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.