The Shoulder
The Shoulder
75
Car accidentscool-wren-766

Accident from 4 years ago just showed up on my record as MY fault — can this even happen??

I'm honestly losing my mind right now and need to know if anyone else has dealt with something like this.

Back when I was 18, my younger brother was borrowing my car regularly to get to his construction job across town. I was the policyholder — he wasn't on my insurance because he kept dragging his feet about adding himself and splitting the cost. One afternoon a pickup truck drifted into his lane on the highway and forced him onto the shoulder, where he clipped another car.

At the time, everything seemed to get sorted. There was a claim, a bunch of back and forth, and eventually we were told it was basically a wash — no fault assigned. I moved on with my life.

Fast forward to last month: I'm shopping for a new policy because my current one renewed and the rate jumped. Every single quote I'm getting is almost double what I used to pay. I start digging and apparently that old incident is now sitting on my record flagged as me being majority at fault. After FOUR YEARS of nothing.

I don't even have the paperwork anymore. I barely remember which insurance company I was with back then. I was a teenager doing everything on my own and didn't think to keep records.

How is it legal for something to just randomly get re-classified years later and torpedo my premiums? Is there any way to dispute this or get it removed? Do I need a lawyer or is this something I can handle myself?

Any advice is genuinely appreciated because I feel completely blindsided. 😩

16replies

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16 replies

  • 20
    tidy-marten-939

    Not my area obviously, but I just want to say — the stress of fighting bureaucratic battles like this is genuinely taxing. Make sure you're not letting this consume you entirely. Take it one step at a time and lean on people who've been through it (sounds like there are a few here).

  • 14
    careful-newt-121

    Quick question — when you say it "showed up as your fault," where exactly are you seeing that? Is it on your CLUE report, your MVR, or is this just what the new insurance companies are telling you when they quote you? The source matters a lot for figuring out how to dispute it.

    • 0
      hopeful-rider289

      This is exactly what I needed to read today. Thank you.

  • 19
    plain-swift-634

    Step one: get your CLUE report today, not tomorrow. Step two: call the insurance company that reported it and demand a written explanation of when and why the fault designation changed. Step three: if they can't give you a clear answer, escalate to your state insurance commissioner. It sounds like a lot but each step is a phone call or a form — totally doable.

    • 2
      patient-driver962

      Same boat here. Did anyone mention a deadline to watch out for?

  • 17
    curious-otter-314

    Not legal advice, but this situation — a stale fault determination suddenly appearing years later — is actually something attorneys who handle insurance disputes deal with. If your dispute through the insurer goes nowhere, a free consultation with a PI or insurance bad faith attorney might be worth your time. Some of these situations have remedies that go beyond just fixing your record. Just worth knowing that option exists.

    • 1
      gentle-walker241

      Solid advice. Getting it in writing is the part most people skip.

  • 18
    warm-swan-384

    Seconding the CLUE report advice above. Also, your state's DMV will have a separate driving record — pull that too, because sometimes the fault designation lives there independently of your insurance history. Once you know exactly what's been reported and by whom, you can formally dispute inaccurate entries. It's not a guaranteed fix but insurers are required to investigate disputes. Document everything from here on out — every call, every email, every date.

    • 0
      level-mile-marker926

      Following up on this — any update on how it turned out?

    • 1
      kind-dreamer904

      Curious whether you did this on your own or had help with it.

    • 14
      gentle-heron-377

      The good news is you caught this now while you were actively shopping, not years from now when you'd been overpaying the whole time without even knowing why. You've got a trail to follow — the CLUE report, the DMV record, the original claim — and people have successfully disputed these things before. It's fixable.

  • 11
    sharp-bison-291

    So here's what probably happened behind the scenes: the other party's insurance company may have quietly reopened the claim, done a subrogation review, and assigned fault percentages without ever notifying you. Insurers do this all the time, especially if someone filed a late injury claim. The frustrating part is that by the time it hits your record, the window to respond through the insurance channel may already be closing. You'll want to pull your CLUE report (it's free, you're entitled to one per year) — that'll show you exactly what's on file and which carrier reported it. That's your starting point.

    • 3
      patient-passenger216

      Solid advice. Getting it in writing is the part most people skip.

    • 14
      steady-newt-415

      This sounds so stressful, I'm sorry you're dealing with it. The fact that you were basically just a teenager handling everything solo and now getting penalized for it years later feels really unfair. Hope you get some real answers soon.

  • 15
    daring-fox-692

    Oh wow, this happened to something similar to me — an old fender bender got re-flagged on my record out of nowhere like two years after the fact. I had no idea insurance companies could even do that. I ended up calling my state's department of insurance to file a complaint and that actually got someone's attention faster than anything else I tried.

    • 11
      careful-swift-731

      Don't be surprised if the insurer drags their feet on any dispute you file. They have zero incentive to fix this quickly because in the meantime you're either paying inflated premiums or shopping for a new policy — both outcomes are fine by them. Be persistent and put everything in writing. Phone calls are basically invisible to these companies.