auto insurance: denied claim

[gbraden]

My daughter was in a accident and the police had determined the other driver was at fault. The other driver was over the center line, and my daughter [stated] that she never saw that the other driver was over the line. All she remembers is that she was thrown forward and her glasses flew off her face. Her car, being older has only liability coverage, so our insurance company is good at advising us but will not help beyond that. The other insurance company is denying the claim, indicating that my daughter is partially at fault because she never saw that their client was over the line. That also indicated that the Police report only reflects the best judgment of the officer and since there were no witnesses recorded at the scene, that all facts were heresy based on the officer's word and experience. Their 'delaying' tactics also cheated us out of several days worth of car rental even if they had honored the claim.

I believe my choice now would be small claims court, but my wife is afraid that the other driver will be encouraged by their insurance company to counter-claim, and she does not want to risk a settlement on their behave against us. That would mean that we swallow up the cost of the car, the 7 days of storage fees, towing, etc.

What do you think should be a good next step?

 

[Duranie]

was the other driver cited? If so maybe its time to talk to an attorney. It seems to me the other driver does not have a strong counter claim so I would see an attorney first. That attorny will then advise you if you should just file in small claims.

 

[howsers8]

I guess your wife was right, the insurance counterpart too will most probably convince the their client to file claims too and it would probably cause for you to cost some more. Go ask other insurance companies like Austin Auto Insurance what will they do if they were at your side of the story.

 

[jharris352]

Go get an attorney who handles personal injury and auto accident claims. They will work on a contingency. The insurance company is saying that she is "contributorily negligent" because she didn't get out of the way of their wrong-way driver? She does have a duty to avoid an accident if she can, but that is about as weak as it can be. An attorney will get you paid. Don't worry about a counter claim. A counter claim for what? You didn't get out of my way when I was in your lane? Like I said, don't worry about that.