was driving to silver springs MD earlier this evening w/ some church youth kids to go to a pre-bball tourney rally (tourney is tomorrow). me and 3 kids in my car. we were at a stop light about 5 mins from where i needed to be, and even before the light turns green, out of no where i hear a huge SMASH sound, like a huge piece of steel and plastic being slammed on the ground. at the same time my car lurches forward and my initial reaction before i knew what happened was to slam on my brakes to keep myself from moving forward...

after the dust settled i asked if everyone in the car was ok, and luckily everyone had their seatbelts on. so i step out the car to see who hit me (since my trunk had totally popped open and i couldnt see through my mirror), and lo and behold, its a motherf'ing 2004 dodge ram 3500. a huge, red, 6 wheeler diesel. i check to see his damage: nothing except a few minor scrapes. go figure. right then the light had turned green and cars were startin to roll by and the car that was 2 cars behind me on my drivers side yells out the window saying "hey he was on his cellphone! i saw it!" and slowly drove off. ugh.

ironically enough there were three cop cars to my left on small street perpindicular to where i was and they were all looking at me, lol. they waved at me to drive over if i could, and i did. i pull up and he takes a look at the damage, the kids get out and he starts taking our info. the truck and guy belonged to some construction business, but he couldnt speak english that well and couldnt understand me when i asked him when would be best for me to contact him and his employer. thats gonna be a great headahce later...

anyway, this is my first accident ever and i was wondering what the process was w/ insurance and crap. my cars insured under my dads policy but i have all the necessary info on my end.

i took pics w/ my digicam which i had on hand, but i left it in my roommates car. i'll upload some cellphone pics soon.

im gonna try to call my insurance and his tomorrow. are there any things i need to be aware of while doing this? i was also thinking that man, this isnt just going to be a pain now, but if i ever have to sell my car, i know this'll affect how much i can sell it for. and whats that whole thing about claiming a car is "totaled"...? sorry, this is an area ive never had to deal w/, but obviously i'll be learning very soon lol. im just tryin to keep a level head, but im pretty sad. its like watching a really good friend tear his ACL or something. you know it can be fixed, but it wont be the same...

any and all info would be a huge help. thanks guys :hs: