Q: My auto insurance denied my claim on a financed vehicle. How can they deny my claim if I had full coverage?
My insurance company denied my claim due to the EDR or black box in my car; it didn't show that any car hit my car. When it comes to the EDR system in the car, the only time it activates is when the airbags deploy. That being said, the vehicle that bumped me didn't hit me hard enough that the airbags deployed so that wouldn't show on the EDR system. They also stated that it should I was going 92mph at the time of impact and that was another reason why they are denying it. My car was fishtailing after the car bumped me and I had semi trucks behind me I couldn't break because my car would then flip so I decided to floor it to straighten the car out but it was to late the car was heading towards the guardrail and hit. They also stated that there was no paint from the other car that showed a car hit me. Well the car that swerved into my lane and bumped me hit my front left side bumper and the bumper was never picked up from the crash. Now I have to pay 18grand for a car that was total loss
A:
United Equitable's denial is technically legal, but that does not make it completely right. Unfortunately, United Equitable is one of several insurance companies in Illinois that come up with a myriad of reasons to deny coverage for their own policyholders. Those reasons are oftentimes very questionable and can include partially improper reliance on EDR data, accident reconstruction arguments that an insurance claims adjuster does not have the proper expertise/training to make, questioning of whether an accident caused a person's injuries despite insurance claims adjusters not having medical degrees, and claiming the medical bills an injured person incurred are too high.
However, if you were in fact going 92 mph on the highway where speed limits generally range between 55 mph and 70 mph, or there was extreme over-correction following an impact, United Equitable could have determined you were a contributing factor to how and why this accident occurred. That's called "contributory negligence", and depending on how much of it exists, it can serve as a valid legal defense to either reduce or outright deny a claim.
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