Auto Insurance Claims: How do I prove who was at Fault in a parking lot accident?, parking lot accidents, parking lot accident

Question

moving foward Auto accident happened 7/7/08 in Florida. My insurance company GEICO says the other driver is 100% at fault. The other driver’s insurance company State Farm says it 50/ 50.  GEICO says they can’t do anything to help me because State Farm has not entered a claim for there insured. GEICO says take the insured into court to collect for the damages. State Farm said they will send legal representative for there insured. Both left rear bumps were hit. As per the diagram below I back out of spot 4A to the beginning of spot 1A and began moving forward just getting to the middle of 2A when I was hit by the other driver at spot X.
________________________________________________
/   /   /   /   /   /   /
/   /   /   /   /   /   /
/ 1A    /  2A   /  3A   /  4A   /  5A   /  A    /
                         O
                      O
                   O
                O
             O
          O  
     O   P  X
        P
       P
      P
     P
/   1B   /    2B   /    3B   /    4B   /    5B   /   6B   /
/   /   /   /   /   /   /
/   /   /   /   /   /   /



The police report says I was moving forward when I was hit.  Then witness in my car also says I was moving forward. The photographs taken at the time of the accident show that my wheels were in a position showing that I was moving forward.



The pattern of damage and how the paint was removed shows the direction of impact that the other car impacted the Santa Fe.




As you can see the Damage is little but the estimates place it at $571.00 because damage done to the foot step on the bumper . The bumper must be replaced.


Florida statues say the person in reverse is at fault. With all this State Farm says there client says we both were backing up therefore they will only pay half.

How do I prove who was at Fault in a parking lot accident so that State Farm will pay 100% of the repairs.


Answer
Hi Andrew,

Parking lot accidents are some of the most difficult to determine liability. In most cases liability will be determined to be 50/50.

In this case you only have 2 choices; You can either accept the 50/50 determination or you can file suit against the at fault driver. This is a case of "he said she said". You would have to present your case along with any witnessess and your diagram. The other side will also present their story and the judge will make a decision based on who he believes the most. However, in most of these type of cases the judge will decide it is 50/50.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh