Insurance liability in a car park

SimonJGreen

Hey I'm new to here, but this seems like a helpful and active community so I thought it a good place to ask this question!

I was sat in our car with my wife in a public car park and another driver swung in to the parking space next to us and scuffed down our car.

I obviously jumped out and was a bit !!!!!! with her, and she denied anything had happened?! I was stunned of course at her arrogance, but that aside I took a tonne of photos: imgur.com/a/3OE2s

They show quite clearly the marks on both cars, and a bottle on the floor for reference to show height. In the photo showing the back of her car you can see her tyre mark where she had just swung in. It was raining hence the mark. Also as it was such terrible weather I believe that makes the marks in the photos even more important, as they would have covered over with dirt rather than being visible white had they not JUST happened. I have another photo form when we got home showing exactly that in fact: imgur.com/tjXvY

So my question is, from others experience, how is this going to go down between us, her and the insurance companies?

daveyjp

Depends how well you present your case and how good a liar she is. Your word against hers so ensure your statement and diagrams are full of detail. Her wheels are still turned, don't miss detail like this, but if the second link shows it after you cleaned the car I wouldn't bother going through insurance. A good bodyshop will polish those scratches out and it will cost less than the potential increased premiums for the next 5 years.

Nearly_Old

SimonJGreen wrote: »

Hey I'm new to here, but this seems like a helpful and active community so I thought it a good place to ask this question!

I was sat in our car with my wife in a public car park and another driver swung in to the parking space next to us and scuffed down our car.

I obviously jumped out and was a bit !!!!!! with her, and she denied anything had happened?! I was stunned of course at her arrogance, but that aside I took a tonne of photos: imgur.com/a/3OE2s

They show quite clearly the marks on both cars, and a bottle on the floor for reference to show height. In the photo showing the back of her car you can see her tyre mark where she had just swung in. It was raining hence the mark. Also as it was such terrible weather I believe that makes the marks in the photos even more important, as they would have covered over with dirt rather than being visible white had they not JUST happened. I have another photo form when we got home showing exactly that in fact: imgur.com/tjXvY

So my question is, from others experience, how is this going to go down between us, her and the insurance companies?

Sorry to hear about your problem.

As the other party is denying it happened good that you took photographs. Should the other party prove to be stubborn then independent witness would be useful, or if available any CCTV coverage as these days many car parks are covered.

Did the other party provide her insurance details? Because damage has been caused there is a requirement for the other party to provide these.

There are now 2 basic options:

1) If you have comprehensive insurance just report the accident to them, deny any liability and provide them with the photographs and a completed calim form. Usually they will repair your vehicle and you will pay any excess and they will pursue the other party's insurers for all the costs.

2) When something similar happened to my wife's car we were fortunate that the other party admitted liability and his insurers arranged everything. However we still had to report it to our insurers even though we did make a claim on our insurance.

The fact that it was in car park does not make any difference as although it is not a highway it is a place of public access so the Road Traffic Act still applies.

Good luck.

Edit: as pointed out above you could get a quote from a bodyshop for machine polishing the area and then ask the other party to pay directly for this and not involve the insurers.

[Deleted User]

Typical woman BMW driver.

TrickyWicky

IF weird nev is reading, this is why I hate BMW drivers. Arrogant, uncaring, "I don't give a damn about you" type drivers.

This just proves my point. BMW drivers are inconsiderate and shouldn't be allowed on the road.

[Deleted User]

I had someone in a newish BMW cut me up on a roundabout on way home from work tonight. One of those moments where I would have given them a long 5 second blast of the horn. Only I didn't because I was giving someone from work a lift home.

paddedjohn

OP, as annoying as it is you may be better off trying to polish the scuffs out and forgetting about the whole episode. If you do purse through the insurance (and win) then your premiums may rise for a few years even though you are not at fault, even if you lose a claim against her your premiums could rise.

thescouselander

The OP's car looks pretty dirty and its difficult to see from the picture how bad the damage is - I think the dirt actually makes the damage look far worse. I agree with daveyjp - if the picture further down shows the damage after a clean the scratches should probably polish out.

TrickyWicky

Just to add, although I doubt it in this case sometimes its the lacquer that takes the impact.

I've dropped metal parts on my car before and someone else opened their car door on mine and both times I was left with a massive white mark which I thought was the undercoat. It wasn't, it was the lacquer (the clear see through shiny stuff that they put over the paint) that had taken the impact and a little polish left no white marks at all.

hollie.weimeraner

If the woman did not provide her name and address at your request the matter becomes a reportable road traffic accident under the road traffic act (provided the car park is open to members of the public at the time).

Trebor16

TrickyWicky wrote: »

IF weird nev is reading, this is why I hate BMW drivers. Arrogant, uncaring, "I don't give a damn about you" type drivers.

This just proves my point. BMW drivers are inconsiderate and shouldn't be allowed on the road.

To generalise against people because they drive a particular make of car is absolute nonsense.