Insurance Claim

Jjpot95

Hi all,

Not sure if I am posting in the correct section as I have only just signed up to the forum in hope someone could give me some advice.

Yesterday my girlfriend crashed in to a parked car but it was not her fault, an oncoming car was speeding and should have give way so my girdlriend could get through the gap but instead did not and does through, so my girlfriend had to swerve and in turn damaged the front of her car and the back of the parked car.

A lady waking her dog saw the incident and has said that she saw the other driver going far too fast and had no intention of stopping and that caused the accident.

We have the details of the other driver and the eye witness is willing to speak if needed.

My girlfriend has spoke to her insurance company today and they have said there Is nothing they can do even though she has details of the other car and an eye witness.

If anyone can give me any advice on what can be done it would be greatly appreciated as my girlfriend is distraught that she may have to end up paying for all the damage.

Thanks

smssms

I hate to say it, but I thikn even if you are pretty much 'run off the road' by another vehicle, if there is no contact between you and that vehicle it will probably be seen as your own fault/problem.

If does not seem fair, but it can mean that a better, safer driver taking avoiding action comes out of it out of pocket.

I assume she is not full comp insurance then?

Immoral of the story - make sure you get a bit of contact with the offending car

System

Speed from a pedestrian point of view is subjective and unverifiable. Other driver was going too fast? Too fast for what? Were they driving within the speed limit? If not, can it be proved? 'Too fast' is just an opinion

GF was unable to stop safely for the conditions, so appears to be the one that was driving too fast, and drove into a parked vehicle - her fault.

At this point, without any verifiable proof that the other driver was driving dangerously/forced her to swerve then the fault is currently with the GF

Stoke

Jjpot95 wrote: »

Hi all,

Not sure if I am posting in the correct section as I have only just signed up to the forum in hope someone could give me some advice.

Yesterday my girlfriend crashed in to a parked car but it was not her fault, an oncoming car was speeding and should have give way so my girdlriend could get through the gap but instead did not and does through, so my girlfriend had to swerve and in turn damaged the front of her car and the back of the parked car.

A lady waking her dog saw the incident and has said that she saw the other driver going far too fast and had no intention of stopping and that caused the accident.

We have the details of the other driver and the eye witness is willing to speak if needed.

My girlfriend has spoke to her insurance company today and they have said there Is nothing they can do even though she has details of the other car and an eye witness.

If anyone can give me any advice on what can be done it would be greatly appreciated as my girlfriend is distraught that she may have to end up paying for all the damage.

Thanks

I'm really sorry to be blunt here, but yes it was. She hit a parked car. She should have stopped. It may have been her right of way, so she should have stopped and forced the other driver to stop (or crash into her), once stopped, she should have demanded the person go back... or, go back herself. The one thing she shouldn't have done, is hit the car.

I'm afraid you've got almost no chance of winning this one pal. Someone else feel free to correct me, but I can't see how in this case. The best thing you can do is learn a horrible lesson.

smssms

Another thought, if the witness is willing and you can get the owner's details via the insurance company, take the other driver through the small claims court to get the losses back.... Might work?

Stoke

smssms wrote: »

Another thought, if the witness is willing and you can get the owner's details via the insurance company, take the other driver through the small claims court to get the losses back.... Might work?

How? The driver will turn round and say "I was driving at an appropriate speed for the road". The most likely outcome, is the driver is told he should have given way but really 100% of the blame from an insurance perspective, lies with the girl in this case.

forgotmyname

She should have crashed into the speeding driver. then argue that his speed was excessive.

She hit a parked vehicle so all her fault. You only travel as fast as the conditions allow you to see and stop safety. She should have stopped.

Either way she made a mistake and just let the insurance sort it. Dont forget she needs to declare this for the next 5 years or so.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

!!!!!! wrote: »

Speed from a pedestrian point of view is subjective and unverifiable. Other driver was going too fast? Too fast for what? Were they driving within the speed limit? If not, can it be proved? 'Too fast' is just an opinion

GF was unable to stop safely for the conditions, so appears to be the one that was driving too fast, and drove into a parked vehicle - her fault.

At this point, without any verifiable proof that the other driver was driving dangerously/forced her to swerve then the fault is currently with the GF

how do you know she was driving too fast?


if the car oncoming had no priority, and forced his/her way through, hitting the parked car may have been unavoidable due to distance between OP and that parked car, for all you know she may have been a 2 meters away from it, travelling at 20 would take approx 6m to stop anyways . not because of speed the OP's GF was doing and road conditions but purely down to distance the OP and the parked car were from eachother may have just been a scenario where the accident was unavoidable.

Strider590

Let this be a lesson....... Always crash into the person who caused the problem

Unfortunately I deleted the video, but last month I watch the woman in front of me put half her car into a hedge when she panicked trying to avoid an oncoming 4x4 on a narrow road. She was driving a Honda Jazz, she'd no idea how big her car was, she was driving down the middle of the road at 15mph and the 4x4 (doing the same at 50+) caught her by surprise.
I was behind in a Vectra, which is 1.8m wide, the Jazz is 1.5m wide, I didn't need to so much as brush the kerb stone.

Who was to blame? Who's fault is it that she has zero spacial awareness? Should the 4x4 driver have been driving more cautiously?

So many factors and no evidence for or against either party, i'm afraid this is just a "live and learn".

thenudeone

forgotmyname wrote: »

You only travel as fast as the conditions allow you to see and stop safety.

And you have no option but to assume that everyone else also obeys the same rules.

For example, if you drive on a main road on the basis that someone approaching from a minor road will stop, but they don't, they are obviously at fault even though you could see them approaching on a potential collision course.

If everyone had to drive on the assumption that other people were going to drive very badly, the roads would be gridlocked.

I would report the accident as a fail to stop accident to Police. The accident was "owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road" (i.e. the speeding car) and the driver has an obligation to stop and report the accident.
I'd also get the insurer's details of askmid.com and make a claim directly with them.

In a civil court, you don't have to prove fault. It comes down to the balance of probabilities. The evidence of 1 driver plus 1 independent witness will probably outweigh the other driver's evidence.

There's nothing to lose and everything to gain by going down this route.

Retrogamer

Pretty much no chance of getting a claim from the other driver.

It would go like this.
You say they were speeding. What is the speed limit and what speed were they doing?
Oh, you don't know? mmmm...how do you know they were speeding then? People's opinions vary and memory isn't always accurate.

People suggesting she should have crashed into the other car aren't giving great advise.
The best thing to have done, would be to perform an emergency stop and then allowed the other vehicle to crash into you. That way, you can claim someone made a dangerous manouver, when they never had right of way. You tried to avoid the accident by stopping but they still hit you.
This might not always be wise because you could be inured, however liability is less likely to be disputed so swings and roundabouts.

A £40 dash cam could have perhaps given enough evidence to convince the police to press charges against the other driver, and that would be the type of evidence you'd need to swap the claim in your favour with this scenario.