A month or so back, my 16-year-old daughter had another car accident. This was her second within a six month period, as a consequence of which I tool her car away (for the second time) and this time also took her off my insurance (before the insurance company likely dropped her themselves) – which really did not go down well. The damage wasn’t actually too bad (compared to the first accident, where she totalled the other car – a BMW Z3), but as I only have basic insurance and my insurance company determined the accident was 100% my daughter’s fault, I have to pay for repairs to the car myself. Again. Which I’m not happy about.
My daughter said that the accident wasn’t her fault. She says she pulled on to the main road from a side-street; the main road was two lanes in each direction, she was pulling into the nearside lane (which was empty), but the driver in the outside lane decided that she’d change lanes just as my daughter pulled out, scraping her passenger side against the front driver-side corner of my daughter’s car. Of course, this is just my daughter’s say-so, so I got a copy of the police report, and checked that. And, indeed, it did show that my daughter was in her own lane, having just turned the corner, and the other driver had driven into her lane. No-one was cited, and the police just said they were going to leave it up to the insurance companies to determine responsibility.
So armed with this information, I went back to Geico and argued that it wasn’t entirely her fault. Geico were having none of it. They basically said it was completely my daughter’s fault because she was “joining the major road, from a side-street”. Which apparently automatically makes it her fault (much like if someone hits you from the rear, it is always their fault). This, even though my daughter had basically already joined the road at the time of impact, and was entirely in her own lane, when the other driver hit her. By veering into my daughter’s lane. I reiterated my argument, in pretty clear terms, but Geico stuck to their guns. According to “the law”, my daughter should have given way. Period.
I argued that it was illegal to change lanes in an intersection, but apparently this isn’t actually against the law. I always thought it was, so I went away and checked, and it turns out that it isn’t (dammit!) – it’s just a common misconception borne out of a statement in the DMV-issued Texas Driver’s Handbook which states that it is inadvisable to change lanes at an intersection (or even approaching an intersection). I pleaded this “inadvisable” angle with Geico, arguing that the other driver was at best careless, and after a lot of argument, and back and forth with the other party’s insurance company, they eventually conceded and negotiated a 70%-30% split. Which is at least a little victory, and will save me 30% of the cost of the repairs. Or so I thought…
Fast-forward a few weeks, and I get a letter from Infinity (the other insurance company) stating that they “respectfully” were declining to pay for any of the cost cost of repairs to my car. “And good day to you, sir!” they may have well have finished off. I contacted Geico, to ask them “WTF‽”. “Oh yes,” they informed me, “According to Texas law, if an insurance company is found to be less than 50% liable, then they do not have to pay any of the cost of the repairs.” Uh, WHAT?? So what was the point in me negotiating a 70:30 split? If they are deemed 30% liable for the crash, why are they not liable for 30% of the cost of repairs? “Well, under Texas law…” Yes, so you keep saying, but why did we even have that big argument then if it isn’t going to make a difference? “Well, it means that we will only have to pay 70% of the cost of the repairs to their vehicle.” Whaaaat‽ So I had to argue with you, to save you money, and I’m still screwed?? Exactly who is working for who, here?? “Well, under Texas law…” Aaaagh! Well it’s a bloody stupid law, then! I don’t know who voted to get it put on the statute books, but it sure as shit wasn’t Joe Public. Clearly it is designed to help the insurance companies, and not the insured parties who actually need the help.
So now I’m left with having to pay the full cost of the repairs, even though it wasn’t completely my daughter’s fault. Fantastic. And no doubt my insurance premiums will go up again as a result of this. When they do, I’ll contact Geico and say that I’m only going to pay 70% of the increase. I’m sure that will go down well…
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