Is It Your Fault or Mine?

Getting into a car accident is not a fun activity by any stretch of the imagination. There could be injuries to one or all parties involved, damage to one or all of the vehicles, and not to mention the stress of the entire incident for everyone involved.  If that is not enough chaos, you can be thrown for a whole another loop when you find out the accident is considered your fault although you don’t think you did anything wrong. Even if you initially think you did nothing wrong, there are several key factors to determine who is at fault and to differentiate between an at-fault and a not-at-fault accident. First, let us look at the definitions of at-fault and not-at-fault accidents.

Not-At-Fault Accident

For an accident to be considered not at fault for you, the insurance companies have to find another party at fault. In other words, it had to be an action that another driver took that was the direct cause of your collision. If you both did things wrong, your claims adjusters would work in parallel to determine what percentage of fault you each have. As long as you are deemed less than 50% at fault, the accident will be considered a not-at-fault accident. A good indicator of if the other party is at fault is whether or not they received a ticket or citation due to the actions they performed that may have caused the accident. However, on the flip side, if you or both of you receive a ticket, things can get tricky.

At-Fault Accident

In contrast, an accident is determined at fault if the accident is a result of an action you took. As we were just discussing, if you receive a citation as part of the claim investigation, you will typically be considered at-fault. You may be wondering about cases where there is not another driver involved, but you do not believe you did anything wrong- for instance, if a piece of road debris causes you to go off the road and hit a tree. In cases like that, you would still be considered at-fault, even though there was an external factor that caused you to take the action you did.

As a driver on the road, you are expected to use the safest driving habits possible and to take responsibility for the conditions in which you choose to drive. For the same reason, an insurance company would also consider an accident caused by sliding off the road due to a snow-storm at- fault. If you decide to drive in that type of weather, you are accepting the risk that something could happen and therefore are considered at fault for the accident because of the choice made despite the risk.

Importance

North Carolina, along with many other states, is what you call an “At-Fault State.” In an At-Fault State whoever is considered primarily at-fault for the accident is also responsible for all damages to all parties. The insurance policy of the driver who is at-fault will be the insurance that covers everyone involved. While your insurance premiums can be affected whether or not you are at- fault, you likely are going to see a substantially higher premium increase if the insurance company determines that you are responsible. For this reason, it is also important that if you find yourself in a situation where you are not sure if you are at-fault, to not try to make the determination yourself. Let your claims adjuster do their investigation and make that judgment call for you.