Rearended, not at fault, but one company says we are!

[zippysgoddess]

What is the name of your state? PA

The accident was over a year ago. Traffic checked up when someone had to stop for traffic to clear to make a right turn, the woman behind us, who was a very new driver, assumed traffic was going to keep moving and hit us. It was her fault, as per both the police officer we called and the insurance company. The damage to our car was minimal, as DH had seen her coming, and while he knew we couldn't get out of the way, he let up on the breaks a little to cushion the hit.

We both had the same insurance company, Nationwide, so the claim was settled quickly and easily. The adjuster assessed the damage and cut our check, and that was that.

Now, it is over a year later, and we had to get a new insurance company when we were buying a Dodge Grand Caravan. I called all our local agencies for quotes, and State Farm said they could not insure us because the accident was on there, and the computer said it was our fault! HUH?

My DH tried to explain to the underwriter what had really happened with the accident, but she wouldn't listen. It just seems weird to me because that was the only agency who had such a thing come up on their computer. The other companies had no problem finding the true report of the accident and offering us policies.

So, my question is, how do I straighten this out so it doesn't come back to bite us in the A** in the future? If it is showing up on one computer, there is always a chance it will pop up on another one.

I suppose, there is always the chance that this woman just had no idea how to decipher the accident report (ie: Nationwide paid out and we had Nationwide), or for some reason, they just didn't want to insure us, is there any way for us to find out for sure which it was?

I would sincerely appreciate any advice, and thank you all in advance.

 

[xylene]

What is the name of your state? PA

The accident was over a year ago. Traffic checked up when someone had to stop for traffic to clear to make a right turn, the woman behind us, who was a very new driver, assumed traffic was going to keep moving and hit us. It was her fault, as per both the police officer we called and the insurance company. The damage to our car was minimal, as DH had seen her coming, and while he knew we couldn't get out of the way, he let up on the breaks a little to cushion the hit.

We both had the same insurance company, Nationwide, so the claim was settled quickly and easily. The adjuster assessed the damage and cut our check, and that was that.

Now, it is over a year later, and we had to get a new insurance company when we were buying a Dodge Grand Caravan. I called all our local agencies for quotes, and State Farm said they could not insure us because the accident was on there, and the computer said it was our fault! HUH?

My DH tried to explain to the underwriter what had really happened with the accident, but she wouldn't listen. It just seems weird to me because that was the only agency who had such a thing come up on their computer. The other companies had no problem finding the true report of the accident and offering us policies.

So, my question is, how do I straighten this out so it doesn't come back to bite us in the A** in the future? If it is showing up on one computer, there is always a chance it will pop up on another one.

I suppose, there is always the chance that this woman just had no idea how to decipher the accident report (ie: Nationwide paid out and we had Nationwide), or for some reason, they just didn't want to insure us, is there any way for us to find out for sure which it was?

I would sincerely appreciate any advice, and thank you all in advance.

Don't do business with State Farm!

What is DH?

 

[zippysgoddess]

LOL! We didn't!

DH is a standard internet abbreviation for Dear Husband, unless you are mad at him that day, then it could be Damn Husband.

I see by your number of posts that you are fairly new here, you might want to browse around a bit, and familiarize yourself with such internet protocols, and "netiquette" as we call it. You will find that it will help a lot in the long run.

 

[xylene]

LOL! We didn't!

DH is a standard internet abbreviation for Dear Husband, unless you are mad at him that day, then it could be Damn Husband.

I see by your number of posts that you are fairly new here, you might want to browse around a bit, and familiarize yourself with such internet protocols, and "netiquette" as we call it. You will find that it will help a lot in the long run.

Given the context of this forum I thought you might have meant Divorced Husband, then I would have asked why does his driving record affect you!

My apologies, I have been on the net a long time, and had never run into that abbrevation.

I have first hand experience with State Farms flakeyness.

I also have the burden of a previous car that was totaled by being rear-end, hit and run style, while legally parked and I was not in the car, still jacking my insurance no matter who the carrier is. That is in NY however...

 

[zippysgoddess]

Well this didn't raise our rates, and they are the only company who came up with such a thing. Very weird.

 

[DGO1223]

Assuming I'm reading this correctly, is there a reason you didn't stay with Nationwide since you were already insured with them? Did they raise your rates or something after the accident?

 

[zippysgoddess]

No, I just stated in my last post that they didn't raise our rates. We had actually switched to a different company for awhile when my DH lost his SSD for a few months, because they were cheaper. It was the second company that actually necessitated our search for a new company this time.

The nearest Nationwide office is over an hour away from us, it was the company we had when we moved here, so we didn't want to have to drive all that way to sign the forms and put a deposit on a new policy.

 

[zippysgoddess]

Now here's an interesting addition, LOL! Yesterday there was a message on our answering machine, it was the woman from State Farm wanting to know if we still wanted a policy from them! Geez, yeah right.

Not only did they try to say the accident was our fault, but I told them we were purchasing a vehicle, and of course needed a policy for registration purposes, did she think we were going to wait a few weeks for them to make up their minds before we bought and registered the vehicle?

I am betting she just found out, from information on our prior policies, that we have a habit of paying 6 months to 1 year in advance on our policies, so we don't have to worry about lapses or making monthly payments, and realized they had been rude to great potential customers.

Well the nice, polite, and friendly small local agency got our business, and we did indeed pay the first 6months the very day my husband signed the policy, and in in 3 weeks we will be paying off the rest of the year on the policy.