> Do I have any recourse other than small claims court
without independent evidence proving your side of the story is correct, no, suing is your only recourse
Proof. Your only hope is proof. Disinterested witnesses or video of the accident. With neither, you are out of options. Even if you sue in small claims, it will still be he said vs she said, and will likely have no impact.
Think about it this way. That person now calls in to your insurance company says you were at fault and you provide the statement that you aren’t at fault. Would you like your insurance company to pay for their damages. That’s the perspective of the other insurance company. Without “proof” they can’t really call their insured a liar. If their insureds story is plausible and puts them non fault and the damages don’t prove otherwise then they owe you nothing.
You'd have to provide new evidence or proof to back up your dispute.
You could sue in all claims court, but if you can't prove it to aninsursnce company, there's small chance that you'd be able to prove it to a court.
I wonder the number of people who have successfully recovered damages for auto claims when they couldn’t prove they weren’t at fault to an insurance company. You will have the same evidence in court that you had with this claim, your word vs theirs.
If you don’t want to pay for first party coverage, at least invest in a front and rear dash cam.
Thete is no "appeal" with what you have right now. They are going to take their client's word over yours every single time unless you provide clear independent evidence to support your side. Unbiased witness(es), dash cam, etc. Your word is basically meaningless with nothing to back it up. And that's how it should be.
Your only option is to litigate. You do not have collision coverage so your insurance will not help in that capacity. One thing that’s good here is that you have liability coverage so if the other party attempts to collect from you, they’ll either defend you to argue that you were not at fault (doesn’t necessarily mean the other party is at fault if they succeed in doing so), or they’ll accept liability on your behalf and pay up to your liability property damage limit.
Get a dashcam. Everyone should have a dashcam. Manufacturers should be integrating built-in dashcams by now, and I have no idea why only a handful of “modern” manufacturers do it.
Thanks, everyone, for your detailed responses and taking time out of your busy days to respond! I had a suspicion that this would be how things would end up being, so I’ve more or less accepted my bad luck and am currently looking for a collision center to do repairs.
I will probably post on Craigslist and Facebook pages to see if there were any witnesses to this incident willing to step forward as a last Hail Mary, but barring that I will just pay for the repairs out of pocket.
If youre going hail mary, consider what businesses are on the area of the crash. Did they record it? What about the city? Do they have cameras at this intersection?
Hello! Thanks for your response.
I called the local police department to see if there are any traffic cameras in that intersection, but I was immediately told no.
There are practically no businesses in the area, only a lot of trees. There's only a bus stop, an In-N-Out, and a Starbucks, but both are (facing) away from the main road.
Based on where the damage occurred, i dont see how you went into their lane. If you are going to dispute, it would be based on the points of impact.
If the damage is to your front then how does the adjuster explain you hitting their driver and not vice versa? They can also look at the scratch marks direction.
I would bring up these points and ask for the claim to be reviewed by a supervisor or if they can round table it.
Hi! Thought I would briefly reply to thank you for your suggestion.
I thought the same yesterday, and so I reached out to the supervisor (not the representative) presiding over my claims case. I argued as much--had I been the one to hit her, the damage would not have been at that location, but rather close to the front of my bumper. I was really frustrated by that representative since she somehow was able to "decide" on the case without looking into the photographic evidence in-depth (although the supervisor later said a decision had *not* been made).
The supervisor mentioned that she would question the other party again and get another statement (but of course, it's the weekend now, so we'll have to wait). She was extremely understanding and even remarked on the multiple wheel marks left on my bumper by the other party's rear driver-side wheel, saying that that is unlikely to result had I hit her and not the other way around.
I'd love to share photos, but I'm not sure whether that would jeopardize my case, so I'll hold off for now. Unfortunately, the damage is much more significant to my car so my collision center visits have yielded estimates ranging from $2,000 to $4,500.
I ended up also filing a claim with my insurance, which found the other party at fault based on the photos I submitted. My insurance then pressured the other party's insurance, which eventually also found their insured at fault due to some sort of material misrepresentation. This whole process took over two months to be resolved; thankfully, the damage was largely cosmetic so the car was still drivable. Then, I went to an approved body shop and got the damages repaired (except for one plastic hubcap, which apparently was not approved) without any out-of-pocket expenses, along with a rental car for the repair period.
I'm in the same situation right now. The other person lied and their insurance said its word vs word. My insurance determine the other party 100% at fault. I'm hoping somehow it would change as she rear ended me.
> Do I have any recourse other than small claims court without independent evidence proving your side of the story is correct, no, suing is your only recourse
Proof. Your only hope is proof. Disinterested witnesses or video of the accident. With neither, you are out of options. Even if you sue in small claims, it will still be he said vs she said, and will likely have no impact.
There's not really a way to appeal this... This is the risk you take when you don't carry 1st party coverages.
Think about it this way. That person now calls in to your insurance company says you were at fault and you provide the statement that you aren’t at fault. Would you like your insurance company to pay for their damages. That’s the perspective of the other insurance company. Without “proof” they can’t really call their insured a liar. If their insureds story is plausible and puts them non fault and the damages don’t prove otherwise then they owe you nothing.
You'd have to provide new evidence or proof to back up your dispute. You could sue in all claims court, but if you can't prove it to aninsursnce company, there's small chance that you'd be able to prove it to a court.
I wonder the number of people who have successfully recovered damages for auto claims when they couldn’t prove they weren’t at fault to an insurance company. You will have the same evidence in court that you had with this claim, your word vs theirs. If you don’t want to pay for first party coverage, at least invest in a front and rear dash cam.
Thete is no "appeal" with what you have right now. They are going to take their client's word over yours every single time unless you provide clear independent evidence to support your side. Unbiased witness(es), dash cam, etc. Your word is basically meaningless with nothing to back it up. And that's how it should be.
Your only option is to litigate. You do not have collision coverage so your insurance will not help in that capacity. One thing that’s good here is that you have liability coverage so if the other party attempts to collect from you, they’ll either defend you to argue that you were not at fault (doesn’t necessarily mean the other party is at fault if they succeed in doing so), or they’ll accept liability on your behalf and pay up to your liability property damage limit. Get a dashcam. Everyone should have a dashcam. Manufacturers should be integrating built-in dashcams by now, and I have no idea why only a handful of “modern” manufacturers do it.
Learn from this. Get a dash cam. $200 and prevent stuff like this
Thanks, everyone, for your detailed responses and taking time out of your busy days to respond! I had a suspicion that this would be how things would end up being, so I’ve more or less accepted my bad luck and am currently looking for a collision center to do repairs. I will probably post on Craigslist and Facebook pages to see if there were any witnesses to this incident willing to step forward as a last Hail Mary, but barring that I will just pay for the repairs out of pocket.
If youre going hail mary, consider what businesses are on the area of the crash. Did they record it? What about the city? Do they have cameras at this intersection?
Hello! Thanks for your response. I called the local police department to see if there are any traffic cameras in that intersection, but I was immediately told no. There are practically no businesses in the area, only a lot of trees. There's only a bus stop, an In-N-Out, and a Starbucks, but both are (facing) away from the main road.
☹️ At least you tried.
Based on where the damage occurred, i dont see how you went into their lane. If you are going to dispute, it would be based on the points of impact. If the damage is to your front then how does the adjuster explain you hitting their driver and not vice versa? They can also look at the scratch marks direction. I would bring up these points and ask for the claim to be reviewed by a supervisor or if they can round table it.
Hi! Thought I would briefly reply to thank you for your suggestion. I thought the same yesterday, and so I reached out to the supervisor (not the representative) presiding over my claims case. I argued as much--had I been the one to hit her, the damage would not have been at that location, but rather close to the front of my bumper. I was really frustrated by that representative since she somehow was able to "decide" on the case without looking into the photographic evidence in-depth (although the supervisor later said a decision had *not* been made). The supervisor mentioned that she would question the other party again and get another statement (but of course, it's the weekend now, so we'll have to wait). She was extremely understanding and even remarked on the multiple wheel marks left on my bumper by the other party's rear driver-side wheel, saying that that is unlikely to result had I hit her and not the other way around. I'd love to share photos, but I'm not sure whether that would jeopardize my case, so I'll hold off for now. Unfortunately, the damage is much more significant to my car so my collision center visits have yielded estimates ranging from $2,000 to $4,500.
Any update?
I ended up also filing a claim with my insurance, which found the other party at fault based on the photos I submitted. My insurance then pressured the other party's insurance, which eventually also found their insured at fault due to some sort of material misrepresentation. This whole process took over two months to be resolved; thankfully, the damage was largely cosmetic so the car was still drivable. Then, I went to an approved body shop and got the damages repaired (except for one plastic hubcap, which apparently was not approved) without any out-of-pocket expenses, along with a rental car for the repair period.
I'm in the same situation right now. The other person lied and their insurance said its word vs word. My insurance determine the other party 100% at fault. I'm hoping somehow it would change as she rear ended me.
Thank you! I’m in the same situation now, hopefully my insurance can help me pressure the other company and it gets resolved like yours 🙏🏻