At Fault Due to Weather?

[Laurenaverette]

I live in Birmingham Alabama, and today we had an unexpected snowfall. We have gotten several inches of snow that was completely unpredicted. Businesses and schools are shut down, and the roads are a nightmare. Cars are just abandoned on the side of the road due to the weather.

On my way home from work, my car hydroplaned and hit another vehicle. My insurance company said that they will file it as an at fault accident. However, I also work in insurance and I asked my agent how this claim should be filed. He told me that it should be filed under collision but that I should not be considered at fault since this weather should be deemed a catastrophe on a day or so.

Do you think I will be surcharged? I have never had a ticket or an accident in my life.

 

[Josh]

Not sure where your agent is getting his assessment from, but ultimately your decision to drive is what makes it ultimately your fault. Not intending to be critical of your driving decisions, but you only hydroplane at a certain point. If you were driving more slowly it wouldn't have happened and that's the basis of an at-fault claim. I had a guardrail sneak up in front of me in the middle of a snow storm once. I tried to blame the guardrail, but ultimately it was my decision to drive that made it my fault. Perhaps things are different in your state, but that's generally the way it's looked at.

 

[Laurenaverette]

Thank you for your response. Traffic was at a stand still and when I accelerated once traffic started to move, my car lost control. I wasn't going but maybe 5mph

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Thank you for your response. Traffic was at a stand still and when I accelerated once traffic started to move, my car lost control. I wasn't going but maybe 5mph

You should probably get new tires if you hydroplane at 5 mph...

 

[Laurenaverette]

Well no. It's a brand new car I purchased 3 weeks ago.

 

[Josh]

Well no. It's a brand new car I purchased 3 weeks ago.

Not to split hairs, but there are many tires that go out the door on new cars that struggle to grip dry pavement.

If you had given yourself more distance would you have been able to stop in time? If your tires let you hydroplane at 5 mph and you're not replacing them, give yourself more room to stop.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Not to split hairs, but there are many tires that go out the door on new cars that struggle to grip dry pavement.

If you had given yourself more distance would you have been able to stop in time? If your tires let you hydroplane at 5 mph and you're not replacing them, give yourself more room to stop.

Sounds like she was stopped and then accelerated into a hydroplane at 5 mph.

 

[xrac]

One cannot hydroplane at 5 mph. Unfortunately most southern drivers don't know how to navigate snow and ice. Is this a rear wheel drive car by any chance?

 

[Laurenaverette]

Well I hit ice and my car could not stop. You can call that hydroplaning or not. That's up to you. There were thousands of accidents today. When I called the police, they could not file a police report today since we were not injured and there were too many other accidents to tend to. The accident range is in the thousands. Southerners never see snow, so no, we do not know how to handle this weather. We also do not have people regularly tending to the roads, either. My car is front wheel drive, if that helps you any. I just talked to the insurance adjuster, and he said that since there were so many wrecks today due to ice and snow that they deem is a catastrophic loss and not surcharge me.

 

[senior-advisor-indiana]

Well I hit ice and my car could not stop. You can call that hydroplaning or not. That's up to you. There were thousands of accidents today. When I called the police, they could not file a police report today since we were not injured and there were too many other accidents to tend to. The accident range is in the thousands. Southerners never see snow, so no, we do not know how to handle this weather. We also do not have people regularly tending to the roads, either. My car is front wheel drive, if that helps you any. I just talked to the insurance adjuster, and he said that since there were so many wrecks today due to ice and snow that they deem is a catastrophic loss and not surcharge me.

We call that.......sliding on ice up here. Glad you got the claim handled.