The insurance company is playing games

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COMer

COMer

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I'm the one whose wife got backed into at a parking lot.  Other driver apologized and begged  my wife to not turn it into her insurance as her rates would go up.  Early the next morning we got  a call saying that she had filed and was charging my wife with causing the accident.  We have been through ten days of filing reports, taking pictures, writing statements and generally arguing with people about what happened.  My insurance company called yesterday to say that based on the damage and the possible scenarios that would have caused it, it was obvious that my wife was "fault-free" and the other driver was "100% responsible."  A few minutes later, I got a call from the other insurance company to say that they could not tell whose fault it was but were offering me a 50% "good faith" adjustment to make me go away. 
Seems like you can't be 50% responsible.  It was our fault or their clients fault.  It isn't the money but I do hate to be taken advantage of.  I want them to come clean and pay for the damage their client did.  Anybody had a situation like this and have a suggestion of how to accomplish this?
 
Do you have access to an attorney, if so, I would suggest to the insurance company that you believe that you ought to allow the attorneys to handle the matter. They will cave...more than likely. But in case they don't you have to ready to spend a couple hundred bucks having a lawyer write a strongly worded letter.

Our company has a policy that every incident requires a police report...no exceptions strictly because something similar happened to us a few years ago. One strongly worded letter from our attorney and the matter was resolved by the insurance companies.
 
I had a similar situation many years ago.  The other insurance company offered 50% as a settlement, claiming I was "contributory negligent".  I consulted an attorney friend and he told me that Wisconsin did not have a contributory negligence law.  He wrote a letter to the insurance company and they not only paid for all my damages, they paid his fee as well.  Don't let them bluff you.
 
you need to start playing "the Game" the same as the insurance companies do.

Next time they call.... tell them they may want to hold off on any settlement offers until after a doctor can look at you,  you think you're having some latent back and neck issues.

watch how nice they become.
 
Some interesting , helpful and creative ideas.  The amount we are talking about is small enough that an attorney sounds like overkill.  The estimate is $650. I have heard that when you sue the individual, their insurance company is required to defend them.  That seems like the way to point out to the insurance company the foolishness of their ways.  Paying their attorney thousands of dollars to defend a defenseless case should get them to cave.
Anyway, it sounds like the consensus is that I should do something.  Maybe an attorney would take it on a basis of he gets his expense from the insurance company and if he can't get extra he gets nothing. 
 
My insurance company has investigated and determined that the other driver is 100% at fault.  I assume they will cover my charges and then go after the other company.  Seems easier to do it the right way first and not have to wonder if having this accident/expense on my records will adjust my rates.  If the other company pays in full I assume that my record would then be clean with my company. 
 
I would think that your insurance would help you, but I know sometimes they dont.

Before I would spend money on a lawyer, I would tell the other persons insurance that you are going to contact the Insurance Commissioner, and follow up with that if they dont pay.

Paul
 
COMer said:
My insurance company has investigated and determined that the other driver is 100% at fault.  I assume they will cover my charges and then go after the other company.  Seems easier to do it the right way first and not have to wonder if having this accident/expense on my records will adjust my rates.  If the other company pays in full I assume that my record would then be clean with my company.
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My wife worked for a Prefered Insurance co. for 14 years as an underwriter, we of course had our cars insured by them,  one day she backed into a parked car at the kids school. My wife wanting to do "The right thing" left our contact and insurance info on the car, (our first and only claim)  of coarse our insurance company paid for the repairs.......... and then they canceled us.

Insurance companies are not at all interested doing the "right thing",  they are only interested in profit. 

Ask any attorney,  in the world of litigation ...the winner did the "right thing" .
 
I have been in situations with auto accidents and I let the insurance companies fight it out. My insurance company's lawyers did the fighting for me, it didn't cost me a dime. Talk to your agent and see if they provide similar services.
 
First, tell the other company NO, that you are not accepting any responsibility at all. None. If they offered any payment at all, you can rest assured they know their driver is at fault. They are just trying to save a few bucks and keep their customer happy.

Second, tell your company about the offer and that you declined.  The offer of 50% payment also means that YOU become 50% liable, both for your own damage and theirs. Your company is obliged to defend you, as well as paying your own damages (subject to deductible, of course). Let them handle it - it's called subrogation.

You won't be cancelled for having a frivolous claim against you that they defend but do not have to pay. That's not a "chargeable accident", in legal parlance.
 
Thanks for the continued ideas and suggestions.  I did enough research to find out that in PA they use the 50-50 rule a lot.  It means that both are equally at fault or that they have no idea who is at fault and don't think they should have to pay 100%.  What then happens is that I can get my insurance company to pay the claim less my deductible and they will bill the other company.  It then goes to arbitration which is binding.  If I win, they must send me my $500 and my company whatever they paid out.  If the other company wins then they pay nothing.  Not even the 50% money they have already offered me.
I do realize we aren't talking much money but at some point you just hate to see a big company taking advantage of somebody who they feel will have to allow it.
 
I'm not sure why you think the other insurer is "playing games" or taking advantage. They weren't there, and they are just representing their policy holder, who claims you were at fault. Same as you are expecting your insurer to believe your story and represent your case.  They offered to split the settlement, which is an amicable way to resolve the fault question when they know it's ones word against anothers.

Since no police report was made to establish facts, as long as the other party sticks to their claim, 50/50 is probably the best you can get unless you push it all the way and hope they fold up.
 
I have to agree with Gary, it's not the insurance company that's being slimy, it's the other driver.  There's a lesson to be had here.  If somebody begs you to not report an accident there's a good chance they're going to try to screw you.

In a similar situation I think I would have recorded the persons on the scene statement with my phone.

Easy to understand why so many people these days have dash-cams.
 
Carol was an insurance adjuster for 29 years.  Allow your insurance company to handle the claim - if you are not satisfied with the way they handle it don't sign anything and then proceed with other solutions;  you pay your insurance company to take care of these things.
 
I am blaming the insurance company because once the evidence was in, there is no evidence to support it being my wife's fault and all evidence supports the other driver was 100% responsible.  That is the determination from the adjuster.  What they told me was that since there are only scrape marks on the other car, she must have been moving and that matches the damage to our car.  If my wife had been moving (which the other driver claimed) there would be a dent in the other car.  You can't hit a car right in the middle of a door, and not have a dent.  There is no dent, just scrape marks.  I believe that her insurance company knows she is responsible but would like to convince me to accept 50% when there is no evidence to suggest it is necessary. 

A week ago I would have probably taken the 50% but now that they have explained what the marks on both cars mean it seems like they are trying to take advantage of me. 
 
Once, many years ago, I pulled into a parking space in front of a McDonalds. There was a parked (& I thought empty) car to the left of me. All of a sudden the lady in the passenger side of that car FLINGS open the door without looking & hits my drivers' side door. The edge of her door gets stuck in the hinge crack in my door & it bends her door backwards & screws up MY door to the point I had to crawl across the seat & get out the passenger door.

Of course she's young & crying to not report it and SURE she'll take all the blame, yada yada. She even exchanged info with me & wrote a note SAYING it was her fault.

Once I tried to claim several hundreds of dollars to repair my car, her insurance was claiming the note wasn't written by the cars OWNER but her friend who was riding with her, & she can't claim responsibility because SHE wasn't the insured party OR driving the car. So I paid out of pocket the deductible to fix my car, but my insurance pursued it. After examining the other car & mine, taking numerous pictures --about 6 months later I got my deductible back in full!
 
Oscar Mike said:
Our company has a policy that every incident requires a police report...no exceptions strictly because something similar happened to us a few years ago. One strongly worded letter from our attorney and the matter was resolved by the insurance companies.
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For a minor accident with no injuries on private property, you probably won't get a police report. For the most part, MV statutes don't apply on private property. It's a civil matter, not a police matter.
 
Yes, there was no police report.  In this area they won't come out if there are no injuries and if the cars can both be moved.  But more importantly, I learned, is that once the cars are moved, it is almost impossible to claim and prove anything.  The lady who hit us can say anything she wants and it becomes she said - she said.  The right thing to have done was to call the security people from the mall to come and investigate.  They would have a report that could then be added to a police report.  An unbiased report confirming car placement and initial observations.  That's what was suggested to me and hopefully I will never need to use it again.

Bottom line is to keep out of parking lots.  Interestingly enough, we don't usually park where there are many other cars.  We park out at the end of a row where we are by ourselves for this very reason.  My wife had done that this time and the other lady must have wanted to do the same.  No other cars nearby but it only takes one.

It's about over and we all survived so I guess I need to move on.  I just wanted to remind people of the importance of protecting themselves when somebody makes promises they aren't going to keep.
 
I am blaming the insurance company because once the evidence was in, there is no evidence to support it being my wife's fault and all evidence supports the other driver was 100% responsible.  That is the determination from the adjuster.
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Not saying you are wrong about the fault, but all you have is the opinion of your insurer's adjuster. Conceivably the other company's adjuster has a different opinion, or, more likely, offered no opinion at all and just submitted a damage estimate.

Once you decline to accept the 50/50 settlement, the other company has to decide to either pursue the case and  try to prove their driver is in the right, or to accept your contention that you had no fault and pay your damages. Let your insurer handle that part.
 
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