The incident happened at the parking lot of my apartment complex near the leasing office on October 12th 2007. A driver backed up her car and hit my car on the side. We called the police department and the police officer found the damage to be less than $1000 and asked us to exchange the insurance information from the other driver and file the claim with the insurance. He did not file any report with the DMV since the damage was less than $1000. We filed the claim with the other driver's insurance on oct 12th. The Adjuster denied our claim after a week saying that their customer other driver denies it was her mistake on the incident. Since the police officer said that we could solve the issue mutually, we did not know that we should get an official report. We believed in the other driver and got a copy of her insurance and driver's license. We did not expect her to change her words later. Please advice.

Report it to your insurance company. Let them handle it. Was your car parked at the time?

Thanks. We were parking in a lot, one lot away from her lot when the incident happened. She was so fast backing up, that she came into the left side of my car.

I meant to say that there was one parking lot empty between ours and hers.

You mean one parking slot. But the point is you were both moving. In such a case, there might be some issues of fault. But your baest bet is containting your carrier and letting them handle it.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

You mean one parking slot. But the point is you were both moving. In such a case, there might be some issues of fault. But your baest bet is containting your carrier and letting them handle it.

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Exactly what Scott said!

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Originally Posted by anisan

The incident happened at the parking lot of my apartment complex near the leasing office on October 12th 2007. A driver backed up her car and hit my car on the side. We called the police department and the police officer found the damage to be less than $1000 and asked us to exchange the insurance information from the other driver and file the claim with the insurance. He did not file any report with the DMV since the damage was less than $1000. We filed the claim with the other driver's insurance on oct 12th. The Adjuster denied our claim after a week saying that their customer other driver denies it was her mistake on the incident. Since the police officer said that we could solve the issue mutually, we did not know that we should get an official report. We believed in the other driver and got a copy of her insurance and driver's license. We did not expect her to change her words later. Please advice.

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If you file a claim with your insurance co and they determine the other party is at fault, they will attempt to recover your deductible and any money paid out for damage.
As far as the police report, there should be information on the police blotter at the police dept to show what officer responded. If so, you should be able to speak with the officer to advise of your difficulty with the other insurance company. He may be able to write a report after the fact. IF so, have him write the police report then call the other insurance co to give case # and name and ph # of police dept. If you

Also check to to see if there were any witnesses that saw the accident OR if there were any surveillance cameras in that area of the parking lot.

If you were driving straight through the parking lot and the other car was backing, the other driver should be faulted for failure to maintain control when backing. If you were both backing, the insurance co should look at both vehicles point of impacts to see which vehicle was further out of the parking space.

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Originally Posted by gmh18

If you file a claim with your insurance co and they determine the other party is at fault, they will attempt to recover your deductible and any money paid out for damage.
As far as the police report, there should be information on the police blotter at the police dept to show what officer responded. If so, you should be able to speak with the officer to advise of your difficulty with the other insurance company. He may be able to write a report after the fact. IF so, have him write the police report then call the other insurance co to give case # and name and ph # of police dept. If you

Also check to to see if there were any witnesses that saw the accident OR if there were any surveillance cameras in that area of the parking lot.

If you were driving straight thru the parking lot and the other car was backing, the other driver should be faulted for failure to maintain control when backing. If you were both backing, the insurance co should look at both vehicles point of impacts to see which vehicle was further out of the parking space.

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These things vary from State to State, Police Department to Police Department. I will be very surprised if the Officer writes an "after the fact report" (in my area they won't even correct a mistake they made on a Police Report! I recently saw a Report in which the directions of travel are reversed. The Police Department will not correct it, stating they are Police Officers, not Accident Investigators). His/her notes probably say what he told you - damages under $1,000; no need for a Police Report.

NYS is a comparative negligence State and if you are driving straight and the other driver is backing up the other driver is NOT 100% liable; if you were both backing up the insurance company will have some interest in points of impact - but it won't change what their decision is. You are both expected to have your vehicles under control at all times. I know this is hard to understand and accept but I have never seen a vehicle more than 80% at fault for a parking lot accident.