Auto Insurance Claims: Faulty evasive action, unnecessary action, evasive action

Question
Richard,

About two weeks ago I was in an auto accident while on the highway. I was in the inside lane when I noticed the car in the middle lane was moving into my lane without looking and was about to hit me. To avoid being hit I tried to speed up and move into the shoulder of the highway. I ended up losing control of my car and hit the concrete median while the other car was not hit. The police officer said that on the accident report he would put that I took evasive action after speaking with me and the other driver. I also had two people pull over and give me their names and numbers in case I needed witnesses. They both agreed that the other driver was not paying attention when switching lanes and caused me to have the accident. I filed the claim with her insurance and told them what happened along with the witnesses. About two weeks later, after not hearing from them, I finally called and was told that the accident was my fault and they would not cover any of the costs of the repair. They said they spoke with the witnesses and determined that after I lost control the other driver got back into her own lane, thus I took unnecessary action. My car was totaled due to this accident. After picking up the police report today this is what I found...

"Unit 2 (Me) traveling East Bound inside lane. Unit 1 (other driver) traveling East Bound in middle lane. Unit 1 changed lanes to the inside lane causing unit 2 to take evasive actions to prevent contact. In doing so unit 2 lost control and struck center concrete median. unit 1 and unit 1 did not make contact"

There is also an illustration showing what happened and in the "factors and conditions" box he puts that Unit 1 changed lanes when unsafe but also put that Unit 2 (myself) took faulty evasive action. To me, this does not seem to match up with what he wrote in the description of the accident. If it were faulty evasive action shouldn't he have written that in the description instead of just "evasive action?"

Is there anything I am able to do to get this settled once and for all? I was advised by someone at the repair shop to take legal action. Is this sound advice?

Thank you for your help!

Answer
Hi Kyle,

I can not say why the police officer wrote what he wrote. However in monst cases when there is no contact between the cars and you lose control resulting in an accident, it is considered to be your fault. I understand they you were taking evasive action, but, in most cases it is coinsidered that you must be able to maintain control of your vehicle almost no matter what happens. It is possible that is you went to court that a judge may find you not at fault or may apportion liability in some percentage to both of you. Now that the insurance company has made their decision, that is likely the only chance you will have of getting it reversed.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh