Have you ever been blamed for something that wasn't your fault?

I missed this discussion Pumpkin. About 15 years ago I was pulling out of a roadside shop car park intending to turn right. I looked right (and left) and saw nothing coming and so proceeded. When I was almost across the road I saw a car pass behind me and then a "Thump" as it collided with a concrete bollard. I pulled over. By the time that I had stopped the driver was running down the road after me. He accused me of pulling out in front of him causing him to swerve into the bollard. I denied this of course and there were no witnesses. I said that he wasn't there when I looked and therefore must have been speeding. He said that he was going to the police and drove off. I drove to the police station and said what had happened. They said that he hadn't reported it and therefore I could go home. About a month later the police came to the house and cautioned me! They said that the driver had made a complaint and I was to go to the station to make a statement. I did so immediately. I explained what had happened and the police officer told me that I was probably OK, although apparently it wasn't legal to make a right turn out of the shop car park. Eventually I received a letter from the Police saying that they didn't intend to pursue the matter further. I informed my insurance company anyway and received a letter from them saying that the damage caused to my car (there was NONE) indicated that the accident was my fault. I explained to them both verbally and in writing that not only was there no damage to my car, but that I denied liability. They said that if I continued to deny liability then they would cease to insure me! At this point I was incandescent with anger (if you can imagine that) and demanded to speak with their Chief Executive. One very cross call later in which I informed them that they could pay what they liked to the other driver, but so far as I was concerned there was no damage to my car, the police had confirmed that there was no grounds for prosecution and that if they withdrew my insurance cover then I would certainly be going to the Insurance Ombudsman, my MP etc; they agreed to keep me covered, not affect my No Claims Bonus and that there would be no increase in my insurance premiums the following year beyond the normal inflation rise. I never heard anymore about it. But I did change insurers the next year!

I'm afraid you'd have to consult a lawyer to know if there is anything you can do about it. And I have been in similar situations, more than once. One time I was rear-ended by another driver who jumped out of the car and ran away but I could not pursue damages because I didn't have car insurance at the time and the lawyer said that MY driver's license would be taken away because of that. Good grief! How fair is that? Then one time my best friend and daughter borrowed my car to run to the store and some man ran a stop sign and hit them, they were okay but the car was destroyed. When I went to get insurance on my new car, it had been put on my driving record that I was the driver in that accident and I wasn't even there!! The insurance community is pretty darn unfair most of the time! I hope you get your problem settled in your favor.

I was blamed for an accident as well! I was driving on a road down in FL where it's 3 lanes each way and I was in the lane closest to the center of the road and the lady lightly ahead of me but in the middle lane decided all of a sudden to cut in front of me but then she slammed on her brakes because she wanted to turn and there was traffic coming the other way, so I tried to swerve into the center lane cuz no one was coming and I slammed into her back passenger bumper my front drivers side...and it was all because she cut me off...we were going between 35-40mph...there was no way to stop. And everyone said because I hit her I was at fault even though it would've never happened if she wasn't so stupid. Of course my insurance went up (which my parents weren't too happy about)...but originally we weren't even going to go through insurance, my dad was going to pay right out of his pocket to get her car fixed and whatnot...but she decided she wanted more money than that and went through insurance and tried to sue me for 100,000 because "she hurt her back"...as soon as my insurance said she had to go to one of their doctors she dropped it (she wasn't hurt even when I talked to her a couple days later on the phone)...and she tried to tell insurance her car would be about 3,000 to get fixed because it was a unibody car (which wasn't true because my dad knows cars, he sold them for 12 years!)...to say the least, I definitely got screwed...but because she tried to fraud my insurance company they didn't pay for her car repairs (I just found this out from my dad even though it happened 3 years ago). But of course because of a claim they raised my rates...BLAH!

I feel for you. I was in an accident in cookeville, TN and the lady was doing atleast 50 or higher in a 35 mile an hour zone and when I pulled out to come across I didn't see her and she hit me in the side door on the driver's side. They said that because I was hit in the side by her car that it was my fault. I was like yeah right. Anyways, I had no choice because of what eyewitness said happened. I was by myself and she had kids in the car. But it wasn't my fault because she was not there when I went to go across four lanes of traffic. So i know how you feel.

ya iam thinking so bcoz sometimes other people have some misunderstanding about us so they blamed for something that wasnt our fault

yeah, so many many times..but they just can't help it. i don't even know how to pin point those guys. i never saw them again after that, but I've heard the company found out finally and they never got their last pay

It didn't happen to me but it happened to my partner. There was a car, on the wrong side of the road hit the side mirror of my partner's car and it broke to pieces. Since it was electric mirror, we cannot just fix it and afterall there is insurance we can claimed the incident to. But when it came to the insurance agency, they said that it was impossible that someone could hit the electric mirror that way. I was there and I saw what has happened but too bad, those people wouldn't listen to me. They sent a investigator and it was good that the investigator was good enough so they paid for the side mirror of my partner's car. I think, sometimes, or most of the time, the insurance officers are annoying.

Yes i remember i have been blamed by my dad many times for the mistake which i have never done,and trust me it is so much annoying, because you always get the blame and punishment for the things you do wrong but why should you bear the blame for the wrong things done by someone else.It is so much of unjustice and this all everytime happens only to me and i am the only one affected the most because i am too much sensitive and emotional.I am not once or twice caught it this but it is always with me :(.

The laws of the country can sometimes work against you. My car was knocked on the driver's side by another car. It was clearly his fault. He admitted to me he changed his mind at the last moment and drove into the lane just as I went into that lane from a side lane. The problem was there should be an elevated island in the direction of that driver who knocked me. If the elevated island was there, he wouldn't have been able to drive into my lane. Unfortunately when I went to report this to the Traffic Police Office, I was fined RM300.00. As far as he was concerned any side collision will be my fault as I entered another lane from the side. I lost my No Claim bonus that year. A very expensive accident. So, sometimes when you obey the law, you are still blameworthy!

This is basically my life story. I get blammed for EVERYTHING. In school, with my family, with my friends...If something bad happens, it's automatically my fault.

Thats an unfair blame. The insurance agencies have some set of rules which make them go by book. They don't even care to listen to what actually happened. All they want is some keywords from your narration like say "Junction" in your case. As sson as they hear the word, they go into their dictionary of all scenarios related to this word. It would have cleared said that anyone exiting or entering the junction should be held responsible automatically for an accident. This is a very unfair way evaluating one's case and in my opinion the final decision should be given on a case by case basis instead of blindly sticking to the book.