quick-otter-4265/12/2026

At-fault driver gave his insurance totally wrong info about our crash — what do I do?

Still kind of shaking as I type this out. Got rear-ended two weeks ago at a red light — I was completely stopped and this guy plowed into me hard enough to push my car into the intersection. Police came, wrote everything up, and the officer on scene made it pretty clear the other driver was at fault. I snapped a ton of photos at the scene and actually have dashcam footage of the whole thing.

Both my partner and I have been dealing with neck and shoulder pain since. We went to urgent care the evening of the crash and then followed up with our primary care doc a few days later. No fractures, but the muscle stuff has been lingering and we're both on anti-inflammatories.

Here's where it gets wild. I finally got through to the at-fault driver's insurance to start a third-party claim, and the rep let slip some details that don't match reality AT ALL:

The driver told them the crash happened over a month before it actually did. A completely different date.
He described his vehicle wrong — wrong make, wrong color. I have him on dashcam. It's clearly not what he told them.
The registered owner of the vehicle appears to be someone else entirely, and I'm not sure if the driver is even properly listed on whatever policy exists.

My own insurance has basically told me to deal with his carrier directly, which honestly feels like being thrown to the wolves.

Has anyone dealt with a situation where the at-fault driver just... lied to their own insurance? Does the dashcam footage help me here? I don't want to get stuck with medical bills because this guy decided to make stuff up. Any advice appreciated.

9 replies

Most helpful first

quiet-badger-2265/12/2026
Oh man, something similar happened to me — the other driver gave his insurance a completely different story about how the crash happened. What saved me was having a witness statement and photos. Your dashcam footage is HUGE. Make sure you've backed it up in multiple places and don't let anyone tell you it's not relevant. That footage is basically the truth on a silver platter.
gentle-hare-0465/12/2026
His insurance company's job is to protect their policyholder, not you. Even with dashcam proof, don't be surprised if they drag their feet, question the footage quality, or try to get a recorded statement from you that they can use to poke holes in your claim later. Be really careful about what you say to them and how you say it. They are not your friend in this process.
- spry-elk-7015/12/2026
  Just want to make sure I'm understanding — did the insurance rep actually confirm to you what the driver reported, or are you inferring that from questions they asked? Asking because sometimes adjusters fish for information in ways that can feel like they're revealing things when they're actually just probing. Either way the footage matters, just want to make sure you have a clear picture of what you actually know vs. what you're piecing together.
careful-crane-6405/12/2026
I used to work on the claims side and I can tell you — when a policyholder's reported facts don't match third-party evidence like dashcam footage, that's a serious credibility problem for the driver internally too. Insurers don't love being lied to by their own customers. Submit your footage formally in writing, reference your police report number, and make them reconcile the discrepancy. Put everything in writing from here on out, no more phone-only conversations.
- careful-wolf-4755/12/2026
  A few practical things worth knowing: you generally have the right to request a copy of the police report yourself if you haven't already — it'll have the official date and other details that directly contradict what the driver told his insurer. Also, if the driver isn't properly listed on the vehicle owner's policy, there can be coverage questions that complicate things. It's worth at least doing a free consult with a PI attorney to understand where you stand before this drags on longer.
genuine-vole-9035/12/2026
Not legal advice, but situations involving a driver misrepresenting facts to their insurer can actually work in your favor — it undermines their credibility if this ever goes further. Your dashcam footage combined with a police report creates a strong factual record. I'd stop giving verbal statements to his insurance and consult with a personal injury attorney sooner rather than later, especially since there may be coverage issues with who actually owns the vehicle.
daring-badger-0005/12/2026
Please don't downplay the soft tissue stuff just because nothing showed up broken on imaging. Neck and shoulder injuries from rear-end crashes can take weeks or even months to fully declare themselves. Keep going to your follow-up appointments and document every symptom, even the ones that seem minor. If you settle too quickly before you know how you're actually healing, you may not be able to go back for more later.
humble-fox-1905/12/2026
Back up that dashcam footage right now if you haven't already — cloud, external drive, email it to yourself, whatever. Then send the insurance company a written summary of every lie you've identified, with your footage and police report attached. Don't wait for them to ask. Force them to respond to actual evidence instead of letting them just work from the driver's version of events.
candid-stoat-0615/12/2026
This is so stressful, I'm sorry you're dealing with this on top of recovering from the crash itself. The fact that he lied about something as basic as the date is honestly shocking — like, did he think no one would check? I really hope the dashcam footage helps you get this sorted out quickly.