Auto Insurance Claims: Claim paid at only 70% in NY, maintaining control, insurance company

Question
I was traveling through an intersection of a four lane road. I was going the speed limit and had a green light.  Just as I entered the intersection a car, traveling in the opposite direction on the same road, turned left in front of me.  I slammed on the brakes and avoided a serious crash but was not able to avoid the other car completely.  My front right corner hit his back left corner but there were no injuries.  The other driver admitted fault and apologized.  The police issued him a ticket for failure to yield but did not issue a ticket to me for anything.  The problem is that his insurance company told me they would only pay for 70% of the damage to my car because, they said, the accident was avoidable.  Can they do this?  Is this just a ploy to make me jump through more hoops to get my car fixed?  And if so, what should my next action be?  I have spent a great deal of time on the phone with this insurance company and have gotten nowhere.  They said that the 70% rule was standard in NY for this type of accident.  How can they possibly say the accident was avoidable when they were not there?  I told them I did my best just to avoid a very serious accident with injuries.   Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Brent,

Insurance companies are snakes. This is a ploy often used simply to reduce the amount they have to pay. You are right. The other guy is 100% at fault. But the insurance company is trying to negotiate to pay less than 100%. Their argument will be that you are required to always be in control of your vehicle and always be able to avoid any situation. Not doing so means that you are at least partially to blame. So they assign 30% of the blame on you for not maintaining control of your vehicle.

At this point you only have 3 options;

1) continue to agrue with his insurance company in hopes they they will lessen the amount that they hold you responsible.

2) File a law suit against the at fault driver. If you are able to convince a judge that the other guy was 100% at fault then the insurance company will have to pay.

3) File the claim with your own insurance company.  That way your financial exposure will be limited to your deductible and your insurance company will then pursue the other insurance company for reimbursement through a process called subrogation.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh