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?

Maya wants to know whether she has any real protection here. She does, but this is one of the messier spots in American car insurance, and knowing how it actually works changes what she does next.

When both drivers share the same insurer

Maya’s situation happens more often than people think. The four biggest U.S. auto insurers — State Farm, Progressive, Berkshire Hathaway (which owns GEICO), and Allstate — together controlled about 59% of the market in 2025, according to National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) data. With that much of the market concentrated in just a few companies, ending up with the same insurer as the driver who hit you is less of a coincidence.

If you and the other driver share the same insurer, the standard industry practice is that the insurer assigns two different adjusters, one for each driver. Each adjuster is supposed to investigate the crash, decide who was at fault and estimate the damages independently.

If they agree on who caused the crash, the at-fault driver’s adjuster handles the payout and the not-at-fault driver is compensated.

Insurers call the internal rules and procedures that keep the two files separate “ethical walls.” The idea is to recreate, inside one company, the same arm’s-length process you’d get if two different carriers were handling the claims.

In theory, that process should protect Maya the same way separate insurers would, but it’s more complicated in practice.

Why two adjusters still isn’t real protection

Even when an insurer assigns two separate adjusters, those two people work for the same company. They report to the same management, share the same employer’s financial incentives — and that employer is the one writing both checks.

Insurance companies have a legal duty to handle each claim fairly and act in good faith toward both customers. But those adjusters don’t operate outside their employer’s interests. The company is paying out on both sides of the crash, but it works in the insurer’s favor when blame gets shared rather than clearly assigned.

If Maya’s adjuster finds the other driver fully at fault, the company pays her injury claim in full. If they split the fault 50/50, Maya’s payout is reduced. In most states, insurers cut your compensation by whatever share of blame they assign to you. In states with a 50% fault bar or pure contributory negligence rules, being assigned even half the blame can wipe out the injury claim entirely.

The insurer doesn’t have to do anything dishonest to benefit from that situation. It just has to let the fault determination drift, and the savings take care of themselves.

When one adjuster ends up handling both files — like Maya noticed — the choice becomes obvious. That person is literally deciding which of the company’s two customers wins, which is a conflict of interest.

What to watch for, and what to do

Mike Rafi, a personal-injury attorney and founder of Rafi Law Firm, says the insurer will call. Maya’s insurer is going to reach out sounding friendly — she’s been a customer for years and they know her name, so the rep will ask a few casual questions about the accident and how she’s feeling.

That call is usually a recorded statement. Everything Maya says about her injuries, the timeline, and her current condition goes straight into the claim file (a file the company is managing for both sides of the crash). Saying “I feel fine” before she finishes treatment, or offering details that could be read as partial fault, is the kind of thing that shows up later when they’re calculating a settlement.

If you’re in Maya’s shoes, know what a recorded statement is and whether to talk to your attorney before you pick up the call.

If an adjuster is handling both sides, ask for a separate adjuster in writing as your first move. Email creates a dated record. Maya should clearly state that she’s the not‑at‑fault driver, say that she expects a dedicated adjuster handling only her claim, and ask for written confirmation of who that person will be.

From there, keep a log of every interaction: date, time, representative’s name, and summary of what was said. That record becomes the foundation for a formal complaint if the insurer delays, deflects, or pressures you to settle.

Every state has a Department of Insurance that oversees how insurers treat policyholders. The NAIC’s complaint filing page links to each state’s filing process. State-level Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Acts — built on NAIC’s model legislation — prohibit behaviors like unreasonable delays, inadequate investigations and making unfair settlement offers when fault is clear.