Car Accident? Ask an Adjuster

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Hatorade

A nice asshole.
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I have helped more then a few people on foh about this so here we go again.

My job is essentially explaining to people what they are entitled to after an accident because agents don't really explain the coverage just what it costs. I specialize in medical but know the vehicle side as well.

So if you have general questions about insurance coverage or help on what to do after an accident lay it on me. Every state is different so include that in the question.

Look at your declarations page, unless you know exactly what all those coverages are for you are getting fucked somehow.
 

Cad

<Bronze Donator>
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Turn left with the green arrow. Get hit by a guy going straight, but running a red light. Who is at fault?
Obviously if you run a red light, you're at fault. He'll undoubtedly say you were to yield and that he had the green light. Get witnesses.
 
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Strangely enough I believe, and have been told, that turning left in front of someone, no matter the circumstances, automatically makes you at fault for failure to yield. I didn't believe it at first, but it makes some sense.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
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Strangely enough I believe, and have been told, that turning left in front of someone, no matter the circumstances, automatically makes you at fault for failure to yield. I didn't believe it at first, but it makes some sense.
It doesn't make any sense because then all left turns would be illegal.
 
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No, their legal as long as you yield. So if you see him coming, regardless of his right of way, you always have to yield to him. Like I said though, I'm not sure that is the way it is. But it sounds like it just might be true.
 

Kaosu

Bronze Knight of the Realm
232
2
No, their legal as long as you yield. So if you see him coming, regardless of his right of way, you always have to yield to him. Like I said though, I'm not sure that is the way it is. But it sounds like it just might be true.
If he runs a red light and hits you while you are turning under a green turn light, the fault is with the person going straight. Period. At least in the states.

Edit: There is a exception, but its not red light running. Its if you are in the intersection while the light is yellow then turns red, you have the ultimate way of way at that point. At least in Arizona.
 

ronne

Nǐ hǎo, yǒu jīn zi ma?
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I was at a dead stop in traffic and got rear-ended by a semi trailer. Totaled my car, 6 months of physical therapy for me. Should I have sued? They paid all my medical bills obviously and were pretty generous with the payout with my car (or maybe it was wrecked so bad they couldn't tell how big a pos it was before) so I didn't even really look in to any kind of lawsuit at the time.

Could I have made myself rich?
 

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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Ya, yield doesn't come into the equation if the person is running a red light when they smack you (although granted you should always check regardless, especially if it's the time of night when people are leaving bars or the roads are rally icy). That's automatic "they are at fault" pretty much.
 

Malt_sl

shitlord
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0
Problem is its up to you to prove he ran the light unless he admits to doing so.

I was at a dead stop in traffic and got rear-ended by a semi trailer. Totaled my car, 6 months of physical therapy for me. Should I have sued? They paid all my medical bills obviously and were pretty generous with the payout with my car (or maybe it was wrecked so bad they couldn't tell how big a pos it was before) so I didn't even really look in to any kind of lawsuit at the time.

Could I have made myself rich?
General rule of thumb is you can get about the same amount they paid in medical for pain and suffering. It's all negotiation though, so you can more or less depending on who you're dealing with.
 

Hatorade

A nice asshole.
8,155
6,508
Problem is its up to you to prove he ran the light unless he admits to doing so.

General rule of thumb is you can get about the same amount they paid in medical for pain and suffering. It's all negotiation though, so you can more or less depending on who you're dealing with.
First part is correct word vs word usually the left turn person is fucked, witness and police reports go a long way in that circumstance.

There is no general rule in insurance claims just policy limits. So if you had 100K+ in medical bills and they have 100K in coverage you aren't getting shit from them. That is where under insured motorist(UIM) comes in. In order to sue some one directly they either have to have no insurance or exhaust their limits so you can take them to small claims court and try to get the maximum from them there(which no one ever does)
 

Hatorade

A nice asshole.
8,155
6,508
I was at a dead stop in traffic and got rear-ended by a semi trailer. Totaled my car, 6 months of physical therapy for me. Should I have sued? They paid all my medical bills obviously and were pretty generous with the payout with my car (or maybe it was wrecked so bad they couldn't tell how big a pos it was before) so I didn't even really look in to any kind of lawsuit at the time.

Could I have made myself rich?
Short answer no. You did pretty good if they paid all medical and got what you consider and generous payout, could you have gotten more? Yes, but not a whole lot more. You have insurance so you can't be sued so get that out of your mind.
 

ronne

Nǐ hǎo, yǒu jīn zi ma?
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I got sued a while ago though. I slid through an intersection in the window of like 06 and bumped a lady at like 15mph. Broke my headlight, messed up her bumper, wasn't a huge deal. She seemed nice enough when we talked, police didn't issue any tickets. Like 10 months later I got a summons from a county sheriff to appear in court because apparently she was bringing something against me (she alleged like 2 broken ankles and 20k in medical bills or some shit, despite there not even being an ambulance). My insurance company took over everything from there when I called them, and apparently she had already sued them for similar and lost, so she brought it against me personally? Her "lawyer" was calling my home phone number (I was out at school) and harassing my mom like 4 times a day and shit. Guy was pure ambulance chaser, had shitty billboard adds all over town and stuff. Anyway, I talked with my insurance people a bunch and they decided to actually go to court, so then had me come home for two days from school to testify, but they bitched out on it and called me the morning of the court date to say they settled the case. Then they canceled my policy a month later because of the judgement against me.

Anyway, livejournal bullshit aside, that is the reason I was even considering the lawsuit. Since this lady had no actual injuries of any kind, that I could tell anyway, was able to wring some amount of money out of it, what could me with a torn trapezius and 6 months of therapy get?
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
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I don't know if this varies by state or not, but here in California at least it is your responsibility to do everything reasonably possible to avoid an accident or it could (probably will) end up being your fault. Like if someone pulls out in front of you, you can't just say fuck it and barrel in to them. Or if a pedestrian darts across the road, you can't mow them down, much as I've wanted to do that around here. Basically, if you can swerve, slam on the brakes, etc. to avoid the accident, if you don't you can end up being the one found responsible for the accident, regardless of what the other person did. Insurance companies (at least in California anyway) also do percentages of fault, so if nothing else they might say it was 50/50 and you're basically screwed anyway.

So in the case of the left turn arrow above, if you saw the car coming and knew it wasn't going to stop because it was already moving through the intersection, you could have (in theory) avoided the accident by not turning in front of it. Like others have mentioned though, a lot of it comes down to word vs. word so having witnesses is about the best you can do in a situation like that. Of course, if you actually say something like, "I saw him coming but I had an arrow so I turned" you're basically admitting fault no matter what the witnesses say.
 

Dashel

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,829
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Anyone know anything about "Diminished value" after an accident? I was pursuing it at one point for the accident I had about a year ago. Some dopey girl bashed into me while texting. I got it fixed but if I ever go to sell it's not going to be worth as much as if it had never been in an accident.

The lawyer I spoke to said judges typically wont give you anything unless you actually sell the car and get a solid number for variance. So am I just SOL at this point a year later?

Here's pictures if it matters:http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...Image-heavy%29
 

khanable_sl

shitlord
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0
So my dick is kind of going off in one direction and my balls are kind of going in the other direction, and my boxer-briefs are a bit snug right between the two because of the way I am sitting.. as an adjuster, is this something you can help me with?