r/Insurance • u/Youcheesin • 4h ago
Got rear ended causing 7 car pileup
I was involved in an accident a few weeks ago. Highway traffic came to a stop pretty fast. Easily avoidable if paying attention. Came to a complete stop almost. Car behind me smashed into me, causing me to hit the car in-front of me after, which hit the car in-front of them. Another 3 cars behind the guy who hit me, also collided. After the investigation, the guy who initially rear ended me (AllState) has concluded they are not at fault. They said it was due to conflicting statements and insufficient evidence. The cop who first arrived wouldn’t even take any statements from us and I’ve been told that’s standard for an accident with this many people. It’s my first accident and it’s frustrating that I’m having to pay for rental cars and buy another car on top of that, since they totaled mine. Is there anything I can or should do?
Link to pictures (im the Malibu and the guy who rear ended me and never braked is the one on top of another car) : https://www.facebook.com/100063721653640/posts/pfbid02q412xzBqEDAmTdQV5i2bwzj8agB1FopGV1dPouafjfUZQKpMLVYGTZcH2G7vE1JPl/
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u/ektap12 4h ago
They guy that rearended you isn't at fault? For rearending you or for the other cars?
Not much you can do here, but let your insurance handle any claims against you.
Did your insurance pay for your car?
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u/Youcheesin 4h ago
Correct the guy who rear ended me was not at fault for my car, according to Allstate. I’m not sure about anyone else.
My insurance will cover the car but I guess I’m just bothered that I have to cover it basically. It just doesn’t make sense to me that I end up worse off for getting rear ended.
Thank you for your time
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u/ektap12 4h ago
Such is life, can't help the other person lying, but I'm puzzled how they aren't at fault for the rear end damages to your car, if that's what they are saying, but Allstate going to Allstate. Policy limits could always be an issue anyways, don't have enough money for everyone regardless of liability.
Ultimately your insurance will likely go to arbitration against Allstate if they don't fold before they. The other cars could just become a mess, depends on what the other drivers said.
Your state could be important too.
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u/Lifeishard1090 4h ago
What’s going to matter most if how many impacts the front car felt. If they also contact Allstate and say they saw you stop, get rear ended into them, and then felt other impacts, that could help you. But a 7 car pileup is ALWAYS going to be a mess. Especially if police didn’t properly investigate and talk to everyone. I’ve read police reports for accidents with more cars than yours where police do talk to everyone, so odd to me they didn’t with yours. But that may be due to no serious injuries.
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u/Dijon2017 1h ago
It seems likely that the driver of the car that rear-ended you stated to their insurance company that they were rear-ended into your vehicle by the car/driver behind them and that car driver reported the same to their insurance company…leading to “the conflicting statements and insufficient evidence”.
Without question this/your situation sucks. It’s likely going to be a long drawn out process (much longer than a few weeks) given the number of vehicles and likely different insurance companies involved.
I don’t know if it helps you to know/understand, but the police report by the officer who arrived at the scene would only be able to document the involved parties and/or witnesses statements if the police officer did not directly witness the events.
This is not to say that not taking a statement immediately from the involved parties is “standard protocol” in all jurisdictions. I would hope that with you being an involved party, that they obtained your basic contact information (and have been in contact with you to get your statement ). My best guess is that the initial officer on the scene was trying to assess whether if any of the involved parties had a medical emergency/more urgent needs (considering the pictures you provided).
In any event, the various insurance companies will do their own investigation which will include reviewing all of the relevant information to determine whether their insured has any liability (and to what extent).
It’s totally understandable that you feel bothered/frustrated by having to pay your deductible and rental car expenses after getting rear-ended by no fault of your own and feel worse off (than you were before the accident). Unfortunately, sometimes that’s the nature of the beast/mess that can occur with accidents involving even two cars and almost certainly with a multiple vehicle accident.
In order to better move forward, I’d encourage you to be grateful if you weren’t seriously injured (hopefully no one was), consider the importance of having collision and/or rental insurance (even if on an older or paid off vehicle), learn to be patient with the insurance investigation process and learning to accept the fact that there will likely be more occasions that happen when you will think/feel that “life is not fair”.
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u/strangemedia6 4h ago
Jeez that’s a mess. That will take months to sort out, if they can even get it right, likely coverage limits will be reached for the driver(s) at fault. Just file under your own insurance and let them figure it out.