I was thinking about it after my last post, and I realized that I have another example of a type of accident that is almost always a one way thing. Like I said before, these sorts of accidents are pretty common, and when they happen there’s little to no hope for you to prove that the person who seems to be obviously at fault was not, and the person who seems to be obviously the victim was actually at fault. There are rare situations in which this is possible, but normally it is hard to prove.

The new example that I have is of a left turn accident. This means that a car making a left turn gets hit by a car turning straight. It is normally very difficult to prove that the car turning left was not at fault, because there are certain requirements and responsibilities placed on the car that is turning left.

What are the exceptions? There may be an exception if:

• the car that is coming straight is going at a particularly high speed. This is because, normally, a car can gauge whether or not they can go by noting how fast the car before them is going. If the car coming in the opposite direction suddenly speeds up when the car was partially across the intersection, then the car that was turning left is usually not liabile.
• the car that is coming straight has run a red light. This is consistent with the use of traffic violations committed by the other driver to prove that they are the at fault driver–make sure you get witnesses, pictures, statute number, and a police report in your favor for the easiest results.
• the car that is going left has to go slower or come to a stop for some reason that was not expected. This is a tough one, because the car turning left is not supposed to even start going until it can be sure that it can make it across the intersection safely, according to the rules of right of way. However, let’s say that a deer runs out into the street while the car is turning left, and so the car has to stop because it would normally be worse to hit the deer than to stop–you can’t run over a deer. The car going straight then runs into the left turning car. In this case, the negligence might be entirely on the car going straight, because it might have been going to fast, or it could be shared. It’s hard to give proof in situations like these (okay, the deer one might be easy, but in your typical situation it isn’t).

Knowing which type of accidents are car insurance claim givens is key to making the car insurance claim process easier for you. If you get into an accident like this and it is one of the exceptions to the rule, then you know right away that this is something that you have to be very careful about and document more.

Reader question:

Are there certain types of accidents for which you don’t have to go through all the car insurance claim hassle?

Beth

That’s a great question, Beth.

Actually, there are. Car insurance companies consider certain types of accidents to be pretty immune to debate when it comes to figuring out who is at fault in a car insurance claim. This makes it much easier for the people involved, and things are solved a lot faster. Like with everything, there are a few exceptions to the rule. However, these are rare and often they don’t even end up with you being completely at fault.

The main car insurance collision claim that would be considered in this category is the rear end accident. The rear end accident is usually caused when one car drives into another cars rear end. This is a pretty cut and dry situation, because it is very hard to simply change the story or manipulate the evidence. There’s a crunched back end bumper on one car, and a crunched up front end on the other. Obviously, these two fit like puzzle pieces.

Some might argue that a car insurance accident cannot be their fault if the person in front of them hit the brakes. Your car insurance company won’t buy that, though. I’m with everybody else in thinking that there is a special place in hell for people who hit the brakes with passion and frequency, but regardless of your feelings, if you had been practicing defensive driving then you would have been far enough behind the other car to have slowed to a stop before coming in contact with them. The usual rule is that you be at least three seconds behind the car in front of you. This may be a difficult distance to determine, since you can’t see seconds, but be generous. You’re only helping yourself.

The reason that rules like that are in place is because there are many excusable reasons to hit the brakes all of the sudden. While the majority of jerk drivers do it because they forgot they needed to turn here, or realized they wanted a hamburger, it could also be because a kid walking home from school darted out into the street. If someone hit their brakes in that instance, and you ran into them, is it their fault? Yet it applies to all situations.

There are some cases in a rear end accident where your car insurance claim rewards might be diminished because you contributed somewhat to the negligence. For example, if you are driving at night and your lights, or even one of them, is out? It is your own fault, because you were putting yourself at danger and in many situations another driver would not be able to see you.

There is the much more rare situation where someone will actually back into another person. This doesn’t often happen in traffic, but I have seen it before, such as when people realize too late that they need to change lanes. However, it does happen. Since you can’t tell from the damages what happened in this case, it would be wise to get the statements of some witnesses.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

When I am filing a car insurance accident report, how will traffic car insurance laws effect who is considered to be the at fault driver?

Ronny

Thanks for asking, Ronny.

I think that one of the greatest ways to get your car insurance accident claim done your own way is to be educated. Be the smart one in the situation, and impress your car insurance claim adjuster with your knowledge. So, let’s begin. What’s a good thing to know about when you need to prove that a car insurance accident wasn’t your fault? Car insurance law and state traffic laws. State traffic laws can be the biggest factor in showing that the other driver, while they may not have been a very direct cause to the accident, was at least reckless or negligent in some manner.

Traffic laws govern the way people drive, and it isn’t very hard to find out which ones rule the roads of your own state. The information is publicly available in your local library. The listing is usually called the complete vehicle code. Other places that you can get a hold of it are law libraries (which you can find in universities, usually, and if you want to find one somewhere else, just check the yellow pages) as well as the department of motor vehicles.

How do you use the complete vehicle code when making a car insurance accident claim? It’s simple, and it doesn’t really take very much time so long as you have a clear idea in your head of the event of your car insurance accident. Just look in the index section of the vehicle code book and try to find any sort of laws that might apply to your car insurance accident claim report. These might be things such as speed limits, or right of way, or stop sign laws. Once you find the laws that apply to you, don’t just scribble a note down. For the best effect, you need to have the entirety of the wording of the law, correctly, as well as the statute number. This way, when you submit it to your car insurance company they will be able to confirm what you are claiming. It is always good to have accurate data and sources when you are using information that is not simply from your memory. It’s the same principle when they require you to submit your medical bills and statements so that they can verify your car insurance accident injury claims.

What happens if you have trouble finding the right laws to apply to your car insurance accident? All you have to do is ask a librarian to help you. They know what they’re doing. This is why I always suggest going to the library over going to the department of motor vehicles–considering that, concerning the latter, we know that they don’t know what they’re doing, and don’t want to help you.

Traffic law violations are also often included in the police report if they happen. If this is the case with your car insurance accident, then you should reference the police report. However, you might find it necessary to look up your law anyway–just for extra back up.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

If I get into a car insurance accident, how am I supposed to prove that I’m not at fault?

Juan

Thank you for your question, Juan.

Many times, when someone gets into a car insurance accident with, say, a pedestrian or someone riding a bike, it is easy to tell who the blame needs to be laid on. The percentage of the blame laid on a certain participant in a car insurance accident is called negligence, and there are many ways in which this kind of negligence can be determined. While common sense always plays a big role in the decisions as to who is at fault for a car insurance accident, what really seals a good car insurance claim case is the presence of a traffic or law violation that can be seen as having caused the accident. Without such a violation on the part of the at fault driver, you may have a tougher case to prove.

The best way to back your story up is to get a police report written up on the accident. This is always done whent he accident involves an injury, but should be done any time you intend to make a car insurance accident claim for the collision. All you have to do is call the police, and they will send some officers over to check out the damage and to take your stories.

Often, a police report will contain what the police officer claims as to who is the at fault driver in the incident. Normally this is stated because the person who is claimed to be the at fault driver appears to have committed some sort of traffic violation and the police officer believes that this puts them rather obviously at fault for the car insurance accident. Other times, while there will not be an outright opinion stated in the police report, the police officer will report any sort of violation that occured, whether a citation was given, and so on, although he or she may not state that it was this that was one of the main contributing factors to the accident. The first situation is pretty bad for the at fault driver, the second slightly better, but still not a good sign.

As the driver who was not at fault, these police reports can definitely be used in your favor, even if the police officer did not stater their opinion. Sometimes in a car insurance accident where there is some dispute as to who caused the accident, it is difficult to get documentation proving it, especially if you can’t contact witnesses who might have been there at the time, or if there weren’t any witnesses at all. In this case, using the police report comes in handy.

But what happens if the police officer who writes the police report about the car insurance accident is of the opinion that you are the one who was at fault for the accident, and you know that you were not? Well, it’s not the end of the world. It is possible, indeed, to fight a police report, but it will be difficult at times. First of all, make sure you have as much of your own documentation as possible, such as pictures and contacts with witnesses. This can be useful if you need to challenge a claim so that you don’t have to py a deductible and your rates don’t increase.

A lot of times, the police report will only have a contributory effect on the final outcome of the car insurance accident claim decision. This is because most car insurance companies have their own investigations, which sometimes take days or weeks and involve experts who might be able to see more details than a police officer would. While the police report does play a part, car insurance companies pay more attention to their own people.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

Okay, I got into a car accident, and I didn’t outright cause it, but if it weren’t for certain physical limitations of mine, it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was. Will I still be able to make a car insurance claim for my injuries?

Lucy

That’s a great question, Lucy.

On every subject, there is a situation that is not as clear as others. While it is easy to say who is at fault when someone rear ends another car, it is a bit more difficult to say if someone had some sort of fault if their eyesight was not in good enough shape to be able to drive in the safest way possible on the road. If you have some type of physical limitation that makes you wonder if some of the negligence in an accident may be put on you, then this might make you think as little bit.

There are many physical limitations that have an effect on driving, and one of the main ones is eyesight. This is one reason why car insurance companies often only give discounts for senior physical car insurance liability premiums if those seniors get regular exams to make sure that they are in the best shape to be driving. There comes a point when simple corrective lenses do not work. However, most people are able to wear glasses and contacts to solve this problem. Then there are other situations–perhaps someone has a leg that shakes a little bit, which caused them to put their foot on the gas and make a accident caused by someone else worse.

There is an expectation from the car insurance company that a driver who has certain limitations will take certain measures that may be necessary to lessen or get rid of the impact that their problem might have on their driving. For this reason, there might not be an excuse if someone with very bad vision goes driving without their glasses. However, there are some conditions which may slightly worsen an accident, although not causing it, which are normally not dangerous and can not be expected to be taken care of in any other way; or if someone has already accounted for their physical limitations and is driving safely.

The truth is that the final responsibility falls on the person who caused the accident. It is their responsibility to make sure that it is safe for anyone who may be driving on the road or their property, regardless of their physical limitations. If someone plows into the side of your car, then it is not your fault that you were put into that situation, because that was due to their own negligence. Therefore, in most cases, you are not at all at fault.

However, there are some instances in which the situation may become a little more murky, such as if your problem should have been taken care of before you went driving or if it contributed more significantly to the damages. In these cases, it would be wise to hire a car insurance liability claim attorney, who can help you navigate the claims system and get the negligence quotient that you deserve.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

If I get into a car insurance accident, and it is partially my own fault, and partially the fault of the other driver, then am I still going to be compensated in any way?

Rick

Thank you for asking, Rick.

This depends on what state you are in, because different states have different laws when it comes to things such as dividing up the negligence. Percentage always plays a big part in the division, but in some states it is more important than others. It is important to know ahead of time which state you are in, so you can call up your state’s department of insurance to find out what the laws and regulations are concerning situations in which each driver is at least somewhat at fault. While having this knowledge ahead of time is not likely to make you not get into an accident, it is still helpful so that you are not unpleasantly surprised while you are in the heat of the moment.

There are basically two different ways that negligence is taken care of in dual fault accidents.

• Comparitive negligence.

This is where you will get compensated, even if the car insurance accident was in part caused by you. The basic idea of comparitive negligence is that each person’s car insurance company pays for the damages of the other person to the extent that their policy holder was at fault.

Let me break it down.

If you get into an accident, there will be a long investigation into determining how much each person is at fault. If it turns out that you are only 30% at fault, then the other person’s car insurance company will pay you 70% of your damages, while your own car insurance company will pay the other person 30% of the damages. To some, this may not seem fair if they were only a little bit of the cause, but in comparitive negligence states, that is how it is.

• Contributory negligence.

In a few states, there is a law that states if you were at fault for a certain amount of the accident, then you cannot be given compensation for your injuries and damages. This is often called 49% or 50% negligence, because it means that if you have that amount of negligence attributed to you, then you are not compensated.

One thing that you have to keep in mind during the whole business is that, like any other process involved in car insurance accidents, figuring out the percentages of negligence is a subjective business. You might be offered a certain percentage, but you can negotiate it down the same way you can negotiate your car insurance claim up. If you aren’t happy with the amount of negligence that has been assigned to you, then you can either negotiate by yourself, get an attorney, or provide documentation proving that the amount is not right.

In the end, your assigned percentage point plays quite a bit into how big your car insurance claim check is going to be. This is why as much attention needs to be paid towards negotiating the negligence as is paid to negotiating the actual claim offer.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I got into a car accident recently. It wasn’t my fault, but the other person refused to exchange car insurance information with me. What am I supposed to do now?

Angela

That’s an interesting situation, Angela.

I think your situation is one of the reasons why you always have to be on the top of your game when you’re making a quality car insurance claim, and when you get into a car accident. This is why I always advise people to tell their car insurance companies about an accident even if the other party says they’re okay and won’t make a claim. So long as they have our car insurance information, there is always a possibility. However, refusal to hand over insurance quality car insurance information is not a common occurence.

There are a few things that you can do now, but most of them depend on how vigilant you were at the time. The first and best way that I would suggest for you to settle this is to contact the Department of Motor Vehicles for your state and use the person’s driver’s license number or the number on their license plate to get their insurance information. You’ll probably end up using the license plate number because if they won’t give you their insurance information, then I highly doubt they’ll give you their driver’s license number.

Don’t have the license plate number? Don’t panic! If you’ve been taking my advice, then you should have taken pictures at the scene of the accident. Look through them and find out if one of the pictures has the license plate in view. If not, then you should know better for next time–never let the at fault driver get away without leaving you with some kind of information, preferably something that can be used to find out more information.

If that first option didn’t work out for you, then the next one is a bit mre drastic: call the police. I know this sounds a little far, but if it is what you have to do, then it is what you have to do. I wouldn’t take this step unless I was sure that I absolutely needed to make a claim–that is, if the repairs are more than I could easily afford and absolutely if there were injuries. The person who didn’t give you their information was wrong, but was probably just freaked out. It’s best to try all of the other ways before getting down to this.

Of course, you can only call the police if you have an accurate description of the driver and their car. Again, this is where those pictures might come in handy. You’re not going to get anywhere saying that a blond guy in a red car crashed into you. If it was an actual hit and run, then I would say this is the very first recourse you need to go to. Remember that this is why you need to stay as lucid as you can when you get into a car accident, because panicking will only make it harder to remember things later.

The last option is for if you are not willing to go through with calling the police. In this case, you are going to have to take some punishment for yourself. Here, the best that you can do is to just make a claim as if the entire thing was your fault and get it paid out of your collision car insurance. This means that your rates will go up, unless it is your first at fault accident, in which case most quality car insurance companies will forgive. However, even in that case you have just lost your one chance at accident forgiveness for a few years.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

If my car is hit while driving in a parking lot, how long is the usual time that it takes to determine car insurance claim responsibility?

Michael

That’s a good question, Michael.

Car accidents that take place in parking lots are often very tricky. The reason for this is because driving in a parking lot is not as defined as is driving on a street, where you have traffic signals and clear lane markers. I know I’m not the only one who has made the mistake of going the wrong way down a lane in a parking lot, simply because they only put the arrow on one end of the lane. If I weren’t lucky, even I could have gotten into a car insurance accident due to this.

This lack of clear limitations makes it harder to figure out who is at fault when the accident takes place in a parking lot. You can’t simply blame someone for something such as switching lanes without putting on their blinker or whatever. For the most part, it has to be determined whose story fits the damages best. This is why it’s always important
(and sometimes legally required) to call an officer of the law to the scene of any accident, regardless of where it happens or the damage. That way you have an impartial observer who can document the current story and damages in case someone decides to change it up.

The process will be made quicker and easier for you if you have someone who can corroborate your story, such as a witness. This shouldn’t be so hard in a parking lot, because these are normally full of people–so long as you can get one to stick around until the police show up.

However, much of the problems in the length of time that it takes to do something such as figure out who has the car insurance claim responsibility for liability in an accident often come from the uniqueness of the accident. If you have a cut and dry case of being rear ended, then you can get things over with relatively quickly. However, if it’s a little less simple, such as if you run into each other head on, then some more questions need to be asked.

One way to speed up the process is to get someone to help you out who is very well practiced in the car insurance claim responsibility area. That’s right, an attorney. Don’t go throwing your money at a lawyer for any old accident, but if you think it might be a long, contested, drawn out thing, then some legal aid is helpful. You should also make sure that you document the events properly, such as taking pictures of the vehicles so that things such as point of collision can be studied. Also, stick to your story–don’t lie, because lies are easy to forget.

Getting a lawyer is pretty easy. The only thing you have to do is call your state’s bar and ask for recommendations for a car insurance accident lawyer. They will give you free suggestions, and they know their stuff. Another way is to ask friends who have been in similar situations.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I got into an accident recently, and my car was considered a total loss, and they gave me a number. Is there some way that I can challenge this car insurance claim decision?

Mohammed

That’s a good question.

It all comes down to the contract you signed when you took out your car insurance policy to begin with. It may state that your car insurance company has the last word in all car insurance claim decisions, or it may not. In the case of the latter, it will be either impossible or extremely difficult to challenge the car insurance claim quote that the company gives you. You will probably have to take some extraordinary measures.

This is why I always recommend that you read your car insurance policy before, not after, you sign on the dotted line. If you do this, read it, and make sure that you understand it, then

• you won’t have problems later, or
• you’ll have seen those problems coming from the beginning.

It’s pretty simple. However, if you don’t have this problem, that is to say, if your car insurance company does not claim the last word, then I would suggest you take steps to take things into your own hands. You can do this by hiring your own person to do the appraisal. You can get a professional car insurance accident appraiser and use their quote to fight the car insurance company with. The benefit in this is that the appraiser that you hire is automatically on your side, since you’re the one paying him. The one hired by the auto insurance company to determine the worth of your car insurance claim is under pressure to give the company the lowest price so that the company will continue to hire them.

If the appraiser route doesn’t work, then you might want to take the next, slightly more expensive step up by getting a lawyer. This doesn’t mean that you automatically have to take them to court. Normally, a lawyer will just help in the way of going in there and negotiating for you where you have been having trouble negotiating by yourself. If push comes to shove, though, the car insurance accident lawyer can help you take your case to court to fight for a better quote for your car insurance claim.

If none of this works, and the car insurance company seems set on treating you unfairly, and you are absolutely sure that you are in the right in this situation, then the next thing for you to do is to take it to the department of insurance for your state. This step is pretty easy. All you have to do is go to the department of insurance’s website, where they will normally have a complaint form to fill out about the problems that you are having with your car insurance company. Remember that this is the last step. Don’t resort to this unless nothing else works and it is obviously the case that the car insurance company is trying to screw you over.

Normally, the department of insurance will then request documentation from you. This is where all of that keeping track of things comes in handy. Be sure to know why you should get more and be able to prove it. If you really have a case that the car insurance company is being unfair, then the department of insurance will take action.

I think that problems like these are the reasons that people should be very careful when they are choosing a quality car insurance company. It may seem nice to begin with, but what happens when you have to make a car insurance claim? It is in your best interest, not only to get the best instant online car insurance quotes, but also to do things such as ask friends, call your department of insurance, and look on online car insurance company review sites to see what the down and dirty is on the customer service for the company.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I have a 1987 sedan that I don’t use, but I own it. Do I have to get used car insurance coverage for it anyway?

Sam

That’s a great question, Sam.

The answer to that is dependent on where you live, though. The state car insurance laws are pretty mixed up on this point, because some states require you to have used car insurance coverage even if your car is propped up on blocks of wood in the front yard. In New York, you have to have auto insurance so long as you own a vehicle and have the title, or are buying a vehicle, and it is of no consequence that you aren’t actually using that vehicle. In order to be excepted from this rule, you would have to give evidence through a certain form that your car is not only unused, but unusable, or that you have sold it to another person or to a junk yard.

If you don’t want to get in trouble by falling victim to a random check of car insurance, then I would advise you to do yourself a favor and look up your state’s department of insurance website to find out what kind of laws your state has concerning this.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.