How to prove other party's at fault in a car accident?

johnfizz

Hi, I need some advice please. Last week I went shopping and had a small accident in the car park, which was not my fault.
As I was straightening my wheels while parking in the bay (I was in reverse, but my car was NOT in motion), another driver was reversing out from a parking bay directly behind me, and crashed into my rear bymper. The problem is that he says I was reversing too and that it's my fault - which is completely not true, because at the moment of the crash, my vehicle was stationary and I saw the other driver before he crashed into me - I saw him probably 3-5 seconds before he crashed into my bumper and I have come to a full stop and have sounded the horn several times, heard my parking sensors beeping and I was anticipating him to stop - unfortunately he didnt and ended up ruining my bumper. I do have two witnesses, and they have agreed to make a statement if necessary, but I don't think insurance company will believe them, as there is no CCTV recording to confirm their statements and I am afraid that the insurance companies will just say it's 50/50. How can I prove it was his fault without CCTV?! I dont want to spend another 10 months chasing him in court or chasing my insurance company every single day. At the same time, my dealer estimates the bumper to cost around £750 and after I had a look online and my premium will most likely go up by approx. £350-450 pounds if I make a claim, plus I have a voluntary excess of £450. So altogether, it pretty much evens out with the cost of the bumper (£800-900 for the excess and insurance premium rise). I don't know what to do. Will the witness statetements be enough to prove the other person's as fault, or no? I worked very hard for my No Claims Bonus, and it's a brand new car which I love and I am deveastated, I had it only for 6 months and now this guy ruined it and now it looks like I WILL HAVE TO PAY for it!!!

mattk_180

Why will the insurers not believe your witnesses? Are they independent? If they are then 2 separate witness statements confirming the same thing is surely nothing but good news?


When looking online have you checked other insurers? That premium increase seems excessive, particularly if you have protected no claims bonus.


I would imagine on this occasion though that you have a good chance of winning your claim unless you personally know the witnesses which would take away the credibility of their statements.

johnfizz

Hi Matt, many thanks for the reply.

No, I don't know the witnesses, however I'm Polish and the other guy just happens to be Polish as well (just a coincidence) and I was wondering if they would not question the fact that he is my witness? I mean what if the insurer assumes we're friends or something? I don't know how could I prove I didn't know him prior to the incident.

As for the premium increase, I did have a look online at several providers, and have tried different comparison websites and different scenarios - it always comes up as much higher than my current price. It might have something to do with the car, as it's a high-performance Ford Focus and insurance for these is not cheap ATM I'm paying £520 per year, all quotes I made today came back at over £850.

Nasqueron

In the UK the burden of proof is on the accuser.

You have 2 witnesses, you don't know them, you put your claim in with the witness details and if the other side think they're not independent, they have to prove it, not for you to prove you don't. The fact one is Polish is neither here not there, nobody would imagine you must know each other because you happen to be the same nationality.

Just leave it with your insurer if they have the details of the 2 witnesses and the third party will end up paying if it happened as you described, they (third party insurer) are not going to waste money trying to prove the witness is known to you (which is pointless as you said there are 2)

pinkteapot

Use the witnesses! My husband had an accident where the other party was at fault and the other party tried to blame him. Witnesses supported my husband and it went down as a fault claim against the other driver.

This will end up going 50/50 fault without witnesses, or with witnesses there's a chance it'll be non-fault for you. Worst outcome is the witnesses provide statements and then it still goes 50/50 anyway, so you've got nothing to lose by getting them onto the insurance company.

johnfizz

Great, thanks for the help guys.

One more thing: I just learned that if I make a claim, my insurance provider will probably use their "approved bodyshop" to carry out any repairs, which I am NOT happy with. It's a pretty expensive car and it's still under warranty therefore I am vary of using anyone but Ford's main dealer network to do the repairs. However, if I choose to go through Ford, my insurance company will probably charge me £££ for my renewal price. Long story short - I am having really difficult time making a decision on what should I do. Here are the scenarios I play in my head:

I make a claim, witness testimonials gets rejected, it ends up being 50/50, I lose my No Claims Bonus discount (3 years) and my premium gets doubled (that's based on actual quotes), which means it will cost me at least £400 more and...
1) I have to pay £450 excess for the repair if I force my insurance company to go through Ford authorised bodyshop
2) Maybe, just maybe, if they use one of their "approved garages", the repair will be slightly cheaper (let's say £350), but somehow I think that the insurance company will force me to pay the excess anyway, because they want to make money. Also, it would probably violate my car warranty.

So in both scenarios 1) and 2) I am screwed, because if I were to fix the bumper at my expense at a non-Ford bodyshop without making a claim, that would be probably £200-350. But then there's the warranty issue and also, how can I prevent the other party from filing a claim against me in the future?

The way I see it, is that I lose no matter what, unless I am proven not at fault. The question is, what are my chances? Because having explored possible outcomes above, I feel like every decision I will make will be bad. Please help!

Quentin

If your repair will be less than your excess then obviously don't claim!


(But if it ends up as a 50/50 or any other split liability you will be able to reclaim your "share" off the other side (eg 80/20 in your favour mean you can get 80% of your uninsured losses back off the third party)

johnfizz

Quentin wrote: »

If your repair will be less than your excess then obviously don't claim!


(But if it ends up as a 50/50 or any other split liability you will be able to reclaim your "share" off the other side (eg 80/20 in your favour mean you can get 80% of your uninsured losses back off the third party)

1) what is the other person makes a claim against me?
2) if I do this at my expense, I will be paying for something I didn't do.

Quentin

johnfizz wrote: »

1) what is the other person makes a claim against me?
2) if I do this at my expense, I will be paying for something I didn't do.

1) They will be able to claim their share of their uninsured losses too (your insurer will pay them)


2) If you do it at your expense as it is less than your excess then you would always have to pay it! (You always have to pay your excess if you claim against your own policy as it isn't covered - it's an uninsured loss which you pay and subsequently claim off the responsible third party)

johnfizz

I was under the impression that if I manage to prove it's not my fault - I don't pay the excess?

Quentin

Well.....as posted your excess isn't covered by your own insurance.


So if you claim against your own insurance you have to pay your excess irrespective of who is to blame.


If you are not to blame AND there is a liable third party (And you know who it is), then you can claim back all your uninsured losses from them - including your excess.


(As posted if you are partly to blame you get that part the other side is responsible for back)