I was struck by a woman in a parking lot last week. I was turning left, she was going straight and speeding. She was not looking at me and continued speeding until she struck the back rear of my vehicle (honking JUST before she hit me, meaning she did not look at me until that moment). My bumper fell off and there is a dent in the side rear exterior of my car. I not aware my insurance had expired (I recently moved and have had a lot on my plate). The cop told me if I didn’t have insurance up to date, to get some that same day, so I did. I got Progressive right when I got home and detailed the accident that happened that day before signing up. I filed a claim and now I am being told I cannot be covered! By law, you are responsible for hitting any object in front of you. What do I do now?! I need my car fixed, and since she has State Farm insurance, won’t she have to pay for the damages she did to my vehicle (covered under her insurance’s uninsured motorist policy?). Also, it is not illegal to not be covered under auto insurance in WI. ANY answers are appreciated.
Ryan, thank you for clearing that up for me. I was mixed up. Her vehicle only has minor scuffs from her hitting me (her suv is white, so it’s barely even visible). Since we were on private property (mall parking lot) no citations were signed, and the officer did NOT note who was at fault :/ Should I call my insurance company (even though they told me this claim wont be covered, and ask who’s fault it is?) Or should I call hers or the Police Dept?
There are NO damages to her vehicle that would require repair. Only a minor scuff that would come out with buffing and her plate frame was bent. That is it! She hit ME. There was no stop sign from where I turned. She was supposed to be driving 15 mph (AS POSTED in a mall parking lot drive lane). She sped up after/as I began turning. Before I turned I saw there was plenty of time/distance to turn successfully w/o cutting her off. She failed to look at me until a SPLIT second before crashing into me. If I had cut her off she would have swerved or honked and braked. She did NOT break, nor honk til she was a split second from hitting me, indicating she was NOT looking at the road. She was speeding in a pedestrian area, failed to break in time. How am I at fault? I want to know how I can find out who is at fault, since the police officer did not tell us that at the accident scene. I’m not trying to get a ton of money out of it. I just want my bumper back on.
Report about Auto Insurance information
It depends on who the officer and insurance company ASSIGNS fault to. If they say that the accident is NOT your fault, her insurance MUST cover you no matter what. Basic liability car insurance DOES NOT cover your car, but the car of the person you hit. Her uninsured motorist policy covers HER damages, not yours. You have that backwards.
You should consult with a local personal injury attorney if you are injured.
You need a class of insurance basics 101.
You state your insurance was expired, so that means when this accident happened, you were UNINSURED. This means that the lady that hit you can file a uninsured motorist claim AGAINST YOU. Uninsured motorist means that the person who is at fault and has no insurance (YOU) can collect under their policy.
So you know your policy is expired and you call Progressive to tell them about his accident and then sign up for insurance. So now you have a policy with Progressive for any accident that happens after this accident; ie; accident at 1 pm, you call Progressive at 2 pm, your policy starts at 2 pm, so the accident at 1pm is not covered, thus denied.
So prior insurance is expired, so your prior policy wont pay for your car, and they wont fight for you in this accident. Also, now get this, you were making a left turn, so in most cases, State Farm will most likely find you at fault for failure to yield the right of way to guess what the lady going straight, who most likely had the right of way per most state rules of the road. You can state speeding, but unless someone clocked her, it is your word vs hers.
Granted it may not be illegal to not have insurance in WI, but guess what, now that you have no insurance, you can still be held liable, meaning you will pay for her damages and if she claims injuries, you will owe for that. I know as you stated had a lot on your plate, but obviously after this accident, you will remember to make sure your car insurance is current and paid, since most likely after this is resolved, you may owe thousands to this lady that hit you in the parking lot.
good luck
Okay so if I read your accident description correctly you were making a left turn and failed to yield the right of way to another driver that was going straight? If that is what happened then you are at fault for this accident and you will not be paid by her insurance (if you were not at fault then the liability portion of her policy would pay you) and you will not be paid by your insurance because it was not in force at the time of this accident.
Her uninsured motorist coverage will pay for her damages since 1) you were at fault & 2) at the time of the accident you were uninsured. Further once her insurance company pays her they will be coming after you seeking reimbursement of the full amount of damages that they paid out. In the end this claim could end up being thousands of dollars. Her insurance company will probably be willing to negotiate a payment plan for you to pay in monthly installments until the total debt is paid. If you do not cooperate with her insurance company, they can and will sue you, obtain a judgement and garnish your wages and in most states they can and will also have your driver’s license suspended. So bottom line I suggest that you cooperate with them and get ahead of this as soon as you can.
In terms of it not being illegal to drive without car insurance in Wisconsin — I don’t know if that is true — however, I can tell you that as a driver and owner of a vehicle you are still legally responsible for any damages that you cause a third party through your negligent driving. And you will shortly find out the folly of driving without insurance and the high price you are going to be paying for not focusing on the right priorities.
Sorry! Good Luck though
***Additional Note: Your insurance company will not help you determine fault for this accident since they were not your insurer at the time of the accident. They would have no interest or legal responsibility in investigating the accident or in making a liability determination. As several other posters have stated you can file suit against the other driver and take this to Small Claims for the judge to make a liability determination. However, I want to caution you — the minute you file suit her insurance company will send an attorney to represent her — on her side if she states that she was going straight and a vehicle turned left in front of her will give her a distinct advantage in terms of liability. You state that she was speeding — did you have a speed gun to make that determination? Do you believe yourself to be an expert at making a speed determination? Also the fact that you had an accident clearly indicates that contrary to your belief you did not have plenty of time/distance to turn successfully w/o cutting her off. On her side all she has to say is that you turned so suddenly that she only had seconds to honk and not even enough time to brake and that she had the right of way because she was going straight. The issue of speed is your word against hers and you are not an expert.
Frankly I am sorry but I do not see a way for you to win this case (of course I could be wrong but having seen so many cases very similar to yours over the course of 29 years that would be unlikely) and your not having insurance makes it worse. If you had had insurance at the time of this accident, then your insurance company would be investigating the accident and making a liability determination. When you are making a left turn, you must always yield to oncoming traffic — the only exception to this would be if you had a green left turn arrow — other than that you are 99.99% at fault if you have an accident while making a left turn.
Again I am sorry for the harsh lesson here. Good Luck
The police do not determine fault; they just investigate, take reports, decide whether to issue citations, etc. Fault is determined by insurance companies or by courts.
No insurance covers you for accidents that happen before you get the insurance. Auto insurance covers only accidents that happen while you have the insurance.
If she was at fault, then she or her insurance may be required to pay for the damage to your car. However, you may have to sue her to get them to pay. Also, some states have a rule that if you did not have insurance at the time of the accident, then no other driver or insurance company has to pay for the damage to your property, and you have to pay for it yourself.
Right. You were uninsured for that accident. You can’t buy it AFTER the accident, to COVER the accident.
She won’t have to pay for damages to your car, unless SHE is at fault for the accident. The police do not determine fault. You don’t describe exactly how this happened, but if you turned left in front of her, YOU were at fault for this. Expect her to come after YOU for the scuffs to her bumper.
She would file her claim under COLLISION, for the damage. If her insurance company feels you are at fault, they will then SUBROGATE against you – demand that you pay them back, what they paid her, PLUS her deductible. They will eventually take you to court.
You can try to sue her in small claims court for the damages, if you feel she was at fault.