hit by a taxi driver

tired_mum

i was dring along the service road behind my house and had just turned the corber when i saw the guy coming out of his gates his wife was holding one open he then has to turn right to follow the road which he did and continued driving for afew yards he then unexpectedly reversed i was stationary and not over his gates but just thought he would stop obviously not as he has scraped all the front wing of my car and dented it he said he would pay cash and where would i take it i said a certain co and he said it would be the dearest!! but i would get my hubbby to look after i had dropped the kids off
at school hubby wants to go through insurance when i went to see him and explained damage was worse than 1st thought and i was going through insurance he said he wasnt responsible i was as i should have tooted him to warn that i was there in the end he kept moaning about the cost of his insurance and that he was going to contest it i am sure this is not my fault as i was stationary but the insurance people say i could loose and have to pay 250 excess and my 9 years no claims i feel this was not my fault and i am doing the right thing by going through thee insurance but i have worked hard to pay off my debts and saved long and hard to buy this car and could end up being out of pocket i suppose i should just be gratefull no one was hurt but i am just so mad

MORPH3US

If you were stationary and he reversed, IMHO I would say its his fault because he should check his mirrors before reversing!

However unless you have witnesses then I think the best you will get is a split of the blame 50/50 and you'll both have to pay for your own damage.

Worst case is he wins and you get the blame!!

All of the above is my inexperienced opinion and not fact!

M

tired_mum

i am just so angry as his wife was holding the gate and did nothing then he didnt look i have a C5 estate not hard too mis if he had looked i was stationary being coerteous and allowing them to close gates and get in car so why should i be out of pocket for doing the right thing!!!!

Astaroth

Given the circumstances as you describe them then he is 100% to blame for hitting a stationary vehicle.

the problem with these types of accidents is that what happened in reality and what the other side claims happed are often very different. The classic one is on a hill start... party 1 says the vehicle was stationary and the car behind drove into it party 2 says their vehicle was stationary and the car ahead rolled down the hill into it.

My guess would be that they will say they were stationary and you tried to squeeze past and hit them (if they decide to lie rather than just have misguided ideas on liability) - photos of the scene (with the car in it) will be helpful if there simply would never be room for this to happen.

In cases of disputed circumstances cases often end at a 50/50 basis (both sides have to pay 1/2 of the other sides losses) simply because it isnt possible for the insurers to agree which is the more credible version of events. If these cases go to court the judge will decide who is telling the truth (or in some cases that both parties are lying)

tired_mum

as it is a service road there is no possibilty of going past and it wasnt on a hill so he just didnt look

Astaroth

As I say, I am just coming up with the sort of things we used to have deal with all the time.

Hopefully he will just be a muppet and give the circs as they happened and then just argue the sound the horn thing which his own insurers will say doesnt mean anything and he is 100% liable.

If he doesnt want to get his own insurers involved he doesnt have to. You can go through your insurers and they will recover their money and any uninsured losses you incure (assuming you have legal expenses cover) directly from him if thats what he wants.

tired_mum

I am sorry Astrotath i didnt mean to sound ungratefull i am just really p----d off it has been a bad week i have been hit from behind this week but the guy owns the biggest body shop where i live he was on the phone can you believe it !! just got car back and they have sprayed the bumper the wrong colour so it has got to go back although the guy has been really good about it then i had to use our little car no air con on hottest day and if that was not enough i dropped little cars keys down the drain outside our house and finally to top the week off this happens so by today i was feeling a little cheesed offf to say the leaast

MORPH3US

Let us know how you get on anyway!

M

EasilyAggravated

if he has scraped the front of your bumper then the proof is there that he hit you not the other way round, if you were driving forward it would be impossible to create a scrape that went from one side of the bumper to the other. and im sure the scrape would back this up.
get 3 quotes. provide them to him and tell him he pays the middle quote or you go through the insurance. its probably best you write a letter and keep a copy just in case.

tired_mum

well i have decided to go through the insurance as there is quite a dent and the panel is missing quite a bit of paint the car is going to the repairers thursday and i will have a courtesy car i had a letter from the ins co to say that they would waive the excess £250 so hopefully they can see i am telling the truth as yet he has not reported the accident to his insurance co so we are just waiting to hear

wazza

don't touch the damage bodywork. the inspector can tell a lot from the damage. if there was large scrape marks he can see that u drove into his car, but if the car drove into you then there will be minimum scrape marks just a big dent.

the taxi driver is just frightening u off because he does not want to pay a higher premium next year. if your insurer says go 50/50 then simply put your foot down and say no.

god forbid if anything like this happens to u in future but i strongly recommend that you invest in one of those cheap camera and keep it in the car. you can take photographs of teh scene and also of the driver. why the driver you say? well friend's wife got hit by a van driver. he gave false info. when police finally found the van she could not prove who was driving it.