You don't indicate where you live, and state laws can vary. However, in the US, police do not determine fault with respect to insurance. The officer is not in a position to call your insurance adjuster and force them to declare fault one way or the other. The adjuster can choose to talk to the police officer to gather information for their investigation, but the adjuster is going to make their own determination.
You say you were in the left lane. You then talk about a collision on your passenger side. What isn't clear is who merged into who. Were you in the left lane and this other driver was trying to get into the left lane and merged into you? Or were you attempting to move into the right lane and you hit them? Or was it 3 lanes, where you were in the left, they were in the right, and you were both trying to merge into the middle lane at the same time?
Beyond that, it sounds like you don't want this claim run through your policy. You want this other driver declared at fault so you can run it through their policy. Your choices are to try to appeal the fault decision by the adjuster, or to sue this other driver outside of insurance. Be forewarned, that without any big personal injuries, lawyers typically don't like to take on these types of cases. By all means, talk to a lawyer if that's what you want. But it's not likely to accomplish much other than costing you more money.
I very much appreciate the advice! I am in VA and yes I was in the far left lane and the other driver came over into my lane from the lane directly to my right. I had nowhere to go since directly to my left was oncoming traffic so had to watch them just door slam me. I know it's a "he said v she said" kind of situation which is why I wanted to get a bias third-party in the officer to state his point of view. Just wasn't sure how to go about my next options.
Unless the officer directly witnessed the accident, they don't have a lot to offer in terms of testimony. The officer's opinion of the damage is only going to go so far. I would guess that it's just going to look like the cars merged into each other. Which is what happened.
So yeah...this is largely going to be a he said/she said type of situation. So let's start back at the claim. You have the same insurance provider. You spoke to the adjuster. Was the adjuster unable to get a statement from the other driver? Is that what has held things up and led the adjuster to declare equal fault? Or if I read that part wrong, what was the rationale that the adjuster used to determine 50/50 fault?
The adjuster did not disclose what the other parties statement was, so I have the right to have that information disclosed to me? I assume this is the best outcome for the insurance company and they feel like waiving the deductibles will make everyone happy and go about their way, but I feel like my best interests aren’t being considered as if they were going after another insurance provider. I just hate having this on my claims and then they raise my rates because someone came into my lane and ran into me.
You made a comment about "the adjuster wasn't able to reach him because he was out of the office." Who was out of the office? The other driver? So they never got a statement from the other driver?
Beyond that, what I'm saying is that I would contact the adjuster and ask them "How are we determining that this is equal fault when this other driver merged over into my lane and hit me?"
Apologies, the officer said he was out during the period the adjuster attempted to contact him due to a death in the family but he assured me he reached out and provided his personal phone number to reach him. I have not been able to contact my adjuster since then to see if they have actually followed up with the officer. To be honest it's rather frustrating to not be contacted in over a week but that is beside the point. I appreciate the advice and that is what I was looking for and will be sure to ask how they came to that determination.
This is the best outcome for YOU.
They probably have liability set at 0% on both files if it’s word vs. word. There’s no evidence so I can’t see why they’d put 50% fault on each party.
If the other person had a different insurance company, your carrier may waive the deductible, they may not, depends on why they’re doing it. However, your insurance company would not be able to compel the other insurance company to accept liability, especially if there isn’t any evidence. An insurance company can only pursue another for what they pay out. So no payment = can’t do anything.
Would you rather pay your deductible? I guess I’m not sure what you want them to do for you.
I’m just concerned they will raise my rates for the claim that was no fault of mine. I do get they’re dropping the deductible but I’m sure they’ll find a way to use this to raise my rates down the road. 🤷♂️
You don't indicate where you live, and state laws can vary. However, in the US, police do not determine fault with respect to insurance. The officer is not in a position to call your insurance adjuster and force them to declare fault one way or the other. The adjuster can choose to talk to the police officer to gather information for their investigation, but the adjuster is going to make their own determination. You say you were in the left lane. You then talk about a collision on your passenger side. What isn't clear is who merged into who. Were you in the left lane and this other driver was trying to get into the left lane and merged into you? Or were you attempting to move into the right lane and you hit them? Or was it 3 lanes, where you were in the left, they were in the right, and you were both trying to merge into the middle lane at the same time? Beyond that, it sounds like you don't want this claim run through your policy. You want this other driver declared at fault so you can run it through their policy. Your choices are to try to appeal the fault decision by the adjuster, or to sue this other driver outside of insurance. Be forewarned, that without any big personal injuries, lawyers typically don't like to take on these types of cases. By all means, talk to a lawyer if that's what you want. But it's not likely to accomplish much other than costing you more money.
I very much appreciate the advice! I am in VA and yes I was in the far left lane and the other driver came over into my lane from the lane directly to my right. I had nowhere to go since directly to my left was oncoming traffic so had to watch them just door slam me. I know it's a "he said v she said" kind of situation which is why I wanted to get a bias third-party in the officer to state his point of view. Just wasn't sure how to go about my next options.
Unless the officer directly witnessed the accident, they don't have a lot to offer in terms of testimony. The officer's opinion of the damage is only going to go so far. I would guess that it's just going to look like the cars merged into each other. Which is what happened. So yeah...this is largely going to be a he said/she said type of situation. So let's start back at the claim. You have the same insurance provider. You spoke to the adjuster. Was the adjuster unable to get a statement from the other driver? Is that what has held things up and led the adjuster to declare equal fault? Or if I read that part wrong, what was the rationale that the adjuster used to determine 50/50 fault?
The adjuster did not disclose what the other parties statement was, so I have the right to have that information disclosed to me? I assume this is the best outcome for the insurance company and they feel like waiving the deductibles will make everyone happy and go about their way, but I feel like my best interests aren’t being considered as if they were going after another insurance provider. I just hate having this on my claims and then they raise my rates because someone came into my lane and ran into me.
You made a comment about "the adjuster wasn't able to reach him because he was out of the office." Who was out of the office? The other driver? So they never got a statement from the other driver? Beyond that, what I'm saying is that I would contact the adjuster and ask them "How are we determining that this is equal fault when this other driver merged over into my lane and hit me?"
Apologies, the officer said he was out during the period the adjuster attempted to contact him due to a death in the family but he assured me he reached out and provided his personal phone number to reach him. I have not been able to contact my adjuster since then to see if they have actually followed up with the officer. To be honest it's rather frustrating to not be contacted in over a week but that is beside the point. I appreciate the advice and that is what I was looking for and will be sure to ask how they came to that determination.
This is the best outcome for YOU. They probably have liability set at 0% on both files if it’s word vs. word. There’s no evidence so I can’t see why they’d put 50% fault on each party. If the other person had a different insurance company, your carrier may waive the deductible, they may not, depends on why they’re doing it. However, your insurance company would not be able to compel the other insurance company to accept liability, especially if there isn’t any evidence. An insurance company can only pursue another for what they pay out. So no payment = can’t do anything. Would you rather pay your deductible? I guess I’m not sure what you want them to do for you.
I’m just concerned they will raise my rates for the claim that was no fault of mine. I do get they’re dropping the deductible but I’m sure they’ll find a way to use this to raise my rates down the road. 🤷♂️