Auto Insurance Claims: brake repair job faulty, causes accident. What can I do?, rear brakes, faulty repair

Question
About a month ago, my boyfriend was driving my car (we live together and have a joint policy), and he rear-ended another vehicle.  He tried braking and the brakes would not stop the car.  Two days before the accident, I just had my brakes fixed.  My boyfriend noticed that when he picked up my car that the brakes were a little soft but they still stopped the car, so he didn’t think anything was wrong with the brakes, especially since the mechanic himself drove the car up to him and didn’t seem to notice anything (or ignored it).  While he drove my car to work, the brakes didn’t seem soft anymore but when he went down a hill and tried to stop he couldn’t and he ended rear-ending the other car.  It took my insurance company three weeks to tow my car.  When we finally got my car looked at, the insurance company refused to investigate the brake issue.  They explained that it was not their responsibility to investigate the cause of the accident.  They have also taken the stance that since it was the rear brakes that were done and not the front, that the accident could not be caused by faulty repair.  The body mechanics who are in the process of fixing my car, noticed that when they pressed the brake peddle, that there is air trapped, which indicates that my brakes were bleed improperly.  Its my understanding that when this occurs, regardless if it is the rear or front, it causes the whole brake system to fail.  My insurance company is ignoring this and saying it is my responsibility to get the brakes looked at and fixed (not once did I tell them I wanted them to get my brakes repaired).  According to them, because the rear of my car was not damaged, they have no reason to investigate anything to do with the rear of my car.  I’m I missing something here?  I thought insurance companies were supposed to find out what really caused an accident to determine fault.  I would think that they would want to make the repair shop pay for the repairs on my car and the repairs on the other car.  Is this normal behavior for an insurance company?  What should I do?  The body shop mechanics are going to have someone look at my brakes more thoroughly since that’s what I want but they think it would be easier to have the original mechanics redo the repairs for free.  

Answer
Hi Mindy,

This can be a very difficult issue. You insureance company will not help you. They will consider this to be your boyfriends fault so they can increase your premiums. You would have to have a qualified brake specialist inspect the brakes and to be willing to put in writing that the brakes failed due to not being properly bled. He would also have to be willing to testify in court. Then you would have to file a law suit against the shop that did the brake job. If the judge belives your story and the testimaone of your braje specialist you may win your case.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh