So my daughter (28 years old) got in an accident last month in her 2008 328iT. She was driving down a 45mph four lane street and a lady insured by State Farm pulled out in front of her and my daughter hit her from behind. The lady started to pull out, stopped and then took off again but pulled straight over to the left lane. My daughter was in the right lane but started to change lanes because the lady was partially in the right lane when she hesitated. My daughter had her right hand on the horn when the airbag blew and it broke her wrist (broke the end of the bone off and displaced it under the other bone. It was very painful).
Fault: The lady told the police that she pulled out in front of my daughter but said she thought my daughter was going fast and a witness said that my daughter passed him on the street and "was bookin' it!". The police report has the statements documented but put the lady that pulled out at fault, entering a roadway in an unsafe manner.
We only have liability on the car since I fixed it from auction, I'm not worried about the car or damages, which were minor BTW. But, since we only have liability our insurance (21st Century (Farmers)) does not get involved if the other driver is at fault. This is news to me. The accident happened on Oct 19th and State Farm has still not contacted us one month later. We've left several vmails and emails and they still don't contact us. I did manage to talk to someone there (not the agent assigned to the claim) that read the file and said they've agreed to 75% fault since there were witnesses that said my daughter was driving fast. LOL, okay. Since when do opinions count? I'm guessing if a witness said their driver looked like she was drunk they'd take that as fact too? And, no one has ever talked to my daughter about what happened. No one.
I happened to know an attorney that specializes in accident claims, which means he knows how to use the system. I normally like to be reasonable and just work things out but they've forced my hand and now I'm going to turn the attorney loose on them. I'm disgusted with the whole thing.
Any opinions?
Dan
Fault: The lady told the police that she pulled out in front of my daughter but said she thought my daughter was going fast and a witness said that my daughter passed him on the street and "was bookin' it!". The police report has the statements documented but put the lady that pulled out at fault, entering a roadway in an unsafe manner.
We only have liability on the car since I fixed it from auction, I'm not worried about the car or damages, which were minor BTW. But, since we only have liability our insurance (21st Century (Farmers)) does not get involved if the other driver is at fault. This is news to me. The accident happened on Oct 19th and State Farm has still not contacted us one month later. We've left several vmails and emails and they still don't contact us. I did manage to talk to someone there (not the agent assigned to the claim) that read the file and said they've agreed to 75% fault since there were witnesses that said my daughter was driving fast. LOL, okay. Since when do opinions count? I'm guessing if a witness said their driver looked like she was drunk they'd take that as fact too? And, no one has ever talked to my daughter about what happened. No one.
I happened to know an attorney that specializes in accident claims, which means he knows how to use the system. I normally like to be reasonable and just work things out but they've forced my hand and now I'm going to turn the attorney loose on them. I'm disgusted with the whole thing.
Any opinions?
Dan