Unsafe Lane Change Accident- My Fault

[Essence05]

My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: California

I was driving in right hand lane and the other car was driving in the left lane of a two lane street, the traffic in her lane had stopped and the traffic in my lane was moving at at least 25mph there was a gap between my car and the car in front me and with no signal she tried to get infront of me into my lane I hit my brakes but still end up barely hitting the back of her car leaving a hardly noticeable mark right above her right rear tail pipe. She filed a claim with my insurance company and I don't know what she told them but there saying it's 100% my fault which I don't think it is being that she took my right-of-way and proceeded with an illegal and unsafe lane change into my lane. We didn't call the police so there is no report. Am I right or wrong? If I am right how do I prove it?

[cdwjava]

Unfortunately, the insurance companies can make a decision as to fault for any reason they want. I would suspect that they should at least share fault, but that's their call. They do not even have to follow the Vehicle Code when assigning fault, so they are up to their own devices.

Have you asked your insurance company what she said?

- Carl

[Essence05]

Hello cdwjava, no I haven't been able to get in touch with my adjuster but as soon as I do I will ask her what the other driver said and if possible at the very least could there be some kind of compromise in fault since her actions did cause the accident.

Thank You for your advice!

[Scott67]

Are you saying that YOUR insurance company made a decision on fault solely based on her statement without any report from you? Was there any damage to your car, I'm assuming no since you haven't mentioned that.

You should have filed a report with your insurance company before they made the determination or actually, before they even considered her claim. It seems that in a clear case of an unsafe lane change, your insurance company would have rejected her claim and told her to file with her own company.

If it was as you say (and I do not doubt your description - I've seen the same thing far too many times) your recourse is with your insurance company to make sure you give them all the facts, and maybe get them to reverse themselves. Maybe your previous report to them was lacking in details.

Another thing that just doesn't seem right, is that you state you haven't been able to get in touch with your adjuster. Your own insurance company won't even talk to you? They won't even tell you what the other person claimed happened? Something doesn't add up here. Either your insurance company is not a very good one, or there is something else going on that has complicated this situation.

[That Guy]

I agree that something does not add up here but I also must consider that the insurance company would not have accepted 100% liability for the accident on behalf of their insured without his/her full statement and without putting forth any and all effort to lessen their potential liability and that of their insured.