Auto Insurance Claims: medical claim for at fault -referral to underwriter, lower back injury, yr period

Question
Recently, I received a letter from my ins co that they were referring me to the underwriter because of an at-fault accident (second in 3 yr period).  The claimant claimed medical injury 10K+ and under 700 body damage.  the accident was a low impact under 10 mile per hr. Claimant said that she had lower back injury (claimant was close to 300pounds if not over).  My ins company does no have in house claim repairers like geico and did not seem to investigate this fully.  Now, they are referring me to their underwriter dept and essentially warning me about good driving habits.  How are these claims approved?  It is my suspicion that this mid aged claimant had lower back problems well before i hit her car.  She had no dents in her car after i hit it, but you could see a shadow of imprint on her vehicle.  What are my options here?  I feel like this company pays out claims very easily.  Should I dispute this in some way?  I feel that by being admitting fault, I am going to get a backlash if i don't do something

Answer
Hi Kat,

If you rear ended the other car then you are at fault. Your insurance company has the sole responsibility to investigate and pay claims. You can contact them and tell them the information you provided here, but it is still up to the insurance adjuster to either deny or pay the claim. Let them know that the claimant is over weight. Let them know that the damage to the car was minimal. They will likely still settle the claim but for a lot less money. Unfortunately, even though they may reduce the settlement, you will still be considered to be at fault which will still likely end up with a rate increase. The only thing you can do in that case is to shop around with other companies.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh