Fighting the Partially At-Fault Ruling
To refresh your
memory about our fight against the partially at-fault ruling,
here's the Romanov Report that dealt with it, along with your
emails: http://www.insurancehotline.com/newsletter/archive/romanov37
When there's an accident and one driver is found to be
"at-fault",
many times the other driver is designated to be "partially
at-fault".
These "partially at-fault" designations hold as much weight as
being
"completely at-fault", sending many good drivers' insurance
rates
skyrocketing.
I
received a reply from Bob Christie, CEO and Superintendent of
the Financial Services Commission of Ontario.
Don't worry, I expected this, and I've already got some industry supporters looking into it.
Automotive Recalls
Car manufacturers don't like to conduct recalls. They're
expensive and
bad for business. Most problems never get to the recall stage.
But that doesn't mean there aren't problems, especially when it
comes to
your insurance rate.
Defects include tires, brakes, gas tanks, fuel systems,
steering,
rollover potential and unintended acceleration!!!!!
If you have an accident that's directly the result of a
manufacturer's
defect, your insurance company may investigate, and go after the
manufacturer, but you're not off the hook. Even if the insurance
company gets completely reimbursed for the entire amount of the
loss
caused by the accident, the claim will still count against you
and
your rate will go up.
Most lawsuits state that the defective product is a
"contributory
factor" as opposed to a "direct cause" of the accident. This
means
that the manufacturer is never assigned complete fault. So be
warned,
the fault still lands on the driver.
Even if you're only deemed to be partially at-fault, your
insurance
rate can increase by several thousand dollars, as if you were
completely, 100% at-fault. You can always try to fight a
"partially
at-fault" ruling, if you don't find it fair, through the
company's
ombudsman. There's also an organization set up to mediate
between
insurance companies and drivers with respect to the "Fault
Determination Rules". You can contact the General Insurance
Ombudservice (GIO) and ask to speak to Glen Williamson, the
Executive Director, at 1.877.225.0446. Their website is:
www.giocanada.org
Insurance Rates
Right now insurance rates are all over the map, with great
savings to
be found for drivers with good records, and even for those of
you with
tickets and accidents. It can never hurt to do a quick rate
search to
ensure you're paying the best price out there. If you've got a
great
rate, tell a friend to go to
www.InsuranceHotline.com.
It's good
karma. Oh yeah, and ABC's Good Morning America called me about
my book
"Car Carma: When bad things happen to good drivers, is your
astrological sign to blame?" Unbelievable, eh?
Is Your Car Safe?
Here's a good way to research vehicles and check out their road
tests,
click here.