Am I at fault?? *Verdict: NOPE (technically)*
 

Had a shitty fender bender this morning. Some jackass in his mom's soccer van cut me off at a yellow light and I had to brake hard and steer away to dodge him, but ended up contacting his driver-side door. Damages have been appraised at just over $5k.

Excuse the language; couldn't stand the sound of my baby scraping against that oaf of a car:
[ame]http://youtu.be/96R5fk7U54k[/ame]

I've already submitted the DashCam video to insurance, hopefully it does more good than harm. I feel like an argument could be made that I was trying to "run the yellow light", but I was kind of on the borderline of being able to stop safely and being able to just drive through it. Also, the other car clearly cut me off without signalling or checking his blind spot, aka unsafe lane change.

1. What do you guys think, am I in the clear?
2. Will it buff out? I don't feel like the impact was enough to mess up the alignment/structural integrity of the car... but it still pisses me off that I have to get bodywork done on the car already, at barely over 9k miles. I really hope it's just the body panels that are messed up T__T
3. How's that FT86SF Catted UEL Header sounding???

*CONCLUSION*: An official decision has been reached; check the end of the thread for details. Removing the video now because I don't need any more retrospective, online driving advice regarding this incident. Thanks all for the support and the critical insights, but it's time to move on. I hope everyone at least learned a little something from this; I know I did.

To me it looks like you were driving in the blindspot of the other driver, the other drive didn't check and changed lanes and boom.

Yellow light does not mean slow down. It does not speed up either. It means to proceed with caution.

I feel like you should be in the clear.

As a dude - I would say that's his fault. As an insurance co - you were accelerating to a red light - right?

What if you were a ma'am? What would you say? LOLOL

Door repaint, new fender.

Possibly no fault accident.

Judging from the engine sound, I don't think I can deny that I got on the gas a little bit when it turned yellow. Just not sure if it's a valid reason to pin any fault on me in this case... yes, I'm just fishing for confirmations here

I would say as little as possible and then say something like "oh, the car got a little scratch today"

To me, the other drive dove into your lane. I didn't see a signal either. Unsafe lane change.

I guess it will all depend on the companies, their relationship and the adjusters. That truck next to you doesn't help your case because he is braking well in advance. Well, riding his brake most of the way down the hill.

Main thing - that sucks. Hate to see a nice car damaged by a knucklehead. Make sure they check his phone records if possible. If he was texting or anything - it will help!

I believe it is the other drivers fault. I do think you were driving a bit aggressively towards that yellow light. Just my opinion.

Hey - maybe both adjusters will own twins. Could happen.

Check the video again the other driver did turn on his left turn signal.

I think you would have been fine to not submit the footage. I don't see what he could say to put the blame on you. I can't tell really but from the video it looks like you could have reacted a bit faster?

I had a fender bender where me and someone else change into same lane. My insurance charged me 50% deductible and my rate stayed the same.

Hope it works out for you OP

Nah, he definitely didn't. Confirmed on the HQ raw video file. You're probably seeing his brake lights.