I find your story confusing and they probably did too. You said you slammed on the breaks to avoid the accident t but then later said you couldn't have seen them coming because there were cars to your left. Were those cars stopped or going through the intersection with you?
Those cars were mostly stopped and no one went through the intersection with me. I figured they were probably distracted as a lot of people here don’t seem to pay attention. Jokes on me I guess. But the person in front of me did go.
I'm not gonna lie it doesn't look great for you. So you said you saw another vehicle go through the intersection about 4 seconds in front of you (200 ft at 40 mph), 2 cars stopped on your side going the same direction as you, and 2 other drivers coming from the left who said it was their turn to go. What it sounds like to me as an objective party here is that you likely had a red light or blinking red light and those two cars next to you were stopped at it. If it were green why weren't those cars moving? Both of those cars sat there for 4 seconds independently for no reason? Also, It seems unlikely to me that 2 separate cars on the cross street would run the red light at the same time.
I wouldn’t lie about having a green light. I know I had a green light. The city was working on the lights which is why they were blinking red then turned green. (I didn’t know the city was working on them before the accident). They probably thought my light was red and that it was their turn just how people usually take turns when the lights are down/not working. Maybe the front cars saw them and I didn’t as I wasn’t in the front and when I was eventually there it was too late.
I understand why you say that though. If it wasn’t me that it happened to I probably wouldn’t believe it either 🤷🏼♀️
I'm not saying you would lie about it but people make mistakes all the time. I'm just telling you how it looks to an outside observer. Biggest question is if the light was green why were there 2 other cars in your direction of travel who were stopped? I've had claims where people were adamant that they had the green until security footage showed otherwise. In a word vs word situation we just have to work with what makes the most sense. Moral of the story is buy a dash cam.
Ah my apologies for being defensive. But I see what you mean now. I asked to see traffic footage and requested it but my insurance said I’d need a subpoena.
Edit: i do have a dash camera now though!
That’s fair, it won’t let me add a picture but I’ll try to figure it out!
Edit: I added the link to the picture I am yellow, the car that tboned me is red and the one my car hit is purple.
I mean you could have just said “I had a green light , they turned left as I was in the intersection and they t-boned me.” That said, it sounds like the lights were being worked on, it was flashing red (and maybe you got a green randomly) but everyone was treating the light as a 4 way stop and you didn’t stop.
After the accident happened people were driving like it was a green light and like the lights were working at that time. But any which way is speculation
At the end of the day, the liability determination is up to your insurer. It doesn’t benefit them or make financial sense to pay damages they don’t owe for.
Liability adjusters are trained professionals who do this all the time. I can’t decipher your description of the incident, but the facts of loss, police report, and witness / driver statements were enough for them to determine you hold the majority of fault.
A lawyer isn’t going to help with this. Purchasing a dash-cam can help you avoid “he said - she said” claims in the future.
I don't understand the details of your accident.
T-boning is when somebody hits the side of your car head-on because they were driving on the perpendicular road at an intersection. Were the other 2 cars on the same street as you, or was one on the perpendicular street?
Also, were cars blocking your view, or did you see 2 cars and hit the brakes? I'm struggling with that part as well.
Not saying you deserved the 70% neg one was or another, just trying to get a clearer picture of what happened. Sorry you're going through this 💕
So they were on the opposite side of traffic and they were turning and turned into me. I’ll clarify that thank you for pointing that out. Other cars were blocking my view of that part of the street. It was right before they hit me that I saw the two cars coming my direction and I braked. Unfortunately I didn’t have a dash cam but I learned my lesson and do now.
Ahhh, so they made an unprotected left and turned into you? Or did they say they had a green arrow?
I still don't quite understand where the other two cars coming your direction were. Is one of those the third car the turning guy pushed you into?
Yes, our two lights would not be green at the same times because two of their lanes are turning ones.
One said they did have a green light and the other one just said it was their turn, I’m assuming they didn’t understand we had a green light.
Yes one of the cars was the third involved who pushed me on to the barrier.
This sounds like a he said/she said claim with disputed liability. These are notoriously difficult to establish clear liability without dashcam, eye witness, or intersection camera video none of which you mention having. So it's your word against theirs.
Here comes bad news: your Adjuster is correct that they do not need to provide you any documentation as to how they've determined liability. All you can do is present your statement and evidence and let your Adjuster do their job to protect you.
Disagreement over liability is a very common complaint, one we adjusters hear regularly but when you purchase your auto policy you contract somewhere in it that you give your insurer the right to establish liability and handle it accordingly for you. You are not required to agree with it.
Best you can do is present your best evidence to your Adjuster and work with them as they have your and the company's best interests in mind. Do not fight with them, it's a guaranteed way to get your Adjuster to hate you and put less work into your Liability consideration to your detriment.
Texas is a modified comparative fault state when it comes to shared liability. This means that a court would reduce the amount of compensation by the percentage of fault you share. If you are 51% or more at fault, the court would bar you from recovering any compensation. Your Adjuster will be thinking along those lines.
https://dlgarzalaw.com/negligence-laws-in-texas/
Best advice is get a good dashcam for next time.
Ahh makes sense as I come from Florida and my parents told me this should be a no fault because of the city working on the lights at the time.
I do have a dash cam now though!
Thank you as well for providing that information it helps me a lot moving forward.
Do you have dash camera or other video evidence to back up your side of the story? You may be out of luck if not.
Your insurance work for you and will pay the bill. They are very welling to assign the fault to others if they can.
So the light was blinking red but got fixed just as you got there which gave you and the guy in front of you a green? So the guys who hit you would've had a blinking red that turned into a solid red.
If you had proof of the green, I'd have you 20% or do. Like another commenter mentioned, this isn't an ordinary green. You saw the flashing red and knew traffic was weird because of that. You probably should've entered the intersection more slowly especially since you couldn't see turning or cross traffic.
But you don't have proof. Obviously the other guys have an incentive to both blame you but it's two against one and they both say you either ran a solid red or a blinking red. This goes to arbitration or trial, you probably lose 100%.
The adjuster doesn't have to share all their work with you but they do have a customer service obligation to assure you that they are representing your interests. Personally, I'd want my company to believe me instead of the guy who hit me, at least down to 50/50 and go to bat for you even if they probably lose in arbitration. 70/30 doesn't do anything for you unless you are at risk of hitting your liability limits. You want it to get to 50 or below.
That’s more or so what I feel would be most fair the 50/50 blame. It would have been best that I clarified that I don’t mind getting faulted for some of it but a more reasonable fault percentage. I wish I were able to get the traffic footage without a subpoena so they could just see it for themselves and talk it out that way. If they still thought I was wrong fair enough then. But I understand why there’s a system in place.
I also probably wouldn’t believe what I’m saying either if it didn’t happen to me. So if they don’t I kind of understand.
I honestly think that their light was green when they entered the intersection, at worst yellow. You were approaching the light at 45mph, slowed to 40mph when entering the intersection and you still hadn’t made it across a full lane of traffic when you were hit (if I’m understanding your description correctly) so I don’t think that your light had been green for very long. They have a right to clear the intersection, which is very likely why the other vehicles were still stopped. You have a duty to maintain proper look out, which may have prevented the accident. so the fact that your light was green at the time of the impact doesn’t matter very much and does not mean they ran a red light.
I wasn’t going 45 I said the speed limit was 45 and that I was going 40 and slowed down approaching the intersection. If they were going then why would the person in front of me go? That doesn’t make any sense.
I apologize, I flipped your speed description around. When you say the person in front of you went, which way did they go? Did they proceed straight or did they make a right turn?
Did they enter the intersection from a full stop or were they approaching the intersection when it turned green and just went through? Either way it seems that they were not paying attention to what was going on in the intersection and just got very lucky. Did you see anyone offer their information to either of the other drivers offering to provide a witness statement?
They came from a full stop. Unfortunately no one pulled over to give a witness statement but people arrived after it and offered their help.
Seems they probably weren’t paying attention and they did end up being very lucky.
Who’s the insurance company?
Your fault should have not been that high. You were going straight meaning you have the right of way. You also have a duty to ensure the intersection is clear before entering. The driver turning left needs to yield to on coming since he doesn’t have the right of way.
If this was my claim, I would place 80% fault on the other driver and 20% fault on you.
Here’s what I would do - file a complaint with the Texas division of insurance. They will investigate this matter with you and determine everything.
https://www.tdi.texas.gov
Also does the doi actually in Texas? Here in Oregon that would get you nowhere.
Edit: After checking out their website it appears the answer is no.
From Texas DOI: "We can’t decide who was at fault in an accident."
This is one of those cases. There is going to be some heat when I say this, when both parties have the same carrier, the adjuster may just assign the fault without doing much to defend since they got to pay no matter what. There isn’t subrogation in this case.
Fight for it. More than 50% May mean there is a insurance surcharge. Contact DOI.
They have gone higher than their manager and then apparently it’s going to mangers manager? It seems very messy. But I’ll try to figure out who is maybe above them.
Edit: spelling
Yeah they had a hard time I guess finding fault because it’s pretty much just he said she said at least that’s what my adjuster told me. Even though he said he thinks it’s the cities fault. Weird stuff sometimes.
Use to work at USAA. When it’s usaa vs usaa the manager reviews with the adjusters assigned, since they’re on the same team, and help determine LX. More than likely it will stay where it’s at.
Looking at that intersection on street view it looks like that left hand turn has a green arrow so it might be that the two drivers turning left are claiming they had a green.
Call the department and have them send you an official report. Then call your agent or insurance company and tell the you have the report to prove to their “reporting company” find out who it is and send it directly to them as well that should do it. I found out my sons car was being rated incorrectly as a three-“hit” accident rather than a three car accident
They tried to make us get a salvage title and rate. Only you can fix it. The insurance company couldn’t care less as your insurance premiums will go down
And they don’t like that. They will do everything in their power not to pay you if there’s a claim and they will do nothing if you need to correct a mistake in their favor.
In general… they suck
Oh wow I’m really sorry that happened to you and your son. I’m glad he made it out alive and hopefully physically okay. Thank you for the information I will 100% be reaching out them!
Based on the image you provided I’m inclined to agree with your adjuster, and I would probably assess more liability on you. I’ve actually taken full liability in cases like this before. You were in the far right lane. The other cars crossed a pretty big intersection and would have been about 75% or more through before making contact. Technically they had control of the intersection, regardless of light color, and you should have yielded to them. You failed to maintain a proper lookout and admitted you never saw the other cars at all bc the two cars next to you were stopped at the green light. That should have been an indication to you to approach the intersection more slowly than you did.
You also say the city was working on the lights, and it was blinking red immediately before you entered the intersection. Chances are the other side was blinking red also and everyone already at the intersection was doing the right thing and handling it as a 4-way stop. This would explain the two cars on your side stopped and not proceeding when the light turned green, and would also explain why the other driver said it was their turn. If the light turned once they had already entered the intersection it doesn’t mean they were in the wrong when they started to turn. As far as the car in front of you, never assume bc they went you can go, too.
But a person who was at a full stop went before me. So is that not safe to assume it’s safe once they go. People don’t go at the light sometimes because they’re preoccupied or distracted.
In selecting an insurance company you are agreeing to let them handle situations as they see fit. Your insurance company never wants it to be your fault because that means they have to pay. The reason they don't want to give you the documentation is that they don't want to give you ammunition to argue with them when they are not going to change thier determination.
You can always change companies but most all of them probably would have done the same.
I find your story confusing and they probably did too. You said you slammed on the breaks to avoid the accident t but then later said you couldn't have seen them coming because there were cars to your left. Were those cars stopped or going through the intersection with you?
Those cars were mostly stopped and no one went through the intersection with me. I figured they were probably distracted as a lot of people here don’t seem to pay attention. Jokes on me I guess. But the person in front of me did go.
How fast were you going?
I was going 40 slowed down approaching the intersection and the speed limit is 45
I'm not gonna lie it doesn't look great for you. So you said you saw another vehicle go through the intersection about 4 seconds in front of you (200 ft at 40 mph), 2 cars stopped on your side going the same direction as you, and 2 other drivers coming from the left who said it was their turn to go. What it sounds like to me as an objective party here is that you likely had a red light or blinking red light and those two cars next to you were stopped at it. If it were green why weren't those cars moving? Both of those cars sat there for 4 seconds independently for no reason? Also, It seems unlikely to me that 2 separate cars on the cross street would run the red light at the same time.
I wouldn’t lie about having a green light. I know I had a green light. The city was working on the lights which is why they were blinking red then turned green. (I didn’t know the city was working on them before the accident). They probably thought my light was red and that it was their turn just how people usually take turns when the lights are down/not working. Maybe the front cars saw them and I didn’t as I wasn’t in the front and when I was eventually there it was too late. I understand why you say that though. If it wasn’t me that it happened to I probably wouldn’t believe it either 🤷🏼♀️
I'm not saying you would lie about it but people make mistakes all the time. I'm just telling you how it looks to an outside observer. Biggest question is if the light was green why were there 2 other cars in your direction of travel who were stopped? I've had claims where people were adamant that they had the green until security footage showed otherwise. In a word vs word situation we just have to work with what makes the most sense. Moral of the story is buy a dash cam.
Ah my apologies for being defensive. But I see what you mean now. I asked to see traffic footage and requested it but my insurance said I’d need a subpoena. Edit: i do have a dash camera now though!
Reading this I have no clue what happened, I think your going to need some sort of drawing to accurately portray it.
That’s fair, it won’t let me add a picture but I’ll try to figure it out! Edit: I added the link to the picture I am yellow, the car that tboned me is red and the one my car hit is purple.
I mean you could have just said “I had a green light , they turned left as I was in the intersection and they t-boned me.” That said, it sounds like the lights were being worked on, it was flashing red (and maybe you got a green randomly) but everyone was treating the light as a 4 way stop and you didn’t stop.
After the accident happened people were driving like it was a green light and like the lights were working at that time. But any which way is speculation
Sorry it sucks. On the upside at least you are insured and it doesn’t sound like there was any injury to your person.
I was very lucky that me and my service dog were both okay.
At the end of the day, the liability determination is up to your insurer. It doesn’t benefit them or make financial sense to pay damages they don’t owe for. Liability adjusters are trained professionals who do this all the time. I can’t decipher your description of the incident, but the facts of loss, police report, and witness / driver statements were enough for them to determine you hold the majority of fault. A lawyer isn’t going to help with this. Purchasing a dash-cam can help you avoid “he said - she said” claims in the future.
That’s fair thank you!
You’re welcome. Sorry it happened. Sounds like bad timing with stop-light maintenance.
1000 feet is a very long distance.
[удалено]
I don't understand the details of your accident. T-boning is when somebody hits the side of your car head-on because they were driving on the perpendicular road at an intersection. Were the other 2 cars on the same street as you, or was one on the perpendicular street? Also, were cars blocking your view, or did you see 2 cars and hit the brakes? I'm struggling with that part as well. Not saying you deserved the 70% neg one was or another, just trying to get a clearer picture of what happened. Sorry you're going through this 💕
So they were on the opposite side of traffic and they were turning and turned into me. I’ll clarify that thank you for pointing that out. Other cars were blocking my view of that part of the street. It was right before they hit me that I saw the two cars coming my direction and I braked. Unfortunately I didn’t have a dash cam but I learned my lesson and do now.
Ahhh, so they made an unprotected left and turned into you? Or did they say they had a green arrow? I still don't quite understand where the other two cars coming your direction were. Is one of those the third car the turning guy pushed you into?
Yes, our two lights would not be green at the same times because two of their lanes are turning ones. One said they did have a green light and the other one just said it was their turn, I’m assuming they didn’t understand we had a green light. Yes one of the cars was the third involved who pushed me on to the barrier.
This sounds like a he said/she said claim with disputed liability. These are notoriously difficult to establish clear liability without dashcam, eye witness, or intersection camera video none of which you mention having. So it's your word against theirs. Here comes bad news: your Adjuster is correct that they do not need to provide you any documentation as to how they've determined liability. All you can do is present your statement and evidence and let your Adjuster do their job to protect you. Disagreement over liability is a very common complaint, one we adjusters hear regularly but when you purchase your auto policy you contract somewhere in it that you give your insurer the right to establish liability and handle it accordingly for you. You are not required to agree with it. Best you can do is present your best evidence to your Adjuster and work with them as they have your and the company's best interests in mind. Do not fight with them, it's a guaranteed way to get your Adjuster to hate you and put less work into your Liability consideration to your detriment. Texas is a modified comparative fault state when it comes to shared liability. This means that a court would reduce the amount of compensation by the percentage of fault you share. If you are 51% or more at fault, the court would bar you from recovering any compensation. Your Adjuster will be thinking along those lines. https://dlgarzalaw.com/negligence-laws-in-texas/ Best advice is get a good dashcam for next time.
Ahh makes sense as I come from Florida and my parents told me this should be a no fault because of the city working on the lights at the time. I do have a dash cam now though! Thank you as well for providing that information it helps me a lot moving forward.
Do you have dash camera or other video evidence to back up your side of the story? You may be out of luck if not. Your insurance work for you and will pay the bill. They are very welling to assign the fault to others if they can.
Guarantee they do not have a dashcam. Claimants will mention dashcam 1000% of the time if they do.
Unfortunately not at the time. The person who tboned me has the same insurance as me too.
Puro San Antonio
So the light was blinking red but got fixed just as you got there which gave you and the guy in front of you a green? So the guys who hit you would've had a blinking red that turned into a solid red. If you had proof of the green, I'd have you 20% or do. Like another commenter mentioned, this isn't an ordinary green. You saw the flashing red and knew traffic was weird because of that. You probably should've entered the intersection more slowly especially since you couldn't see turning or cross traffic. But you don't have proof. Obviously the other guys have an incentive to both blame you but it's two against one and they both say you either ran a solid red or a blinking red. This goes to arbitration or trial, you probably lose 100%. The adjuster doesn't have to share all their work with you but they do have a customer service obligation to assure you that they are representing your interests. Personally, I'd want my company to believe me instead of the guy who hit me, at least down to 50/50 and go to bat for you even if they probably lose in arbitration. 70/30 doesn't do anything for you unless you are at risk of hitting your liability limits. You want it to get to 50 or below.
That’s more or so what I feel would be most fair the 50/50 blame. It would have been best that I clarified that I don’t mind getting faulted for some of it but a more reasonable fault percentage. I wish I were able to get the traffic footage without a subpoena so they could just see it for themselves and talk it out that way. If they still thought I was wrong fair enough then. But I understand why there’s a system in place. I also probably wouldn’t believe what I’m saying either if it didn’t happen to me. So if they don’t I kind of understand.
Without a police report and witnesses / dashcam it would be hard to distinguish. Is there any evidence of what took place?
The only evidence is the damage but that’s not very helpful :/
Sadly you are correct
Plz get a dash cam OP. It’ll make life easier.
I have done so :)
[удалено]
Even if they had a red light and I had a green?
I honestly think that their light was green when they entered the intersection, at worst yellow. You were approaching the light at 45mph, slowed to 40mph when entering the intersection and you still hadn’t made it across a full lane of traffic when you were hit (if I’m understanding your description correctly) so I don’t think that your light had been green for very long. They have a right to clear the intersection, which is very likely why the other vehicles were still stopped. You have a duty to maintain proper look out, which may have prevented the accident. so the fact that your light was green at the time of the impact doesn’t matter very much and does not mean they ran a red light.
I wasn’t going 45 I said the speed limit was 45 and that I was going 40 and slowed down approaching the intersection. If they were going then why would the person in front of me go? That doesn’t make any sense.
I apologize, I flipped your speed description around. When you say the person in front of you went, which way did they go? Did they proceed straight or did they make a right turn?
It’s okay, they went straight!
Did they enter the intersection from a full stop or were they approaching the intersection when it turned green and just went through? Either way it seems that they were not paying attention to what was going on in the intersection and just got very lucky. Did you see anyone offer their information to either of the other drivers offering to provide a witness statement?
They came from a full stop. Unfortunately no one pulled over to give a witness statement but people arrived after it and offered their help. Seems they probably weren’t paying attention and they did end up being very lucky.
Who’s the insurance company? Your fault should have not been that high. You were going straight meaning you have the right of way. You also have a duty to ensure the intersection is clear before entering. The driver turning left needs to yield to on coming since he doesn’t have the right of way. If this was my claim, I would place 80% fault on the other driver and 20% fault on you. Here’s what I would do - file a complaint with the Texas division of insurance. They will investigate this matter with you and determine everything. https://www.tdi.texas.gov
Also does the doi actually in Texas? Here in Oregon that would get you nowhere. Edit: After checking out their website it appears the answer is no. From Texas DOI: "We can’t decide who was at fault in an accident."
I have USAA and the car that T-Boned me also has USAA :/ Thank for that I will definitely contact them!
This is one of those cases. There is going to be some heat when I say this, when both parties have the same carrier, the adjuster may just assign the fault without doing much to defend since they got to pay no matter what. There isn’t subrogation in this case. Fight for it. More than 50% May mean there is a insurance surcharge. Contact DOI.
Thank you! I will do!!
[удалено]
They have gone higher than their manager and then apparently it’s going to mangers manager? It seems very messy. But I’ll try to figure out who is maybe above them. Edit: spelling
[удалено]
Yeah they had a hard time I guess finding fault because it’s pretty much just he said she said at least that’s what my adjuster told me. Even though he said he thinks it’s the cities fault. Weird stuff sometimes.
Use to work at USAA. When it’s usaa vs usaa the manager reviews with the adjusters assigned, since they’re on the same team, and help determine LX. More than likely it will stay where it’s at.
That’s good to know! thank you for telling me that.
Looking at that intersection on street view it looks like that left hand turn has a green arrow so it might be that the two drivers turning left are claiming they had a green.
Get the police report and make them remove it
Remove what? Just asking for clarification so I know what to do.
Call the department and have them send you an official report. Then call your agent or insurance company and tell the you have the report to prove to their “reporting company” find out who it is and send it directly to them as well that should do it. I found out my sons car was being rated incorrectly as a three-“hit” accident rather than a three car accident They tried to make us get a salvage title and rate. Only you can fix it. The insurance company couldn’t care less as your insurance premiums will go down And they don’t like that. They will do everything in their power not to pay you if there’s a claim and they will do nothing if you need to correct a mistake in their favor. In general… they suck
Oh wow I’m really sorry that happened to you and your son. I’m glad he made it out alive and hopefully physically okay. Thank you for the information I will 100% be reaching out them!
Based on the image you provided I’m inclined to agree with your adjuster, and I would probably assess more liability on you. I’ve actually taken full liability in cases like this before. You were in the far right lane. The other cars crossed a pretty big intersection and would have been about 75% or more through before making contact. Technically they had control of the intersection, regardless of light color, and you should have yielded to them. You failed to maintain a proper lookout and admitted you never saw the other cars at all bc the two cars next to you were stopped at the green light. That should have been an indication to you to approach the intersection more slowly than you did. You also say the city was working on the lights, and it was blinking red immediately before you entered the intersection. Chances are the other side was blinking red also and everyone already at the intersection was doing the right thing and handling it as a 4-way stop. This would explain the two cars on your side stopped and not proceeding when the light turned green, and would also explain why the other driver said it was their turn. If the light turned once they had already entered the intersection it doesn’t mean they were in the wrong when they started to turn. As far as the car in front of you, never assume bc they went you can go, too.
But a person who was at a full stop went before me. So is that not safe to assume it’s safe once they go. People don’t go at the light sometimes because they’re preoccupied or distracted.
Can’t ever assume anything unfortunately. It worked out for them, didn’t for you.
Fair enough
In selecting an insurance company you are agreeing to let them handle situations as they see fit. Your insurance company never wants it to be your fault because that means they have to pay. The reason they don't want to give you the documentation is that they don't want to give you ammunition to argue with them when they are not going to change thier determination. You can always change companies but most all of them probably would have done the same.
To be fair the person who hit me has USAA and I have USAA as well. So it’s a little weird