Car Insurance - My Mum got hit by a reversing car

orkie55

Hi all,

Have a rather frustrating situation:

A car reversed into my mum's car today to give way to police with sirens on. The police saw what happened but obviously they did not stop as they are on a call.

My mum is very trusting and also didn't really know what to do unfortunately and no one was with her.
The guy did not give her his insurance details, but gave her his business card and told her that he will call insurance company and then let her know.

This is all obviously very dodgy but like I said, my mum is trusting, didn't really know what to do and called my father only after the other car had left.

Anyway, when my mum got home, she called the guy who said he will call her to let her know when he has contacted insurance company. He then called and told her his insurance details and they were on the same company.

Anyway my mum then called her insurance to find out that he is claiming that my mum hit him from behind.

My mum didn't even take pictures of either car, while he took pictures. His car had little to no visible damage, while my mum's has a few scratches and slightly bent front bumper.

Only after all this had happened did she call me unfortunately.

The situation is this now:
Insurance company openly said that they believe his side of the story because he called first (He probably called straight away and purposefully stalled my mum, realising she didn't really know what to do).

They are willing to open an investigation only if she pays the excess (which is very likely to be more than the cost of the repairs).

The main reason we actually care about this whole situation, is that my mum will lose no claims and have a "at fault" claim on her which is totally unfair.

We are planning to call local police station tomorrow to see whether they could give us details of the police officers who saw the situation, and they clearly saw the other car reverse into my mum's, but I have a feeling they will not give out this information.

We will probably still pay the excess afterwards, but I believe that the insurance's investigation will be pointless unless they manage to get details from the police. Its obviously not looking good that my mum has no photos, didn't call insurance company until very late and has no witnesses.

Anyway, ignoring all the mistakes my mum did after the incident, is there anything anyone can suggest that my mum can do now in this crappy situation?

If there is nothing to do, this will be a very expensive lesson learned with higher premiums for next few years

paddyandstumpy

Get a dashcam.

Nasqueron

Most if not all police cars have cameras fitted, explain the situation and push for a copy or an officer witness statement and fight the claim

pinkteapot

To put your mind at rest somewhat on the increased costs in the future... (If you can't fight it with the advice you'll get here).

I've been driving for >15 years and had my first claim last summer. It was my fault (in my case, it absolutely was my fault as I hit a stationary bus!!) and the claim total was £1,700.

Firstly, with regard to no claims, you don't lose all of it. Check your policy but I'm with Admiral and lost two years' worth. So, I had the maximum five years NCD at the time (it stops going up after that) and at renewal I got three years' NCD, not none.

Secondly, my premium barely went up at all! I was amazed - I assumed it would be horrific. I guess that with older drivers who have one relatively minor accident they don't worry about it so much? I did shop-around quotes prior to renewal and the claim made very little difference, and my renewal price was completely reasonable.

So - it might not be quite so bad as she's assuming right now in terms of the financial impact.

I hope you can get some evidence and prove it was the other driver's fault, though.

stugib

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

Get a dashcam.

and a time machine?

Nasqueron

pinkteapot wrote: »

To put your mind at rest somewhat on the increased costs in the future... (If you can't fight it with the advice you'll get here).

I've been driving for >15 years and had my first claim last summer. It was my fault (in my case, it absolutely was my fault as I hit a stationary bus!!) and the claim total was £1,700.

Firstly, with regard to no claims, you don't lose all of it. Check your policy but I'm with Admiral and lost two years' worth. So, I had the maximum five years NCD at the time (it stops going up after that) and at renewal I got three years' NCD, not none.

Secondly, my premium barely went up at all! I was amazed - I assumed it would be horrific. I guess that with older drivers who have one relatively minor accident they don't worry about it so much? I did shop-around quotes prior to renewal and the claim made very little difference, and my renewal price was completely reasonable.

So - it might not be quite so bad as she's assuming right now in terms of the financial impact.

I hope you can get some evidence and prove it was the other driver's fault, though.

5 years is not the maximum, for some companies it may be but I am with Privilege and you get 9 years discount as a maximum

Protected NCD also means you don't lose your discount even if the premium goes up

I have got lower premiums last 2 years running on a more expensive car after an at fault / no claim made single car incident which led to me replacing the car

However, OP needs to fight this if at all possible, someone reversing into her should not get away with lying to the insurance

stugib

Nasqueron wrote: »

5 years is not the maximum, for some companies it may be but I am with Privilege and you get 9 years discount as a maximum

Have you checked your policy for what happens if you lose any NCD? Bet it doesn't go down to 7!

orkie55

Nasqueron wrote: »

Most if not all police cars have cameras fitted, explain the situation and push for a copy or an officer witness statement and fight the claim

I called the local police office who told me to call 101 who told me that:
,
1) If police see an accident, they have to stop ( even if on a call), and thus assumed that they have not seen the accident.

My mum is adamant that they saw it especially as they did a gesture in disbelief of the whole situation.

2) That even if the police officers/car can be tracked down, they would not provide that information to us. Only if the insurance requests it from them.

pinkteapot wrote: »

To put your mind at rest somewhat on the increased costs in the future... (If you can't fight it with the advice you'll get here).

I've been driving for >15 years and had my first claim last summer. It was my fault (in my case, it absolutely was my fault as I hit a stationary bus!!) and the claim total was £1,700.

Firstly, with regard to no claims, you don't lose all of it. Check your policy but I'm with Admiral and lost two years' worth. So, I had the maximum five years NCD at the time (it stops going up after that) and at renewal I got three years' NCD, not none.

Secondly, my premium barely went up at all! I was amazed - I assumed it would be horrific. I guess that with older drivers who have one relatively minor accident they don't worry about it so much? I did shop-around quotes prior to renewal and the claim made very little difference, and my renewal price was completely reasonable.

So - it might not be quite so bad as she's assuming right now in terms of the financial impact.

I hope you can get some evidence and prove it was the other driver's fault, though.

That is good to hear, its a tough situation but at least it may not be as costly I guess.

Its unfortunate that my mum did not take any photos though, because his car didn't even have any scratches or anything, just a bit of paint that can wash off... Who knows what he will now try and claim, probably whiplash too -.-.

Nasqueron wrote: »

5 years is not the maximum, for some companies it may be but I am with Privilege and you get 9 years discount as a maximum

Protected NCD also means you don't lose your discount even if the premium goes up

I have got lower premiums last 2 years running on a more expensive car after an at fault / no claim made single car incident which led to me replacing the car

However, OP needs to fight this if at all possible, someone reversing into her should not get away with lying to the insurance

I agree, I always hate when people do immoral stuff, especially when the damage is so small to either car, just no need to fill up insurer's pockets. Even if the total cost to my mum's premiums doesn't change significantly, its just the !!!! feeling of someone doing something wrong and blaming it on you...

The guy is a director/owner of an inventory management franchise too. Reading some of the testimonials that are obviously fake on his website makes me sick tbf.

I definitely do want to invest in dash cams, but the good ones are pretty expensive. Probably worth it in the long run though, even if you avoid crashes, they can be useful for other stuff too.

takman

orkie55 wrote: »

I definitely do want to invest in dash cams, but the good ones are pretty expensive. Probably worth it in the long run though, even if you avoid crashes, they can be useful for other stuff too.

Mine cost less than £15 and the recording quality is good enough to read number plates of cars going in both directions so it doesn't have to cost alot. Plus any dash cam is better than none !

FutureGirl

The issue here is that it is about what can be proven rather than what actually happened.

If there is no CCTV, no witnesses etc then it may go down as a joint liability claim, or her insurers may agree to deal with the other drivers claim on without prejudice.

This is because if there is no proof that shows he reversed, and it goes to court a judge is going to say, on the balance of probability, that it's more likely that she collided in to the back of his vehicle rather than him reversing into hers on a straight road.

It doesn't matter that your mum didn't take photos. If he sent the photos to his insurers, then your mums insurers can request them.

If they're with the same company, the claims will be dealt with by different handlers in different locations, so they will be handled as if they are separate insurers anyway.

orkie55

FutureGirl wrote: »

The issue here is that it is about what can be proven rather than what actually happened.

If there is no CCTV, no witnesses etc then it may go down as a joint liability claim, or her insurers may agree to deal with the other drivers claim on without prejudice.

This is because if there is no proof that shows he reversed, and it goes to court a judge is going to say, on the balance of probability, that it's more likely that she collided in to the back of his vehicle rather than him reversing into hers on a straight road.

It doesn't matter that your mum didn't take photos. If he sent the photos to his insurers, then your mums insurers can request them.

If they're with the same company, the claims will be dealt with by different handlers in different locations, so they will be handled as if they are separate insurers anyway.

Thanks for the reply. I understand its what it can be proven, that is why I'm annoyed no one was with my mum to help out.

I don't understand that bit in a court though. I don't do law but if there is no evidence for either case, then why can probabilities be used? Seems unfair. Guess it means that in any situation where stats are against you, its even more important to get clear evidence...