Can i dispute a car insurance claim?

ItchyFeet

Can somebody claim against my car insurance if i dispute it?

I had an 'incident' with a motorcycle where i was about to pull out of a car park onto a main road in a town centre - checked right, left and right again and was about to pull out but the bike was fast approaching me from the right. He wasn't on the road when i first looked right. I had moved forward about a foot and then obviously braked sharply. The bike swerved into the middle of the road and slipped on the white line.

At no point did we come into contact and in my opinion it was an accident. I don't feel that i was in the wrong as i did check the road and he wasn't approaching as i first looked right - i don't know and couldn't say with great confidence that he was speeding but it's the only conclusion i can draw.

The police took statements and concluded that it was an accident and that nobody was at fault. Today i have received a phone call from the insurance company to say that a claim is being made against me. I don't have the details yet but is this possible? Can i dispute it?

dugard

You can definitely dispute it, however if the bike swerved to avoid what he/she thought would be an impact then the chances are you will be found liable, however if the bike was speeding this would be classed as contributory negligence. Speak to your insurers as quickly as you can, they will get copies of the police report and will take over defending the claim.

As there is no damage to your vehicle then you won't have to pay an excess but you could lose some no claims bonus if you are found liable.

Sgt_Pepper_2

If the police have no evidence of the bike speeding, which it sounds like they don't. He wasn't speeding and you can't prove otherwise, you pulled out on him so expect your insurance to pay out.

InsideInsurance

And speeding itself is rarely considered anything significant in terms of liability unless its around a blind bend etc and even then it is only a relatively low percentage.

You say "he wasnt on the road when I first looked right", where did he come from then? On the very basis that you have holes in your story the claimant will rip a defense a part on the basis that clearly he cannot come from no where and if you didn't see him you evidently werent paying proper attention and hence are liable.

chanz4

Reading it the op did pull out, as the bike had to swerve to miss

mum2one

you can dispute it, but once the insurers are involved, u might as well sit back, they tend to work on the basis its easier to settle than to go to court.

This is true -happened to us

We were in a row of traffic, 2 rows going in our direction, the 3rd lane is for traffic the opposiate way, a car pulls out of a car park on the side of the 3rd lane, then proceeds to cut across 3 lanes of traffic, my dad was driving I was a passenger, he braked and swerved to avoid hitting her, (he didn't hit anything else, but due to his driving I ended up with whiplash and luscle damage in neck.
Police involved, - said the other driver was at fault as she crossed 3 lanes of traffic without due care and attention, my father actually got thanked by the police for preventing what could have been a very nasty pile up.

I claim injury - through my fathers insurance with the view that at the police said she was at fault, her insurers dispute the incident, so my fathers insurers come to the conclusion with her insurers to save court costs they would go 50/50 on the claim.

So yes try disputing, but don't expect to get anywhere! x

InsideInsurance

Insurers dont simply want to "save court costs". They are however totally dispassionate about the matter and do make a purely commercial decision on which cases are worth pursuing through the courts and which are too much of a gamble and so better to settle on a split liability decision

Rav3n

Just because you didn't hit the car doesn't mean that there wasn't an accident or that it wasn't your fault.

Now I can't be certain because I wasn't there and I didn't see it. But based on the information I have you pulled out on a bike, who then had to take evasive action to avoid hitting you. In the event he came off his bike. On paper it's your fault.