Other party insurance finds partial fault, cannot subrogate

insureddriver

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I was involved in an accident where the other party's insurance, Progressive, finds me at partial fault, but my insurance does not. Therefore, they are only paying for part of the repairs, not all. I cannot subrogate because my deductible is higher than the cost of repairs. What can I do?

Here's what happened:
I was making a left turn into a driveway on a two lane road. When the oncoming traffic passed, I made the turn. The car behind me went around me from the left, and I hit him as I made the turn. Progressive says although the other driver did not yield right of way and is mostly at fault, I should have maintained proper lookout because of the position of where I was hit. I insisted that that since I was making a left turn, I was concerned about oncoming cars, not cars coming from behind me illegally. They said their driver shouldn't have went around me, but I still could have done something to prevent the accident. They are refusing to change their position.
 
Take the driver to small claims court. Since it doesn't meet your deductible, I assume it will be small enough to be eligible in your state. Otherwise, pay your portion and move on. It may not be right, but that is about all you can do. And it may easily be more trouble than it is worth in the end.
 
There are some insurers in our marketplace that are famous for doing this on seemingly every liability claim. They allegedly treat their own customers pretty well (which makes the carrier look good in the eyes of JD Powers), but let their customer hit someone else and the claim is denied, delayed, or they claim their insured was only XX% at fault and reduced the claim payment.

I’m thinking the only recourse could be small claims court if your own insurer refuses to assist in recovery. When my son’s car was totaled by a UM driver, our insurer went after the guy and set up a payment schedule for him to reimburse them. If there had been a deductible, we would have been entitled to a refund as part of their recovery. That varies by jurisdiction.
 
This is complete BS. So if the Progressive driver was coming at you going the wrong way on the interstate, you'd still be partially responsible since you could have dodged him?
 
While I'm not accusing anyone of anything, if you can tell most or many third-party claimants that they were even 10-20% at fault, the savings in liability claim payments go right to the bottom line. If the amounts are within deductibles or otherwise not worth the effort to challenge, this practice, if institutionalized, can work. This has been alleged before, though this particular source has problems of its own:

https://www.justice.org/sites/default/files/file-uploads/InsuranceTactics.pdf

Delay, Deny, Defend By Jay Feinman

I did a presentation once rebutting a number of the allegations, but concurring with some, though not necessarily the reasoning.
 
The Progressive driver was behind me and went around me on my left side while I was making a left turn. So he was momentarily going the wrong way. Progressive maintains I should have observed proper lookout. Progress says their driver is mostly at fault.

The repair amount is far less than the deductible. Car insurance deductible does not work like medical deductible. All the deductible amount has to be spent for an accident.
 
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What was the lane signage at the scene of the accident? Solid line, broken line, etc.? Did you signal your turn? How far in advance? Without witnessing the accident, it's impossible to assign fault.

Was there a police report? If you properly signaled the turn and the other driver began to pass, that would likely be some sort of traffic violation. If so, the police report might assign all responsibility to the passing vehicle.
 
The Progressive driver was behind me and went around me on my left side while I was making a left turn. So he was momentarily going the wrong way. Progressive maintains I should have observed proper lookout. Progress says their driver is mostly at fault.

Only a court of law can determine fault. Until you sue and get a judge to say that the other driver is 100% at fault you are at the mercy of Progressive's opinion.

If you aren't willing to sue the other driver, then you'll need to pay for your repairs and move on.
 
The line was solid. I had my turn signal on. I was waiting for sometime with the driver behind me. This was in NYC so it takes time for the opposing traffic to clear. NYC law allows turning into a residential driveway even if line is solid. The police report did not assign responsibility (to my knowledge, it never does).

My brother in law said he had the same problem with Progressive. He could subrogate, so got all the money.
 
The line was solid. I had my turn signal on. I was waiting for sometime with the driver behind me. This was in NYC so it takes time for the opposing traffic to clear. NYC law allows turning into a residential driveway even if line is solid. The police report did not assign responsibility (to my knowledge, it never does).

My brother in law said he had the same problem with Progressive. He could subrogate, so got all the money.

A solid line has nothing to do with left turns, only with passing. There would have to be no left turn signs to restrict left turns.

And Adjusterjack is right on this. Ultimately only a court of law can determine fault. Typically it isn't necessary as for smaller cases the companies agree on a fault determination and everyone accepts it and moves on. Even on larger cases, they often settle out with everyone agreeing to a fault determination.

Only when one party refuses to accept a fault determination does it go to court, and then a judge and/or jury determines fault.

Also, I am suddenly questioning this. You were in a city with oncoming traffic that was heavy enough to cause you to wait for a period of time for it to clear in order to be able to safely turn left, and the person goes around you on the left??? And you had your turn signal on?

Either the other driver is a complete *** or there is more to this that you haven't told us. The impatient driver would have gone around you on the right, not the left in this situation. Between oncoming traffic and the fear you'd turn at any minute, I find it hard to believe anyone would have tried to go around you on the left.
 
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