Very minor accident - advice please

mealone

If your lucky you might get knock for knock.

bishops_2

Just a couple more snippets of info to throw into the melting pot:

Bad news: no CCTV.

Good news: This section of the car park is not in fact one-way. Vehicles tend to exit only via this route, as there is a far more straightforward route into the car park. It is unusual to get a vehicle entering this way, but I did see a school minibus travelling this way, when I did the school collection this evening.

mrmichaelf

As I said previously, working in claims, if they say they have a witness (even if they dont) and you cant prove otherwise you will stand very little chance of it coming out in your favour. Blame will 99% be attributed to yourselves.

bishops_2

mrmichaelf wrote: »

As I said previously, working in claims, if they say they have a witness (even if they dont) and you cant prove otherwise you will stand very little chance of it coming out in your favour. Blame will 99% be attributed to yourselves.

Thanks for the advice.

All this hinges around us finding a witness that can verify what really happened. Perhaps it might even be worth calling their bluff, and saying that we have witnesses too.

Am still awaiting a response to my question of whether children can be witnesses, would you be able to answer that?

Thanks.

onetomany

r bless i feel sorry for you op, im in the opersit possion, the other day a young girl went in to the back of me i got a dent the size of a golf ball and little crack in my bumper which you can hardly notice, she asked if we can sort it out without the insurance, which i would of just said forget it if it was my car, but the car is on mobility scheme i had to ring to inform them and they have insisted that the car goes to a gargae and get fits and are charging her insurance for the damage and hire car , just waiting for car to be picked up and pull car to be delivered, just hoping garage dosent laugh at me when they see the damage!

Paradigm

bishops wrote: »

All this hinges around us finding a witness that can verify what really happened.

Indeed it does Is it possible that, unknown to you at the time, a friend was at the school & saw the incident?

bishops wrote: »

Am still awaiting a response to my question of whether children can be witnesses, would you be able to answer that?

Thanks.

I would think given the age of the child &, more importantly, the fact they are close family they would have less influence than a truly independent witness!

However if you wanted to bluff & said you had a witness you wouldn't actually be lying would you? :cool:

melancholly

i wouldn't put too much sway on the fact that the other driver wasn't too bothered at the time but then appeared to be later - they may well have gone home and their OH seen the damage and been upset! it's worth finding out what the cost of repair will be - it may end up being easier to pay for the damage rather than losing a no claims bonus if the damage is only small. it also depends on your excess.

boyse7en

mrmichaelf wrote: »

As I said previously, working in claims, if they say they have a witness (even if they dont) and you cant prove otherwise you will stand very little chance of it coming out in your favour. Blame will 99% be attributed to yourselves.

Surely, if there is no witness saying otherwise, then the blame would be attributed 50/50? Both cars were reversing at the time of impact, so why would the OP's wife be 99% to blame? The insurance company would have no evidence to show that either driver was to blame.

Even if there is a witness, unless they are outright lying about what happened, then I can't see it being anything other than a 50/50 decision (presuming the OP is accurate in their recollection of events)

Paradigm

melancholly wrote: »

i wouldn't put too much sway on the fact that the other driver wasn't too bothered at the time but then appeared to be later - they may well have gone home and their OH seen the damage and been upset! it's worth finding out what the cost of repair will be - it may end up being easier to pay for the damage rather than losing a no claims bonus if the damage is only small. it also depends on your excess.

Totally agree but you're missing one thing..... people LIE when filling out insurance claims!
Often the description of events on a claim form bears no resemblance to what actually happened when they find out how much even minor body repairs can cost... this is when "witnesses" often appear out of the blue.

melancholly

Paradigm wrote: »

Totally agree but you're missing one thing..... people LIE when filling out insurance claims!
Often the description of events on a claim form bears no resemblance to what actually happened when they find out how much even minor body repairs can cost... this is when "witnesses" often appear out of the blue.

luckily i've not been on the receiving end of that - just had to claim after being hit myself! and lying wasn't really an option - if someone pulls out and hits the back of you on a main road, there can't really be any issue of blame - it's their fault!

i guess once the ballpark cost is known (exaggeration of costs being likely!), then you also know if it's worth finding a witness and contesting. (i also think that this may be more expensive than it looks if the whole bumper needs replacing!).