Car Accident (Advice Please)

foxhunter_2

Please can somebody help me.

I had a car accident on Friday of last week. I do not believe that it was my fault at all and I am struggling with what to do next.

The incident happened as follows:

I was at a T junction to the left was a one way system (no entry to me) to the right was a residential street with a row of parked cars on the left hand side. I had stopped at the give way road markings. Upon realising that I could not turn left. I looked and indicated right before setting off. As i was turning the corner I obviously made the move to avoid the parked cars on the left hand side. As I was about to travel around the first parked car his reversing light came on and he set off instantly! (I had no reason to suspect there was anyone in this car) As he reversed he collided with the corner of the passenger side of my veichle causing damage to my car.

And minor damage to his. At the time of the incident I never intimated nor suggested that I was at fault for the accident, however he started worrying about his no claims bonus; i suggested I get a quote from a garage for my repairs, this seemed very agreeable to him.

I got a quote which was for £396.00 for the repairs. Which seems very reasonable. Having advised him of the cost he asked for a second quote (Which I thought was a reasonable request) having got two more quotes from alternative garages (who say that the whole bumper needs replacing rather than repairing) these quotes were around the £900 mark each.

I have since advised him of these quotes he has now decided that he does not believe that he was at fault (he has spoke to his insurance) and I should have been able to avoid him. However he has stated that he was willing to pay for repairs when he thought there was minor damage!

I am not keen on contacting my insurance in the fear (probably unfounded) that the claim ends up being decided as partially my fault. I am a young driver (22) who is the named driver on my fianc!'s (23) policy. She has 2 years no claims that we really want to protect.

Having been back to the original garage they are still insistent that they do not believe that the bumper does not need fully replacing (I am happy with their service/opinion as I have had work carried out before by them.

Please could you offer me any advice as it will be very gratefully appreciated.

Many Thanks

tali

You are legally obliged to tell your insurance company of any accidents(this gives them an excuse to hike up your premium even though you didn't claim)
If you do not t have independant witnesses - it will be decided by lazy insurance companies as 50/50 - and affect your bonus- so you lose out.

goldspanners

it should be as simple as they were reversing, carrying out a manouvre when you were approaching and they werent paying attention. but im sure he will now deny even moving and say he was stationary and you hit him.

you done an honourable thing by giving him the chance to pay for it rather than screw up his NCB,and even went out of your way to get more quotes, youve been fair enough with him. i wouldnt be doing him any more favours.
tell your insurance and let them deal with it.

sunnysea83

my other half got hit by a reversing car, there were cars parked either side of him and he was waiting to get down to the end of the road to park, the road had a turning and parking area at the end. The driver in the car in front htat had been picking someone up just stuck her car in reverse and went straight in to the front of my partners car.

My partner was concerned about her saying he drove in to the back of her etc, so he recorded her admitting it was her fault saying she was sorry she didnt look in her mirror and was going to reverse on to the main road.

The next night she came round with her partner and they threatened him if he took it further they would deny it as they couldnt lose their no claims.

He claimed on his insurance and got a letter saying they were contesting the fault, so we wrote back saying that we had the recording and could send it, we never had to as they admitted liability.

I think in your case though its going to be acase of your word against his and the insurance co might wonder why you havent informed them already! It would probably end in a 50/50

asbokid

sunnysea83 wrote: »

my other half got hit by a reversing car, there were cars parked either side of him and he was waiting to get down to the end of the road to park, the road had a turning and parking area at the end. The driver in the car in front htat had been picking someone up just stuck her car in reverse and went straight in to the front of my partners car.

My partner was concerned about her saying he drove in to the back of her etc, so he recorded her admitting it was her fault saying she was sorry she didnt look in her mirror and was going to reverse on to the main road.

The next night she came round with her partner and they threatened him if he took it further they would deny it as they couldnt lose their no claims.

He claimed on his insurance and got a letter saying they were contesting the fault, so we wrote back saying that we had the recording and could send it, we never had to as they admitted liability.

I think in your case though its going to be acase of your word against his and the insurance co might wonder why you havent informed them already! It would probably end in a 50/50

sounds like a cunning plan! what did you use to make the "recording" ? A mobile phone?

asbokid

I guess my legal argument would be... that HE asked YOU to provide HIM with quotes for YOUR repairs.. and people only do that when they are admitting liability..

Can you prove it was that way around though? Did you supply those quotes with a covering letter, with words to the effect of "Dear Sir, As you requested, here are the quotations for the repair of my vehicle. I look forward to receiving your cheque..."

that would help build a more robust argument for you..

Quentin

foxhunter wrote: »

Having been back to the original garage they are still insistent that they do not believe that the bumper does not need fully replacing (I am happy with their service/opinion as I have had work carried out before by them.

Regarding the bumper, for your own peace of mind over this, go to the garage that said it needed replacing and ask why.

Some bumpers have internal impact absorption systems which work once only (ie someone hits the bumper and its internal system absorbs the impact so that the main bodywork is undamaged, but next time someone hits the bumper, as the internal system is damaged the shock of the impact gets transmitted to the main body, causing much bigger repairs)

If that is the reason why they say your bumper needs replacing, then take their advice!

For this reason (internal impact absorption) you should never say "no damage done" and drive off when someone bumps you from behind, and there are no scratches to see. Always get their details and get your car checked at a bodyshop before deciding if no damage has been done.

Inactive

foxhunter wrote: »

Please can somebody help me.

I had a car accident on Friday of last week. I do not believe that it was my fault at all and I am struggling with what to do next.

The incident happened as follows:

I was at a T junction to the left was a one way system (no entry to me) to the right was a residential street with a row of parked cars on the left hand side. I had stopped at the give way road markings. Upon realising that I could not turn left. I looked and indicated right before setting off. As i was turning the corner I obviously made the move to avoid the parked cars on the left hand side. As I was about to travel around the first parked car his reversing light came on and he set off instantly! (I had no reason to suspect there was anyone in this car) As he reversed he collided with the corner of the passenger side of my veichle causing damage to my car.

So you arrived at a junction where you could not turn left ( one way street ), there are signs prior to the junction warning of no left turn, you obviously didn't see them.

You then turned right in to a one way street I presume ( a continuation of the road to the left ), if so why did you need to drive up behind a row of parked cars?

You should be able to see if there is a driver in a car.

Sorry, it sounds to me like you were in part to blame for this accident and the other driver has realised this.

anewman

Inactive wrote: »

Sorry, it sounds to me like you were in part to blame for this accident and the other driver has realised this.

If the OP stopped, and they carried on reversing....