Insurance claim advice needed

So driving down 93N yesterday in the left lane, I spun out. My car ended up facing into traffic with the passenger rear hanging out into traffic. A guy in comes up on me at a pretty slow clip and he ended up hitting me just enough to break my LCA. Long story short, everyone is okay. My car sustained about 3500 in damage and his is looking at about 3. There was actually a cop already there clearing up another accident. He saw it all but just said to exchange information. He did not write a report. The guy that hit me did not have his insurance information.

Originally, I was going to pay out of pocket figuring it wouldn't be over 4k. My car is already down at the shop getting worked on but I am mulling over filing a claim. How is this going to pan out? Is he at fault for hitting me? Any advice? Can I make a claim even though work is being done on my car already?

TIA

Wow, cops are just getting fuck lazy these days, arent they?
ESPECIALLY since dude didnt have insurance information?

I believe since he hit you, he'll be at fault, but call your insurance agent and see what the professionals say.

sorry to hear, glad you are ok...

Technically with the weather neither party would be at fault and each would be responsible for thier own damage. Thats probably why the officer did not file a report.
The only case would be if he spun out and clipped you causing you to spin out.

if neither is at fault, you'd probably have to pay your deductible but wont get hit with an at-fault surcharge on your premiums.

Call your insurance company or broker.. you can get free advice. You don't have to file a claim if you don't want to.

That's what the cops do now. If they can't determine if a law was broken they tell you to file. Kinda sucks.

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Originally Posted by DBKromz

if neither is at fault, you'd probably have to pay your deductible but wont get hit with an at-fault surcharge on your premiums.

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pretty sure jim is right for once.

Yeah

this is a tricky situation because you spun out then got hit.

id say its cut and dry but you never know once the paper work is filed.

if you have any info at all of the other driver do your best to get in touch and get HIS insurance info the claim should be made through his insurance as he hit you but you will also have to notify your insurance of the accident and go from there.

good luck buddy

my wife and I have been battling insurance BS for 2 years now. It gets messy and the laws are vague enough to leave the final interpretations up to the insurance companies.

This is really sounding like a crap shoot where nobody comes out a winner. I just don't want to have to deal with the headache of paying for his car. Two years sounds like a ridiculously drawn out process though.

If your car was completely stopped before he hit you wouldn't it make sense to file? If spinning out didn't cause damage and only his car hitting your car caused damage - isn't the rear driver always at fault in MA reguardless?

IMO - I don't actually know anything about this.

I always took MA laws to mean - if someone hits you from behind they are at fault no matter what ... :confused:

Melissa,
The way I understand it, if your vehicle is in forward motion and strikes another vehicle you will be found at fault as you should have had enough control to stop your vehicle from striking the other vehicle. That's why I said the other operator be found at fault. However, I did forget about the weather yesterday since I didn't have to go out in it, so that may be a mitigating factor in fault determination.

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Originally Posted by wiggeywackyo

This is really sounding like a crap shoot where nobody comes out a winner. I just don't want to have to deal with the headache of paying for his car. Two years sounds like a ridiculously drawn out process though.

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you have no idea.

anyway in MA fault is determined through the accident reports and the police report will be the final say int he eyes of the insurance co. s you are already ahead here.

the fact that the front of his car hit you regardless if it was avoidable or not is another point in your favor.

just go through the motions and it SHOULD work out in your favor.

We had an issue with mistakes made at the scene so it became impossible for us to prove fault, but its water over the damn.

now is just the surgery expenses and our auto ins vs our health ins.

its been fun.

the problem here is that if you have any medical expenses caused during a car accident and you DONT make a claim then your health insurance can decide to deny those bills way down the road.

we just got a denial notice from an appt back in january....

Hahahaha

Most likely will be declared 50/50 liability. You spun out, he hit you. Both people would share negligence.
If you have collision coverage and your insurance company decides on 50/50, then you will be covered in full and as long as you have the waiver of deductible endorsement (which 99.9% of people in MA have) your deductible will be waved as well.

If you file through the other person's insurance and they determine it to be 50/50 you will only get 50% of the damages.

I've been in MA Auto insurance for 9 years

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Originally Posted by McBiggity

Most likely will be declared 50/50 liability. You spun out, he hit you. Both people would share negligence.
If you have collision coverage and your insurance company decides on 50/50, then you will be covered in full and as long as you have the waiver of deductible endorsement (which 99.9% of people in MA have) your deductible will be waved as well.

If you file through the other person's insurance and they determine it to be 50/50 you will only get 50% of the damages.

I've been in MA Auto insurance for 9 years

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Thanks for the input.

So my real concern is just making sure that my insurance rates do not go up. I can pay for the damages on my own car. It's only a few K. Should I just tell him to file through his own insurance?

I'm going to disagree here and say they are going to pin you with the at fault since he would not have crashed if you did not spin in front of him. I had a similar accident several years back where a woman spun in front of me and there was nothing I could do but brace for impact. She was deemed at fault.

Obviously I was not there with you yesterday, but I would think they will say the accident only took place because you lost control of your vehicle.

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Originally Posted by wiggeywackyo

Thanks for the input.

So my real concern is just making sure that my insurance rates do not go up. I can pay for the damages on my own car. It's only a few K. Should I just tell him to file through his own insurance?

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if it's 50/50 then there are no surcharges and no rate increase.
It will all be up to the adjuster that gets the file and how they see it.

Most of the time, weather related accidents with no injuries will end up 50/50. You can always file with insurance and tell them up front that you want to withdraw the claim if you are going to be found greater than 50% liable.

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Originally Posted by slammp

I'm going to disagree here and say they are going to pin you with the at fault since he would not have crashed if you did not spin in front of him. I had a similar accident several years back where a woman spun in front of me and there was nothing I could do but brace for impact. She was deemed at fault.

Obviously I was not there with you yesterday, but I would think they will say the accident only took place because you lost control of your vehicle.

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Damn you you naysayer. Duly noted though.:evil:

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Originally Posted by McBiggity

if it's 50/50 then there are no surcharges and no rate increase.
It will all be up to the adjuster that gets the file and how they see it.

Most of the time, weather related accidents with no injuries will end up 50/50. You can always file with insurance and tell them up front that you want to withdraw the claim if you are going to be found greater than 50% liable.

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So if we both file claims, we will most likely have equal fault and get reimbursed for our expenses with no rate increase? Am I understanding this correctly? So conceivably, I could pay for my own out of pocket and he could file with his own?

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Originally Posted by wiggeywackyo

Damn you you naysayer. Duly noted though.:evil:



So if we both file claims, we will most likely have equal fault and get reimbursed for our expenses with no rate increase? Am I understanding this correctly? So conceivably, I could pay for my own out of pocket and he could file with his own?

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If he files with his own and they find you liable, they will come after your insurance company for reimbursement. Then your company will open a claim and do their own investigation. As long as they find you 50% liable or less, then there is no rate increase.

You're probably better off filing a claim with your insurance. Him filing with his, as long as he has collision coverage.

Not sure why you would want to pay a few thousand out of your own pocket when it may cost you nothing.

The reason I was going to avoid filing was because I wanted to avoid the headaches. Also, I already have the shop repairing my car so I didn't want to have the work stopped just to wait for an adjuster. I've only heard bad things about filing claims with GEICO so I am trying to avoid it like the plague.

I'd call the shop and let them know your filing a claim so work is stopped quickly rather then getting in to deep and beeing screwed.

use your insurance man thats why u pay for it. but since its already in shop it may be too late.

I believe that so long your vehicle was not moving when the other car hit you he may be at fault.

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Originally Posted by slammp

I'm going to disagree here and say they are going to pin you with the at fault since he would not have crashed if you did not spin in front of him. I had a similar accident several years back where a woman spun in front of me and there was nothing I could do but brace for impact. She was deemed at fault.

Obviously I was not there with you yesterday, but I would think they will say the accident only took place because you lost control of your vehicle.

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I'm going to say that since he hit you he did not have control of his car nor did he leave a proper distance to stop so he would be at fault.
Why are you paying insurance anyways if you aren't going to use it? You would pay $4000 instead of having you insurance go up a couple hundred for a couple years? I'm not sure the insurance company will pay you now that you started having the car fixed either. there is no evidence of the actual damage.

Your insurance may not pay for the shop you are in

They also will give you an on the spot check for like 2/3 the amount. Muts will just spend the cash and drive the wreck this way the insurance are out of it.

Contact them ASAP and tell them where the car is and stop any wotk until their claims guy looks at it. They will haggle for you..

If you ultimately stopped in a single travel lane then I think its the others fault

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Originally Posted by slammp

I'm going to disagree here and say they are going to pin you with the at fault since he would not have crashed if you did not spin in front of him. I had a similar accident several years back where a woman spun in front of me and there was nothing I could do but brace for impact. She was deemed at fault.

Obviously I was not there with you yesterday, but I would think they will say the accident only took place because you lost control of your vehicle.

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This. Would the other driver had hit you if you didn't spin out ?


What if you were the other driver and had a guy infront of you spun out ? Then you hitting his rear passenger side? then having that guy come on a forum questioning as to whether you should be 100% liable for all the damages you initiated ?

Was he following too closely? Could this have been avoided ?

I would say you are at fault. your inability to control your vehicle ultimately caused the Accident. Its unreasonable to say the other driver did not have control of his vehicle when you could not keep you car going forward on a 3 lane highway.

You will most likely Get 50/50 Because of the weather.

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Originally Posted by BLACK SQUIRREL

I would say you are at fault. your inability to control your vehicle ultimately caused the Accident. Its unreasonable to say the other driver did not have control of his vehicle when you could not keep you car going forward on a 3 lane highway.

You will most likely Get 50/50 Because of the weather.

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If his spin out stayed in his lane and did not cross into another lane, then the driver behind him is at fault for not following at a safe enough distance to allow him to stop.

If he spun into another lane and a car hit him there, that would be another story.

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Originally Posted by ceo and a bunch of numbers

If his spin out stayed in his lane and did not cross into another lane, then the driver behind him is at fault for not following at a safe enough distance to allow him to stop.

If he spun into another lane and a car hit him there, that would be another story.

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So if your going up 93 in the left lane and lock up your brakes and come to a dead stop Its the other guys fault?

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Originally Posted by BLACK SQUIRREL

So if your going up 93 in the left lane and lock up your brakes and come to a dead stop Its the other guys fault?

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Yes, exactly.

Well, I was in the left lane and he was traveling in the right lane. I hit some slush and spun into the shoulder with the slightest amount of my back end hanging out.

I'm not trying to screw the guy over. I am just trying to figure out the best way to compensate the guy fairly with the smallest effect on my rates. Technically, his car is totaled. His body guy quoted him $2600 for a fender and some other stuff on a car worth $2000 tops. Obviously, if I went through insurance, they would not cut him a check for $2000. They're going to give him what they feel is fair value.

The car is drivable and there is no bodily injury. I'm trying to make it right by cutting him a check comparable to what insurance would do. That reimburses him fairly with minimal headaches.

I always believed that insurance was carried to cover things that you cannot afford. In this case, I can afford it. Plus, it will help to keep my record clean in the eyes of the insurance companies in the future. Now if I was to have done something like 50k in damages that would have been a different story. I am not one to try to manipulate the system to try to con anything because it just ends up hurting everyone in the long run.

Thanks for the advice all.

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Originally Posted by BLACK SQUIRREL

So if your going up 93 in the left lane and lock up your brakes and come to a dead stop Its the other guys fault?

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Yes. I got into an accident when I was 17 where it was pouring out and there were cruiser lights up ahead. I was in the left lane following two other cars when the car in front simply slammed on his brakes without warning. I tried to stop, but I hit a very large puddle and hydroplaned right into the guy in front of me (it was an '89 Toyota Camry, no ABS and no time to pump the brakes at that point, though I tried). I received 3 or 4 points on my license for the accident since I was found at fault.