Car Accident - Advice needed!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

I wouldnt stop 1. your in danger of being rear ended from a car behind car no.3 potentially causing a 4 car pile up as per being shunted straight into the crash victims infront.

i would assessed the situation like the OP partner had. hill icy, crash infront,cars behind,room to overtake so made that option to do so,then car NO.2 pulls out for some unknown reason,its car NO.2 fault to both accidents.

stopping wouldnt of been a good idea, OP partner was keeping momentom of traffic trying to avoid being in the accident one or causing one. as i see it car NO.2 lost control and on that basis is at fault.

almillar

My view of a fair outcome would be that car 2 pays for 1 & 2's damage and car 3 pays for his.
You must be able to stop as mentioned above. Your OH either wasn't able to stop, and is therefore at fault, or was hit whilst overtaking, and not at fault. Car 2 was the direct cause of the 1 & 2 accident. Car 2 also moved into Car 3. Did car 3 hit car 1? Most (if not all) of the fault is at car 2's door.

blondnc

Hi there guys. Thanks for all your help.

Seems that we are a bit 50/50 on this one so I thought I would add more info as requested.

Cars no1 and 2 had become stationary before my OH decided to manouvre (sp) around the accident. My OH is adamant that he had left 10X the stopping distance because of the icy conditions as stated in the highway code. He also decided that it was safer to move around the accident and stop further down the hill to prevent another accident occurring because of another car coming along.

Thanks for all your help again. If this new info changes or enforces your points then please say.

Happy New Year!!

davidjwest

I wonder if the owners of cars 1 and 2 know each other - I can't see why car 1 would blame car 3 for the accident and the damage to all vehicles probably is enough evidence on its own to prove that the incident is as described. Car 2 is pretty much entirely to blame from the description given.

almillar

Ah right, so car 3 overtakes 2 stationery cars, 1 & 2, and car 2 then moves off and hits car 3. In my completely unqualified opinion, it's now all car 2's fault. Hope car 1 is a good witness.

blondnc

For all those interested I thought I would update you all on the outcome of this insurance claim, as it might help someone this winter.

Car 1 : Not at fault
Car 2 : 100% of claims through this policy (yay)
Car 3 : Not at fault (and this is our car)

From the details of the claim Car 2 had actually tried to blame it on our car (3). The insurance claim investigators then came and looked at her car and agreeed with us that the impact was NOT at the rear of her car as she had stated but on her rear passenger door, thus meaning she was pulling out and not indicating.

I think lying to the insurers was the nail in her coffin, but other facts that certainly helped was including a good google map image of all 3 cars at various points of the accident. Also, making clear that our car was maneuvering around the accident to prevent a further one went in our favour.

For once the insurers have got it right, and if it helps it was Swiftcover so would recommend!