So, I got in a wreck on Monday. I called the police. Police were on scene 15 min later. I had the right of way, was heading northbound at 20mph, at fault party makes a left out of a right side parallel parking spot and slams into the side of my front passenger side. My car was immobilized, towed to a body shop, and I filed a claim with their personal auto insurance. The at fault party was also in a rental car at the time of the wreck. Police officer rights up a report, tells me that I’m “obviously not at fault”. This morning I get an email from my insurance saying that their adjuster filed a claim on me. FOR WHAT??? What happens in this situation. They made a LEFT into MY car. They told the police officer that and of course he documented that. The police report is not available yet but what dickheads. They told my insurance that I made an improper lane change….the hit me on road where there’s only ONE lane.
At fault party’s adjuster filed a claim with my insurance
byu/Ambitious_Goat3125 inInsurance
Posted by Ambitious_Goat3125
8 Comments
You let your insurance fight it out. Regardless of who made the claim they are going to do an investigation and decide liability.
The police report is not authoritative with insurance.
You filed a claim with their insurance. My guess is the other party told some version of the story that would paint you at being at fault (somehow). Hence them filing against your insurance. So cooperate with your insurance carrier’s investigation and let them fight it out.
This is normal. It’s your word against theirs and they told a different story than you did so your insurance company needs to be involved and complete their own liability investigation.
The police officer did not witness the accident, but can help by recording statements and general information. They are not the end all be be all for fault.
In any accident, there is the potential for what is called comparative negligence, which means both parties contributed to the accident. Depending on the state, this could mean a limited payout or no payout is owed by the other party.
If the other adjuster believes you may have been partially at fault, that could explain why they opened a claim on your policy. At the end of the day, both insurances will do their own investigation.
If you are concerned with timeframe of having your vehicle repaired the best way to handle that is to go through your own collision coverage.
You will pay the deductible when you pick up the vehicle and then if your insurance company is able to recover from the other parties, they will reimburse the deductible. If there is comparative negligence or for some reason, the other policy does not pay out (coverage or liability issue) then you would need to pay your deductible any ways to get the car fixed.
If you have time, you can certainly wait until the investigation is complete before moving forward. If you’re waiting on the liability decision, you should definitely get your vehicle out of the tow yard as you may be responsible for excessive fees.
They might be having coverage issues on their end. Especially if they were in a rental.
With your car being at a body shop (should never take car to body shop without insurance authorizing it first) they could be racking up storage fees, best to go through your insurance now, let them repair it, pay your deductible and have them fight it out with the adverse carrier.
Police do not make a determination of liability. Police make a determination of a crime, and that everyone is safe. That’s it.
No doubt that the parallel parker has liability. You also have a duty to drive with care.
Insurance is going to resolve it, and you need to sit back and let that happen.
Please please everyone get a quality dashcam.
So