Latest / The Art of Adjusting® Podcast / Episode #83 - Rules Of The Road For Adjusters: Fault, Foreseeability, And Last Clear Chance

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Episode #83 - Rules Of The Road For Adjusters: Fault, Foreseeability, And Last Clear Chance · The Art of Adjusting® Podcast

• 0:06
  William Auten: Hello, I'm Bill Auten of Auten Claims Management.
• 0:09
  Chantal Roberts: I'm Chantel Roberts of CMR Consulting, and welcome to the Art of Adjusting podcast.
• 0:14
  William Auten: Today we're going to talk about life as an insurance adjuster from the perspective of property, auto, liability, or workers' compensation adjusters.
• 0:22
  William Auten: Our goal is to bring interesting topics in the world of claims adjusting to people who are working as an adjuster now and to people who are considering a career as a claims adjuster.
• 0:31
  William Auten: Hi, Bill.
• 0:32
  William Auten: Hey Chantel, how are you?
• 0:34
  William Auten: I'm doing well, thank you.
• 0:35
  William Auten: How are you doing?
• 0:35
  William Auten: Pretty good.
• 0:36
  William Auten: I can't believe it's December already before we know what it's going to be 2026.
• 0:41
  Chantal Roberts: That is a little weird for me because I have to tell you, we we just stopped or we just finished up watching Downton Abbey, and it ends on January 1st, 1926.
• 0:54
  Chantal Roberts: So a hundred years ago, basically.
• 0:56
  Chantal Roberts: And I'm like, wow, look at how many much things have changed.
• 1:00
  Chantal Roberts: And yet, how many things don't change?
• 1:04
  Chantal Roberts: Because this leads us to the topic of the rules of the road.
• 1:10
  Chantal Roberts: Because cars were new then.
• 1:12
  Chantal Roberts: And uh there's this story, and I have no idea if it's true or not, but like the very first car accident in the United States was in Ohio because and you know, two people, the only two cars in Ohio happen to hit one another, and you're like, how does that even happen?
• 1:28
  Chantal Roberts: So I don't know if that really happened or not, but we're gonna talk about the rules of the road today, and I'll tell you why.
• 1:35
  Chantal Roberts: The the the reason is when I facilitate CPCU 530, I give an example when we're talking about liability, about a car accident, and I show the uh people who are in the tests or you know, that I'm facilitating the conversations with, I show them a police report.
• 1:59
  Chantal Roberts: Um, and then I say who's at fault and I'll show them a picture.
• 2:07
  Chantal Roberts: And every single time they say it's the person making the left-hand turn.
• 2:12
  Chantal Roberts: And I of course I'd love to have an auto adjuster in this particular class with me to see what she would say, but every single time it's a left-hand turn, and it's not necessarily so I think that we should go ahead and go over all, well, not all, but the majority of our rules of the road.
• 2:31
  Chantal Roberts: And um, you know, like those four-way stop things, right?
• 2:35
  Chantal Roberts: Um, those get a little weird.
• 2:38
  William Auten: Well, left-hand turns, we can we could probably talk the entire episode just about left-hand turns.
• 2:45
  William Auten: They're a little more complicated than uh than any other uh maneuver you're gonna make because you've gotta sit and you've got to wait for traffic to clear.
• 2:55
  William Auten: Now, if you're in an area where there's uh four lanes, let's say you've got to look for traffic to clear from both of those lanes coming uh uh coming towards you.
• 3:07
  William Auten: Um there's an intersection near me where there's five lanes because there's a turn lane also, and there happens to be a curve and a hill there.
• 3:16
  William Auten: So when there are cars in the turn lane, they're blocking the view of anything else coming, um coming from the other way.
• 3:24
  William Auten: It's a bad intersection, and probably once a month I go through that intersection after there's been an accident.
• 3:31
  William Auten: So that's a problem.
• 3:34
  William Auten: And as you're approaching an intersection like that, knowing that there may be cars ahead of you turning left, you do have a you also have a duty to to evade if if there is a situation where someone turns in front of you and didn't see you because of the road conditions, because there was other cars, maybe a a big semi-tractor trailer in the left-hand turn lane blocking the view.
• 4:01
  William Auten: Exactly.
• 4:01
  William Auten: You've got to you've gotta be conscious about the fact that you're approaching that intersection and the people turning left may not see you.
• 4:08
  Chantal Roberts: Yes.
• 4:09
  Chantal Roberts: And um, so and I want to talk about duties real quick, um, because it is everyone's duty here that is listening to like, follow, subscribe, and share on YouTube and Spotify and like bring a friend uh so we can get more listeners because it helps the oh comment too, because it totally helps the algorithm pick us up and then we become more popular and uh our you know our heads would get even bigger.
• 4:36
  William Auten: Oh, yeah.
• 4:37
  William Auten: Yeah.
• 4:37
  Chantal Roberts: I do want to mention that.
• 4:38
  William Auten: So yeah, and if you and if you share it, we'll be extra happy.
• 4:42
  Chantal Roberts: Oh, we will be extra happy.
• 4:43
  Chantal Roberts: We might even like if you share it and then comment that you've shared it, we may actually do you call out or something.
• 4:50
  Chantal Roberts: I don't know.
• 4:51
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, so yes, your duty to yield, and and this is the part that I I think the people who are participating in the CPCU 530, which is the uh the legal environment for claims or for for insurance.
• 5:08
  Chantal Roberts: It's not just claims, the legal environment for for insurance.
• 5:12
  Chantal Roberts: So, hey, take go ahead and get your CPCU guys, at least take 530 facilitation with me, and uh you'll learn all sorts of cool stuff.
• 5:20
  Chantal Roberts: But duty to yield.
• 5:22
  Chantal Roberts: I think this pretty much encompasses the majority of of what gets my goat about this sort of thing, because yes, you are making a left-hand turn, and what I show the people in the facilitation classes, I show them three pictures.
• 5:41
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, one is the the picture of a car, a blue car, with the damage on the passenger rear quarter panel.
• 5:53
  Chantal Roberts: And they will the the participants will still say, Oh no, it's the blue car's fault.
• 6:00
  Chantal Roberts: And I'm like, no, it's not, because that blue car had control of the intersection.
• 6:06
  Chantal Roberts: And it's like it's a new concept to them.
• 6:10
  Chantal Roberts: So I thought we might talk about that a little bit.
• 6:15
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, you know, like this duty to yield.
• 6:17
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, just because you've got the right of way doesn't mean you continue barreling down the road.
• 6:23
  William Auten: Right.
• 6:23
  William Auten: There um there could be a situation where a vehicle is just stopped in front of you.
• 6:28
  William Auten: Uh-huh.
• 6:29
  William Auten: Uh, that doesn't, and and you you can't just say, Well, I have the right of way.
• 6:34
  William Auten: I think it's through here.
• 6:36
  Chantal Roberts: Right, right.
• 6:37
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, you know better than that.
• 6:39
  William Auten: Yeah.
• 6:39
  William Auten: And and a car turning left usually is going pretty slow.
• 6:43
  William Auten: And if it gets all the way through that intersection and you tag the the passenger side rear corner of it, that tells me that you had plenty of time to let off the gas, hit the brakes.
• 6:55
  William Auten: Absolutely.
• 6:56
  William Auten: Uh maybe relax your speed a little bit to avoid a collision.
• 7:00
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 7:01
  William Auten: Or you grip the wheel, you hit you hit the accelerator, and you said something along the lines of you son of a blap.
• 7:09
  William Auten: Then uh collision, uh the collision occurred after that.
• 7:14
  William Auten: But uh yeah, I've I've just um just handled a case like that, where the rear passenger side of a vehicle was hit.
• 7:23
  William Auten: Uh they they had made it through the intersection.
• 7:26
  William Auten: There was a hill, the car crested the hill.
• 7:30
  William Auten: As our guy was turning left, yes, um, the driver of the other vehicle must have got confused because the collision actually took place in the driveway, uh, not in the road.
• 7:41
  William Auten: So whatever they were doing, I don't know.
• 7:45
  William Auten: They thought they were being evasive or but they misjudged whatever, and it the the physical collision took place well off the road.
• 7:55
  William Auten: Right.
• 7:55
  William Auten: Uh so off the you know the white line.
• 7:58
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:59
  Chantal Roberts: Well, you know, and you do have that continuing duty of reasonable care, and you had mentioned this, and you're mentioning hills, and I think that's also something that is particularly important.
• 8:10
  Chantal Roberts: And and I this isn't like a driving course that we're talking about.
• 8:13
  Chantal Roberts: We're talking about assessing liability and automobile claims.
• 8:18
  Chantal Roberts: But if you are insured or your claimant uh is sitting there going, look, that I was coming up a hill, I was topping the hill, and this guy was suddenly in front of me.
• 8:29
  Chantal Roberts: Is it the person that hit the other car's fault, or is it the person who was turning's fault?
• 8:38
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, you kind of have to look at that because in your duty of reasonable care, if you know that you're coming up, even if, let's say, I'm gonna go visit Bill, I don't know where he lives, I don't know what the streets are like, but if I see a hill, I'm gonna kind of slow down when I'm getting ready to top it because I don't know.
• 8:58
  Chantal Roberts: There could be a total traffic jam right over the crest, and I'm gonna rear in someone.
• 9:04
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, does that mean that I go five miles an hour?
• 9:07
  Chantal Roberts: Absolutely not, because that isn't driving with do you know reasonable care either.
• 9:12
  Chantal Roberts: You know, it's like having grandma on the on the freeway.
• 9:15
  William Auten: We h we live in an area uh heavily populated by Mennonites and Amish folks, and they are always in their carriages with the horse-drawn carriages, and and it's a hilly area.
• 9:27
  William Auten: And you come over a hill, you don't know if there's gonna be a you know a wagon full of kids to buy a horse uh on the other side of that hill.
• 9:36
  William Auten: So you really have to have your wits about you to to make sure that you're being safe, you know, and that you have an opportunity to slow or break when you need to.
• 9:47
  William Auten: And that's really what we're talking about in this left-hand turn scenario.
• 9:51
  William Auten: Um if and the example I gave was several lanes that maybe blocked where your view is blocked.
• 9:58
  William Auten: I've had other claims that was just it was just two lanes, and um our guy was turning left, and the the the car across the way was also turning left.
• 10:08
  William Auten: So they both were kind of like turning left.
• 10:10
  William Auten: Well, our guy turns left, this motorcycle comes around, yeah.
• 10:14
  William Auten: The other car turning, turning left, and our guy, of course, didn't see him until he was flying over the hood of the the truck.
• 10:23
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 10:24
  William Auten: And um that you know it's a horrible accident, but that can happen too.
• 10:29
  Chantal Roberts: And um in this particular instance, I would say that it's the motorcycle's fault for veering around at the you know, the other car um at a speed.
• 10:40
  William Auten: So if you look at the decision making that was going on between all the let's say these three vehicles, okay?
• 10:46
  William Auten: We've got one headed north turning left and one headed south turning left, and both those folks um can tell that their path is clear because each of them have their signals on and they both know that they're gonna be turning left fairly safe.
• 11:01
  William Auten: And then you got a motorcyclist who makes a decision to go around that at a at an accelerated speed, um, enough to to cause the accident that happened here, which was very bad.
• 11:15
  William Auten: And um so you know who who made the ma the the poorest decision of those three people?
• 11:24
  William Auten: And you'd have to say it'd be the motorcycle because he did not clearly did not see what was ahead of the car in front of him.
• 11:34
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 11:34
  William Auten: Um and he would have to assume that if hit the car ahead of him was able to make a left-hand turn, then possibly there was one in front of him also making a left-hand turn.
• 11:44
  Chantal Roberts: Or there was oncoming laws.
• 11:45
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:48
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, and and excuse me, uh another and I don't know where the the traffic the the damage was on your particular example, but in my example, it does involve a motorcycle as well.
• 12:03
  Chantal Roberts: But I show the the second picture that I show is where the damage is on the passenger side door.
• 12:13
  Chantal Roberts: Well, I mean, that's like smack dab in the middle of the car.
• 12:18
  Chantal Roberts: So maybe both of them had a little bit of a duty.
• 12:22
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, obviously, we already have one car that's in the intersection, that's the left car.
• 12:27
  Chantal Roberts: And then, of course, the but the car the through car has the right of way.
• 12:33
  Chantal Roberts: So, of course, I always hate comparative negligence and you know 60, 70, 30, 40 kind of percentage.
• 12:43
  Chantal Roberts: But I mean, maybe this is what we do too.
• 12:45
  William Auten: Um, but you still seem arbitrary sometimes, but um it to me the best way to get at a number is to ask to to to poll people and get their opinions.
• 12:56
  William Auten: I don't know how else you um otherwise you're just like the dictator.
• 13:03
  William Auten: It's you know, this is what I declare, it's a 60-40 situation, and um our guy is only 40% liable.
• 13:10
  William Auten: Well, what's that based on?
• 13:12
  William Auten: And you know, yeah.
• 13:13
  William Auten: Um and if you taking the motorcycle example I just gave, where you've got these three individuals, I would say that the the the one making the left left hand turn did nothing wrong.
• 13:26
  William Auten: They were just turning left.
• 13:27
  William Auten: Um our guy turning left.
• 13:30
  William Auten: Could he have uh maybe paid a little more attention to what might have been behind that other vehicle?
• 13:36
  William Auten: Possibly.
• 13:37
  Chantal Roberts: He's supposed to be because he can't make a left left left hand turn with until it's clear.
• 13:42
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 13:44
  William Auten: Um but could he anticipate that the motorcycle would come around the shoulder and um you know, and then you make a good point about point of impact.
• 13:55
  William Auten: Um, if he had hit squarely in the center of our our guy's vehicle, that tells you one thing.
• 14:01
  William Auten: If it was the passenger right front corner, that would tell you a little more.
• 14:05
  William Auten: If it was the center of the passenger door, that tells you a lot more.
• 14:09
  William Auten: And if it was the if it was the back corner of the truck, uh passenger side, that tells you a lot more, too.
• 14:16
  William Auten: That maybe that motorcycle had plenty of time to to kind of veer or avoid the collision.
• 14:22
  Chantal Roberts: And I feel that that right there, what you said was the points of impact, is important.
• 14:28
  Chantal Roberts: I feel that that's the point that isn't stressed enough with our new adjusters when they are learning auto liability and learning how to determine liability.
• 14:40
  Chantal Roberts: I I feel because, for example, uh, if you get the police report, and all claims team leaders will say, Oh, get the police report and all and and that sort of thing, uh, it will naturally put the fault at the person making the left-hand turn.
• 14:57
  Chantal Roberts: But that doesn't mean he's negligent for the loss.
• 15:01
  Chantal Roberts: We've we've got to look at a lot of different things, uh, such as the due uh the damages.
• 15:10
  Chantal Roberts: Maybe there's a camera on the you know, polls that we can get a copy of.
• 15:16
  Chantal Roberts: We've talked about that.
• 15:16
  Chantal Roberts: You and I've talked about all the other types of evidence that we can gather.
• 15:23
  Chantal Roberts: But point of impact used to be a huge thing when I was handling auto liability, and it does not seem to be stressed enough now.
• 15:33
  Chantal Roberts: I don't know if you found the same thing or in talking with other adjusters.
• 15:39
  William Auten: Um I don't find that it's ignored.
• 15:42
  William Auten: Uh we tend to raise it when we need to, um, because I think it's an important issue.
• 15:47
  William Auten: Um and we have uh we do have something called the last last clear chance doctrine.
• 15:56
  Chantal Roberts: Yes.
• 15:56
  Chantal Roberts: Thank you.
• 15:57
  Chantal Roberts: That's the other thing.
• 15:58
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah.
• 15:59
  William Auten: And and when you can look at the when you look at the point of impact, you can ask yourself, did the person who struck the other car uh have an opportunity to avoid it?
• 16:12
  William Auten: And um they can say, well, you know, they they shouldn't have turned left in front of me.
• 16:18
  William Auten: So that's how it happened.
• 16:20
  William Auten: But you know, you saw them there and you had time.
• 16:24
  William Auten: Um and you can how do you know they had time?
• 16:28
  William Auten: You can do accident reconstruction that will tell you how much time they actually had.
• 16:33
  William Auten: Uh we had a case involving a tractor trailer recently, and the um the trail the the truck was making a kind of a tight right hand turn.
• 16:45
  William Auten: The a passenger vehicle was in the left lane and it had pulled up.
• 16:50
  William Auten: There was a there's there's a stop line that's way far back um in the left lane because trucks typically make this left-hand turn and their back of the trailer kicks out as they go out around this turn, and if there's a car there, it will hit them.
• 17:07
  William Auten: So this car was over that white line, and it was stopped in an area where it shouldn't have been because of you know this scenario.
• 17:18
  William Auten: Um, so when the the truck started to make their turn, uh the back swiped the car.
• 17:26
  William Auten: Um, it was a very low impact claim.
• 17:28
  William Auten: We've talked about low imp uh you know minimal damage and low impact um missed claims, right?
• 17:35
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, um yeah, minor impact uh wait.
• 17:40
  Chantal Roberts: See, I call it minor, oh um soft tissue, minor impact, soft tissue, because I call it list low impact soft tissue.
• 17:48
  Chantal Roberts: But yes, anyway, anyway.
• 17:50
  Chantal Roberts: Go look up that episode, it's something.
• 17:52
  William Auten: Um, somewhere.
• 17:53
  William Auten: It's it's I think one of our first or second ones together.
• 17:56
  William Auten: But the um um so in that case, it was uh low impact, minor injuries.
• 18:05
  William Auten: They sued for millions of dollars, whatever, you know.
• 18:08
  William Auten: Uh, but um, but in that case, you can say, okay, who had the last clear chance there?
• 18:14
  William Auten: So the truck driver probably knew or should have known that the intersection was set up in a way to make sure cars were not in that too far advanced in that left lane.
• 18:26
  William Auten: Uh that that car that was there should not have been there.
• 18:29
  William Auten: Um, both of them should have had an awareness of some sort that the lane was set up this way for a reason.
• 18:36
  William Auten: And um so who who in that scenario had the last clear chance?
• 18:43
  William Auten: Was it the truck driver or the car?
• 18:45
  William Auten: The car was stopped at the lake.
• 18:47
  William Auten: They were in the wrong spot, but they were stopped.
• 18:50
  William Auten: It was the forward motion of the truck that that's the only thing that could have prevented that if is if that truck waited or honked their horn or told the this person, hey, look out, you know.
• 19:02
  William Auten: Um it was 10 o'clock at night.
• 19:04
  William Auten: There were streetlights, but it was nighttime.
• 19:07
  William Auten: Um now one of the things that we did there, which is not really relevant to how the accident occurred, but we had a very clear window of of a security camera image video of this this accident take place.
• 19:25
  William Auten: So we could actually see how fast the truck was going.
• 19:29
  William Auten: And they claimed that it was going at an excessive speed.
• 19:32
  William Auten: It wasn't hard to figure out how fast it was going.
• 19:35
  William Auten: Right, making a left or right hand turn.
• 19:38
  William Auten: The the length of the truck is you know a certain distance, uh distance, and then you can measure the distance between maybe a light pole and a marker assign or something like that.
• 19:49
  William Auten: And then you time how long it takes that truck to pass, and you can figure out the speed of the truck.
• 19:54
  William Auten: And we calculated it was less than 17 or 18 miles an hour to make it through this intersection.
• 20:02
  Chantal Roberts: Anyway, uh that's an aside that doesn't really relate to uh last clear chance rule, but it's uh it does actually, because and and it also, and what I'm also hearing as I'm as I'm trying to find it, I think it's gonna be like episode like 26 or 20 or something like that, because I've started keeping track of those sorts of things on here.
• 20:24
  Chantal Roberts: Uh but uh one of the things that you can look at again as adjusters when you are looking to determine liability is where the uh little pieces of metal are, which again is the reason why you've got to begin your investigation immediately because that stuff gets swept up.
• 20:47
  Chantal Roberts: But you can also look at the um skid marks, right?
• 20:55
  Chantal Roberts: Uh it is episode 26 exactly.
• 20:57
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, episode 26 exactly.
• 20:59
  Chantal Roberts: So if you go back to episode 26, we talk about mist, uh, which is minor impact low or minor impacts off tissue.
• 21:08
  Chantal Roberts: And then I was I was also looking at uh episode 40, which uh we were talking about determining liability.
• 21:16
  Chantal Roberts: Uh and then so if you need talking about determining liability, like who's who's negligent, who's at fault, and all that, that's episode 40 anyway.
• 21:26
  Chantal Roberts: But I I totally get that.
• 21:29
  Chantal Roberts: And one of the things that comes up that I experienced because I used I kind of got my breaking in as an insurance adjuster with semitractor trailer rig accidents, is that whole right hand squeeze thing, you know, because as you were talking about, a semitractor trailer rig, and if you've never handled semi-tractor trailer rig losses, you uh and you're not familiar with them, they make wide turns, specifically right-hand turns, because they have a a long box that's I don't know, 26, 34, 54 feet long, and it doesn't turn.
• 22:18
  Chantal Roberts: Um, but it's on what's called a fifth wheel, and that's where it turns.
• 22:23
  Chantal Roberts: So the tractor turns, and so to get this big old trailer around this sharp curve, it does have to swing wide.
• 22:33
  Chantal Roberts: And a lot of people not realizing this, common drivers not realizing this, will speed up, thinking, oh, the driver's going straight, even though they've got a blinker on, and they get hit.
• 22:46
  Chantal Roberts: Who's at fault?
• 22:48
  Chantal Roberts: I'm always going to say it was the person who is sneaking up on the right hand side because you should know there's they've got placards on the back of their truck, you know, caution, you know, wide right-hand turns and things like that.
• 23:04
  Chantal Roberts: And another thing that an adjuster I think needs to be looking at when we're talking about determining liability and the rules of the road and everything, pay attention to the signs on the road.
• 23:18
  Chantal Roberts: Uh I was working with a uh guy once who was trying to determine liability and he just couldn't.
• 23:26
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, it was like a he said, she said deal, and he uh, you know, was going back and forth on liability and everything.
• 23:36
  Chantal Roberts: And the insured went back to the scene of the accident and asked the insured was driving quite dangerously, he was videotaping the on his phone the uh intersection that was that he was going through when this accident occurred.
• 23:53
  Chantal Roberts: And because the question was, did the guy sideswipe me or did I sideswipe the guy?
• 23:59
  Chantal Roberts: And you couldn't tell by the physical damage.
• 24:02
  Chantal Roberts: And as the insured was driving through this, this it was a merge intersection, of course, then what we saw was a sign that alerted the people who had the right of way, hey, there's going to be people merging.
• 24:18
  Chantal Roberts: And I said, There is your example right there.
• 24:20
  Chantal Roberts: Then I would say that it's 100% your insured's fault because he while he has the right of way, and while that other person has the duty and to exercise reasonable care to merge correctly, I mean, he knows that our insured who's going straight knows that someone's gonna be merging.
• 24:41
  Chantal Roberts: So right of way to slow down.
• 24:44
  William Auten: Right of way never equals permission to crash.
• 24:48
  Chantal Roberts: Exactly.
• 24:48
  Chantal Roberts: I think that's the best way to say it.
• 24:51
  William Auten: Yeah.
• 24:51
  William Auten: And that that has um that relates to your duty of care as a driver.
• 24:57
  William Auten: So, yeah, one person has a duty of care to merge when they know it's clear, uh, the other person has a duty of care to back off if they have an opportunity to um to avoid a collision.
• 25:11
  William Auten: Right.
• 25:11
  William Auten: And then you get into comparative and and blah blah blah.
• 25:16
  William Auten: We can talk about different states and how that applies, but that would just confuse things.
• 25:22
  Chantal Roberts: And the guy ended up giving the insured like 60% um at fault.
• 25:27
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, and I'm like, fine, you know, he goes, I don't want to like totally make it 100% as well because he's our insured, and I'm like, fine, whatever I would, but meh.
• 25:35
  Chantal Roberts: Um, but but this is a this is another thing.
• 25:38
  Chantal Roberts: Let's talk about, you know, like passing and everything.
• 25:41
  Chantal Roberts: Um you gotta pass when it's safe to pass, not just just because you're pissed off that there's a minonite in front of you or, you know, whatever.
• 25:51
  Chantal Roberts: Um, and like I said, there's this right-hand squeeze uh that that I was talking about.
• 25:57
  Chantal Roberts: And I think it kind of closely relates to that improper lane usage, which you you had said earlier, like how did this accident happen all the way off the the white lines?
• 26:08
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 26:09
  Chantal Roberts: Uh so yeah.
• 26:13
  William Auten: So um here's another uh when it comes to passing, um, and making sure it's clear, you are not you can't just check for oncoming vehicles in the opposite lane of travel.
• 26:26
  William Auten: You also have to make sure that nobody that you're passing intends to make a left-hand turn.
• 26:33
  William Auten: Right.
• 26:34
  William Auten: Because if they were to do that, you would hit them as they made their left-hand turn.
• 26:41
  William Auten: Exactly.
• 26:42
  William Auten: So um, watch for turn signals.
• 26:45
  William Auten: Another thing, and I've I almost witnessed what would have been, had to have been a fatal accident.
• 26:52
  William Auten: Uh there was a tractor trailer coming up a hill, and there was a line of cars behind it.
• 26:56
  William Auten: There was a car in front of me approaching the highway.
• 27:01
  William Auten: And so this was a 55 mile an hour road we were approaching.
• 27:05
  William Auten: And the guy in front of me was gonna make a right hand turn.
• 27:10
  William Auten: As he started his right hand turn, this this vehicle behind the the semi pulled out to pass it.
• 27:17
  William Auten: And um they almost hit each other.
• 27:22
  William Auten: Uh luckily the guy in front of me had the wherewithal to use his last clear chance skills and uh veered to the right off the shoulder as he was uh honking his horn and probably using some hand signals, spouting some prayers toward the individual.
• 27:39
  William Auten: Um I mean, so you gotta be aware of like situational awareness is really a thing, and and it not only applies to the cars that are headed towards you, uh opposing traffic, it's also cars, tractors, pedestrians that may be entering the roadway from a driveway or another road or whatever.
• 28:04
  Chantal Roberts: Yes, yes, because we haven't even talked about that, people like entering from their driveways or merging or what have you.
• 28:12
  Chantal Roberts: Um, I see this every once in a while, and and God knows I do it.
• 28:16
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, and it is usually when I don't know where I'm going or something, and then GPS is like, you're supposed to be exiting now.
• 28:26
  Chantal Roberts: And I'm like, oh, well, I have out-of-state plates.
• 28:29
  Chantal Roberts: That's okay, I can go.
• 28:30
  Chantal Roberts: And you know, that's cutting uh three lanes across to get to your exit.
• 28:37
  Chantal Roberts: Of course, that's improper lane usage, and we're not supposed to do that.
• 28:40
  Chantal Roberts: And if I were to hit anybody, then yeah, I would be at fault.
• 28:44
  Chantal Roberts: So um, you know, we've we've got to pay attention.
• 28:49
  Chantal Roberts: And if I were doing that and someone was was you right behind me, they should be slamming on their brakes too.
• 28:57
  Chantal Roberts: Because just because they have the right of way and I'm an idiot because I'm out of state doesn't mean they get to have an accident.
• 29:05
  William Auten: There are many accidents where I've talked to people and they they literally had no idea how it happened.
• 29:13
  William Auten: Um the the motorcycle claim I mentioned earlier, uh he never saw the guy.
• 29:20
  William Auten: All he he felt an impact and he saw a flash of something dark going over the hood, and he he didn't realize what happened until he stopped, got his bearings, looked around, and and then got out and saw a motorcycle at the you know at the front of his vehicle.
• 29:38
  William Auten: Yeah, and um, but that's not always the case.
• 29:42
  Chantal Roberts: No.
• 29:43
  William Auten: Uh any of the accidents that you see, I could see it coming.
• 29:47
  William Auten: I could see, you know, if you could see it coming.
• 29:49
  Chantal Roberts: If you can see it coming, you need to avoid it.
• 29:53
  William Auten: And you need to at least demonstrate that you tried.
• 29:57
  Chantal Roberts: Yes.
• 29:57
  Chantal Roberts: Okay, so this happens to be.
• 29:59
  Chantal Roberts: In it, uh, I'm gonna go left field just for a second.
• 30:02
  Chantal Roberts: This happens to be an unpopular kind of liability choice, but slip and falls.
• 30:08
  Chantal Roberts: If you saw the water on the floor, don't step in it and slip.
• 30:14
  William Auten: Right.
• 30:15
  Chantal Roberts: You had the last clear duty to avoid this.
• 30:19
  Chantal Roberts: Yep.
• 30:20
  Chantal Roberts: And then conversely, if water just got there and we didn't know about it as the landlord or whatever, we also cannot be held that responsible, that responsible, because oh, I don't know.
• 30:38
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, we've got a duty to clean it up, but we we need to know about it.
• 30:43
  William Auten: And notice, yeah, yeah.
• 30:44
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, we have to have notice.
• 30:45
  Chantal Roberts: So um, you know, there's there's there's a couple of different different things in that aspect, but we're talking about last clear notice and and being aware of your surroundings.
• 30:56
  Chantal Roberts: Just, you know, you're you're operating uh what a two-ton machine, a one-ton machine that can kill people.
• 31:05
  William Auten: I you know, um so there's another aspect of negligence and liability to discuss called foreseeability, and that has uh to do with your ability to know that a hazard exists or that a risk of an accident exists.
• 31:21
  Chantal Roberts: Yes.
• 31:21
  William Auten: Um, you had just mentioned that you know, if a property owner doesn't know that there's a slippery condition, how are they supposed to mitigate it?
• 31:29
  William Auten: How do they warn about it?
• 31:30
  William Auten: Exactly.
• 31:31
  William Auten: And in um on the road, foreseeability relates to uh whether or not you had the wherewithal to understand that there may be something wrong here that could cause an accident.
• 31:46
  Chantal Roberts: Like like the hill thing.
• 31:48
  William Auten: The hill, yeah.
• 31:48
  William Auten: Yes.
• 31:49
  William Auten: And it's funny because that the foreseeability, the window for foreseeability in a car accident is about that big versus a premises later.
• 31:57
  Chantal Roberts: And if you're listening, it's like a mill, you know, just like a paper thin, yeah, literally, yeah.
• 32:03
  William Auten: Um uh versus a premises liability where you know a situation could be existing for hours or days that somebody doesn't know about.
• 32:13
  William Auten: Um but in a vehicle, you've got to make very quick decisions, and you'll be judged on those decisions in some cases if you make the wrong decision.
• 32:23
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 32:24
  William Auten: That's why liability insurance exists, though, because people do make the wrong decisions from time to time.
• 32:30
  William Auten: So foreseeability.
• 32:32
  Chantal Roberts: Um and and and so you know, when that comes up, um, and and and this is something that I think is important too when we're talking about um, and I just want to mention this real quick, when we're talking about evidence, gathering evidence immediately.
• 32:46
  Chantal Roberts: We we've talked about videos, we've talked about looking at where the points of impact are, looked at looking at where the little crunches of metal or plastic and everything is on the road, because that will tell you where the impact occurred on the road.
• 33:02
  Chantal Roberts: Uh used to be uh in old, old, old adjusters, such as myself, know this that if you had, for example, a rear end or a uh front end accident, the light filaments in your headlights or your taillights uh would like stretch if they were on and they suddenly got turned off or whatever because they hit someone.
• 33:26
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 33:27
  Chantal Roberts: Nowadays, with cars having LED lights and some blinkers, we don't have that filament anymore.
• 33:33
  Chantal Roberts: So just FYI.
• 33:35
  Chantal Roberts: It's it's the price of us all advancing in technology, but also we need to find another way again.
• 33:44
  William Auten: But now there's onboard computers that track all that stuff instead that are probably giving way better uh and more reliable information than the filaments.
• 33:54
  Chantal Roberts: But speaking of, okay, so speaking of this foreseeability, uh my in-laws were unable to come to Kansas City for Thanksgiving because of the winter storm up in the upper Midwest.
• 34:07
  Chantal Roberts: And so we're talking rain, snow, fog, ice, blah, blah, blah.
• 34:12
  Chantal Roberts: Again, if it's raining, even sprinkling, whatever, you're you can't be going a hundred billion miles an hour because then there's oil on the road, and you you know, you could spin out or whatever.
• 34:29
  Chantal Roberts: So what we're talking about is again the foreseeability.
• 34:32
  Chantal Roberts: If it's snowing, you gotta slow down.
• 34:35
  Chantal Roberts: And and then maybe this is when you drive 35 miles an hour on the freeway in heavy fog, even though the speed limit is 65.
• 34:45
  Chantal Roberts: So if you get rear-ended, then am I saying you're at fault?
• 34:49
  Chantal Roberts: I can't say that.
• 34:50
  Chantal Roberts: I need to know all the facts, but I'm saying the person who did the rear-ending probably, you know, if they're going faster than that, that might not be a good idea, you know.
• 35:01
  Chantal Roberts: Um driving for conditions, they were driving for foreseeability.
• 35:06
  William Auten: Yeah, and and um weather conditions are a huge factor, not just they make the road slippery, they make visibility bad.
• 35:14
  William Auten: Um uh sometimes they stress people out.
• 35:17
  William Auten: And stressed people don't make the best drivers sometimes.
• 35:21
  William Auten: They're very cautious for sure.
• 35:23
  William Auten: Yes, uh, but they don't always make the best decisions.
• 35:26
  William Auten: And um I've seen confused drivers just stop.
• 35:29
  William Auten: It's probably not a good idea, you know, unless you're off the road.
• 35:33
  William Auten: Right.
• 35:33
  William Auten: Um but um one thing that uh one story that I like to tell young drivers in particular is that when I'm at an intersection waiting for the red light to turn green, uh I don't look at the light and then go when it turns green without looking to my left and then to my right, just to make sure nobody else is uh ignoring the stoplight.
• 36:01
  William Auten: Again, because yes, I'm not gonna die because I obeyed a traffic signal.
• 36:07
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 36:07
  Chantal Roberts: Okay, and and again, that is foreseeability, that is being able to be aware of your surroundings, and again, all of this is rules of the road.
• 36:18
  Chantal Roberts: It's not necessarily a law, but it's it's what adjusters need to be paying attention to because you can go through the intersection on a yellow.
• 36:32
  Chantal Roberts: A yellow is only caution, it's like, hey, there's getting ready to be warning, there's getting ready to be a red light, right?
• 36:40
  Chantal Roberts: Um some of us, certainly not I never me have gone through on a yellow and it turned red right smack dab in the middle.
• 36:54
  Chantal Roberts: I never do that, I would never, ever do that.
• 36:59
  Chantal Roberts: Um, it is so dangerous.
• 37:01
  Chantal Roberts: And anyway, uh you know I have a story about that.
• 37:05
  William Auten: It just happened about three weeks ago and it stuck in my mind because it was so dangerous.
• 37:10
  William Auten: Um I was the kind of the lead vehicle uh with some cars behind me.
• 37:15
  William Auten: There was nobody really in front of us, and we were approaching a red light.
• 37:18
  William Auten: It turned yellow, it turned red before well before I got there.
• 37:21
  William Auten: I slow down to a stop, and the guy behind me just wings out to my left, goes around me, and passes me through the red light.
• 37:30
  William Auten: I could not believe what I saw.
• 37:34
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, I mean, you're like, oh, I always have to sit there and go, uh maybe they have some kind of emergency.
• 37:41
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah.
• 37:42
  Chantal Roberts: Blessings, blessings on them, you know what I'm saying?
• 37:45
  William Auten: Miles down the road, I caught up to him and I was behind him, so he couldn't have been in that much of a hurry.
• 37:50
  Chantal Roberts: No, that's true.
• 37:50
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah.
• 37:51
  Chantal Roberts: Uh my husband uh likes to when they pass them, uh, and then we catch up to him at the next stoplight.
• 37:57
  Chantal Roberts: Like, hey, how'd that work out for you?
• 37:59
  Chantal Roberts: I'm like, don't don't say that to him because we're gonna get shot.
• 38:04
  William Auten: You can bestow some blessings on him.
• 38:06
  Chantal Roberts: Yes, exactly.
• 38:07
  Chantal Roberts: We're gonna bestow some blessings and maybe some hand signals on him, but um, you know, you can't do that.
• 38:12
  Chantal Roberts: So anyway, driving foreseeability, driving for the weather.
• 38:16
  Chantal Roberts: This is also rules of the road.
• 38:18
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, there are there are a lot of other rules of the road, um, but we're we're not gonna like get all in into that.
• 38:26
  Chantal Roberts: And and I get part of the thing that I've mentioned too is just because your insured gets a ticket doesn't mean they are necessarily responsible or liable uh for for the accident, because it could be that the other vehicle didn't maintain control of their vehicle or didn't yield.
• 38:50
  Chantal Roberts: Uh, and so because again, using my example of control of the intersection and foreseeability, I have I I give this the participants of the facilitation of CBCU 530, I give them, of course, the rear impact, rear quarter panel, the side door impact, and then I give them the front quarter panel passenger side.
• 39:15
  Chantal Roberts: And I'm like, okay, so who's at fault now?
• 39:18
  Chantal Roberts: And oh, it's still the left-hand side, and I'm like, yeah, I would probably agree with that because again, that's the front, and they did not have control of the intersection.
• 39:30
  Chantal Roberts: So, um, but you wanted to talk about left-hand turn or or four-way stops too.
• 39:36
  Chantal Roberts: And the the only thing I remember about four-way stops, and this was in Arkansas, was reading about how if we were all to pull up together, we're supposed to defer to the person on our right.
• 39:50
  Chantal Roberts: And I'm like, but everybody's on our right, so do we do paper scissors or how do we how do we I was taught the left?
• 39:59
  Chantal Roberts: Oh, were you taught left?
• 40:00
  Chantal Roberts: Oh my gosh.
• 40:02
  Chantal Roberts: So, you know, if an if a New Yorker and our Kansan get together, we are definitely gonna hit one another.
• 40:08
  William Auten: Actually, uh the four-way stops, I think we can all figure out.
• 40:11
  William Auten: I think one one informational piece that we should probably close out here with is the um uh the rules of the road and the liability immunities that are available to emergency vehicles and to municipal vehicles.
• 40:26
  William Auten: Yes.
• 40:26
  William Auten: This is a New York thing.
• 40:27
  William Auten: I don't know if this exists in other states.
• 40:30
  William Auten: I'm guessing it does, but um so rule number one, if you see red flashing lights, you pull over the side to the right as far as possible and come to a complete stop.
• 40:41
  William Auten: And uh most people do that, but every once in a while there's some tingling who just doesn't get it.
• 40:48
  Chantal Roberts: Just doesn't get it.
• 40:49
  William Auten: Yep.
• 40:49
  William Auten: They're either um lost in space or the radio is too loud.
• 40:52
  William Auten: Or they're blind, deaf, and dumb.
• 40:56
  William Auten: Um and uh just do that, people for crime.
• 41:01
  William Auten: It's give them a break, you know.
• 41:03
  Chantal Roberts: And I will say some of the the some of the times that I see people freeze on this particular topic is when we're all at a stop sign and we get a green light, like the the ambulance is coming up behind us, we're all at a stoplight.
• 41:18
  Chantal Roberts: We get a green light and we're like, crap, which one of us goes?
• 41:21
  Chantal Roberts: I I would I would think it would be the people on the left, like the second, you know, um, they would go pull over so that the ambulance or the the police officer or the fire truck or whatever can go.
• 41:36
  Chantal Roberts: Conversely, if you have a green light at this intersection and you see the lights coming, that doesn't mean go because the the police, the ambulance or whatever are going to be in um, you know, coming through that intersection at a great wait until they're clear before you go.
• 41:53
  Chantal Roberts: Just because you have a green light, unless unless they're coming up behind you and you need to clear the intersection so they can get through.
• 42:00
  William Auten: Yeah, and if that's the case, you turn your wheels hard to the right and just go as far as you can.
• 42:04
  William Auten: Yes.
• 42:05
  William Auten: And it may not be very far, but at least you're sending the signal to that emergency vehicle driver that okay, this guy knows I'm coming.
• 42:12
  William Auten: He's making an effort to get out of the way.
• 42:14
  William Auten: I can see he can't really get anywhere, but at least he's showing to me uh his his effort to do so.
• 42:20
  William Auten: Turn your right signal on, too, just so that everybody knows.
• 42:23
  William Auten: Um, it's common sense courtesy in in a way.
• 42:30
  William Auten: Um, so that's that's very important.
• 42:33
  William Auten: And the other thing that's very important is uh here in New York again, because we have so many snow plows, but this applies to any maintenance vehicle for a municipality, if they're maintaining a public highway of any kind, um they have a different standard of negligence to um prove.
• 42:52
  William Auten: You have to prove a recklessness standard um rather than regular negligence.
• 42:57
  William Auten: It's a higher standard.
• 42:58
  William Auten: Right.
• 42:59
  William Auten: So, for uh example, if a snowplow were to um merge unsafely, let's say, and cause offender bender, you'd have to prove that that snow plow driver was acting in a reckless manner, not just negligence.
• 43:16
  Chantal Roberts: Would that be willful and wanton kind of deal?
• 43:19
  William Auten: Willful, wanton disregard for the public safety of others.
• 43:22
  William Auten: So could an attorney make a case like that?
• 43:27
  William Auten: Possibly.
• 43:28
  William Auten: Um possibly.
• 43:30
  William Auten: And and I, you know, if you're a purist when it comes to negligence and and liability and um uh apportioning fault, you might say, well, it doesn't matter whether it's a fate fatality or a fender bender, you have to judge them in the same way.
• 43:47
  William Auten: That's not what happens.
• 43:49
  William Auten: Like a fatality, it's definitely gonna be different circumstances.
• 43:53
  William Auten: Even if you know, the if the plow driver turns right and sideswipes a car, and he and you take the exact same scenario and he turns right and runs somebody over and kills them.
• 44:06
  William Auten: Those are two of the same circumstances where the driver of the plow made the same decision, but uh vastly different outcome, way more serious outcome in the second example.
• 44:19
  William Auten: Um so anyway, we don't have to hash that out necessarily, but um, in general in New York, these these municipal operators have um different duty, uh they have it's a standard of recklessness.
• 44:35
  William Auten: So just remember that.
• 44:36
  Chantal Roberts: I don't necessarily know if it's uh what the standard is in like Arkansas, Texas.
• 44:42
  Chantal Roberts: I've got I I've had my driver's license in Texas, uh Arkansas, of course.
• 44:46
  Chantal Roberts: No, I mean uh talking about the municipal cars, uh things of that nature.
• 44:54
  Chantal Roberts: But um, no, I think there's one snowplow for the entire state of Texas.
• 44:57
  Chantal Roberts: Arkansas, because we're a little bit further north, we have three snowplows for the entire state.
• 45:02
  Chantal Roberts: Um, yeah, it's an entire state.
• 45:04
  Chantal Roberts: Um and uh anyway, um we and in Kansas too.
• 45:13
  Chantal Roberts: I don't know what the what the the the standard is, but what I'm saying is same thing.
• 45:18
  Chantal Roberts: Uh I think everybody has that where you just pull all the way over to the right.
• 45:22
  Chantal Roberts: And like I said, the the time that I see people freeze the most is oh my gosh, there is an ambulance coming from the rear.
• 45:30
  Chantal Roberts: We are all stopped at a stoplight.
• 45:33
  Chantal Roberts: And how do we get out of its way?
• 45:36
  Chantal Roberts: Now I've seen the ambulance go across the median and cut across, of course.
• 45:41
  Chantal Roberts: And then I've seen it where the light turns green and the people on the right nearest the curb stay still, and the people in the middle or the left, they go forward and then pull right after the intersection.
• 45:56
  Chantal Roberts: I've seen it both ways, but anyway, but yeah, there that's also kind of a rule of the road.
• 46:01
  Chantal Roberts: You gotta let those people go through.
• 46:03
  William Auten: So I have a funny story about an ambulance.
• 46:06
  William Auten: We had an uh we were working uh for an ambulance company, we handled their claims, and they had many different types of claims, everything under the sun, most of them related to people not uh recognizing lights and sirens.
• 46:22
  William Auten: In this case, the lady saw them coming up from behind them, panicked, went to the right as fast as she could, and re-rented a parked car.
• 46:33
  William Auten: Bless her.
• 46:35
  William Auten: And her insurance company made the case that it was the ambulance's fault.
• 46:41
  Chantal Roberts: Are you serious?
• 46:43
  Chantal Roberts: Okay, as an adjuster, guys, that's not that's no I know we we go pursue subrogation.
• 46:50
  Chantal Roberts: No, that is that is not uh uh that's not it.
• 46:53
  William Auten: They were were ultimately not successful, and I explained why to both the other insurance company and this young lady who was seeking her deductible back um why the rules of the road are what they are, and she actually thanked me later.
• 47:12
  Chantal Roberts: Um You know, if you think about it, we studied the rules of the road when we were what 16, 14, uh 14 in Arkansas.
• 47:21
  Chantal Roberts: You can get your driver's license at 14, or you used to.
• 47:24
  Chantal Roberts: I I they may have raised it, but you have to drive with an adult, a 21-year-old, uh at least.
• 47:31
  Chantal Roberts: And so did we pay attention?
• 47:35
  Chantal Roberts: We paid attention enough to pass our test so that we can get wheels, because as you said, Americans love our cars, and have we forgotten it?
• 47:42
  Chantal Roberts: Yes.
• 47:43
  Chantal Roberts: Thank God we don't have to retake the test because I probably would fail.
• 47:48
  Chantal Roberts: But there you go.
• 47:51
  William Auten: So you are uh according to Google, um, you are correct.
• 47:56
  William Auten: If two vehicles arrive at the same time, the vehicle to the right goes first.
• 48:00
  Chantal Roberts: If the if if two vehicles are that the right, you know what I'm saying?
• 48:05
  William Auten: Yeah.
• 48:06
  Chantal Roberts: So then do we do rock, paper, scissors?
• 48:09
  Chantal Roberts: Um I mean, in theory, because everybody knows you just do the like two, like good.
• 48:16
  Chantal Roberts: Um but like what does the test say?
• 48:21
  Chantal Roberts: Does the test say that we got to do rock, paper, scissors?
• 48:25
  Chantal Roberts: Um do we arm wrestle for it?
• 48:28
  William Auten: Right.
• 48:28
  Chantal Roberts: I mean, how if if four people were coming up to a four-way stop at the same time, the first vehicle there always has the right of way.
• 48:36
  Chantal Roberts: Oh, yeah, the first peop the first one there's always got the right of way.
• 48:41
  William Auten: But it always yield to the right.
• 48:43
  William Auten: So when two vehicles arrive at a four-way stop at the same time, side by side, the vehicle furthest to the right always has the right of way.
• 48:51
  William Auten: Okay.
• 48:52
  William Auten: Three vehicles at the same time, the car furthest left should continue.
• 48:56
  Chantal Roberts: Right.
• 48:57
  Chantal Roberts: Correct.
• 48:57
  Chantal Roberts: Correct, yes.
• 49:00
  William Auten: Straight traffic takes the right of way over turning traffic.
• 49:03
  William Auten: Oh, yeah, it makes sense.
• 49:04
  Chantal Roberts: Uh yeah, but let's say we're all going straight.
• 49:07
  Chantal Roberts: Anyway.
• 49:08
  William Auten: Oh, here we go.
• 49:09
  William Auten: Who has the right of way?
• 49:11
  William Auten: If four cars approach a four-way stop at the same time, there's no designated rule as to who should go first.
• 49:17
  William Auten: However, it is recommended that you wait for the most aggressive driver to make the first move and then proceed with caution using the rules above from there.
• 49:26
  Chantal Roberts: So with that in mind, drop us a comment.
• 49:30
  Chantal Roberts: Right?
• 49:33
  Chantal Roberts: Okay.
• 49:34
  Chantal Roberts: So um, with that in mind, drop us a note saying that you are quote assertive, end quote, instead of aggressive.
• 49:43
  Chantal Roberts: And like, you know, comment, you know, letting us know, uh, share.
• 49:48
  Chantal Roberts: Comment letting us know that you've shared and we'll like we'll mention you or whatever.
• 49:53
  William Auten: Four way stops are not for the timid, I guess.
• 49:56
  William Auten: No, they're not.
• 49:57
  William Auten: And you know what?
• 49:58
  Chantal Roberts: I I I always am the quote most aggressive, end quote, because I have a mini cooper and it has a little pep in it.
• 50:06
  Chantal Roberts: So I mean, you know, it does it because it was in what was it, Oceans 11 or something to that effect, where yeah, it's what Aaron always thinks that he's driving when he's driving my car.
• 50:19
  William Auten: Go down the stairs.
• 50:21
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, exactly.
• 50:21
  Chantal Roberts: I'm like, don't use my car like this, babe.
• 50:24
  Chantal Roberts: Um, this is my car.
• 50:26
  Chantal Roberts: You use your Toyota like that.
• 50:28
  Chantal Roberts: Uh uh, so December 18th is when our next podcast is.
• 50:34
  William Auten: We don't have a topic yet, but oh, I've got something in the wings.
• 50:38
  Chantal Roberts: Oh, is it Santa?
• 50:39
  Chantal Roberts: Is Santa?
• 50:40
  William Auten: It's gonna be fun.
• 50:40
  William Auten: Okay, no, it's not a Christmas theme.
• 50:42
  William Auten: Although we could do probably should do a Christmas theme.
• 50:45
  Chantal Roberts: Well, it doesn't have to be Christmas, it could be just holiday themed.
• 50:48
  Chantal Roberts: But cause because Santa is, you know, holiday-ish.
• 50:51
  Chantal Roberts: But yeah, there you go.
• 50:54
  Chantal Roberts: Uh so know the rules of the road.
• 50:56
  Chantal Roberts: Uh write, uh, be the most aggressive driver, drop us a comment, like, and then get a friend.
• 51:03
  Chantal Roberts: Suggest us to your friends.
• 51:06
  William Auten: Yeah.
• 51:06
  William Auten: Uh and you know, um, so it occurs to me that the uh that on Spotify, there's not a real good way to comment or message.
• 51:16
  William Auten: There is on on YouTube, uh, and people do that, and thank you for that.
• 51:20
  William Auten: So I would say that if you've got something, if you listen to us on on Spotify and you got something to say, um comment on LinkedIn.
• 51:29
  William Auten: You can find us both there.
• 51:30
  William Auten: And um tell us what you thought about whatever episode.
• 51:35
  William Auten: Um, if you think that I'm dead wrong about something, let me know.
• 51:38
  William Auten: And if you think Chantel is dead right about something, of course, let me know.
• 51:43
  William Auten: Let me know.
• 51:45
  Chantal Roberts: Because I'm always right.
• 51:46
  Chantal Roberts: Yeah, and if you want to hear a topic or something, also let us know.
• 51:51
  William Auten: Yeah, yeah.
• 51:51
  William Auten: It's a it's a wild world out there in insurance claims.
• 51:55
  Chantal Roberts: And um we know of a guest that we need to have on, so yeah, yeah.
• 51:59
  William Auten: Or if you want to be a guest yourself, that's another suggestion.
• 52:03
  Chantal Roberts: So absolutely.
• 52:05
  Chantal Roberts: So we will see you on the 18th, I guess.
• 52:08
  William Auten: Yes, ma'am.
• 52:09
  Chantal Roberts: All right, see you later.
• 52:10
  William Auten: Take care, bye-bye.
• 52:11
  Chantal Roberts: Bye.
• 52:12
  William Auten: Thanks for joining us on the Art of Adjusting podcast, where we talk about life as an insurance adjuster.
• 52:17
  William Auten: Hit that subscribe button real quick and tell all of your adjuster friends to check this out as well.
• 52:22
  William Auten: For independent adjusting services, go to www.autin.claims.
• 52:26
  William Auten: And for anyone interested in working as an independent liability adjuster, go to the contact us tab to join our roster.
• 52:35
  Chantal Roberts: So this wraps up another Art of Adjusting podcast.
• 52:38
  Chantal Roberts: If you enjoyed this podcast or this episode, please give us five stars and a review.
• 52:44
  Chantal Roberts: It does help the algorithm pick us up.
• 52:46
  Chantal Roberts: In the meantime, you can contact me at theartofadjusting.com for consulting and training purposes.