Ran off the road by a truck - Considerations for making a claim?

I am a Southern California motorist who recently had an accident, but
have been warned by friends that if I make a claim, the insurance
company might scrutinize that I was somehow at fault, and may even try
to push to have points put on my license because it is my
responsibility to have control of my vehicle at all times.

Here's the story:

I was recently driving on the freeway and I noticed a tractor trailer
coming into my lane so he could exit on the next off-ramp. To avoid
being hit, I jerked the wheel to the right and my car ended up spinning
out several times, and suffers from body and mechanical damage. No
impact with the truck occurred, all the damage occurred from the
shoulder and shrubbery where I spun out off the freeway.

The truck did not stop, and I was not able to get the license tag
number, either.

Should I be worried about the warnings I've heard from friends that my
insurance company may try to turn this around on me? Any helpful
advice or recounts of similar accidents & claims would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks!

Mr. Freeze

On 7 Jun 2005 22:03:52 -0700, "Mr. Freeze" > wrote:

>I am a Southern California motorist who recently had an accident, but
>have been warned by friends that if I make a claim, the insurance
>company might scrutinize that I was somehow at fault, and may even try
>to push to have points put on my license because it is my
>responsibility to have control of my vehicle at all times.
>
>Here's the story:
>
>I was recently driving on the freeway and I noticed a tractor trailer
>coming into my lane so he could exit on the next off-ramp. To avoid
>being hit, I jerked the wheel to the right and my car ended up spinning
>out several times, and suffers from body and mechanical damage. No
>impact with the truck occurred, all the damage occurred from the
>shoulder and shrubbery where I spun out off the freeway.
>
>The truck did not stop, and I was not able to get the license tag
>number, either.
>
>Should I be worried about the warnings I've heard from friends that my
>insurance company may try to turn this around on me? Any helpful
>advice or recounts of similar accidents & claims would be greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Mr. Freeze

I've never heard of an insurance company doing such a thing as attempting to
get a customer in trouble with the law. The worst they're liable to do is try
to get out of paying, and that's not likely either if they're a reputable
company. Their biggest quibble might be the lack of a police report. But this
scenario is not unbelievable - I've been run off the road twice by big rig
drivers that just don't give a **** enough to look to see if there's someone
beside them when they change lanes. (We need to be moving stuff by rail a
_lot_ more - with these accidents common, and now dumbass hillbilly truckers
tossing **** bottles out the window - we need _lots_ less trucks on the
highway. Lots less...)

> I've never heard of an insurance company doing such a thing as attempting
> to
> get a customer in trouble with the law. The worst they're liable to do is
> try
> to get out of paying, and that's not likely either if they're a reputable
> company. Their biggest quibble might be the lack of a police report. But
> this
> scenario is not unbelievable - I've been run off the road twice by big rig
> drivers that just don't give a **** enough to look to see if there's
> someone
> beside them when they change lanes. (We need to be moving stuff by rail a
> _lot_ more - with these accidents common, and now dumbass hillbilly
> truckers
> tossing **** bottles out the window - we need _lots_ less trucks on the
> highway. Lots less...)
>

OK, using your argument, we should ban all drivers too, because some of them
(documented in this newsgroups) are idiots.. so since some are idiots lets
ban them all.

Are you a democrat by any chance? because you sure use their flawed logic.

There are just as many truckers on the other side of the spectrum, who pull
drivers from fiery accidents and would help even you in a life-death
situation.

Well, first off did you get a police report at the time of the
incident? That wouldhelp bolster your claim that to the insurance
company that someone else was at fault.

I'm not sure what you mean by "turn this around on me". If you mean
will they increase your premiums because of the claim...possibly, but
my guess is that it will be much less than the cost of the repairs,
assuming you have an otherwise accident and ticket free record.

Dave Head wrote:
> On 7 Jun 2005 22:03:52 -0700, "Mr. Freeze" > wrote:
>
> >I am a Southern California motorist who recently had an accident, but
> >have been warned by friends that if I make a claim, the insurance
> >company might scrutinize that I was somehow at fault, and may even try
> >to push to have points put on my license because it is my
> >responsibility to have control of my vehicle at all times.
> >
> >Here's the story:
> >
> >I was recently driving on the freeway and I noticed a tractor trailer
> >coming into my lane so he could exit on the next off-ramp. To avoid
> >being hit, I jerked the wheel to the right and my car ended up spinning
> >out several times, and suffers from body and mechanical damage. No
> >impact with the truck occurred, all the damage occurred from the
> >shoulder and shrubbery where I spun out off the freeway.
> >
> >The truck did not stop, and I was not able to get the license tag
> >number, either.
> >
> >Should I be worried about the warnings I've heard from friends that my
> >insurance company may try to turn this around on me? Any helpful
> >advice or recounts of similar accidents & claims would be greatly
> >appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks!
> >
> >Mr. Freeze
>
> I've never heard of an insurance company doing such a thing as attempting to
> get a customer in trouble with the law. The worst they're liable to do is try
> to get out of paying, and that's not likely either if they're a reputable
> company. Their biggest quibble might be the lack of a police report. But this
> scenario is not unbelievable - I've been run off the road twice by big rig
> drivers that just don't give a **** enough to look to see if there's someone
> beside them when they change lanes. (We need to be moving stuff by rail a
> _lot_ more - with these accidents common, and now dumbass hillbilly truckers
> tossing **** bottles out the window - we need _lots_ less trucks on the
> highway. Lots less...)

Why of course the insurance company is going to pay up without a
quible. He comes in with a beat up car, a bs story without any
supporting evidence etc. Why wouldn't they pay up?

Harry K

Mr. Freeze wrote:
> I am a Southern California motorist who recently had an accident, but
> have been warned by friends that if I make a claim, the insurance
> company might scrutinize that I was somehow at fault, and may even try
> to push to have points put on my license because it is my
> responsibility to have control of my vehicle at all times.
>
> Here's the story:
>
> I was recently driving on the freeway and I noticed a tractor trailer
> coming into my lane so he could exit on the next off-ramp. To avoid
> being hit, I jerked the wheel to the right and my car ended up spinning
> out several times, and suffers from body and mechanical damage. No
> impact with the truck occurred, all the damage occurred from the
> shoulder and shrubbery where I spun out off the freeway.
>
> The truck did not stop, and I was not able to get the license tag
> number, either.
>
> Should I be worried about the warnings I've heard from friends that my
> insurance company may try to turn this around on me? Any helpful
> advice or recounts of similar accidents & claims would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mr. Freeze

Bite the bullet and fix the car on your own or on your comprehensive
insurance. The insurance company is not going to buy your 'not at
fault' excuse. You have nothing but your word that you were run off
the road.

Unless you were on a feeway with no shoulder/breakdown lane you should
have been able to avoid the accident without 'jerking the wheel' and
spinning out.

Harry K

Dave Head wrote:
> > I've never heard of an insurance company doing such a thing as attempting
> > to
> > get a customer in trouble with the law. The worst they're liable to do is
> > try
> > to get out of paying, and that's not likely either if they're a reputable
> > company. Their biggest quibble might be the lack of a police report. But
> > this
> > scenario is not unbelievable - I've been run off the road twice by big rig
> > drivers that just don't give a **** enough to look to see if there's
> > someone
> > beside them when they change lanes. (We need to be moving stuff by rail a
> > _lot_ more - with these accidents common, and now dumbass hillbilly
> > truckers
> > tossing **** bottles out the window - we need _lots_ less trucks on the
> > highway. Lots less...)
> >
>
> OK, using your argument, we should ban all drivers too, because some of them
> (documented in this newsgroups) are idiots.. so since some are idiots lets
> ban them all.

Its the way the world works - something gets to be more trouble than
its worth, you stop doing it.

All we'd have to do is have the government subsidize the construction
and maintenance of railroad rails and rights of way. Trucking would
dry up as way too expensive, as it should. Its a lot more
fuel-efficient and labor-efficient to move stuff by rail. The
"freebie" of the highways that we can no longer keep up, and have to
put under construction pretty much continuously because of the trucks
beating them to a pulp, would not be the big advantage that the
trucking industry now enjoys.

> Are you a democrat by any chance? because you sure use their flawed logic.

Libertarian that votes Republican on the sole basis of the gun issue.
Democrat come along that is more supportive of the 2nd amendment than
the Republican he's running against, I'll vote for the Democrat. Both
parties are really unacceptably attempting to limit freedom, but on
this one issue, the choice is usually pretty easy.

> There are just as many truckers on the other side of the spectrum, who pull
> drivers from fiery accidents and would help even you in a life-death
> situation.

Sure, and they pull people out of burning cars not because they're
truckers, but because of the quality human beings that they are. This
means they would do it if they were driving their cars, too. So,
there's no real benefit for having them in 80,000 lb vehicles where one
careless move can screw up a lot of traffic, maybe spread toxic
chemicals all over the road or into the air, etc. Less trucks would be
a good thing.

Get rid of the trucks. Move stuff on rails. People won't be getting
run off the road quite so often, and can sometimes even "push back" if
the other car is about the same size or lighter.

Dave Head

> All we'd have to do is have the government subsidize the construction
> and maintenance of railroad rails and rights of way.

So much for you being a libertarian.

<<<<I am a Southern California motorist who recently had an
accident>>>>

Why is that not surprising? Why? Because Southern Californians are
stupid, materialistic, petentious, fake (hollywood scene), immature,
rude, conceited, and of all things INCONSIDERATE OF OTHERS!!!

I would not mind it one bit if all of the LA/O.C. Metro Area got
pulverized by nuclear weapons of mass destruction from the middle east
- right this very second!

In article >, Dave Head wrote:

> scenario is not unbelievable - I've been run off the road twice by big rig
> drivers that just don't give a **** enough to look to see if there's someone
> beside them when they change lanes. (We need to be moving stuff by rail a
> _lot_ more - with these accidents common, and now dumbass hillbilly truckers
> tossing **** bottles out the window - we need _lots_ less trucks on the
> highway. Lots less...)

While I agree rail is better for massive amounts of freight long
distance, your problem of being run off the road is from something else.

That something else is your LLB style of driving. Pass and get it over
with. Staying next to semi's is dangerous.