I’ve got a buddy who was recently involved in a minor fender-bender in a gas station parking lot. The details of which I don’t know entirely, but as I understand it:
-The parking lot is L-shaped, with the gas pumps located in the longer section of the L, and additional parking in the shorter section.
-My buddy, in a small hatchback, intends to turn right from the parking section to drive between the pump/store, keeping right.
-A female driver in her teens, driving a brand new SUV, pulls away from the pumps to HER right, heading towards my buddy, and she ends up on the left side of the driveway (where my buddy is situated)
-Bang.
Perhaps my friend could have avoided the collision altogether by noticing the teen pull away and simply waiting to pass. I’m not sure it was avoidable on his part, nor do I know how well the teen driver was paying attention to her surroundings. But, the way I treat driveways is the same way I treat motorways - KEEP RIGHT - and this rule wasn’t followed by the teen driver.
My friend’s insurance, after contacting the other driver’s insurance, decided to accept 50% liability, presumably meaning both driver’s were equally at fault, and he is livid (and fighting the decision). But are there any hard and fast rules that would make the matter more black and white than “equal fault”?
It’d be nice if you’d describe what the damage was to each car.
It’s almost certainly not up to your friend to decide what his insurer does (unless he has some magic addendum to his policy), so the question is likely moot. It may be that he hasn’t explained the accident very well, or the situation seems more clear to the insurer and he’s prevaricating with them. I suppose he can tell his insurance company that he’ll waive coverage and as such demand that it decline to process the claim and that he’ll accept responsibility for whatever results if he loses in court because he wants to sue the teenager. (Ultimately, the other insurance company if paid out for its client might decide to sue him for 100% reimbursement.)
Keeping to the right is certainly a common-sense default position while driving in the US.
But just going by what you posted, it seems your friend was grossly negligent when it comes to defensive driving- I personally cannot envision a gas station parking lot situation as you describe leading to a collision. I’d certainly be able to avoid it; people in parking lots and gas stations are very often unpredictable and [del]stupid[/del] not paying attention. And usually moving very slowly, so collisions are easy to avoid. Were I to get in a similar situation, I think I’d be beating myself up for not being a good-enough defensive driver.
However, the insurance company is going to act, always, in their own best interest, not in the consumer’s interest. So I think that a 50:50 settlement (both drivers being more or less equally at fault) makes sense. Nobody wants the hassle of a long drawn out and expensive fight over this.
It all depends on right of way, directions of travel, etc. - or even if there is any traffic rules at all to worry about in a private lot.
Was he going against the proper flow of traffic? Most pumps tend by their location and ingress/exit ramps to have a single direction for traffic.
Was the other driver changing sides of the lane to get around a parked car ? Many pumps have room for two cars and the rear car finish first is always a pain for that driver.
How fast were they each going? Who hit who? Did he stop? Did she?
Anyone going too fast to stop on a dime in a crowded gas station pump area is probably already 50% at fault. There’s always people walking between the pumps possibly not looking for traffic coming from the wrong direction.
I suspect the story you got is polished to make his side of the story shine brighter.
The emphasis on the fact that it was a teen female in a brand new SUV verses an adult male driving a small hatchback makes me think the buddy is at fault and is emphasising these facts to make himself look better, and to make the other driver look somehow more at fault because of her age, gender and type of vehicle. Sterotypes abound: Teen drivers are always worse than adults. SUVs are evil compared to small hatchbacks, etc.
My guess is that the 50/50 designation of fault is probably accurate.
There aren’t enough details to really know, but I probably would have gone 50/50 as well. Depending on the state and policy, he may be able to get some of his deductible back.
But yeah, odds are that there’s something in his policy that says his company can defend or settle as they see fit. It is their job to protect their insured and sometimes that means accepting some, or all, liability.