What to do when opposite auto repair insurance denies my claim (Herndon: live in, cost of)

[jojojoycee]

Hi, I live in Herndon, VA. I drove in the small road, no name, inside the small shopping area and suddenly the other car backed up from their parking spot and hit my car at the corner of my right-side front bumper. The damge on the other car is at the corner of right-side rear bumper.

It's private property. The police showed up and take info. For the report. I told the officer my speed is less than 20 or about 20, not sure exactly. The report came in later said the other driver inappropriately backed up. However, it said I was speeding in the private road which no actual speed limit sign imposed. I did not get any ticket or citation.

The insurance use this reason to denies my auto repair claim. I called back the officer and his supervisor and they said written report cannot be changed.

I am not at fault 100% I drove slow and looked forward. Clear weather and had my both head light on. There was big truck blocking the other driver view, so he could not see.

I do not have collision coverage so my Insurance will not be involved. The other driver did not call my insurance to claim against me.

What can I do. Please, answer, please.

1. Can I call and make complaint at Virginia Bureau of insurance commissioner against bad judgment from the opposite insurance company?

2. If not, Small claim ($2700 repair cost plus court fees) is the option. But,
Do I file lawsuit against who?
2.1 the driver?
2.2 the opposite insurance?
2.3 both(driver and his insurance)??

Note: the insurance adjuster lives and works in North Carolina and she has no one else in the Virginia.

Thank you so much

[Ffxdata]

edit: see now that you don't have collision. Go slower if you don't have full coverage.

Also, why in the world are you going 20mph in a parking lot? That is insane.

I would be annoyed at the situation, but I would be thanking my lucky stars it was a car backing out I hit and not a toddler breaking away from their parent's hand.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by jojojoycee

Hi, I live in Herndon, VA. I drove in the small road, no name, inside the small shopping area and suddenly the other car backed up from their parking spot and hit my car at the corner of my right-side front bumper. The damge on the other car is at the corner of right-side rear bumper.

It's private property. The police showed up and take info. For the report. I told the officer my speed is less than 20 or about 20, not sure exactly. The report came in later said the other driver inappropriately backed up. However, it said I was speeding in the private road which no actual speed limit sign imposed. I did not get any ticket or citation.

The insurance use this reason to denies my auto repair claim. I called back the officer and his supervisor and they said written report cannot be changed.

I am not at fault 100% I drove slow and looked forward. Clear weather and had my both head light on. There was big truck blocking the other driver view, so he could not see.

I do not have collision coverage so my Insurance will not be involved. The other driver did not call my insurance to claim against me.

What can I do. Please, answer, please.

1. Can I call and make complaint at Virginia Bureau of insurance commissioner against bad judgment from the opposite insurance company?

2. If not, Small claim ($2700 repair cost plus court fees) is the option. But,
Do I file lawsuit against who?
2.1 the driver?
2.2 the opposite insurance?
2.3 both(driver and his insurance)??

Note: the insurance adjuster lives and works in North Carolina and she has no one else in the Virginia.

Thank you so much

I was involved in a minor fender bender in a parking lot several years ago. Because it was on private property and no injuries, the police didn't bother coming out to take a report. It was determined to be a "no fault" accident. I filed a claim with my insurance and the other guy filed a claim with his insurance. That was it.

Because the report states that you were both at fault - him for inappropriately backing up and you for speeding, I think you're going to have to eat the cost of repair. Even if you were to sue, the judge would look at that report to see that you both contributed to the accident.

Unfortunately, that is the risk you take with not having collision insurance.

[jojojoycee]

I was not speeding at all. I was just saying that should be 20mph Or below.
My insurance give me advice that there is in no way to know the actual speed in the scene.
The other driver instead improperly backed up and also was speeding because
If he were slow at backing up. The hit should be dragged along his rear bumper and dragged on my front bumper.

Anyone, please.

[boyd888]

You know why they denied your claim? Because you didn't get your insurance involved and figured they could tell you buzz off. Forget this silly small claims sue stuff and call your company and let them deal with it. It's what you pay them for.

You need to call your insurance anyway and the adjuster will come take a look at the situation. If the other party is determined to be 100% at fault they will pay for all of your repairs (if the other party is at fault it doesn't matter if you have collision or not as the claim is not on your insurance).

Even if it is found to be a 50/50 accident the other driver's may have to pay for part of the repair. In this case you may need to put up the rest as you did not have collision coverage. If they don't assign any blame you are right where you started. In other words you can't do worse than what you have now.

[dkf747]

Hopefully you have learned to slow down, but it doesn't seem like you have. In the future, don't say you were going 20 or any specific speed. Just say " I was going slow". Once you admitted going 20, it was all over. Slow down!

[airjay75]

If OP doesn't have collision coverage (and assuming there are no medical or other claims made against OP's insurance company), I don't think OP's insurance company is going to care. I suppose it can't hurt to call the insurance company (and, under most policies, you're supposed to do this every time you're in an accident), but if there is no claim for which OP's insurance company could have to pay, they're not likely to do anything. I don't think they'll even bother to investigate. They simply have no stake in this.

It's also worth noting that police do not determine fault in a traffic accident. They can issue citations if they think one of the drivers broke a law, but this was private property, so they don't have any jurisdiction in the first place. I'm surprised they even bothered to write a report. My wife was in a minor parking lot fender bender last year and the responding police officer said they couldn't really do anything because the accident was on private property.

If OP wants to pursue this, I think the only option is a lawsuit. Only OP can decide whether it's worth the time and expense to do so. Doesn't sound like it to me based on what OP has posted, but it could still be pursued. I would think you would sue the driver not the insurance company.

[emm74]

Where was the point on contact on the other car?

Virginia is a contributory negligence state - meaning that ANY negligence on your part means they can legitimately deny the claim. That's why the points of contact on each vehicle are important, because that's an objective piece of information.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by jojojoycee

I was not speeding at all. I was just saying that should be 20mph Or below.
My insurance give me advice that there is in no way to know the actual speed in the scene.
The other driver instead improperly backed up and also was speeding because
If he were slow at backing up. The hit should be dragged along his rear bumper and dragged on my front bumper.

Anyone, please.

I'm just going by what you said the report indicates.

1.) He inappropriately backed out of the space
2.) You were exceeding a safe speed

You can't use the report as evidence of his wrong doing and then ignore that it also points out your wrong doing (again not assigning blame, just going by what the report says). You can file a small claims lawsuit but this is not a slam dunk win.

[MedvedActual]

Talk with your company. Personal experience - suing for accident damages; other person's insurance company got involved and spammed the crap out of me with paperwork, legalese, etc. So if you go that route, do take that into account. Do not see a lot of benefit given this particular situation though. Also, I would get full coverage.