Question:
I was involved in a car accident and found not at fault by the
responding officer and didn't receive a ticket for the
accident. Can my car insurance company dismiss that finding
and say I owe my collision deductible?
Answer:
Your car insurance company can indeed come to a different
determination of fault than that decided by the police officer who
came to the scene of the
car accident
.
But from your description, it's possible that you just may have
a misunderstanding with your insurer.
It appears you are assuming that because your car insurance
company is saying you owe your
collision
deductible, it believes you are at fault. In reality it doesn't
matter if you're at fault. If you make a claim against your
physical damage coverages -- either comprehensive or collision --
you automatically owe the deductible you choose at the inception of
your policy.
If you believe another driver was at fault for the accident,
then you can make a claim against that driver's
property damage liability
coverage. If the other driver's insurer agrees that their insured
was at fault, then they'll pay for your car's repairs or total
loss. If not, then you would indeed need to use your collision
coverage and pay the deductible.
That's not to say that your insurance company can't disagree
with a police determination of fault.
After reading the police report, speaking to the drivers and any
witnesses to the accident, and possibly looking at the damage to
any vehicles involved, your car insurance company can decide that
you were fully or partially at fault for the accident in
question.
Your insurer may find that the police have overlooked something,
or that the officer may not have listed a driver to be at fault
because he was unable to determine it. The auto insurance company
will normally take into account what the police say about the
event, but then draw its own conclusions about fault.
If you disagree with how fault is assigned, then discuss this
issue with your insurer. It should explain how its investigators
came to their decision and if
comparative negligence or contributory
negligence
laws were used to split the blame.
Some states have guidelines that auto insurers must follow for
their determination of which party is the principally at-fault
driver. You can check with your state's insurance regulator for
information on your state's laws regarding this and make a
complaint if you believe your insurer did something incorrect.
Before getting upset with your own insurer, though, it's
important to point out that car insurance companies don't always
decide fault based on if tickets were given out at the scene of the
accident.