Making a claim when you're pretty sure you're not at fault | GTAMotorcycle.com

Making a claim when you're pretty sure you're not at fault

Ash

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So I was involved in a minor accident today in the car. I'm confident that I am not at fault, but I dont have great supporting evidence and I'd like to get some opinions about making a claim.

I was traveling northbound, the other car was traveling southbound. At an intersection with green traffic lights, I turned right and he turned left (so we're both heading eastbound). There are two eastbound lanes, and I stayed fully within the curb lane. He did the lazy turn lane change thing across the inner lane to the outer curb lane and side swiped me.

I have a photo of the position of my car after the impact (up on the eastbound curb within a car length of the intersection) that supports my side of the story, but no good witnesses.

Fault determination rule 10(4) would be the best scenario (car B making a lane change is 100% at fault for side-swiping car A), but without great proof I am somewhat worried that fault could be assigned 50/50 if they conclude that the position of the cars within the lane could not be confirmed.

I've reported the accident to the reporting center, but after looking closer at the damage I am undecided if filing a claim makes sense given the possibility of being assigned partial fault. I do have collision coverage, but the car is only worth $4500 and I could probably bash the fenders and rear quarter panel back into shape and just live with it.

Would you make a claim in this situation? Does it matter at all, now that the accident has been reported to the police? The other guy didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about going through insurance
 
Did the other driver admit any cuplability, or offer to pay? If the vehicle is only worth $4500, I'd stay away from making any claims especially if you can live with the damage. Hopefully the other driver offers to pay for some of it? Get a couple quotes and send it to them to start a dialogue. If they flat out refuse, say that's okay i'll just go through insurance, see if that changes their tone.
 
Honestly, I'm not sure if the other guy even knew he was at fault. No admission of guilt or offer to pay, anyway.
 
Got a ballpark repair estimate of 4 or 5k this morning (if going through insurance). Rear quarter panel, door skin, front fender, scuffs on front bumper, dinged wheel and tire sidewall from the curb.

That's a write off given what the car is worth, which wouldn't be the worst outcome. So I'll likely just submit the claim and fervently hope that they assign 100% fault to the other guy. I grabbed some more photos from the scene which I hope add some weight to my claim that I did not leave my lane.

I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for a while now, but mostly for the bike. I have a couple of action cams, but I don't think they can be set up to automatically start recording when the power is turned on.
 
I get it doesn't help you now but this is exactly why I don't trust that the other person is going to stay in their lane. It simply isn't worth the headache trying to prove it after the fact so I won't turn simultaneously with someone coming from the opposite direction.

Got a ballpark repair estimate of 4 or 5k this morning (if going through insurance). Rear quarter panel, door skin, front fender, scuffs on front bumper, dinged wheel and tire sidewall from the curb.

That's a write off given what the car is worth, which wouldn't be the worst outcome. So I'll likely just submit the claim and fervently hope that they assign 100% fault to the other guy. I grabbed some more photos from the scene which I hope add some weight to my claim that I did not leave my lane.

I've been thinking about getting a dash cam for a while now, but mostly for the bike. I have a couple of action cams, but I don't think they can be set up to automatically start recording when the power is turned on.
 
at that intersection with that scenario i dont know how you could be deemed guilty as he clearly didn't stay in his indicated lane. you didnt get the police over for a report? usually can add a whole lotta weight to your claim
 
at that intersection with that scenario i dont know how you could be deemed guilty as he clearly didn't stay in his indicated lane. you didnt get the police over for a report? usually can add a whole lotta weight to your claim

Police do not attend minor accidents unless there is someone injured and being transported to a hospital or there is damage to public property.
 
I thought to affect your rates, you had to be a certain percent at fault but I can't remember the actual number (more than 25, 25 or more?). It sounds like you should be safe in this situation.
 
If the only evidence is the damage that remains to the cars, you could be in for some of the blame if the other guy lies. He could say for example you turned right on a red as he was going straight through. That could conceivably cause the exact same damage you ended up with, and the insurance company would be faced with a he said / she said situation they can't resolve. So 50/50 fault.
 
Yeah, that's what I am somewhat worried about if he makes up a bald-faced lie. We do have a witness that at least saw him making the left, although she didn't see the impact.
 
Going directly into the right lane on a left hand turn is illegal. Short of the guy lying, the moving violation makes him 100% at fault.
 
I am very interested to hear what comes of this. I see this all the time and I'm always hesitant to turn right because of this potentially happening. Since running dash cams (https://m.gearbest.com/car-dvr/pp_281602.html?wid=21) I'm less worried about me being at fault.

Btw, I just bought and installed four of those cameras I linked. They are definitely good enough and at that price there's no reason not to have a dash cam.
 
I always synchronize right turns so that I'm not going to end up side-by-side with someone coming from a different direction, because I don't trust people to make the turn correctly. Couple other people already mentioned this. There is no legal requirement to do so - but it avoids the potential blame game.

If it results in someone behind me honking the horn because I could have made it ... too freaking bad.
 
I always synchronize right turns so that I'm not going to end up side-by-side with someone coming from a different direction, because I don't trust people to make the turn correctly. Couple other people already mentioned this. There is no legal requirement to do so - but it avoids the potential blame game.

If it results in someone behind me honking the horn because I could have made it ... too freaking bad.

+1 People always turn into the wrong lane.

Those people honking at you would have hated me when i owned my 92' JDM MR2 Turbo. Being on the right side of the vehicle i sat at every left hand turn until it went yellow. :p
 
+1 People always turn into the wrong lane.

Those people honking at you would have hated me when i owned my 92' JDM MR2 Turbo. Being on the right side of the vehicle i sat at every left hand turn until it went yellow. :p

Left turns in a rhd vehicle with opposing traffic turning left are a pita and if you screw them up, you are getting a bumper right in your shoulder.
 
Going directly into the right lane on a left hand turn is illegal. Short of the guy lying, the moving violation makes him 100% at fault.

It would be good to have an HTA reference to the charge.

Also a person making a left turn tends to have one strike against them to start with if there is any mishap.
 
So, was a claim ever filed?
 
Yup, my claim has been filed. The adjustor confirmed that the other driver is marked as holding 100% at-fault in the incident. Just waiting now on the official repair estimate to see if my vehicle will be a total loss.

Those $20 dashcams a few posts ago look like a great investment.
 

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