This wasn’t the case when my W was in a similar accident (in California). </p>
<p>After the light turned green the cars started to turn right but the idiot in the lead, in front of my W, saw the red light for the traffic from a different direction so suddenly stopped in the middle of the intersection thinking, apparently, that they suddenly had a red light (they weren’t ‘thinking’ that it made no sense to be stopped in the middle of an intersection). My W was behind him and managed to stop behind him. The car behind my W was following the two and not paying as much attention and naturally didn’t expect someone to stop in the middle of the intersection for no reason. This last car hit my W from the rear which caused her to hit the car in front of her that stopped for no reason.</p>
<p>The end result was that the last car was at fault for all of it. My W was clearly not at fault since she was stopped with her foot on the brake the whole time and the dufus that caused it all was off the hook because it was a rear ender and you’re basically allowed to stop at almost any time and if rear ended, it’s the person doing the rear-end who’s at fault (generally).</p>
<p>That is so unfair! We don’t have a perfect legal system, do we?</p>
<p>I called the insurance company of the driver who caused the accident. They dfidn’t hear from anyone yet and were not aware of the accident. Their agent asked me questions concerning other vehicles. Five cars were involved. I have the police report containing all the information but I said I would tell them my info and infomations concerning others should come from an official source. She refused to move on and insisted on obtaining other people’s information. I didn’t give the info and didn’t get to file the claim with them. Is that normal?</p>
<p>At a minimum, the insurance company will need to know the policy number and name of the insured driver who you claim to be responsible for the accident. They aren’t able to open a claim without this information.</p>
<p>Igloo, about ten years ago, I was hit by a car making blind left hand turn across traffic. It was completely his fault and he admitted it right away. A year later, to the day, a city dog catcher ran a stop sign and hit me. It was all his fault (the stop sign he ran was right in front of his house). Both times I talked with my agent and put the Insurance company on notice, but did not file a claim. Rather, my agent held the paper work until we were sure that the other guys insurance would cover his claims. It did not affect my rates in any way because my agent never filed anything official, but they did have all the paper work ready to go if need be.</p>
<p>babyontheway, I agree. I did provide those. I called their insurance company not mine. Shouldn’t they take it from there?</p>
<p>lololu, Yes I think I will be calling my insurance company. If my rates go up, so be it. Their insurance agent called in the meantime that they contacted their insured and the insured didn’t have the police report with him/her, Would you please give the info I have on others so they can expedite it? How does that sound to you?</p>
<p>I have had several agents, from different insurance companies, tell me that in our state you are indeed at fault if you hit the guy in front of you, even if that’s because someone hit you from behind with such force you hit the next guy.</p>
<p>igloo–our s was involved in an accident, not his fault, where the other kid told his parents it was both their faults and all was fine. They didn’t call their ins. The first their ins. knew about it was when we called. The police report was clear their S was at fault. </p>
<p>If I understand, you are reluctant to provide the other ins. co. with info on the police report concerning the other drivers? I wouldn’t be reluctant at all. They will not proceed with any claim w/o the police report. They are going to get that info before doing anything. You’re just speeding up the process by providing it to them.</p>
<p>That’s what they told me. Do you give out someone else’s number and address? Shouldn’t it come from their insured? No one else had anything to do with me. I was hit once by this car. I wasn’t pushed to hit another car, either. It feels a little nosy.</p>
<p>Iglooo, my S2 was rear-ended twice in 5 weeks several years ago. Neither accident was his fault & the police reports cited the other drivers in both incidents. (Accident #2, the driver actually said, “Dude, I’m taking these new prescription painkillers & must have blacked out. I didn’t see you!” S2 didn’t realize that driving while taking painkillers = DUI. He didn’t think to report the other driver’s comment to the officer at the scene.) </p>
<p>In both accidents, we had the same insurance company as the drivers who rear-ended him, so the company handled both claims internally. S2 was not dropped from our insurance, nor did our rates increase because neither accident was his fault. Anyone remember the 6-Million Dollar Man? “We can rebuild him! We have the technology.” Well, we have the Bionic Pickup truck, which has been rebuilt & repainted several times, and is a bargain for considerably less than $6M. </p>
<p>Now on the other hand, the speeding ticket that S2 got between Accident #1 and #2 was clearly his fault. So was “cooking” the tires during his court-ordered driving course.</p>
<p>Igloo, there’s no way that anyone can tell you with certainty what your insurance company will do. However, I’ve never known anyone who has had their auto rates increase from a claim where they were not at fault.</p>
<p>There’s no problem for you to provide the other insurance company with everyone’s information. If their insured has not yet reported the accident, then they probably want to get as much info as they can from anyone who was involved. If you have a copy of the police report, then you should have enough info for them to open a file. I would call them back and provide them with whatever you have.</p>
<p>Iglooo, yes, you are permitted to provide the other insurance company with everyone’s information. In fact, S2 forgot to get the other driver’s information in accident #1, so we had to wait for the police report before insurance would send out an adjuster to begin the claims process & the repairs. This delayed the process by a week. By accident #2 several weeks later, S2 was “experienced” and remembered to get everyone’s name (including the officer at the scene), insurance, & license number. </p>
<p>Call your insurance & provide them with whatever information you have. It really does speed up the process.</p>
<p>If that’s a standard practice, it must’ve been rather exasperating that I refused. Ooops! I’ll call back on Monday. Thank you, alwaysamom and 12rmh18.</p>
<p>Iglooo, Do they have the same insurance company as you? I don’t know what your policy looks like but my auto insurance company waives the collision deductible if the accident is between two policies that are both insured by them. They also waive the deductible if the person who caused the accident is solely liable and has enough liability insurance to cover your claim. That might be something specific with my company but it might be something worth asking about.</p>
<p>FWIW, I learned years ago to report accidents to the police or insurance company no matter how “minor” they might seem. Two personal experiences:</p>
<p>1) I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle and wound up being a teenager’s hood ornament. I was not seriously injured but was mildly in shock & did not report the incident to the police. Fortunately the teen’s parents were honorable people who paid for repairs to my bike. I was lucky: if I had been seriously injured or if the people were not honest, it could have been very bad for me since I did not have an official police report to back me up.</p>
<p>2) My DH had a fender-bender in his office parking lot on a Friday evening. He was at fault. The other driver was a colleague who suggested that they settle “off the record,” pay for repairs themselves, and NOT report the incident to the insurance company. On Monday, however, the colleague called DH complaining of a stiff neck & whiplash even though he was only going 5 mph. DH promptly reported the incident to our insurance company ~60+ hours after the fact. It turned out to be a smart move: the colleague later sued us for $65,000 in medical bills & a lost promotion. Our insurance covered us & offered to provide an attorney for what turned out to be fraud on the colleague’s part. The insurance company documented the man’s repeated claims & alleged injuries, so they turned around and sued the man for insurance fraud. Unfortunately there are unscrupulous people in this world.</p>
<p>My take-away from these experiences: Always report an accident. Protect yourself.</p>
<p>fendergirl, No, no same insurance. Five cars were involved and there were 5 insurance companies. It reads like an insurance advertisement. My insurance company will pay back the deductible once the case is settled.</p>
<p>12rmh18, How unpleasant! The police came. It’s on the record. During the hour or so we were reporting the incident there were two more collisions in the same stretch. There were quite a few police cars in the area that time. None of them were serious thankfully.</p>
<p>Two weeks later all reported and heard back. Car in the shop, etc. The catch is the driver who hit us all has a minimum insurance that won’t cover us all. She hit four cars, one of them totalled, one light damage and the owner won’t bother, and two with medium damage. Mine has medium damage. Is there anything I can do?</p>
<p>If there is not enough coverage, your uninsured/underinsured motorist protection should kick in to make up the difference. Again, find out from your company whether making this claim will affect your rate and, more importantly, could factor in if they consider dropping coverage. Remember, they can drop coverage. Some companies look for excuses to drop coverage. </p>
<p>When my D did her safe driver course with the insurance company, she was told about never stopping so close that you can’t see where the tires of the car in front of you touch the road. They didn’t say she would be at fault if she was too close and was pushed into another car but it is certainly great advice. You save the damage to the car in front of you and the damage to the front of your car.</p>
I certainly don’t. I’m very skeptical about the idea that you have any liability if somebody hits you from the rear while you are stopped and pushes you into another car. If you are in motion, it’s a different story.</p>
<p>No, I don’t have a liability. This was a clear case where everyone agrees including the offender’s insurance. I am learning tho that I can still incurr expenses as well as inconveniences. My insurance may go up for just being there at the moment. Just when I was about to add my teen driver to the insurance!</p>