Third party car incident

Countwells

Hi,

Quick question - I was at a junction waiting to turn left onto a main road when a woman went into the back of me. It pushed me over the line and i initially thought that it the damage would be substantial but it was minimal with only seemingly a crack in the number plate. The woman apologized and said her foot slipped off the brake, we exchanged details and parted ways.

I later checked the car and found a crack in the bumper, (which ended up getting resprayed) - I informed the women by phone and said I will get it sorted, to which she sounded 'annoyed'. I claimed on my insurance, who waived the excess (£600) seeing as she went straight into the back of me. I had the repairs done, and kept receiving emails saying that my insurance is waiting for her insurance to respond....

They responded today saying they are not admitting liability, she has concocted a story saying that I stalled, then reversed into her. Which is absolutely ridiculous; she knows she is lying and this has greatly annoyed me.

My question to anyone who has experienced this before is, if mine and her insurance both claim each other is at fault, what happens if it goes to court? my insurance have said that they believe me and hold her responsible, and will not attempt to recover the excess from me...in a small claims court, is the outcome not decided on the probability of an incident occurring in the case of no evidence? i.e. how likely am I to have reversed into her at a junction?!

chanz4

it is possible for you to roll into her, unless it was down bank

forgotmyname

Outcome is they will decide it was your fault, Their fault or just go 50/50.


Your insurance may want something for the excess then. And it might affect your premium for the next 5 years.

You had an accident and now a higher risk as you are likely to have more.

Quentin

Countwells wrote: »

...in a small claims court, is the outcome not decided on the probability of an incident occurring in the case of no evidence? i.e. how likely am I to have reversed into her at a junction?!

Usually the decision is based on the evidence. An independent witness helps, as otherwise with just two opposing versions, how can the judge decide?

If there are no witnesses/no evidence the scc is an unlikely scenario, and the insurers will resolve this.

InsideInsurance

It is fairly common for these types of issues to happen unfortunately.

Your, and their, insurers will discuss the matter and each will make a commercial decision on what is the best to do, either pursue the matter in court, concede liability or opt for a 50/50 settlement because there is insufficient evidence one way or the other and court is too much of a gamble. If it does fit into the small track (aka small claims court) of the county court then your insurers cannot claim legal costs even if they win and so economically it doesnt make sense to pay £X,000 to get a maximum back £Y00

In these types of situations, unlike narrow lane collisions or roundabouts, it is unlikely a court would decide it is a 50/50 split because only one side can be telling the truth and in many cases it does simply come down to who the judge believes is telling the truth.

I'd suggest keeping on top of your insurers and pushing them to pursue a 100% TP liable decision as it is the most likely outcome unless you are a 17 yo male in a modified hot hatch and the accident happened on a friday night when you had 5 mates crammed in the car and the TP is a 45 yo female in a sensible family car who had her small children in the car in their safety seats.

vax2002

You could write to the council asking if that area is covered by any CCTV.

forgotmyname

In car video would be handy. Tempted to get something fitted myself.

I have used an android app, That video's your journey, Logs speed etc, But i keep forgetting to fix the mount to the screen.

Something fixed and not in view of the magpies that like shiny gadgets.

Trying to find something that records as soon as the ignition is switched on is not easy though. Well not in my price band.

Countwells

Thanks for all the replies. My insurance waived the excess as it was supposedly 'clear-cut', and say that no matter what, they are still hilding her liable as her story is implausible i.e. they say its far more likely that she went into the back of me rather than me reversing into her. I mean, on a busy road, who does that?!

it just really, really annoys me that she will be sitting back trying to squirm out of her obligations, and she knows she is lying. I suppose I should know better than to trust people to do the right thing.

I've found a camera online that will record everything during the car journey for about £100....such a shame I couldn't have caught the lying !!!!! red-handed.....

rs65

I know its not likely to be economical for a small claim but I wish insurers would take people like her to court. Let's see if she would be prepared to give evidence in court to support her version.

Countwells

My insurance say there's a possibility I could go to court, which of course i'm prepared to do. Unfortunately the only witness was in my car and so is not independent....I would take a lie detector test if it would help, and invite her to do the same!

chanz4

you can get journey loggers which plug into the cig lighter, it sits on your dask about £40 on ebay