Advice re: car accident fault.

chrestomanci

I have recently had a car accident and have claimed with Admiral. The claim has since been settled, and I have been found to be at fault. I'd like the advice of MSErs regarding this...

Basically, I have my car parked in the driveway. Just out of the drive there's a road, and on the other side, a single yellow line - parking restriction from 8am until 6pm.

A car was parked in front of my drive. It was 8.30am, so he wasn't meant to be there. Reversing out of my drive, I hit his door - mistake - he was parked too close to my drive.

When I phoned to claim, I explained I was unsure as to whether it was my fault or not since he was parked outwith time restrictions. But the claims guy I spoke to immediately said "you hit a parked car so it's your fault" and proceeded down that route.

Is this right? Does hitting a parked car automatically make you at fault, regardless of the situation? Admiral did not survey the area to see that it was a tight squeeze, and didn't seem to care that his car should NOT have been parked there.

The claim has since been settled, and I lost 2 years of NCB as well as gaining a claim on my record.

Do I just suck it up and move on, or is there any point in writing to Admiral and trying to get them to review the situation?

InsideInsurance

Move on

In 99.9% of cases a static object is there to be seen and avoided and so the moving vehicle is 100% to blame.

In the 0.1% of cases where the driver isnt 100% to blame they are still held the majority to blame and it still counts as a fault claim and impacts your NCD

Mr_Warren_2

You need to differentiate between the driving fault and the public driving law.

a) You were reversing and hit a parked car. You are at fault as far as the insurance is concerned.

b) The car was parked "illegally". This is a matter of public driving law. Although it should not have been at that spot at that given time, this doesn't give you the freedom to ram into it.

Consider the burglar who enters a house and gets 10ton of s***t beaten out of him by the house owner as a result.

The house owner doesn't have the right to reduce the scumbag to a pulp although the burglar had no right to enter the house.

The house owner gets into trouble with the law (you and insurance) and the burglar spends some time in jail (law and the wrongfully parked car). Although there is less risk for the driver of that car to be prosecuted.

chrestomanci

Fair enough. Thanks for your comments - at least I now understand where my insurer was coming from!

thenudeone

It's the driver's responsibility to control the vehicle.

You are in charge of over a ton of metal.

If it hits something which was unattended and stationary, the driver is at fault.

A driver should drive at a speed which enables them to stop within the distance they can see; so even if a stationary vehicle was parked dangerously (round a blind corner), the driver of the moving vehicle would be mainly or wholly to blame for any accident involving it.