Auto Insurance Claims: Auto insurance company procedure, auto insurance company, three houses

Question
Hi Richard,

In February our daughter was in an accident where her car was totaled.  The car was hers, but it was on our insurance policy.  Her brother was with her; they were going shopping for someone's birthday.  They had minor injuries; the other driver wasn't hurt.  

We're on a side street that parallels the main route out of town, and the first left turn to get to the main road is just three houses north up the street.  It's a small street that just goes from the main street to ours, and has a stop sign at both ends.  Past that left turn are three more houses, and then a major intersection, very busy, especially on Fridays which is when the accident occurred.  At that intersection our street has stop signs on both sides of the intersection, while the other street (east & west) has the right of way.  

The only houses on our block are on this side of the street; the other side is taken up with a professional building and parking lot.

The day started out with our daughter's car parked across the street from our house.  She was stopped to make that left turn for several minutes, as the cars coming from the major intersection were one after another after another.  As she was finally able to make her turn, the van parked at the curb on the corner right after the small side street darted out and hit her on the passenger side, in the front.  

There was NO prior indication that anyone was in that vehicle.  Our daughter couldn't see inside due to the tinted windows, the driver didn't have her turn signal on, or her head lights, and there was no exhaust to be seen either.  

What we believe is that the other driver must have been sitting there for ages, waiting for her chance to pull out from the curb, and watching behind for a break in traffic.  Her house is on the same side of the street as ours, and right at the corner just on the other side of the short side street, 3 houses from the busy intersection.   When she saw her chance she took it, without looking forward to the traffic coming towards her, which would be our daughter making that left turn when she had her chance.  This is not what the driver said, just what we think happened.

Our daughter used her cell phone to call the cops.  When they came they indicated they were going to ticket our daughter for the accident for "not yielding the right of way."  When she asked the officer how she was supposed to yield the right of way to a PARKED CAR, he then told her either they were both getting a ticket or neither of them were getting one.  Nobody got a ticket.

I took our daughter to the ER to have her ankle x-rayed, but our son who had a bleeding bump on the side of his head decided he was too macho for medical attention for something so minor.

Since the policy is in our name, I talked with our insurance adjuster, and told her that we were willing to share the blame, but weren't going to settle for all of it being put on our daughter for the accident.  The other driver didn't even ask how our kids were doing, though our son jumped out of the car right away and asked if she was all right.  The other driver informed our kids that her husband owned one of the largest insurance companies in town, which they found intimidating.  Our kids are both out of high school, young adults who still live at home, have full-time jobs, and are paying school loans.

In the next week or so we talked to our insurance company a couple of times and gave them the whole entire story, with what we think happened.  I included a traffic count from the following Friday when I sat on our front porch and counted the cars passing our house - and the other driver's house - during that same hour to try and demonstrate how busy this section of the street is, in 15 minutes intervals.  

For what it's worth, we're a town of about 15,000 with a surrounding population of maybe 35,000 that comes here to shop, eat, etc.  During that hour there were 231 vehicles that came through that intersection, going south (passing her house first, then ours) and during that same hour, 10a - 11a, there were 198 vehicles going north.  While I was speaking to the insurance agent she was looking at the exact location on Google maps, and was very interested in the information I was providing.

We are willing to accept and deal with our losses and whatever blame/responsibility belongs to our daughter in these circumstances, but just her share.  And that's what I told our insurance company, and that if there was going to be any problem with that we would get a lawyer.  

Here's the question, and I really appreciate your time!  It's November and we haven't heard anything.  Our daughter's medical bills have been paid, but her car was totaled, and she had to find another used one she could afford payments on, before she was ready to do so.  Her other car was paid for, but so old we didn't have coverage on it.  Our insurance hasn't gone up, but we haven't received anything that tells us if the situation has been completely resolved.

My husband is of the opinion that we shouldn't rock the boat, but I don't want any surprises down the line.  I'm beginning to hate that overused word "closure" but it sure would be nice if we could have some!!  :D

Thanks again for your time, and any suggestions!  We really appreciate it!!  

Sincerely,
Linda  

Answer
Hi Linda,

You certainly have the right to know what is going on. You will not be rocking the boat to call your insurance company to ask the progress and/or outcome of the claim. Just call the adjuster and ask them what's going on with the claim.

However, you should be prepared for the possibility that your insurance company has already accepted liability on your daughtes behalf and paid the claims of the other party. In your auto insurance policy, the insurance company is the only one to make decisions regarding liability and settlements. Even though you said you were only willing to accept partial liability and were willing to get an attorney, it is the insurance company's decision to defend or settle the claim and unfortunately you have no say in the matter. If this was a relatively small claim the insurance company can make the decision to accept liability and pay the claim without your consent, if they belive that the case would be hard to defend or the the cost to defend it would be greater than the settlement.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh