going to paint, primer to dry before paint, paint to dry before clear coat.
Recommend to ignore anything about lost wages. I once had to send my car to garage for 5-6 days for body work after somebody hit me from the side. The damage could hardly be noticed to be fair, but the garage was going to replace all the panels and this is the time they required. I could work home that time, but I was unable to drive my kids to school. To get the guy to pay at all I had to visit insurance company, visit police, make numerous phone calls, have a lot of headache in general. And I did not get any compensation for anything besides what the garage quoted.
It’s a taxi