OT - Help with car insurance problems (ugh)

[Neesy228]

I'm so stressed out and I was wondering if someone (anyone) could give me some insight...

My younger brother (23) was driving our car back in October and he didn't slow down fast enough and rear-ended someone. (Yes, he screwed up. Yes, it was his fault. I'm not excusing it, but it was an accident.) It was a slow moving bump -- our car had zero damage on it, not even paint transfer -- and the other car, the bumper cracked on the corner. Our insurance covered the bumper repair for $400 and change.

The problem is that the woman in the other car has been saying that her neck hurts as a result of the accident....she's refusing to have any testing done that would prove a problem (like and MRI), but she continues to go to doctor after doctor, trying PT, chiropractors, TENS machines, drugs...I can't even tell you everything!

I was suspicious of them as soon as the accident happened because she got out of her car yelling at my brother that they were calling the cops because this just happened to them and they got false insurance info from the previous driver. There was no mention of any injury at the scene. So, i feel like I (and my brother) am paying the price for this previous accident. So, here we sit nearly 8 months later, with a still unsettled claim on our insurance -- for a very minor accident. And I know that when/if she does settle it's going to be a fortune. We've never had an accident on our insurance, but I would imagine that this will make our rates skyrocket?

Does anyone know if we have any recourse? Can this woman just continue to do this indefinitely? It seems unfair. I realize my brother screwed up, but two wrongs don't make a right....

If anyone had any experience with things like this I would welcome information or feeback. I'm just at my wits end. Our claims rep. is no help...Thanks.

 

[pyrxtc]

I would ask my insurance to have her prove something is wrong with her or to close the case. Does your brother not have insurance ? Is that why this is on yours?

 

[Tammysue5]

I just wanted to say that I feel for you both... your brother had an accident... no more no less. It wasn't like he was reckless or drinking. I worry about this myself... I remind my children (that are old enough to drive) that unfrotunately there are dishonest people who will try to get everything they can.. they see it like hitting " the insurance lottery'......

I agree with the previous poster,,, speak with the insurance company. Good luck!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I would ask my insurance to have her prove something is wrong with her or to close the case. Does your brother not have insurance ? Is that why this is on yours?

Insurance follows the car, not the driver. Since he was driving her car, not his own, it's on her insurance.

Really, it's something that the insurance company has to deal with, not you. If you feel your claims rep isn't handling it properly, then ask to speak to a manager. Insurance companies deal with people like this woman all the time. It sounds like this woman is just trying to get a big settlement out of your insurance. The insurance company may be trying to settle and close this but the woman won't accept a reasonable settlement. So in that case the insurance company will leave it open until they can come to a settlement that is fair given the circumstances.

On my insurance policy, if a claim closes with less than $750 in payments, then it isn't counted against me. I had a minor fender bender a few years ago and it didn't raise my rates. I was in a parking space just inside the entrance to the parking lot. When I started backing out of the space there was no one behind me, but a woman came flying into the lot when I was about 1/2 way out of my space and went behind me rather than wait for me to stop backing up. I just didn't see her in time and scraped the passenger side panel of her car. She came out of her car screaming at me that she was in a hurry and why didn't I see her. The accident cracked my tail light. When I picked up the broken piece of my tail light, she accused me of stealing pieces of her car. I had to point out that her tail lights weren't even close to where I'd scraped her car and that the piece exactly matched the missing part of my car. Luckily, she didn't make a claim for any bodily injuries and the repairs to both our cars were under the $750 limit and my rates didn't increase.

 

[Neesy228]

Really, it's something that the insurance company has to deal with, not you. If you feel your claims rep isn't handling it properly, then ask to speak to a manager. Insurance companies deal with people like this woman all the time. It sounds like this woman is just trying to get a big settlement out of your insurance. The insurance company may be trying to settle and close this but the woman won't accept a reasonable settlement. So in that case the insurance company will leave it open until they can come to a settlement that is fair given the circumstances.

Yes, I believe that it is what's happening (open until they come to a settlement), but it seems like this woman could drag this out indefinitely. And this will effect the future cost of our car insurance premiums. It seems unfair that there is nothing I can do in this instance except sit back and let her continue to run up the tab so she gets a nice big check at my expense.

It seems like there's gotta be some kind of recourse, doesn't it? The whole thing is just making me sick to my stomach.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I sadly laughed reading this post, since it sounded so familiar. I hope the OP isn't in New Jersey. This kind of stuff is sooo common here. It's so bad, that any fender bender can become a multi-million dollar lawsuit that goes on for years. You almost got to assume that in any minor traffic accident, the other party will take full advantage and sue and make huge claims. It's happened to my mother (got sued for 8 MILLION DOLLARS for a fender bender) and my sister, too (she skidded off the road and hit a bush by the road; the property owners of the bush then put in a claim for thousands of dollars of damage to landscaping over their entire property!). This stuff just goes on and on.

Sadly, there is nothing that can be done. The people doing the fraud almost always get away with it, and there is no way to protect yourself from it. They almost always win, especially once the lawyers and chiropracters are involved. The insurance companies fight it out forever, and then we wonder why insurance rates are so high.

Yeah, can you tell I am bitter over this stuff?

 

[jagar100]

Something VERY similar happened to us too several years ago. My husband rear-ended another party at a stop sign when the other party slammed his brakes. He had prior damage to his old Cadillac bumper, which makes me think he planned this. Minimal damage to our truck, we didn't even fix it because we didn't have the money, as it was under our deductible.
The other party decided to sue us for $250,000 for loss of work, injuries (from being thrown from the vehicle ) and other crap he made up. My insurance company settled with him in court and when all was said and done and his attorneys were paid, he would have received around $16,000. I was furious, but what can you do? His body damage (prior damage) that we fixed was less than $400. We got stuck with an AT-FAULT accident because the company paid out so much money on medical. He did have on-going back issues that were prior to the accident.
People like this make me sick. SICK. I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so I know he'll get his.
Sorry I wasn't any help but I had to share my story because I've been there!!!

 

[jsheridan]

I am an insurance agent in MA. I'm not sure where you live & every state has different rules so I don't know how much or for how long this will affect you.

Unfortunately, it is not up to the woman to prove her injuries. The insurance company would have to prove she is not injured & that is near impossible.

Because insurance is a for profit business, it is usually cheaper for the carriers to throw money at people to settle rather than pay attorneys, court costs, etc... to fight a claim that they may end up paying later.

So, even though it isn't fair there is not much that can be done.

The prior poster is correct - this is why insurance rates are so high...