My wife was in a car accident about a month ago that totaled her car. She is being found at fault because she wasn't completely behind the stop sign at a 4 way intersection where the other 3 directions didn't have a stop sign, and she got hit from the side.
We're told the other party has a lawyer so we are, understandably, worried that we could get sued some time in the future.
Our insurance company, GEICO, told us that once we sign the settlement document for the value of the car, they will be destroying the car, along with the black box data. We'd LIKE to download the data because, even though we recognize my wife may be primarily at fault, there were mitigating factors that might exist, where my wifes story differs from the other party, and we'd want to be able to prove her side of those mitigating factors.
Does anyone know if GEICO is supposed to offer a service to download and preserve car data in an accident? They said they don't, but online it says they do, so thought I'd see if anyone has any direct knowledge.
Also, if GEICO doesn't do it, does anyone know how we can do it ourselves? We don't want to get sued in a year and miss out on potentially mitigating evidence that might reduce damages.
Thanks!
Question about black box data in totaled car for potential lawsuit defense after a car accident.
byu/reks131 inInsurance
Posted by reks131
8 Comments
They can do it if they see it as relevant. If you want to pay, then you would want to look into companies that specialize in EDR recovery and accident reconstruction/EDR data interpretation. At the very least, you can get the EDR data and have it saved in case it is needed. IT is not cheap to have done.
Cars don’t typically get destroyed for Total Losses unless it’s not worth anything for salvage (vehicles that have been burned to the frame or some sort of biohazard) outside of that vehicles will be sold at auction at the salvage yard. You can ask your insurance to see if you can get access to that data.
First. If Geico is paying it’s their car and their decision. Secondly the “black box” will show the vehicle came to a complete stop but not if it was behind the limit line. Investigators can tell from the physical evidence at the scene where the car was when it was hit. Geico will defend and pay damages up too your policy limits.
Black box data will not show where your vehicle is in relation to the stop line. Only the speed it was at when hit.
What features does the car have? Does it have any kind of camera (other than a backup)? Such as lane assist?
As others said, the black box is only going to show if the car was moving at the time of the accident. (It might show if it stopped just before.)
If the car has a camera, it might have a stored photo(s) from the impact. But I have doubts if it would show enough to determine where the car was with relation to the stop line at time of impact.
If she had the stop sign and got hit from the side, I don’t think there’s much question of fault. The only questions that might shift blame is how fast the other driver was going (as evidenced by their black box) and the amount of damage. Perhaps where the damage took place (other car left the lane of travel). But the best evidence there would be where the debris from the accident fell. That is, photos from the accident site.
I don’t know how data from your black box would help your case.
Go to the car and pull the data off yourself. Or tow it to a mechanic who can do it for you. Then turn the car back over to Geico to accept their settlement
Make sure you put a dashcam in your replacement car.
Just let your insurance deal with the other parties, Attorney. That’s what you pay them for.