The driver who hit me has the same insurer as me. Now I see the same guy is representing both of us — how is this fair?

Getting deed by different operator is atrocious enough. What makes it genuinely worse is discovering, determination betwixt the constabulary study and the archetypal adjuster call, that you some wage security premiums to the aforesaid company.

Imagine Maya, a 34-year-old graphic decorator successful Columbus, Ohio, who got rear-ended astatine a stoplight successful March. The different operator admitted responsibility connected the spot. Maya filed a constabulary report, took photos, and opened a assertion with her insurer that aforesaid afternoon. Then, a fewer days later, erstwhile she followed up connected the assertion status, she noticed the aforesaid adjuster sanction appearing connected some sides of the correspondence — hers and the different driver's.

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Maya wants to cognize whether she has immoderate existent extortion here. She does, but this is 1 of the messier spots successful American car insurance, and knowing however it really works changes what she does next.

When some drivers stock the aforesaid insurer

Maya's concern happens much often than radical think. The 4 biggest U.S. car insurers — State Farm, Progressive, Berkshire Hathaway (which owns GEICO), and Allstate — unneurotic controlled astir 59% of the marketplace successful 2025, according to National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) information (1). With that overmuch of the marketplace concentrated successful conscionable a fewer companies, ending up with the aforesaid insurer arsenic the operator who deed you is little of a coincidence.

If you and the different operator stock the aforesaid insurer, the modular manufacture signifier is that the insurer assigns 2 antithetic adjusters, 1 for each driver. Each adjuster is expected to analyse the crash, determine who was astatine responsibility and estimation the damages independently.

If they hold connected who caused the crash, the at-fault driver's adjuster handles the payout and the not-at-fault operator is compensated.

Insurers telephone the interior rules and procedures that support the 2 files abstracted "ethical walls (2)." The thought is to recreate, wrong 1 company, the aforesaid arm's-length process you'd get if 2 antithetic carriers were handling the claims.

In theory, that process should support Maya the aforesaid mode abstracted insurers would, but it's much analyzable successful practice.

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