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Car accident insurance claim advice

2K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  Kajtek1 
#1 ·
Hello All,

Couple weeks ago I was involved in minor fender bender in NYC. I was in the left lane in two lanes st (40w & 9th ave) going straight on 40th st then the traffic built up and all the cars in front of me started to make right turn on 9th ave and the car in the right lane hit me in the rear right fender while we were both making the right turn.

No the other insurance company sent me a letter stating it was my fault due to making right turn from the left lane and offering me 10% of the estimate to fix my car and told me they will file a claim with my insurance company to recover the repair cost for the other car.

What should I do in a situation like this? I don't agree with them that it is all my fault. (see attached insurance letter)
 

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#2 ·
if I were investigating I'd be asking you for more information including graphical
depiction of the traffic lane markings...in hopes of establishing right-of-way
vis a vis applicable traffic laws. what would Judge Judy ask? there are more
details to this situation, I'm sure
 
#3 ·
Hope you took photos and any traffic detours of that area at that time.
If not, it comes down to who had the right of way.

In future, I'd invest in a 2 channel dash cam. Cheap and works great.
Saved my friends butt, when he parked in an underground parkade and upon returning, the benz on his DS had scuffed his DS corner of his rear bumper and the other had a nice scrape just above their PS rear wheel well panel. He took additional photos and left a note on the benz informing them of what they did when parking (a real bad park job too!)
They called him back and claimed they had no accident or damage on their benz (lol).
After filing a claim, with his dash cam recording of his car parking before and after, the verdit; other benz owner 100% fault and the adjuster said he he didnt have the video, it would have been no coverage from the insurance.
 
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#4 ·
I just got a call from my insurance company and they asked tons of questions more than the other person insurance company.
I explained to them that there was construction congesting the traffic a head of me and several cars in front of started to make right from the left lane as well to clear the intersection.
I also sent them several pictures showing the construction vehicles double parked and blocking the traffic at the accident location. Hopefully I don't get blamed for the entire thing.
 
#5 ·
good to know you got photos of the scene. :smile

video is better though.
GL.
 
#7 ·
Since I don't have collision coverage on that specific car, so if I want to claim repair cost for my car, I will have to go through the other insurance company myself (someone may correct me if I am wrong).
But still my insurance company opened a claim and will investigate who's fault it is.
 
#8 ·
Your insurance acts as other driver filled a claim pointing your fault.
You should do the same.
If you can - copy satellite pictures of the intersection and draw the situation on it.
Insurance adjusters will work the less resistance route, so if you provide more reports than the other guy, you have better chances to win "his word v/s my word"
Bottom line - you have to response to questions given by your insurance, but you should hammer the other guy insurance.
 
#11 ·
I believe the insurance companies follow the "cause" of an accident. The other party's argument is likely " if he did not cut into my lane, I would not have had hit his car". And yours, maybe "I had to make a right turn from a left lane due to some emergency situation, to avoid causing an accident at the construction site". I don't think you can blame the other guy following too closely as you were not in the same lane with his car in the first place. I think you need to put yourself in the other driver's position. Whose fault would you think if someone cuts in front of you, and you could not avoid hitting him ?

If your company is convinced that the accident was "unavoidable", they may drop the "at fault" status which may be more important regarding the insurance rate increases in the long run.

If you believe and prove that there were inadequate advance signs posting the construction diversion, with potential to causing accidents, you may have a case with the construction company / contractor.
 
#14 ·
I know and I will not let it ago as I learned that the hard way 5 years ago when I was involved in another accident and didnt care as I thought it was minor and will not affect my insurance premium which was the opposite and I had to keep shopping for insurance in order to lower it. Also the other party is a big corp which will be penuts for them.
 
#15 ·
Couple years ago I had an eldery lady smacking the rear corner of my trailer on merging lane.
She tried to pass my 50 foot long set on merging lane and did not hesitate to go on opposite lane to do so.
Yet when she saw a car going head-on her, she decided that hitting my trailer was better option.
Still she reported it as my fault. I called the cop, but by the time cop arrived, she had 2 "advocates" on the scene, so cop made a report without judgement, so insurance could figure it out.
My equipment trailer had about 2000 scratches on the paint already, so I cold not tell what was a new one. My insurance declined the coverage and it was the end of the story.
But I am strong on having traffic camera since.
Sadly my new Superduty come with $2000 option giving it 5 cameras, but they don't make recording.
What are those engineers thinking about?
 
#16 ·
NJ is a no fault state as in NY .. can't change that. If you were in a lane not specified as a turn lane -- you will have a problem. If you got a police report explaining the event .. that's the best you can do.

With or without collision it always best to contact your company as they don't like it when the other party calls trying to get them to pay.

It sound like the other party contacted your insurance? They will figure it out ,,, it's mostly out of your control. How they handle the loss depends on the amount -- most times a small loss does not change underwriting ... small is $1500.00
 
#20 ·
Since Hamada is not really after recovering his car damage repair costs, the only thing is the property liability issue. No point in contacting the other party's insurance unless he has a clear and convincing evidence. And even so, he should submit it to his own insurance company, as they are the ones who will decide to pay or not pay. If the damages are small, they will just pay out anyway even though they hopefully record it as "not at fault" accident. In this case his insurance rates will not (in theory) be affected. The main issue is not to get a record in the insurance database like Accurint as an "at fault" accident, as this data will be available to all other future insurers he may consider.

Florida is a no-fault state too but this is only for personal injuries, nothing to do with property damage.
 
#21 ·
I really didn't bother to contact the other insurance company as I mentioned before due to the minor damage I have.
I am also not trying to blame the other driver for %100 of the incident but I was also forced for this turn. At least if it becomes no-fault for both of us that will be great. I don't know yet what the Police officer wrote in the report as I just told him I was making the right turn and he din't want to stay outside in the rain for a long time to hear more explanation.
I added a picture showing the construction vehicles blocking the traffic and some other pictures from google map showing the intersection with several cars making the turn easily and another picture for the damage to my red 190E.
 

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#22 ·
The story reminds me old Russian joke from communism era.
Telling political jokes in communistic Russia could easy get you arrested.
So the joke is about inmates telling what they got arrested for.
The first "I got arrested for stealing 1/4 or pork from the meat plant"
2nd " I got arrested for stealing fuel from our truck yard and selling it on black market"
3rd "I got arrested fore being lazy"
"Being lazy? How you can get arrested for that"
"Me and Sasha were drinking vodka after our shift and telling lot of political jokes. After the party I was going home and was thinking if I should go straight to the Militia and report Sasha, but I was tired so figure out it can wait till morning.
I was lazy, while Sasha was not and he went right away"
 
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