My vehicle, driven by a friend of my daughter's, was involved in an auto accident in Arizona. The Phoenix Police Department did an investigation at the time of the accident. The driver of the vehicle that hit my car was cited. The citation (#28-774) was for failure to yield the right of way. This driver was exiting a private driveway into oncoming traffic and did not see my vehicle in the left turn lane making a left-hand turn.
Damage to my vehicle was estimated at $2400 by an independent Toyota dealer.
I worked with Allstate for many months to cover the damage to my vehicle (from the date of the accident, 11/16/99, to 06/14/00). They would not settle the claim because they disputed who was at fault and were taking the claim to arbitration. Finally, on 06/14/00, I received a letter stating that the driver of my vehicle was 70% at fault and that Allstate therefore would not be covering the damage.
At the time, I did not have collision coverage on this vehicle through my insurance carrier, Nationwide. Therefore, they were not very interested in fighting the arbitration, since they had no vested interest. So when the claim went to arbitration, I feel my case was not represented at all and Allstate had the winning hand from the beginning.
The question I need answered is: how can the driver of the other vehicle be issued a citation by the investigating officer (an on-the-scene, duly sworn officer of the law) and found guilty of not yielding the right of way, but later an arbitration board (not at the scene of the accident) that was mainly represented by Allstate finds that my vehicle's driver was 70% at fault?
I want to know what representation I had at the arbitration board hearing. What evidence was presented on my behalf? How could the fault be totally opposite of what the officer on site saw? I feel Allstate had the upper hand during the arbitration since I had no representation in this matter.
Therefore, since the arbitration board sided with Allstate, I am out $2400 and Allstate gets off free! This is not fair!
Allstate claim 2246679373
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