Motor insurance quote; how do I know whether accident was my fault?

DaveF327

I have to agree with Harveybobbles.

On the balance of probabilities, driving through the pothole in a straight line would have done far less damage than changing direction like you did, which led to a chain reaction of events.

I'm not going to comment on how late you spotted and planned for the pothole, or whether your reaction was erroneous or even manifestly excessive, but given that you committed a voluntary action by steering, it sounds to me like human error was to blame for the events that unfolded.

neil9327

I'm the OP (original poster).

I've decided to call the insurance company concerned, SwiftCover, to ask about what to put. Although I was fully expecting them to be lazy and tell me to put that the accident was my fault, I was surprised by what they actually said.

The lady I spoke to spoke to her manager and said that as I had not claimed on my policy, and no other vehicle was involved, that yes I did have to inform SwiftCover about the accident, but that I should put the accident as being not my fault.
So regardless of whether it was actually my fault or not, which I'm still not 100% sure of (although the forum posts here suggest it was my fault) I should put it down as not my fault.

That saves me £50 on the premium.

The accident, which I didn't describe truthfully before, was a slide on a sheet of black ice. I was only going at 20MPH on a straight road when my car did a 180 degree turn on the ice, veered off the road, and hit a tree at the side of the road square on.

15 minutes later another car did exactly the same thing (but missed the tree).

I didn't accept that it was my fault because the ice got there due to poor drainage of the road - it was a pool of water that froze overnight.

Thanks for all your answers.

driver92

Glad it worked out ok for you Neil...too many people here are quick to judge when all you want is a bit of helpful advice and not a barrage of abuse...

harveybobbles

Yes, he did want a bit of help etc, but never gave the full details to start with.

You cant blame poor road drains for the sheet of black ice...