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Lets say you are driving at about 3am down a 3 lane interstate (3 lanes each way). No street lighting. Its misting. The speed limit is 65 or 70 and your doing 55 maybe 60. You are driving with nothing up ahead when you begin to make out taillights from 2 or more vehicles up ahead pulled over on the right shoulder. They are perhaps 1/4 mile ahead. You are in the center lane. You are watching the cars on the shoulder up ahead because you can see they are pulling over or are pulled over. You look in your mirrors to check what cars might be directly behind you in case you need to change lanes. Now you are a couple hundred yards from the cars when suddenly you run up on debris from a wreck scattered all over the road. There is a large plastic bumper cover in the right lane, large chunks of debris in the left lane and you see chunks of headlights and stuff in the center lane. So you stick to the center lane and ease into the brakes and hope nothing punctures your tires. You don't want to slam on the brakes because you have people behind you and its misting so you will most likely lose control if you brake too hard.
Unfortunately for you there is a thin metal bumper that got ripped off one of the cars ahead of you involved in the wreck and its laying flat across the whole center lane. No way you would possibly see it at night. Of course it punctures you tires, radiator, shatters a bunch of plastic front bumper pieces, rips off heat shielding and jerks out wires. Total damage...about 5 grand.
My question is....Is this recorded as an at fault accident?
According to my insurance company...yes.
Accident forgiveness? oops....well you see...about that...you weren't technically in an accident....so.....no.
Rates went up about 150%. Now I am stuck..can't switch insurance companies because of the accident, I called, they all want a dump truck full of money and a left kidney.
1st at fault accident in my driving history. No tickets. No dui. Getting raped by my insurance company.
And Insurance salesmen wonder why people loath them so much.
OP i bet your just like Ned Ryerson on Groundhog day.
Well.. To get right to it, yes, it is considered an at fault accident and isn't much different than you colliding with a guard rail for example. The damages "could" have been avoided, but weren't (and I understand your circumstance) and in effect, yes, you are liable.
I understand also that you have never had a claim and so on, but now you do. Insurance companies generally only consider the last 3 years of your driving record so anything before that doesn't really matter to be honest.
Regarding your accident forgiveness, that's a little weird.. You may also have incident forgiveness, but those items are for your insurance company to determine.
I say that because I am not a claims handler and truthfully not qualified to make those determinations. My job is to discuss coverages and determine the amount of coverage a client needs and can afford. Many people don't understand their coverages and select state minimum which is generally speaking, a bad choice.
And to address your last statement, your insurance salesman isn't at fault here so I'm not really sure why you have any beef with him at all.? It's the insurance carrier / claims handler / underwriters who made this decision -- not him.
Last edited by Johnathan Hardcastle; 02-04-2016 at 10:39 AM..
As a lawyer with thirty one years experience, practicing primarily accident and insurance law, I give USAA high marks for trying to resolve cases that ought to be resolved. Is the company perfect? No. However, I have stated based on my experience that a group of companies (USAA, the Hartford, the Travelers, Kemper, Auto Owners, and AMICA Insurance) are a cut above the others. I call them "Tier 1" companies. J.D. Power and Associates shares most of my analysis.
Its interesting to read the different discussions on the Car Insurance forum. I note when we talk about car insurance that there are essentially two groups of people who talk, but don't really communicate with each other. The first group is interested in getting "good value" when they purchase car insurance. This group wants and demands good claim service, fair play, and honesty from the insurance industry. The second group only purchases insurance because there is a law that says they have to have it. This group is only interested in buying insurance at the cheapest price possible. Hence, they will sing the praises of Tier III insurance companies like GEICO or Progressive because they can buy it at a cheap price.
Not all insurance companies are created equal. The old adage "you get what you pay for in life" is applicable.
It's great to have an attorney back up what many of us insurance agents (or former agents) know- how companies perform when there's a claim! I was an independent agent for several years before making a move to Field Auditor (mainly Worker's Comp). Two of the companies I represented are on your 'Tier 1' list- Auto-Owners and Travelers. I represented as many as seven personal lines companies, but close to 80% of the policies I sold were with Auto-Owners. My immediate family and much of my extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) as well as numerous friends are with Auto-Owners based on my recommendation. Even though I no longer sell insurance, I still advise people to contact an agent who sells Auto-Owners before they make any decisions or purchase a policy. In my experience, they are the most ethical and genuinely decent insurance company you'll find.
As an agent, I had the opportunity to see how insurance companies treated third parties. Sometimes my customer was the third party and I think it would shock a lot of people how some 'reputable' companies treat "the other guy" who was not at-fault. I certainly don't think I'm morally superior to everyone else, but if I am at-fault in an accident, it is very important to me that the not-at-fault driver(s) are treated with respect and their claims are paid as quickly and fairly as possible!
USAA has never disappointed me in how they treated one of my customers. My parents, who have Personal Auto, two Homeowners (primary and vacation home), Personal Umbrella and Term Life policies with Auto-Owners just purchased their first policy from USAA. My grandmother passed away last May and they finally decided to use it as a rental, so they needed a Landlord (or Dwelling/Fire) policy. USAA was about $400/year cheaper for what I consider the same quality of coverage, so I encouraged it.
AMICA was my insurer for five years prior to becoming an agent and I have nothing but praise for them. I switched to Auto-Owners because agents get a 25% discount (shhh....don't tell anyone). =)
Travelers and The Hartford were both very good, but once in a while they made decisions that didn't meet with my approval. But overall, they're good companies. I've never had any dealings with Kemper, so I'll take your word on them. Two other companies that I respect are Erie and Cincinnati. My experience with them hasn't been extensive, but they have good reputations within the industry. If you know differently, I'm all ears!
I could write a 10-page rant about how consumers have been conditioned to shop for insurance based solely on price! When you're protecting the most expensive things you'll ever own (your home and vehicles) and liability to protect your family's financial future, how can $100/year be the decision-maker??? I just had this same argument with my best friend who recently moved to PA (from GA) and his real estate agent talked him into going with an insurer that isn't on my 'preferred' list (they're at the opposite end of my list). I finally convinced him to switch to Auto-Owners and it increased his policy from $538/year to $744/year (they have ridiculously low home insurance rates in PA) but it also came with a lot more coverage and a company with a reputation for quickly paying claims.
If nothing else, I try to steer them away from the two biggest companies (and by far the worst, IMO)- we'll just say that one is "like a BAD neighbor" and the other would be more appropriately called "The BAD Hands" people!
Anyway to lower premiums for new drivers? In NY, bought 03 Honda civic for son to try to lower premium. Nationwide says they have to rate him against ALL are cars even though he is the only driver for his car. Paying almost 5K per year for 3 cars: Honda as a above, 2011 mazda 6 and 2012 mazda 3. No accidents. Even have bundledone homeowners and umbrella policy with Nationwide.
Check around with as many other companies as you can. Call a few independent agents for quotes also. Mercury Insurance Group is a company that is more reasonable than most on new drivers here in Georgia. They also do business in NY, so it's worth a shot. Check with AMICA and Travelers also.
Unless it's a NY law or regulation, usually a driver only has to be assigned to one vehicle. It probably isn't much comfort now, but your rates will go down each year as your son gains driving experience. As a new driver, insurers have no idea how much or a risk he actually is, so they go with a worst case scenario. With each year of (hopefully) safe driving, he'll represent less of a risk and your premium will go down.
In Georgia, the average cost for adding a 16-year old female driver is a 70% increase and for a 16-year old male driver, it's a 110% increase!
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