Steve
Tucson,#2Consumer Suggestion
Mon, July 25, 2005
The pictures of teh damage support your story completely. If you look at the damage, it was caused bya vehicle going into yours. If your car were moving, there would be lateral lines of damage - going sideways along the car as your moving car impacted the same part of the other vehicle. Here's a simple test to show what I am talking about: Take a piece of paper and push a pencil through it - this illustrates one car impacting a still car. Take another piece of paper and drag the pencil point actoss it. This simulates the OTHER car's movement. If your car were moving, the damage would be inwards and laterally. I would just file suit against the other driver. Farmers Insurance tried the same thing with me when I was hit (also while standing still in a parking lot as their insured backed into me) and they paid up when I hired an attorney.
Paul
Anaheim,#3Consumer Suggestion
Sun, July 24, 2005
The person who hit you is the only one who is liable for damages. Get your estimate. File a suit. Bring your witnesses. The hell with progressive. Either Jacqueline will pay you, plus court costs, or you will file to have her wages garnished and her trash taken away from her. How Jacqueline finds the money is her problem. If progressive doesn't reimburse her, that's her loss. Perhaps, next time, she'll be far more careful when moving in reverse. By the way, you should have used your horn to warn her.
Cassandra
Charlotte,#4Consumer Suggestion
Sun, July 24, 2005
Most states in the U.S. are contributory negligence states - meaning that if you contribute even 1% you are barred from recovery. In a comparative negligence state you still may not get all of your damages paid for. It would have been better for the Progressive rep to explain that this was a "word vs. word" situation rather than to pin it on contributory negligence because that is not really the case here. Any time you have an accident it is best to look for "independent" witnesses - those that have no relation to EITHER party involved in the accident, therefore they have nothing to gain or to lose by telling the claims rep what happened in the accident. It is assumed that if the witness is related to you in any manner, they are going to be on YOUR side - whether it's friend, co-worker or blood relative. How many times would a passenger in your car jump out and point at you and say, "it's her fault - she did it!" Very rare. So it's best to look around and see if there are any independent witnesses. And as one reader said, if there is not serious property damage or injury, the police will often not make a report. It's unfortunate that this woman was so apologetic at the scene but did not tell the same story to the Progressive rep. But at the same time, know that if she called YOUR insurance company and said that YOU were at fault, your company would not just take her word for it. She would get basically the same response you got. Having been in an accident and also working as a claims representative (including a brief stint with Progressive) I can tell you that no claims rep is going to pay a claim without proof of the loss. Either in the form of police reports, independent witnesses, or the at fault party simply admitting fault. Unfortunately that last one is hard to come by.
Mike
Radford,#5Consumer Suggestion
Tue, July 12, 2005
When a "minor" crash (no injury or death, though both cars may be totaled) happens on private property, such as a driveway or mall parking lot, Virginia police will NOT assign blame to one driver or the other. So the police report is almost worthless (But still, get it). You are really at the mercy of the other guy who caused the crash to admit the truth. And if he's smart, he won't. This percentage liability thing is a total crock that serves only one purpose: insurance company profits. Pick one or the other and the process of averages will even things out, bad drivers will still get charged for more crashes.
Dave
Gastonia,#6Consumer Suggestion
Thu, April 07, 2005
Next time make sure you get a police report if you didn't. In all actuality this lady was in the wrong and her insurance should pay, BUT legally you dont have a leg to stand on in court. Would you pay if you were them if there was no solid proof? Probably not and neither would I. That doesnt make what the lady did right, but you shouldn't make a rip-off report claiming a company wronged you when you are the one that didnt follow the proper steps