DMV says I'm at fault... but I wasn't?

Long story short I got hit months ago while driving. At the time of the accident I was deemed NOT at fault. Other driver was cited, their insurance paid for my repairs. Today I went to insure my motorcycle and my rate went through the roof for an "at fault" accident.

Wtf did some government slave fat finger who's fault it was??

Has anyone dealt with this? I'm going to call the state patrol and DMV Monday but I have absolutely nothing that says I wasn't the "at fault driver". (I asked for a receipt from the officer at the time but he said they don't give "you didn't do it ticket")

Super frustrating because I cant ride my bike until I get this sorted.

New to me bike because everyone likes pictures, 2008 Yamaha FZ1

 

I would contact the records division of the law enforcement agency that took the collision. Request a copy of the collision report and provide it to the insurance company. The report should have some sort of documentation showing the other party was cited and should also detail the circumstances of the collision.

Most states have standardized reporting protocols regarding collisions that occur on public streets. In your case, it would be the Washington State Department of Transportation.

 

I appreciate it, unfortunately when I called their records division they were of course closed until Monday. So I'll try again when my tax dollars are back at work haha

 

I think his issue seems to be how this was reported to the insurance company. While I think it should be the insurance company’s burden to investigate the claim before raising rates, I’d want to personally have the report myself because I wouldn’t trust them to do it at this point.

 

Can't speak for Washington, but I had to take it in the rear here in Colorado about 15 years ago. The day after my 19th birthday (November) I rear ended a S10 Blazer. I was looking over my left shoulder to merge as the right lane was ending, and I missed the traffic stopping. Unfortunately, I did this on a state highway, so the county deputy that initially showed up bolted when the state patrol officer walked up and took over. I was actually on good terms with the deputy, as my family had been family friends with his family. Damage to the other vehicle was minimal, but I was still at fault. I got a simple "Following too closely" ticket from the state patrol.

I admitted guilt, paid the ticket, and fixed my truck. At the time, I was a automotive technicians apprentice at a local Toyota dealer, so I wanted the situation cleared up as quickly and quietly as possible to stave off losing my job. I thought that was the end of it.

First inclination I had something was wrong, was almost a year later. I wrecked that truck again and this time totaled it, while in college in New Mexico. It took Colorado a few months to get the information from New Mexico, but once they did I was asked to come down and take a driving test as I'd had "two major incidents" in a 24 month period. I failed the first driving test because I activated the ABS on my moms car pulling up to a stop sign. Absolute bullshit, but I took the test again the following Monday and passed. They mentioned at the time that because of the seriousness of the two incidents, I was on thin ice and to behave for the next two years or face suspension.

Fast forward another 3 years or so, I tried getting a job at another local Toyota dealer. My brother worked there, and the service manager was hot to trot to hire me. I made it all the way through the hiring process, only to be told they couldn't hire me because I'd received a "reckless driving" ticket. I disputed this, I knew what tickets I'd gotten in my life, and reckless was never one of them. They said that's what came back on running my driving record for insurance, and corporate had a strict policy as to what tickets were allowable for hiring.

I got a copy of my driving record, and set up an appointment with both the DMV and the Boulder County courts to figure this out. The DMV was clueless. They had nothing to help me figure anything out. The ADA assigned to my meeting found the issue. When the state patrolman had filled out my ticket, he got a little broad with the pen strokes. On the ticket, he has to check the box of the offense. Right above the "following too closely" box is "reckless driving". Even though I thought I was pleading guilty to following too closely, and in the hand written comments and accident report both said following too closely citations, when the ticket was scanned into the computer system, the automatic scan device picked up the reckless driving and that was what officially went on my record.

My options were very limited and expensive. The ADA recommended that I should just stick it out, as in the state of Colorado, offenses like reckless driving, DUI and some other bigger vehicular offenses "fall off" the visible record 7 years after the offense. I'd already had 4 years or so under my belt, and didn't have the money for a lawyer to run the gambit of disputing the record.

If you have the ability, fight it. Don't take the governments bullshit, and make them review and rectify their mistake if you can find one. I wish I had, I would have had better opportunities if I would have.

 

This is correct, there was no dispute of fault at the time of the accident. Cop cleared me, and cited the other car. Their insurance paid me.

I didn't even think of the fender bender until yesterday when I went to insure my motorcycle and my record shows an "at fault accident"

My insurance was also no help. They basically shoulder shrugged and said that's what was reported to us.

Kinda lame that I pay for insurance but they'll accept incorrect reports from not their client, and expect me to prove my innocence.

This is actually a good point. I am able to pull my court records, and when i checked there is no court summons, which strengthens my case.

 

Be VERY Diligent on following up on EVERY detail with this...

A simple mistake on a police report had me fuming at my insurance company over paying off my son's 4 Runner after it was stolen...

My name was on the "Note" and too this day that was probably what saved his a$$...

I had to go to that local police station and REQUEST a "Stamped" copy of the reported theft and bring it to our "adjustment meeting" with the

insurance company .....

You could feel the room cool as Dad walked in with his son and the adjuster realized who's name was 1st on ALL paperwork

Walked out with a check for the full amount....

It SUCKS but diligence in any & all DMV cases is well worth the effort...

 

I think the issue here is with the insurer - not the DMV.

DMVs typically don’t determine fault - just report involvement in a traffic accident. Fault is determined in the opinion of the officer filing the report by marking contributing factors.

Your insurance company though doesn’t read reports when rating a policy. Most simply pull a MVR - and if they weren’t told about an accident and one appears - they assume it’s at fault. Used to see this all the time when people would quote new policies - they get the price based on the reported violations and accidents (none) buy a policy and then they get pissed that rates skyrocket because they had accidents on a MVR report or CLUE (comprehensive loss underwriting exchange) report. Doesn’t mean your “at fault” just means they assume fault of not advised and you just need to show them your not at fault.

To show not at fault - police report is generally the easiest - as long as there is an officers narrative and contributing factors marked should be good. Otherwise a letter from the other drivers insurance admitting they paid for the damage and accepted 100% is generally good.

There are a lot of situations where another driver being cited DOES NOT make them at fault - or 100% at fault (as comparative negligence is a thing in many states). I’d talk with your insurance company/agent for your exact situation.

 

I ended up calling my insurer and talked to a different agent from my first phone call. I explained the entire situation, start to finish and the entire saga of the accident, and my attempt to get insurance.

The agent basically told me the other agent didn't know what they were reading and just assumed an accident report was interpreted as my getting in an accident to the fault of no one else.

She took all of my verbal details and basically cleared me of any fault. That was interesting because I provided no actual proof besides my story. In the end I got my motorcycle insurance for dirt cheap after everything was fixed.

I also talked to the state patrol. They told me insurance companies are just blanket jacking up rates every time they see any accident on reports, and leaving it up to drivers to clear themselves.