Car claim dispute...

xRichx

Back in June 08 I had a car accident in a carpark where I had reversed out of a parking space into the central road, where a lady then reversed dead centre of the side of my car. I suffered minor whiplash etc, and the total cost of the damages to my car was around £1300.

Fast forward to today and I've been told that she is saying that I was reversing at the same time and therefore am partially to blame, the solicitors dealing with my side of the claim have said that they're trying for 50%-50% fault.

Now, the fact of wether I was still moving at the time (I wasn't, infact I was changing from reverse into first to pull away) I feel is irrelevant, as she would have been able to see my car the whole time from when it was parked, until when the accident occurred.

There were witnesses, but I was a little shook up and didn't get any details.

I'm refusing to let this be settled to her favour (anything over 5% my liability is her favour in my eyes). but is there anything I can do to back up my case?

Surely if it was a child walking behind her car, and she reversed into them, they wouldn't be 50% liable.

Here's a picture of the dent in the drivers side where she hit.



Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Richard.

tinkerbell84

£1300 damage?!

You're joking, right? It wouldn't cost that much to fix a dent like that on a Ferrari!

I'd take whatever you can get and reverse into carpark spaces in future

xRichx

The drivers door casing had been stretched and pulled away from the stiffening plates.. new drivers door, the rear panel had to be taken off beaten out and the whole back end blended in with more metalic paint... That really does add up.

tinkerbell84

xRichx wrote: »

The drivers door casing had been stretched and pulled away from the stiffening plates.. new drivers door, the rear panel had to be taken off beaten out and the whole back end blended in with more metalic paint... That really does add up.

Hmmmm. :think:

xRichx

Why would I try and add up the cost of this if I could get it done for a lot less money/hassle etc?

The car was taken to a specialist dealers garage and estimates sent off to my insurer without my notification of the cost beforehand!?!

I'm only going by what the garage said it cost!

Quentin

Without witnesses you have an uphill struggle.

If you want to go against your solicitor's advice, then maybe consider getting another??

xRichx

I've in the last few minutes spoken to the garage that did the report etc and they're going to pull out the file along with photo's and make a statement saying wether my car was stationary, or moving at the time of impact (looking at paint scuffs etc). so hopefully that will conclusively show that my car was stationary and therefore she was fully at blame.

I have also emailed the management of the carpark that the incident took place to see if I can obtain a copy of video records if they still have them.

I have thought about speaking to one of the "no win no fee" lawyers etc to look at the case, but for some reason I'malways a bit dubious about them.

sarahg1969

If you're making a PI claim, maybe she's a bit miffed, given that it was probably a pretty low speed impact?

SolicitorMidlands

this is one of the following:-

a) if you were stationary, this is her fault entirely.

b) if you were reversing out, this is a clear 50/50 in my eyes

I do not consider 1300 worth of damage to be a low velocity argument.

if you do not agree with your solicitor then you could instruct another but do note another firm may be unwilling to take your claim for commercial purposes.

upon receipt of the further evidence to which you refer you could ask your solicitor to instruct a barrister to advise on liability and suggest that you meet the costs of the advice if the barrister is unwilling to undertake the work on a no win no fee basis. the advice would cost in the region of 200 pounds for a straight forward advice.

AndrewSmith

I think you may find that the fact you are claiming PI for whiplash in what is obviously a low speed impact has not helped matters.

The fact that you were (deemed to be) moving at the time is wholly relevant. If both cars were moving then you will get nothing better than 50/50 I'm afraid.

How much are you asking for in PI?

Paul_c_7

i have to agree.

my missus smahsed her car up (own fault and own repair) repalcment door was 25 quid, spraying was 200 and paneling the wing was 90 and theh damage was alot worse than that thats a realy inflated price. #
on my smash the dor was smaked into my side with 6 inches of travel towards me and 3 ft of damage along the door, and they didnt replace the door just panneled it out.