What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Carolina
My wife was in a parking lot recently and was involved in an accident. The story goes like this..... She was backing out of her space, the other party in the accident had not gotten into her car yet. My wife backed into the middle of the aisle, where at that time, her sister informed her that she had dropped something on the ground outside. My wife stopped, allowed her to open the door and grab the item (matter of seconds). During this matter of time the other party had gotten in her car and begun to back out of her space. At this point in time, my wife backed approximately 5-10ft where she was met by the other car. The other car had come from the other side of the aisle and she was backing at the point of collision (at a faster speed, albeit that is circumstantial). In my opinion, the accident should be deemed a no fault. There was an accident report taken at the scene, which was deemed no fault because it was in a private parking lot. The insurance company, however, has named my wife to fault. A few questions:
1) Shouldn't my wife, if anyone, be considered to have the right of way since she was already in the aisle? The other lady admitted as she got out of the car that she didn't look behind her, basically admitting fault.
2) What are the options I have for appeal of this decision? The insurance company never contacted witnesses to attain proper information, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the other side doctored their statement based on conversations that I've had with my insurance company.
3) It took the insurance company two months to come to this decision, and the claims representative never responded to numerous messages that were left with her. I've never had a claim take this long, is this normal?
I'd appreciate any help and/or advice!!!
My wife was in a parking lot recently and was involved in an accident. The story goes like this..... She was backing out of her space, the other party in the accident had not gotten into her car yet. My wife backed into the middle of the aisle, where at that time, her sister informed her that she had dropped something on the ground outside. My wife stopped, allowed her to open the door and grab the item (matter of seconds). During this matter of time the other party had gotten in her car and begun to back out of her space. At this point in time, my wife backed approximately 5-10ft where she was met by the other car. The other car had come from the other side of the aisle and she was backing at the point of collision (at a faster speed, albeit that is circumstantial). In my opinion, the accident should be deemed a no fault. There was an accident report taken at the scene, which was deemed no fault because it was in a private parking lot. The insurance company, however, has named my wife to fault. A few questions:
1) Shouldn't my wife, if anyone, be considered to have the right of way since she was already in the aisle? The other lady admitted as she got out of the car that she didn't look behind her, basically admitting fault.
2) What are the options I have for appeal of this decision? The insurance company never contacted witnesses to attain proper information, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the other side doctored their statement based on conversations that I've had with my insurance company.
3) It took the insurance company two months to come to this decision, and the claims representative never responded to numerous messages that were left with her. I've never had a claim take this long, is this normal?
I'd appreciate any help and/or advice!!!