Advice re car crash please

spursfan323

My wife, the second driver on my insurance policy, (who has been driving for 10 yrs without any mishap), had the following incident today:

She was pulling out from a side street onto the main road. As usual, she slowly edged out til she was halfway across the road - while blocking the oncoming traffic from the right.

When a gap opened from the left, she started forward, going about 5mph. A car from the right tried to get past her, coming at about 25mph, and they collided...the result being that the front of our car made contact with the left side of his.

It was dark and she had 4 kids in the back, so could not get out and take photos of any damage, but the other driver alleged that there was a big 'gash' down the side of his car which he said would 'cost thousands' to repair.

[Having checked the front of my car there are some black scratches and marks which would indicate collision with a black vehicle.]

He suggested insurance and then they exchanged numbers. It was fairly amicable (although a busybody driver behind him tried to get involved and lay all the blame on my wife).

My wife believes it was his fault - he was going too fast and should anyway have waited patiently for her to complete her move.

As neither my wife nor me have ever had an accident, we have no idea how to proceed. Please advise!!

BTW, I have 3 years no claims bonus, and my policy cost £960.

Many thanks.

Quentin

You need to inform your insurer about the incident, and let them deal with the third party.

Pass on any correspondence you might get unanswered to your insurer to deal with.

Find out the cost of getting your car repaired and decide if a claim is cost effective.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Well if the other driver took down the busy bodies details aka the independent witness and as your wife was joining the main carriageway. She will no doubt be the one to blame for this. Put it in the hands of your insurance company.

photome

If she was blocking oncoming traffic from the right, how did the car try to get past.

Your wife was joining the main rd so it is probably her fault.

Why do you call the other driver a busybody? was it because they thought it was your wifes fault? If the busybody had said it was the other drivers fault would they still be a busybody or a great witness

Just tell your insurance company the facts

spursfan323

Quentin wrote: »

You need to inform your insurer about the incident, and let them deal with the third party.

Should I inform them even before I receive any contact from the other driver (i.e. tomorrow) ?

Sgt_Pepper_2

spursfan323 wrote: »

Should I inform them even before I receive any contact from the other driver (i.e. tomorrow) ?

You have a duty to inform them whether you claim or not. However that is a matter for you.

PasturesNew

As I read it, there was nothing coming from the right, so, in the dark, she took her chances and 'blocked' half that side of the road. A car came along from the right (first one since she'd done that), tried to go round her and she chose that moment to complete her manoevre as there was a gap in the traffic coming from the left...? .... making the assumption that as she was half blocking one half of the road, anything coming from the right would just stop and wait for her?

All this, in the dark, with 4 kids in the back?

spursfan323

photome wrote: »

Why do you call the other driver a busybody? was it because they thought it was your wifes fault?

Because she was handling it fine with the other driver without any help from him.

photome wrote: »

Just tell your insurance company the facts

By phone or in writing?

spursfan323

PasturesNew wrote: »

.... making the assumption that as she was half blocking one half of the road, anything coming from the right would just stop and wait for her?

All this, in the dark, with 4 kids in the back?

1. This is a maneuver regularly performed by many drivers when emerging from that road.

2. Not entirely in the dark - cars usually have their headlights on!

3. If I would see a car halfway across the main road (whether rightly or wrongly), yes, I would not just continue full speed and try and go round them, but would instead wait for them to get out of the way. As such I think his driving was indeed unreasonable.

dacouch

Report it to your Insurers for them to deal with.

The other driver going "too fast" at 25mph is unlikely to influence the claim

Not been a great weekend for you

PasturesNew

I too, would slow down/stop and jauntily make a large sweeping hand movement to clearly indicate.... "go on, I'm waiting". To make the assumption everybody on the road is not a complete p1llock is a big mistake though.

On the other hand, if I couldn't see there was a gap, or likely to be one, I might swan past at 25mph if I believed I had the space to get through the gap OK.