quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
No dash cam. May buy one now since I think it would have captured what happened and this guy would be toast.

We both have the same exact insurance Geico.

Then they don't care as much, since all the money comes out of their pocket. Be the squeaky wheel. Keep badgering them to charge it to him. Present any evidence you have. But it may hard to make this come out the way you want.

(I've never had trouble with Geico as my insurer, but was never fighting about fault.)

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
No dash cam. May buy one now since I think it would have captured what happened and this guy would be toast.

We both have the same exact insurance Geico.

Then they don't care as much, since all the money comes out of their pocket. Be the squeaky wheel. Keep badgering them to charge it to him. Present any evidence you have. But it may hard to make this come out the way you want.

(I've never had trouble with Geico as my insurer, but was never fighting about fault.)

My worry is with two stories they will just say no fault. This is an older car with only liability so I'm out the entire repair.

There is no question it was his fault. I was in a merge lane trying to merge onto a busy highway. Speeds where under 30mph because of congestion. Lots of traffic and he swerved into the merge lane right in front of me. No reason for him to enter a lane that is ending up ahead. I think he didn't want any of the traffic from the merge lane to get ahead of him and tried to be a dick and swerve and block the lane.

Think twice about involving your carrier if it’s not something you want to end up getting penalized for. Same damn thing happened to me earlier this year. PD came, wouldn’t do anything. No injuries and minor damage. I called her insurance, she lied to them. My word against hers. I involved my insurance who called her insurance. They argued, that’s it. Jack squat. At that point a claim had been made to involve MY insurance. Now I’m stuck with a hit on my record. DOES not matter that it wasn’t my fault. Look up your Lexis Nexus report (like the credit bureaus for insurance companies). It shows I was involved in an accident. That screws up your rates. Unless you want to take that chance, do not involve your insurance. I ended up paying an attorney $150 to write her a demand letter... if nothing else it pissed her off. That was worth the money to me. If it’s minor damage, pay for it out of pocket and hire an attorney. Threaten her with small claims court.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
No dash cam. May buy one now since I think it would have captured what happened and this guy would be toast.

We both have the same exact insurance Geico.

Then they don't care as much, since all the money comes out of their pocket. Be the squeaky wheel. Keep badgering them to charge it to him. Present any evidence you have. But it may hard to make this come out the way you want.

(I've never had trouble with Geico as my insurer, but was never fighting about fault.)

My worry is with two stories they will just say no fault. This is an older car with only liability so I'm out the entire repair.

There is no question it was his fault. I was in a merge lane trying to merge onto a busy highway. Speeds where under 30mph because of congestion. Lots of traffic and he swerved into the merge lane right in front of me. No reason for him to enter a lane that is ending up ahead. I think he didn't want any of the traffic from the merge lane to get ahead of him and tried to be a dick and swerve and block the lane.

You can always sue him yourself. Small claims court is an option. In Texas the limit is justice court is $10,000. And Geico will owe the other guy a defense, but it could prompt them to cover you as cheaper than a trial. Ask a lawyer for advice. Even if you sued in small claims court, it would be useful to know how it could all play out.

But this could just be one of those vicissitudes of life that we all meet from time to time. It sucks, but the alternatives are worse.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
No dash cam. May buy one now since I think it would have captured what happened and this guy would be toast.

We both have the same exact insurance Geico.

Then they don't care as much, since all the money comes out of their pocket. Be the squeaky wheel. Keep badgering them to charge it to him. Present any evidence you have. But it may hard to make this come out the way you want.

(I've never had trouble with Geico as my insurer, but was never fighting about fault.)

My worry is with two stories they will just say no fault. This is an older car with only liability so I'm out the entire repair.

There is no question it was his fault. I was in a merge lane trying to merge onto a busy highway. Speeds where under 30mph because of congestion. Lots of traffic and he swerved into the merge lane right in front of me. No reason for him to enter a lane that is ending up ahead. I think he didn't want any of the traffic from the merge lane to get ahead of him and tried to be a dick and swerve and block the lane.

I hate to tell you this, but you'll have a hard time defending this one. As I mentioned before, it's a word vs word sideswipe accident and the insurance carrier is more likely to believe that you merged in from the ending lane, rather than he swerved into it. And since it's VA, you won't even be able to collect 50%, if Geico were even to offer that amount. Which I highly doubt they would. The way Geico works is, they take their insured's story as gospel, because they only have a limited amount of liability reps that are licensed to actually investigate the claim. Most of the people you talk to on the phone in their claims department are just paper pushers who will take whatever you say at face value and not look any further into it.

You could go JHE's route of small claims court, however unlike some insurance companies, Geico has a bunch of staff attorneys on their payroll for stuff like this. So it doesn't cost them anything to defend it. But it's worth a shot.

I going to wait for the official decision from Gieco. If they do leave me out to dry I will look at the small claims court route just to get my day in court and drag this guy through some crap.

I talked to a local LEO friend and they basically said what I thought. Nothing to get from the state police. Maybe a CAD report but that will just the dispatch to the accident.

I've talked to Gieco a few times today so hopefully they have figured out I'm not going away. Really all I want is my car fixed.

never say i am sorry or admit guilt just be civil and exchange info and let the insurance companies duke it out.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

We both have the same exact insurance Geico.

You're screwed

quote:

Originally posted by side_shot:
never say i am sorry or admit guilt just be civil and exchange info and let the insurance companies duke it out.

........or you can be honest.......

Most likely the other driver has had multiple accidents and always lies. Usually damage to the vehicle indicates who is lying and who is not. Best you can do is tell your side to both insurance companies. Next time buy a dash cam.

ps: Love the Geico story from GWbiker.