car accident question

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joaks

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My friend was in an accident a couple of weeks. As I understand it this is what happened: she was driving through an interesection/overpass when someone coming off of the highway missed a yellow light, ran a red light and entered the intersection. My friend had a green light and hit his car on the side.

So my friend is faulted by the insurance company. Any thoughts on if my friend can avoid being faulted?
 
Get a copy of the police report. If it contradicts what the ins co wants you to think, point this out. If it shows her at fault, that will be a hard thing to fight.
 
They may have only considered which vehicle was hit where....which isn't good for your case if your car's front end hit their side. They may have concluded that despite the intersection traffic and lights.... that anyone driving safely with due diligence should be able to avoid running into the other guy's side.

Legally right vs. morally/ethically right aren't always the same thing.
 
Is this a case of "shared liability"? This is a common insurance company tactic. The company might say the other driver was technically at fault but your friend contributed to the accident by not slowing down before the other car entered, thus shares, say 30%, of the fault. That type of nonsense happens all the time.

edit: posted the same time a the above poster. looks like we're thinking the same thing.
 
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What eljefino said. Been there done that. My insurance readily retracted. I was peaved that I had to pay for the report and retrieving it for the insurance.
Get her a dash cam for the new ride. Hard to screw with video evidence.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far. FWIW she did not get a ticket and ith drivers have the same insurance company.
 
One important thing for her to say is that when her light turned green, she looked both ways then proceeded forward. This proves that she had reason to believe it was safe.

Having worked as an adjuster, every word, picture, thought, etc counts during an accident. The other driver ran a red, and should be 100% at fault. Insurance companies will always try to put each driver at fault even a little bit, such as 95% one driver and 5% the other. This is how they raise rates for everyone involved.

Also, +1 for getting a dash cam. Video evidence doesn't lie, especially in cases where it takes months to get the police report and becomes a he said versus she said investigation.
 
Originally Posted By: joaks
someone coming off of the highway missed a yellow light


If the other person had a yellow light, your friend had a red light... right?
 
Originally Posted By: joaks
Other person had red, my friend had green.


Was the other person trying to squeeze a lemon and accidentally squashed a tomato?
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: joaks
Other person had red, my friend had green.


Was the other person trying to squeeze a lemon and accidentally squashed a tomato?


Sounds about right...
 
Originally Posted By: joaks
drivers have the same insurance company.

That's when they love to do that "shared liability" thing. They'll be keeping both deductibles, and increasing both rates.
 
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I did the same years ago. Guy ran the light late, I ended up T-boning him in the side. Didn't have any issues though, they called me up and ask me what happened and I just said I T-boned him because he ran the light late. Didn't end up going on my insurance.
 
WHY did they say your friend was at fault...

Did she say anything like "I didn't see him"? If the facts you related are correct then "Last clear chance to avoid" is about all I can think of and I have no idea if it applies in CA.

Was the light the guy ran red or yellow? The timing on this thing seems messed up...Her light cannot be green if his is yellow and theres usually alt east some delay between one side turning red and the other green..
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
WHY did they say your friend was at fault...

Did she say anything like "I didn't see him"? If the facts you related are correct then "Last clear chance to avoid" is about all I can think of and I have no idea if it applies in CA.

Was the light the guy ran red or yellow? The timing on this thing seems messed up...Her light cannot be green if his is yellow and theres usually alt east some delay between one side turning red and the other green..


Im not not sure what she said when questioned. My guess is the yellow was long gone by the time of the crash, but I am only guessing.
 
Both drivers having the same insurance is a sure fire path to shared liability. Limits the payout and may subject both parties to rate hike. Unfortunately there isn't much to be done about it, since the insurance company is your friend's legal representative. Another example of why I hold insurance companies in very low regard.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
They may have only considered which vehicle was hit where....which isn't good for your case if your car's front end hit their side.

Yes that usually means the car hit in the side was proceeding through the intersection slowly (maybe because their light just turned green), while the other car was at speed on the perpendicular road (maybe running the red light) and hit it in the side. A true square "T-bone" impact means the car hit in the side had to be going rather slow, otherwise it would be more of a glancing blow to the front or back corner.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
They may have only considered which vehicle was hit where....which isn't good for your case if your car's front end hit their side.

Yes that usually means the car hit in the side was proceeding through the intersection slowly (maybe because their light just turned green), while the other car was at speed on the perpendicular road (maybe running the red light) and hit it in the side. A true square "T-bone" impact means the car hit in the side had to be going rather slow, otherwise it would be more of a glancing blow to the front or back corner.


Not really sure you're qualified to say anything about how it's supposed to go based on where the car was hit. The guy I t-boned, I think I hit square in the passenger doors. I was in the right lane and the light just changed so I started to about 2-3 car lengths back from the light. He flashed by on the left and by the time I noticed him to slam on the brakes, I had t-boned him. I had been slowing down for the red light when it changed to green so I wasn't at a complete stop. A lane of cars on the left and parked cars on the street blocked a clear view to the left. Most people run lights 1-2 seconds after it goes red, this guy was more like 4-5 seconds, very late.
 
I've mentioned it many times here when this question comes up. A similar situation happened to me about 15yrs ago. A fellow ran a stop sign and passed in front of me from left to right. I skidded and attempted to avoid him, but smashed into his vehicle's right side, just before the right rear wheel-well. Even though the other guy admitted fault, his insurance would cover only 70% and I had to turn it over to my insurance for the remaining 30. A process they called subrogation.

My point is, don't ever assume the other party's insurance will cover all, regardless of the circumstances of the accident.
 
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