Insurance company only offering 80%

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 07:59 pm Post Subject:

The officer does not determine liability... especially for other parties such as the insurance company (same as the insurance company cannot tell the officer when to issue a citation).

I see the other carriers point of view and some adjusters would assign some liability for you having your blinker on and not turning. Other people should be able to rely on this information. Personally, I'd probably accept 100% liability because I know stuff like this happens all of the time and people can't really rely 100% on other people's signals. There is _no_ reason why the other person could not have simply waited to either make sure you were turning or passed by. I also think 80% is too high. I could see them putting 10% or 5% on you but I think 20% might be a little much.

You can do one of 3 things.... you can see if they might be willing too increase their liability to 90% or 95%. You can file suit against their driver and see what a judge says or you can file with your own carrier and have them seek 100% recovery against the other driver (no guarantees that they will get it and there are no guarantees that they won't take the 80% and refund 80% of your deductible).

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 08:12 pm Post Subject:

I could see them putting 10% or 5% on you but I think 20% might be a little much.

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 08:23 pm Post Subject:

I'm kind of curious what other adjusters would do in this situation. Trench, would you put any liability on the person with their blinker on? Seems you would as you mention 80% being a little much.

There is no right or wrong amount here... just opinions.

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:17 pm Post Subject:

Intially I would say no. However, I had one onetime, where two vehicles had entered an intersection at the same time, where both vehicles were to yield to each other(which makes no sense-how does that protect anyone?). This was all caught on camera, so there was a little leverage. One car had briefly turned on his turn signal, then off to move up and make a turn. There was really no where for this other vehicle to go. Both drivers were equally at fault for not "yielding" each other. Have you had an accident claim at a round about? In KS, two I have done have labled both drivers some responsibility. It's stupid in my opinion. When you enter a round about, you yield to the traffic already in the round about. What are supposed to do when someone just come on in?

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:48 pm Post Subject:

I wouldn't hit her for any...the turn signal thing, I'd throw out, and hang my hat (and decision :wink: ) on the fact that the OP had NO traffic control at all to contend with. The other party did. Regardless of whether or not she had a turn signal or a strobe light going, it was the other drivers duty to 'yield' to anyone, doing anything, and not make a move, unless and until that intersection was cleared, period...that's how I'd see it..but I don't work for State Farm either. :roll:

I'm assuming that the OP admitted to the claimant carrier changing her mind on the turn signal deal..As T, said you have a few options...I'd think you'd have a good shot in arbitration, 'if' your adjuster does a good job of preparing for it..this too, takes quite awhile to get back.

I'd bet that you (and your carrier) are going to have a difficult time getting State Farm to roll back to 100% now. But I think I'd get the rules of the road, or regulations for the town this happened in...find the part about stop signs, copy that, along with the police report, and send it to them, with my arguement laid out, and see where it got me...'if' you feel like messing with it..if you don't then turn it over to your carrier, and let them fight it out with SF. You shouldn't suffer a rate increase, this 'should' be a non-chargeable accident with your carrier. Unless they find some fault with you.

Do you know is your state 'pure' comparative negligence? Or modified? If it's pure this would mean that you would owe 10% of that persons damages...


I don't have to tell you Trench, they are putting those round abouts everywhere in KC now...personally I agree and think every time anyone entering the round about is going to bear the fault if an accident occurs, but I've had two go to arb.

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 09:25 pm Post Subject:

I agree with Lori, if I was on either side of this I would find the driver at the stop sign 100% at fault.

I guess what you have to do now is run the numbers. If you can get them to 90 or 95% you will be out x.xx amount of dollars. If you go through your own carrier you will be out your deductible and may only get back a portion of the deductible (say 80% of it). What dollar amount is less out of your pocket....then you have your answer. I would push the issue with the other carrier first (like Lori said). The worst thing they can do is not change their mind.

Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:10 pm Post Subject:

Seems reasonably straight forward - at stop sign and didn't stop = fault, no?

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 01:47 am Post Subject:

Thanks everyone for your feedback. This was the point I tried to get across to them, and I even aquired a police report and faxed it to them. The dealbreaker here is on the report the officer wrote what both of us said, but he never said anything about local laws or the fact the driver at the stop sign was at fault. So essentially State Farm told me the Police Report only helps their POV that I was 20% at fault. So what I did was I filed a complaint with the State Insurance Department, basically saying they did a very shoddy job with their investigation. So I'm giving it another week to see if they change their tune any.

I also called Allstate, my people. They recommended taking the money sadly... their point is I have a $500 deductible, and State Farm is basically offering to fix all but $500 of the damage to the car. So this way it equals out and I don't have to file with Allstate.

But glad to hear you guys agree that the other driver sounds at fault, if not entirely than very nearly so. And I do appreciate the help, since I'm only 22 and this is my first accident. So thank you all :)

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 01:51 am Post Subject:

And Heidrek yeah it is straightforward, however State Farm sided with her side of things. What she did was lie, or well obscure the truth, by saying she was at a full stop and she "observed" me slowing down to make the turn. I should also mention she didn't have her license on her so I don't see her being very believable. :P

And this is why I filed with the State Insurance Department, because had they interviewed the passenger of my car, the only other witness, she would have backed up my story, but they never did that and refuse to now.

Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 03:01 am Post Subject:

I also called Allstate, my people. They recommended taking the money sadly... their point is I have a $500 deductible, and State Farm is basically offering to fix all but $500 of the damage to the car. So this way it equals out and I don't have to file with Allstate.