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No citation, no pictures or evidence

by Patricia Flanagan
(Suffolk, VA)

I was involved with a disgruntled driver who slammed on her brakes several times off of a green light to scare me? Or cause me to hit her?

I barely touched the rear of her vehicle. A small scratch from my license plate. No damage to my vehicle at all. The police were called, no citation was issued. Just an exchange of information. I immediately called her insurance company and told my side of the story.

They contacted my insurance company and I received a call. I admitted that I could not control the circumstance, but that she was intentionally trying to induce an accident. No claim was ever filed on her end. I don't know that she ever even spoke with anyone.

Yet, my insurance company (Allstate, Virginia) raised my insurance rates (incredibly) and I have an accident on record. They stated that I admitted guilt and that's enough. My question is...with no physical proof of damage, no citation issued, no witnesses, no claim filed, why am I being penalized? Is there any way or anyone I can retain to help me in this matter? Do I have rights in this situation?

Comments for No citation, no pictures or evidence

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Sep 09, 2011
 American Family Experience
by: Anonymous

When my mother passed away, her auto policy was with American Family. She died of a heart attack while driving and her car crashed into a tree and totled it out.

American Family said it was an act of God and refused to pay for her car which was fully covered. Then later, our son had purchased a vehicle and we added him to our insurance with American Family.

When he moved to another state, (he had turned 18 by then, we attempted to stop our insurance coverage but American Family would not allow that because we had co-signed. Then our son was involved in an accident (not his fault) the first week he was in his new state and totaled out the vehicle.

American Family refused to stop the insurance points from raising and also forced us to pay outrageous rates for the next five years and we could not find an insurance company that would take us as clients until we moved out of that state because of new jobs.

State Farm was the best insurance company we ever worked with but the one we have now has always treated us fair.
Nov 28, 2007
 Here is our answer
by: Hector

This is clearly one of those situations were we need more regulation over insurance companies. I hate that. I think it is highly unfair! You are supposed to file a claim as soon as you can, but then they will jack up the price in such way that you cannot afford the rates.

AllState is known for this, and they seem to get away with it. The theory is that since insurance companies are in the business of assessing “risk”, the event that you were involved on shows that you are more likely to get in a car accident than they originally thought.

There is no evidence that you were at fault for anything. However, there is evidence that you were unable to handle the situation as they would want you to handle the situation (I know, it’s bull), so they jack up the price.


The argument goes, they do not need evidence of fault or a claim, they simple need evidence that you are likely to get into a car accident so they can jack up the price.

What to do? You can contact your state department of insurance (Virginia is the bureau of insurance). Here is a link http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/index.htm. You can contact them and ask them what is the steps insurance companies need to raise your rate.

Or (I think this is more effective), you can send a certified letter (and a copy to you insurance agent) asking the insurance commissioner (Mr. Alfred W. Gross) to investigate the situation. In many occasions, when insurance companies see a letter from this office, they suddenly “realize” that a mistake has occurred in their “computer system” and that your rates were “incorrectly calculated.”

The very best thing to do is to dump AllState. We have learned (running this site) that AllState really leaves a lot of things to be desired. Check out local quotes and see if you can get a better deal somewhere else. Since there is no claim history (no one filed a claim and there was no damage for this particular accident or even a ticket) you are in the clear.

You might be able to get even a lower rate than you have now.

I hope this help.

Hector.

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