Car Accident Liability Question

[farqfishes]

What is the name of your state? California

I had a mirror-to-mirror collision on the freeway in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, and was surprised to hear from the other drivers' insurance agent that the best I could do in this situation was get an offer of %20 liability to the other driver's %80 when to me it seems %100 his liability. My own insurance agent reviewed the same dashcam video with her supervisor that was taken from a witness, and she said she would file it at equal 50/50 liability. I guess they are the experts, but especially since my own insurance agent pins more liability on me than the other driver's, I'm asking this question in this forum just to make sure she's not being incompetent, as sadly car adjusters can sometimes be :/

Dash Video

The video is linked above, a trucker who witnessed the accident texted me the dashcam vid which is blurry, the best view of it is when it is large or full screen. I'm the car on the left with the collision happening at about 9s. Both my adjuster and the other driver's acknowledged that I had completely shifted into the lane before the other driver started shifting into mine, but that because I swerved out of my lane to avoid collision, but then came back right before we crashed, that I shared some blame. My question is, since I was completely in my lane before he started shifting into mine, doesn't that give me %0 culpability? I didn't fully swerve to the left lane because you can see there's a car in that lane coming fast right behind me, nor did I brake because there was a car close behind me. It just seems strange that by swerving as far as I safely could within my lane in order to try and avoid crashing before coming back would pin liability on me. What else was I supposed to do in this situation?

Any suggestions or insights greatly appreciated, thanks so much!
-Farq

 

[zddoodah]

I can't see anything in the video that allows for any sort of firm conclusion. How much are your damages?

If the other driver's insurer is only willing to pay 20% of your damages, and you're not willing to accept that, then you have a couple options:

1. Sue the other driver. Presumably, you'd do this in small claims court, so neither of you would be able to have an attorney at the trial (although the other driver's insurer could have an attorney provide assistance to the other driver in advance of the trial). Also keep in mind that, if you sue in small claims court and lose, you'll have no right of appeal. However, if you win, the other driver could appeal, and the appeal would be heard by a regular superior court judge, and each of you would be entitled to have an attorney represent you.

2. Make a claim against you own policy's collision coverage (if you had collision coverage). You'll have to pay your policy's deductible, but your insurer will try and recover the amount paid (including your deductible) from the other driver and his/her insurer.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to a California accident guide:
https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/105-type/95-guides/01-auto/hadaccident.cfm

You said that the mirrors on the cars bumped. Is mirror damage the extent of the damage?

It is hard to see on the dash cam video what happened - but it appears both cars went outside their lanes.

 

[farqfishes]

I can't see anything in the video that allows for any sort of firm conclusion. How much are your damages?

If the other driver's insurer is only willing to pay 20% of your damages, and you're not willing to accept that, then you have a couple options:

1. Sue the other driver. Presumably, you'd do this in small claims court, so neither of you would be able to have an attorney at the trial (although the other driver's insurer could have an attorney provide assistance to the other driver in advance of the trial). Also keep in mind that, if you sue in small claims court and lose, you'll have no right of appeal. However, if you win, the other driver could appeal, and the appeal would be heard by a regular superior court judge, and each of you would be entitled to have an attorney represent you.

2. Make a claim against you own policy's collision coverage (if you had collision coverage). You'll have to pay your policy's deductible, but your insurer will try and recover the amount paid (including your deductible) from the other driver and his/her insurer.

My damages seem pretty minor, just some mild scratching on the rear view mirror luckily (his rear view mirror was completely shattered, but he's not filing a claim against me). To be clear though, his insurer said they are willing to pay %80, not %20 of my damages. I tried your 2nd suggestion, but am weirded out that my own insurer, even after I told them about his insurer's %80 offer, said they see it as an equal liability scenario. I'm more just asking out of principle and because I don't even want to have to pay a couple hundred bucks or have %20 at-fault accident on my record. I don't really know what else I could have done in this scenario.

Thanks for your help.

 

[farqfishes]

Here is a link to a California accident guide:
https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/105-type/95-guides/01-auto/hadaccident.cfm

You said that the mirrors on the cars bumped. Is mirror damage the extent of the damage?

It is hard to see on the dash cam video what happened - but it appears both cars went outside their lanes.

Thanks for that link, yeah it's just mirror damage. If you look at the video closely, I was completely in the lane of collision for a couple seconds before he started shifting into it, then I swerved to the left a bit to try to avoid him, before thinking it was too dangerous to shift back left because of a car that was moving fast behind me, so I came back to the center of the lane hoping he'd have seen me by then when we crashed.

 

[quincy]

How much money is involved?

 

[farqfishes]

How much money is involved?

Whatever the replacement cost of a 2018 Chevy Bolt EV rearview mirror is, not sure exactly, at worst not more than $1,000 I imagine but what do I know? It has nice blind spot alert flashers on it so it might be pricier than I think...

 

[quincy]

I am puzzled why your insurer thinks the 50/50 split is better for you and them than the other driver’s insurance offer of 80/20.

 

[farqfishes]

I'm sort of the mentality after dealing with car insurance only 4 or 5 times now that most adjusters/insurance agents just kind of suck...? I mean I guess you could say she watched the video with her supervisor and they 'honestly' thought it was 50/50 and didn't want to stretch the truth or anything. See her message pasted below here

"
Hello,

I was able to review the dash cam video with supervisor. I did advise of Geico accepting 80% for the date of loss.

The dash cam revealed that you had barley made the lane change, when the other vehicle came into your lane of travel. You swerved to the left lane to avoid the accident, but then soon after you came back into the lane you were in and that is when both vehicles collided with one another.

I am looking at placing equal liability for date of loss with the information I just provided and manager agrees as well.

So if Progressive is willing to accept 80%, that is better than 50%. I recommend you accepting offer. If you accept the liability decision of Progressive, I will accept that as well.

I did confirm with adjuster, that the other driver does not carry collision coverage and his repairs have been paid out of pocket and they will not be submitting no demand to Clearcover.



Please advise of how you will proceed with filing for your damages."

It sounds like she's saying this is how we saw it, so take their better version instead of ours? Is that normal?

 

[quincy]

Is that a verbatim copy of the letter you received?

 

[farqfishes]

Is that a verbatim copy of the letter you received?

yes! Not sure why they would just up and conclude a worse liability situation than the other driver's insurer, maybe they just honestly see it that way and are being upstanding about it?

 

[quincy]

I think you need to contact someone else at your insurance agency. That letter is so poorly written that it makes me question whether any thought was given to your claim. None apparently was given to the drafting of the letter.

Although I can’t tell you, from what I could make out on the video, that you are faultless, I would not want to consider accepting any settlement less than what the other driver’s insurance is already willing to offer. I can’t come up with a good reason why you would.

 

[farqfishes]

Lol, can you tell me who your carrier is out of curiosity? I actually thought of asking for another adjuster to work with but the letter said her manager agrees, so not sure if that's it for that... I also just kind of assume any insurance agent is doomed to be mediocre at best. Thanks for your help!

 

[quincy]

I prefer not telling you who my insurer is as it could seem like a recommendation. But I have been happy with my agent. If you are not happy with your insurer, you could find another. Not that finding another will help you settle your current claim.