Auto Insurance folks...

[Dan Murphy]

I was taught (and taught my kids) that you should be able to see pavement behind the back tires of the vehicle in front of you. Not exactly scientific, but it seems to work well.

I should have added on to my thought that I never heard of that distance as deemed by an insurance company to either or both deny a claim or raise a rate. I do agree that a distance should be kept between cars at a stop.

 

[MillauFr]

I assume no fault was assigned to you. If not, I would hope your rates would not be affected.

Do the insurance companies really pay attention on assigning risk? Those percentage are nonsense and the insurance companies know it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

It's crazy how insurance companies assign blame. Years ago, someone ran a red light and hit me. I assumed it would be cut and dry that it was 100% their fault. Nope - my insurance company ended up settling with them for 70% the other drivers fault and 30% my fault. The reason it was partially my fault was that it had rained earlier in the day and the roads were a little wet, so therefore I should have been going slower (I was going the speed limit on a 4 lane road).

 

[happybaker]

It's been a few years, but my DH was stopped behind someone waiting to make a left turn when someone ran into him and pushed him into the car in front. The insurance company did raise his rates, saying he must have been stopped too closely behind the car in front if he got pushed into it.

I got hit from behind and was pushed into the car in front of me. The insurance company for the front car tried to go after me, but luckily the officer wrote on the police report that I was fully stopped and was pushed into the car, so they went after the guy who pushed me into the front car. My insurance rates stayed the same.

 

[MillauFr]

The police officers can't accurately assign risk. Unless they have video from multiple angles there is no way to accurately determine what happened. Even in something as straight forward as getting rear ended the police officer has no way of knowing if the rear ended driver swerved in front of someone else and slammed on the brakes.

 

[MillauFr]

It's crazy how insurance companies assign blame. Years ago, someone ran a red light and hit me. I assumed it would be cut and dry that it was 100% their fault. Nope - my insurance company ended up settling with them for 70% the other drivers fault and 30% my fault. The reason it was partially my fault was that it had rained earlier in the day and the roads were a little wet, so therefore I should have been going slower (I was going the speed limit on a 4 lane road).

Assigning blame is irrelevant and nonsense. Not sure why all states aren't no fault at this point. Do you really think that people describing what happened to police officers tell the truth? Of course not. The police officer is basically forced to determine who the best liar is.

 

[sam_gordon]

Do you really think that people describing what happened to police officers tell the truth?

I did. I told him which one was my car. That's all he asked me aside from DL & Insurance. I'm guessing it helped that the driver who started the thing admitted looking at his phone and looking up too late to stop.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The police officer is basically forced to determine who the best liar is.

To be fair your insurance company usually tells you to not admit fault but to contact them. You say what happened truthfully and honestly but actually admitting fault can backfire. One of the insurance companies I was with on my ID card for insurance on the back it told you explicitly to not admit fault, but again admitting fault and being honest in what you did aren't the same thing, you should be honest with the police in what happened regardless.

 

[kymom99]

I've now been to three different shops. The first two said 2-3 months, the third one said 5 weeks.

Well that stinks. My DIRECTV dish blew off my roof last night during a storm. The soonest they could schedule a repair is July 4. Things are a little crazy these days

 

[kymom99]

The police officers can't accurately assign risk. Unless they have video from multiple angles there is no way to accurately determine what happened. Even in something as straight forward as getting rear ended the police officer has no way of knowing if the rear ended driver swerved in front of someone else and slammed on the brakes.

You are right. They only describe the scene and take people’s statements. When I backed out of my driveway and hit a guy stopped at the community mailbox which is across from my driveway, I mentioned to the officer that there is a no parking sign there. He said he noted it in his report but that if the other guy was sitting still it’s probably going to be my fault. Which I understand but we get aggravated for people stopping there instead of parking their car legally and walking a few steps.

When I got rear ended on the highway, I told the officer what happened and he commented that the driver who hit me said pretty much exactly what I said. He didn’t say it was the other guys fault but at least the guy didn’t try to deny it. Traffic slowed down and he couldn’t stop in time.

 

[mjkacmom]

I would find another repair shop. It shouldn’t take that long

It took me 2 months to get body work done, and we have several body shops to choose from.

 

[Chime]

Whether your rates go up for a not at fault accident will be dependent on your state and your specific carrier.

But any claim, whether you’re at fault or not, could have the potential to increase your rates.

Often it’s not so much a “rate increase” as the loss of a claims free discount.

The this conversation on liability is interesting because I have been an adjuster for vehicle accidents for many years.

1. In most cases we aren’t going to hold your apologies or admitting fault at the scene relevant.. The adrenaline, stress, panic etc. People say things. Please just give an honest accounting of what happened from your point of view when you talk to the police and again to us.

Accident reports we take with a grain of salt. Sometimes we dismiss completely. Officers can be biased. Rarely do they witness an accident or have video footage. It’s a he said/she said.

2. Being “not at fault” is not the goal of your insurance adjuster. Their goal is to accurately assess the negligence/liability.
You may think you’re not responsible to any degree. But negligence has several factors, all of which are arguments that can and have held up in court.
Trust me that we would rather have you as 0% responsible and not have to pay anyone else anything.

But we make decisions with the end goal of protecting you from lawsuits.

We defend what we believe we can defend and pay what we feel is in your best interest to pay.