Fault hard to find in pileup crashes

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - When dozens of vehicles pile up in a crash, the people pushed into the pileup could be stuck footing their own damage bill.

"The first car would usually have responsibility, but to prove how all that happened is very difficult. You're going to want to use your own policy and know your coverage," Darren Vogt, an Allstate Insurance agent, said.

Vogt said it's a good idea to have collision coverage in your policy to cover a crash like this.

Even if it seems like the people in the middle of the pileup shouldn't be at fault, Vogt said it all comes down to proving an exact chain of events. That, he said, can be nearly impossible when dozens of vehicles are involved.

"There's no way to say who did what when and what reaction happened first," he said.

Even if police can piece together what happened in the initial crash and after, fault can still be hard to place.

"Police don't determine liability," Vogt said. "They take what they know as fact and then the insurance company determines who's liable. When you get to that many vehicles, 30, 40 vehicles, it's very difficult."

Vogt said people should use their own insurance to pay to fix their vehicles and then if any fault is determined after the insurance investigation, they could be reimbursed for their deductible. 

The exception would be if a person's part in the pileup showed clear evidence of another person at fault, like if a car was pulled over on the side of the road and another vehicle hit it.

"If there's definite evidence, someone will pay if it wasn't your fault. But if it isn't clear evidence, then the fairness relies on you to [have insurance] and make sure you're protecting yourself and your own risk," Vogt said.