I rear ended someone who clearly cut me off. How should I go about it with Insurance?

The other night I was in the far right lane of a 3 lane highway in hopes of making a right turn onto the upcoming street. There was a red light at the intersection ahead and I was about 100 yards away from it. When i was coming down the right lane the driver in the lane to the left of me (about 20 yards ahead of me) swerved into my lane (he was going about 10mph and i was going about 30). As soon as he swerved into my lane he hit his brakes which allowed him to come to a complete stop but by this time i was to close to him to fully hit the brakes. I belive he swerved into my lane to avoid someone else. He did not signal with his blinker and clearly cut me off. I had 4 other people in the car with me at the time who all said it happened the same way. The cops did not come out so there was no official report. Any advice as how i should deal with the situation?

fire4511

You should pay for the damaged caused by your failure to keep full and complete control of your vehicle at all times.

You struck the vehicle in the rear. You are at fault here. It dose not matter if the other driver switched lanes, you hit a stopped vehicle at a traffic light.

Sorry by you are at fault. Call your insurance company and report the accident. Unless you have collision coverage on your vehicle, you will have to pay for the repairs to your car out of pocket. If you do have coverage, you will have to pay the deductible.

Vipassana

Actually, you had plenty of space.

20 yards, is 60 feet.

At 30 mph, the average vehicle needs around 35~ feet to come to a complete stop.

You had double that. Even if it took you a full second to see him, it would have left you 40~ feet to stop. Still more than enough.

So, from a mathematical stance, your story doesn't check out. Either you're wrong about the distance, or your speed.

Plus, if you know you're coming up to a stoplight, why did you even need to go 30mph? It's not like slowing down would have changed when you got to the light.

Your story, whether it's confirmed by others (odd that you don't have anyone outside of your car confirming the story, lol), doesn't make sense. You had time, distance, and opportunity to stop.

Gypsy

60 feet isn't enough time to stop a vehicle going 30?

What were you doing with those other 4 people, chattering away, and not paying attention?

You could have stopped in 40 feet. You hit them. Nevermind that there's almost always merging vehicles at intersections. You should have been more observant, and actually hit the brakes.

wing b

You can compare how the insurance quotes would change, for example here - autoinsurance.noneto.com

jtexas

there's really only one thing you can do: give a full statement to your insurance agent, tell it exactly like it happened.

they'll deal with it. it's what we pay 'em for.

cottonlily84

1 you should have had the cops come out. Without their report it's going to be a big mess anyway. Why would you not call the cops to a wreck???

Secondly, if you rear end someone it's always going to look like it's your fault. These swoop-n-smash cases happen but you're supposed to always allow adequate distance between you and the car you're following in case of an unexpected stop.

lisa p.

do not til them you hit them! idk. say anything but tht.you might be s.o.l though

Your all morons

Ok, good advice is good advice, with my experiance, I'd say it was Cut and swoop, they cut you off then hit the brakes, so you'll hit them and sue you for tailgating, get a really good trial lawyer, you'll need it. And counter sue. My best advice is not to think, KNOW. Tell the lawyer what you know not what you think happened, thats for him to investigate. Don't pay attention to this moron fire rescue, he is clearly prejudgemental. Making a statement without even being there, imagine of he was on trial as a jury ?
And by the way, this happens on a daily basis here in NY so dont lie to this guy ok and yes I am former fire fighter/rescue
Westhempstead NY
I can actually save you other guys for future that fingered me down and finger you down on all your future comments hows that for vindictive ?

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