Daughter's Car Accident - please help.

Weird_Nev

Ok, so what colour was the BMW?

The scuffs on the rear nearside (left/passengerside) bumper could be paint from the other car, or they could be where your daughters cars has contacted armco during the spin.

The BMW would have had corresponding scuffs on the front offside if what you think has happened has happened....

tesuhoha

Weird nev - have sent you a pm.

scheming_gypsy

from the look of the white paint it doesn't look like it'd have been picked up on the spin as there's no other damage. The damage to the front is pretty severe so any other contact would have left more than some paint.
If the BMW was white then it's pretty obvious what's happened and the office needs to explain himself. He's no doubt just looked at the front bumper and seen that there's no sign or impact, but that has possibly come off the drivers wing.

tesuhoha

I take your point weird nev but that side was not damaged in the crash. She hit the crash barriers at the front of the car I think

tesuhoha

Looking at that picture that side of the car is completely undamaged and the recovery man had no doubt that she had been hit from behind. The BMW was blue.

mikey72

The backs pushed in, the wheel liner has been pushed out, and the boot no longer fits.
I'd put it down an crash damage I'm afriad.

scheming_gypsy

The normal answer then would be that it couldn't have been off a blue car... but that doesn't mean it's not possible; it all depends if that is white paint or primer where the paint has been scraped off your daughters car leaving the primer underneath. The inner arch on display is also a bit of a giveaway that something has happened at the back.

Weird_Nev

Ok, well...

This is only from my experience, but that is significant damage to the rear quarter. You can see the extent of it up to the crease in the bumper about 5" up, and right down low on the bumper too where the bumper has flexed in (unless that's just a reflection).
It's hard to tell if that is paint left on your daughters car, or where the plastic bumper has been rubbed through the paint on the Yaris. Just looking at it should tell you.

My point is only this: If another car hit your daughters, I would expect it to have similar levels of damage at that point of contact. The other point is, that when cars are "spun out" in that manner, front corner of one hitting the back corner of another, the leading car tends to slow dramatically as it spins, rolling it right around the front of the car behind. You end up with not a "simple" contact like that, but extended damage along the side of the spun car, and across the front of the car that spun it. That's just from waht I've seen in errr... tactical pursuits. Not saying it HAS to happen like that, but in my experience at high speeds that's how it happens.

If a car hit your daughter causing her accident, it would have had damage. If the officer missed damage on the BMW, then that is an important oversight.

So, we are left with the following scenarios:
1) Your daughter spun due to some error/outisde influence.
2) The BMW hit your daughter, the driver stopped, damage was missed and they were sent on their way (presumably after lying).
3) Another car hit your daughter, the BMW stopped as a witness. They may or may not have seen WHO hit your daughters car, they might have just seen her spin and stopped to check.

Report your suspicions QUICKLY, to the police and to the insurance company.
The thing that could verify this is to re-examine the BMW. If it has corresponding damage (and samples of your daughters cars paint!) on it's front offside corner, then we have our answer and your daughter has a no-fault claim. Don't worry, BMW bumpers aren't cheap, they won't be sorting it too quickly!

Contessa

Thanks for posting the photographs. From these it seems to have been a very serious accident. A scary record of what happened. I'm so glad your daughter is OK, it could have been so much worse.

tesuhoha

My husband said there was paint on the car but he said it could have been any colour. He could not tell. Thats what we want to have the BMW re-examined but we have been unable to make contact with the police officer today despite ringing several times. We have already reported our suspicions to the insurance company. They are looking at it tomorrow.