Hi. I was recently in a car accident, and a police report was made. The other driver was deemed at fault on it, but has told their insurance they were not. The insurer is now denying the police report. The cop was not there to witness it, and I did not take any photos at the scene. I am pretty sure the gas station it was nearby does not have cameras but I'd have to check. If my only evidence is the police report, do they have the right to deny?
At-fault insurer is refusing police report
byu/Former-Lifeguard1405 inInsurance
Posted by Former-Lifeguard1405
22 Comments
yes
for the 100th time police reports do not determine fault
Police reports do not determine liability. You even said it, police did not witness the accident
Police reports don’t automatically determine fault. They weren’t a direct witness, so that is just their best assessment based on what the police were told happened. Insurance companies can listen to what the drivers say and come to their own conclusions for a reason, the police don’t always get it right.
Police reports are often wrong. I had one today where the police were handling a three vehicle chain reaction accident, and based the entire report on what the front vehicle told them about how many impacts they felt. A lot of times police use their “gut” on who to believe. Got the dash cam in from the middle vehicle which completely destroys the police report and what the front vehicle was saying.
Well it’s word vs word. If the cop didn’t witness it his word means nothing. You’ll need to file with your insurance. Pay the ded and they will work it out through subrogation or arbitration
The police do not determine fault because, like you said, they did not witness the accident. Their report is just secondhand information. The claims adjusters do their investigation and determine fault.
File with your own insurance. Let the adjusters hash it out. You have insurance to protect you. The other persons insurance is to protect them.
The police weren’t there so the report isn’t really going to help. I recently did the same thing because the police wouldn’t come out on private property. My adjuster said the police report wouldn’t be valid and i completely understood that.
Yup, they do. It really depends what the repot says. I have gotten reports where the statements from each driver put the other at fault and the officer just makes the determination that one of the parties is at fault. There is no explanation as to why he made that determination. It is almost like he just flipped a coin and said one person is at fault.
If I look at a police report and can understand the reasoning as to why the officer put one party at fault, I put more credibility to it in my investigation. If it does not make any sense, then it basically serves very little purpose.
Yes. Please search this site. Police do not determine fault. They were not present to witness the event. Insurance companies can and should do their own investigation. The PR means very little.
I was a cop and did accident investigations for a long time. We dont determine fault, for minor crashes we just document who was there, what was said, and the cars involved. If we think someone violated a law in the process they got a ticket for it. You pay your insurance company to figure things out for you.
I am from a smaller community and not a big metropolitan area so YMMV. While police don’t often witness the accidents, they “typically” at least in my area are many times able to prove who was at fault based on evidence at the scene. More times than not there is enough evidence at a crash site to prove who was at fault and a good officer will have that docuemtned in the report. Skid marks, vehicle locations, etc. should be documented and if the officer documents these facts in a report they would hold more weight than a driver saying “it didn’t happen”.
>*If my only evidence is [a police report that include MY statement and no one else’s], do they have the right to deny?*
Yes, because *your* statement is still just *your* statement. Telling your story to an Officer doesn’t magically turn your story into indisputable fact. Police Reports are valuable only when the Officer comes to the scene and is there to witness the aftermath of the accident. The on-scene officer is able to interview *both* parties (not just you), interview witnesses, and use his own eyes to assess the scene (car damages, debris in roadway, video footage, etc). A police report without those details is of no value.
The job of the police is to investigate. If the police do not witness an accident, and evidence is nothing more than “he said, she said,” they will make a recommendation, but they can not assign liability. Even if their investigation leads them to believe a law has been violated, they can not adjudicate guilt; that’s up to a court.
So, yes, the insurance company can dismiss a police report based only on the words of the people involved in the accident. The insurance is essentially saying, “Prove it.”
No, they do not have to take the police report. Police don’t determine fault If they don’t want to. Police reports are not the end all to be all like people think, especially if the officer did not witness the accident. Unless you have independent evidence to support your side of the story, they will not change their decision.
I’ve had police reports that label each vehicle incorrectly and some in which the officer’s summary doesn’t line up with the damages. It’s a tool but not the end all be all.
Pay your deductible and let your insurance handle it. Your and the third-party insurance will determine who’s actually at-fault. It may be 100p% or a split.
file the report with the insurance carrier and go through them. they fight for you
Then leave it for your own insurance company to fight
Look at a police report as essentially the police officer gathering statements from both drivers. Unless the police officer witnessed the accident he really shouldn’t give his opinion on liability since that’s the insurance company’s job. The other carrier has the right to deny a claim despite what is written on the police report unless there is indisputable proof their driver was liable such as dashcam footage. If they denied your claim, it’s best to use your own coverage and let your insurance deal with the other company,
For the love of God, take photos and videos after an accident – lots of them from different angles. Even better if you also have dashcam evidence.
Unfortunately people lie to their insurance company all the time about what happened after an accident.
Just send them the pictures you took right after the accident.