[resullivan]

Ok, so on my way to class I am in a turn lane about to turn right when someone side swipes me. It turns out he has his own insurance company. Anyway, I was very nice to him as he was to me however in a nice way he says he thinks it was a no fault accident. Im not really sure why he thinks this. Anyway he gives me some sob story about how he is in town for his sick father who has cancer. He tells me that he feels that I turned before the dotted lines in the turn lane and he was waiting for the dotted lines and that I was in his blind spot. First of all I don't believe I entered the turn lane before the dotted lines and second of all there is a lane preceding the dotted lines with no lines (neither solid nor dotted). So the cop comes and he tells the cop about his father and how he thinks it is a no-fault accident. I am kind of mad but I remain nice about the whole thing. Well the cop tells him that he has to put who was primarilly at fault. Well the guy gives him the sob story again so the cop says he will see what he can do in the report. Well this kind of makes me mad because first of all in no way to I see that I could be at fault and number 2 I have liability insurance and will end up getting screwed. The guy tried and tried to get me to just exchange insurance but I knew by the way he was being that he would try and scew me so I had him call the cops.

Anyway I guess my question is does anyone see in anyway how I could have been at fault? Even if I crossed into the turn lane before the dotted lines (in the part with no lines)?

PS

Sorry for the bad spelling , etc. I was in the process of being kicked out of a class that just ended. Anyway, as nice as I was to him and as nice as he was to me he really was getting under my skin. Here I am a college student with no job right now and liability and he is trying to make it so his insurance does not have to pay.

[shygrneyzs]

It sounds like someone trying to take advantage of a younger person. If his sob story is real, I feel bad for the guy. However, that is no excuse for not paying attention and sideswiping your car. You were in his blind spot - he obviously knows where his blind spot is and he should be double careful of what he does then. He tried to get out of this mess by getting the insurance numbers. Good for you that you called the police.

Did you get a copy of the police report? Good luck to you.

[kp2171]

Your having liability means NOTHING in terms of who is really liable. And cops hear sob stories every single day.

As asked, what did the report say?

And I really can't tell from your description what happened. Were you in the process of turning? What lane and direcion was he heading? Was he in the lane next to you and he turned into your lane?

[resullivan]

To answer the first person, I have to wait 7 days before I get the police report.

The guy was trying to say it was a no-fault accident meaning we were both at fault. He told me if that were the case his insurance would pay for his and mine would pay for me. Since I have liability my insurance would not cover me.

Let me try to explain what happened more clearly.

We were both headed in the same direction on a four lane road. I was approaching an intersection that had a red light and a turn lane in order to turn right. The traffic was either stopped at the red light or just beginning to go and moving slowly. He was behind a slow moving car. I entered the turn lane and when I went to go past him he did not see me and side swiped me. His claim is that I entered the turn lane to soon so we were both at fault. His claim does not stand up for many reasons. First he did not see me obviously so how would he know when I entered the turn lane. Two, the lines that separated this turn lane was like this: first it was a solid line next to an unpaved road, then it turned into a paved road with no line separating the turn lane and the straight traffic lane, then it was a dotted line followed by a solid line. After being more attentate today while driving I noticed that many turn lanes have no lines separating them until close to the intersection when it changes to a solid line. So unless he things I went offroad he has no argument the way I see it.

To say it as simply as I can what he tried to say was that he waited until the dotted line to enter the turn lane and did not see me. The problem for him is like I said at first there is no dotted line and two the dotted line extened a short distance prior to where he tried to cross it. In no way can he claim I entered the turn lane to soon.

I know I have kind of answered my own question but after having a day to think about it and look around the situation is more clear and is not as frustrating to me. I talked to my insurance company and they told me that on the police report there will be a box indicating the person primarily responsible (which the cop already said is going to be him) and that the insurance company will pay out based on that.

I have already got an estimate to fix my car ($1400) and a list of weekly rates on cars at enterprise so when I get the police report and I contact his insurance company I should have everything on hand.

Basically what I think really happened was the guy was from out of town and looking for a hotel. He was stopped at the red light and saw no hotels coming up so at the last minute decided to turn right in order to turn around and did not see me.

Thanks for your comments and if anyone has any advice for me or comments please post them here.