Car Park Accident Claim

mouldeeves

August 2013 I was involved in an accident in a car park with another car. I was reversing straight back out of a parking space to straighten up when another car reversed into the path of mine, at some speed, and collided with me as they were leaving their parking space opposite and to the side of mine. My car was under braking at the time of impact.

Pretty unfortunate situation but he immediately said "he'd see me in court" etc when I made it clear i wasn't accepting full liability for this. This may give you an idea of the kind of guy we're dealing with here. After a few moments to calm down, having half a team of rugby players getting out of my car and my friends car, and exchanging insurance details, he apologised to me for the accident (I made a point of not doing this) and I went on my way expecting to hear from his dedicated team of legal representatives soon .

I heard nothing from him or his insurers for a long time and decided just to repair the damage to my car and not involve insurance. All was well and I even saw his repaired car driving around town way too fast a few times since.

In July 2014 I received a letter form my insurers advising me that they had received notification, in June (10 months later), of the accident from the other insurance company and that they were seeking full liability from my end. Obviously that isn't going to happen and now my insurers are proposing a 50/50 split since it was a car park accident even though I would probably argue it was more his fault than mine. I have a few witnesses in the people in my car and my friends car but I'm not really sure if they saw that much and they aren't exactly impartial. Whatever happens it would be hard to prove it either way largely being his word against mine. I could maybe put forward a good case for him being at fault but I have no real evidence for it.

Anyway, what is best to do here? I'm not accepting full liability so they want my statement and will go from there. My statement won't be fantastic because it happened almost a year ago. Who waits a year to file a claim?? Is that a bit fishy? Has he hit on hard times and could use some extra money??

I have significant no claims bonus and my car has been repaired at my cost. What is the point in involving insurers if it ends up a 50/50 split? Both cars are fairly new and fairly German so repair costs are probably exactly the same and I don't need to claim for it on my insurance.

InsideInsurance

Both parties reversing out of spaces will most likely go 50/50 just as it would if there were differences of opinion on what happened without independent evidence to substantiate one version over the other.

People wait much longer than a year at times. Some insurers are also exceptionally inefficient and so could be the insurers that have created delays not the TP.

Unfortunately knock for knock, where both sides carry their own losses, ended many decades ago and 50/50 where both sides can recover 1/2 their losses from the other party is the current process.

If you dont want their claim to go against your policy you can always settle the 50% of the TP claim yourself. You'd be entitled to recover 50% of your outlay from your own repairs from their insurers if you still have the documentation for it.

neilmcl

mouldeeves wrote: »

I have significant no claims bonus and my car has been repaired at my cost. What is the point in involving insurers if it ends up a 50/50 split? Both cars are fairly new and fairly German so repair costs are probably exactly the same and I don't need to claim for it on my insurance.

Because that is what you're contractually obliged to do. I'm surprised your insurer hasn't taken issue to the fact you haven't informed them of the accident.

macman

A above-you are obliged to report the incident 'for information only', even if no claim is made.

[Deleted User]

macman wrote: »

A above-you are obliged to report the incident 'for information only', even if no claim is made.

They will still ramp up your fee so it is strictly on a need to know basis.

Retrogamer

A 50/50 split will have the same affect on your premium i would imagine as a 100% at fault claim. (loss of unprotected NCB, increased premium for 5 years).

Strider590

Two drivers, going backwards, looking forwards....... It's a 50/50 claim.

Why do people not see it's better and easier to reverse into a parking space?

DUTR

Strider590 wrote: »

Two drivers, going backwards, looking forwards....... It's a 50/50 claim.

Why do people not see it's better and easier to reverse into a parking space?

Indeed, I always reverse into a space (too may pedestrians about) even reversing up to a bollard, there is enough room to open the tailgate to load up.