clever-crane-5875/10/2026

Caught the other driver's insurer predetermining fault on a recorded call — before anyone even pulled a report

I need to share this because I genuinely didn't know insurance companies could operate this way and I think other people should.

About six weeks ago someone ran a red light and T-boned me on a cross street. Their fault, full stop — there were two pedestrians on the corner who watched the whole thing, the responding officer noted the signal violation in his report, and my dashcam caught every second of it.

Here's the part that still makes my jaw drop:

While we were all still standing at the scene waiting for the tow truck, the other driver called her insurance company on speaker to report the claim. I was maybe fifteen feet away. I could hear everything. The rep on the phone — before asking a single question about evidence, witnesses, or a police report — said something along the lines of "sounds like your policy covers you here, we'll take care of it."

My friend who was with me immediately started recording on her phone. We have that audio.

After that call, the other driver's insurer:

Disputed liability even after I sent them the dashcam footage and the officer's report
Stopped responding to my calls and emails for almost five days straight
Denied my rental request, leaving me without a car for work
Threatened to close the claim if I didn't accept a quick offer

I've since filed a formal complaint with my state's insurance commissioner and I'm in the process of putting together a civil case myself. I'm not rolling over.

Has anyone else dealt with an insurer making up their mind before even looking at the evidence? What did you do? Did filing a complaint with the commissioner actually move the needle for anyone?

9 replies

Most helpful first

clear-marten-2545/10/2026
This is almost word for word what happened to me two years ago — different insurer, same playbook. They decided I was partially at fault before the police report even existed. The moment I mentioned I had a recording of one of their reps contradicting the police findings, suddenly they were very interested in talking. Don't let up.
sharp-badger-6125/10/2026
I worked in claims for years and I'll be honest with you — what you overheard is not unusual on the inside. Reps are sometimes coached to reassure their own policyholder immediately to maintain the relationship, regardless of what actually happened. It's a retention and PR instinct, not an investigation. The problem is when that off-the-cuff reassurance becomes the unofficial claim position before anyone reviews a single document. That recorded audio is genuinely valuable. Keep it safe, back it up in multiple places, and don't share it casually — not on social media, not with their adjuster unless you're in a formal setting.
- silent-mole-7095/10/2026
  Can I ask — are you actually doing okay physically? People get so deep in fighting the insurance battle that they delay getting checked out or they downplay symptoms because they're stressed and distracted. If you haven't had imaging done yet, please go. Adrenaline from this kind of situation masks a lot, and some injuries don't announce themselves for days or even weeks. Document everything medically, even if you feel mostly fine.
silent-marten-1145/10/2026
The "close the claim if you don't respond" deadline is one of their favorite pressure moves. There's usually zero legal weight behind it — they just hope you don't know that. Don't accept anything under pressure and don't let them rush you into a recorded statement either.
cool-marmot-3915/10/2026
Filing with the insurance commissioner is a solid move and more people should do it. Insurers are required to conduct a reasonable investigation before denying or assigning fault — it's in most states' unfair claims settlement practices regulations. A documented pattern of skipping that step can actually support a bad faith argument down the road. Keep copies of every email, every voicemail, every date you tried to reach them and got no response. Timestamps matter a lot.
kind-otter-0635/10/2026
Not legal advice, but what you're describing — predetermined fault, failure to respond within regulatory timeframes, denying reasonable expenses like a rental — those are the kinds of facts that an attorney would want to look at specifically in the context of bad faith handling, not just the underlying accident claim. A lot of PI attorneys will do a free consult and some handle bad faith on contingency. Worth at least a conversation before you go too far down the pro se road. The recording alone could change the shape of this significantly.
curious-owl-7735/10/2026
I'm so sorry you're going through this. The fact that you were left without a car for work on top of everything else is just awful. I hope the commissioner complaint actually does something — rooting for you.
brave-beaver-8635/10/2026
Back up that audio to cloud storage, a USB drive, and email it to yourself right now if you haven't already. Evidence has a way of disappearing at inconvenient moments. Everything else can wait — do that first.
plain-marten-1495/10/2026
I believe you, but I want to make sure you're framing this correctly before you go further. When you say the rep "predetermined fault" — did they explicitly say you were at fault, or did they say their policyholder was covered? Because "we'll take care of it" could mean they're just confirming coverage exists, not necessarily assigning blame to you. Not saying it doesn't matter, but how you characterize it in a complaint or court filing is going to matter. What exactly were the words used?