egroeg354
Aug 9, 2009, 04:54 PM
My daughter was in an accident in NY, a no fault insurance state. The accident occurred when a vehicle pulled in front of her so close she couldn't stop and rear ended to other vehicle, totaling her car. The police officer on the sight after interviewing both parties actually said that even though this is a no fault state he has the right if he can determine fault to place fault, which he did. The odd thing about this is that even though it was a rear end accident, after speaking with both parties the police determined the other driver was at fault and actually placed 100% of the blame in the police report. The insurance company for that driver, Hartford, totaled my daughters car, has made an offer and is trying to say the police report is wrong and their insured is now changing his version and wants my daughter to accept 30% of the respnsibility. They have also come up with a value on the car much lower than the Blue Book value and claim in NY they don't have to use the Blue Book value. Our insurance company Geiko tells us that because we didn't have collision that they can't do anything to help but that the other driver is 100% at fault. What options do we have in NY, if we accept the settlement for the car at 30% fault are we also liable for 30% of the liability, there are some medical bills. If we accept 30% fault do we have an option of going to small claims to recover. If we don't accept the offer at all what are our options. I see this as a case of a big insurance company attempting to pressure someone desperate to settle the case so she can get another car. Any assistance or guidance would be appreciated.