Proof of fault

jimbo747

More of a vent than a question.
Wife was reversing out of space in local morrions, then stationary, about to engage reverse and then sensors went off and a car behind reversed in to ours.

I got out and look, nothing major just a scratch and plastics snapped, old bloke very apologetic.
Took his insurance details, took a video as well where you can here him say his foot slipped off clutch, son was in car and wife shaken so went home.

Rang up his insurance to make a claim, they rang him whilst wife held and he now denying all fault (his car was undamaged) and can't sort anything until Tuesday as he's too busy.

I have dashcam footage, obv only showing front but shows our car as stationary and being hit, and also video evidence of him admitting fault.

We're with morethan (don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing) and have legal cover, will they bother looking at evidence for what is probably a £300 claim?

Quentin

The dashcam footage is useful but the roadside admission of fault counts little (it's not for the driver to decide liability)

Now you have involved his insurance you do need to inform yours.

You will need to make a claim off your own insurer before they will attempt to claim off the third party insurer.

As you would have to pay your excess and subsequently pursue the third party for it back using.your legal cover in view of the £300 cost you may consider whether a claim will be cost effective.

DUTR

jimbo747 wrote: »

More of a vent than a question.
Wife was reversing out of space in local morrions, then stationary, about to engage reverse and then sensors went off and a car behind reversed in to ours.

I got out and look, nothing major just a scratch and plastics snapped, old bloke very apologetic.
Took his insurance details, took a video as well where you can here him say his foot slipped off clutch, son was in car and wife shaken so went home.

Rang up his insurance to make a claim, they rang him whilst wife held and he now denying all fault (his car was undamaged) and can't sort anything until Tuesday as he's too busy.

I have dashcam footage, obv only showing front but shows our car as stationary and being hit, and also video evidence of him admitting fault.

We're with morethan (don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing) and have legal cover, will they bother looking at evidence for what is probably a £300 claim?

Ideally you should/could see what a smart repair cost will be, probably less than the excess and they can come out to you.
You should notify the insurer if that's what the policy indicates even if you don't make a claim from the incident.
Always reverse into a parking space (you can still access the tailgate with the bollards there).
I guess the insurers will go 50/50 as you were both reversing.

jimbo747

Quentin wrote: »

The dashcam footage is useful but the roadside admission of fault counts little (it's not for the driver to decide liability)

Now you have involved his insurance you do need to inform yours.

You will need to make a claim off your own insurer before they will attempt to claim off the third party insurer.

As you would have to pay your excess and subsequently pursue the third party for it back using.your legal cover in view of the £300 cost you may consider whether a claim will be cost effective.

It wasn't an admission of guilt as I knew that could be twisted round to say he was forced in to it or something, instead he admitted how the crash happened on video.

"So your foot slipped off the clutch causing you to hit us" and he said "yes" and nodded his head.

She will contact our insurer as information only, but not to make a claim, we have an email address for his insurance to supply our video clips as they said even if he doesn't admit it was his fault the underwriters will decide.

He is unaware that we have video evidence - I'm counting on the fact he's lying to his insurance about not hitting us when they have evidence to show otherwise will count in our favour. Shame morrisons don't have CCTV of the car park.

jimbo747

Ok, our insurance won't do anything unless we claim through them and then hope they bother to reclaim their costs back, we have legal cover but they don't seem open to helping.

What are my options? Take it on the chin and get it repaired ourselves?
Is it possible to go via small claims court then once repaired to claim cost of repairs back that way as I take it they use balance of evidence rather than the insurers way of only investigating if it is cheaper for them.

shaun_from_Africa

jimbo747 wrote: »

What are my options? Take it on the chin and get it repaired ourselves?
Is it possible to go via small claims court then once repaired to claim cost of repairs back that way as I take it they use balance of evidence rather than the insurers way of only investigating if it is cheaper for them.

That's what I would do.

Get it repaired then send a "letter before action" along with a copy of the recording to the driver who hit you stating that unless they pay for the damage in full, you will submit the court papers.
Using the recording as evidence appears to be a bit of a grey area but some legal websites (if they can be trusted) seem to think that the recordings can be used.
http://www.acitylawfirm.com/recorded-conversations/

However, in civil cases some judges take a pragmatic approach that if the information is already disclosed and it is highly relevant, then it will be admitted – but then you are stuck with it for better or worse. So where it is relevant and helpful it can be admitted and used to prove your case, but once the party is aware of its existence it must be disclosed and this may raise other issues all together. There is also risk that although you may obtain judgement in your favour, the unlawful means of obtaining this evidence, could be reflected in the remedy you receive for example perhaps less damages.

jimbo747

Well I had permission from him to video him, and he also allowed me to take photos of his driving licence and insurance details with him holding them, so doubt he can say in front of a judge I took anything without permission.

The car is under warranty from Citroen still, but I'm intending on getting it repaired at a local garage I've used for years. Will it also help my case if I get a quote from Citroen themselves, and then a sensible quote from local garage to show I've tried to minimise his insurers losses?

Quentin

jimbo747 wrote: »

Ok, our insurance won't do anything unless we claim through them and then hope they bother to reclaim their costs back, we have legal cover but they don't seem open to helping.

What are my options? Take it on the chin and get it repaired ourselves?
Is it possible to go via small claims court then once repaired to claim cost of repairs back that way as I take it they use balance of evidence rather than the insurers way of only investigating if it is cheaper for them.

Your legal cover will kick in only if you suffer an uninsured loss.

Which you will if you claim

Once you claim and pay your excess (which is an uninsured loss) then contact your legal cover who will pursue the third party for its reimbursement.

If successful then your insurer will also get their costs reimbursed making your claim no fault

jimbo747

Quentin wrote: »

Your legal cover will kick in only if you suffer an uninsured loss.

Which you will if you claim

Once you claim and pay your excess (which is an uninsured loss) then contact your legal cover who will pursue the third party for its reimbursement.

If successful then your insurer will also get their costs reimbursed making your claim no fault

Ok, but lets say I claim through our insurance, pay the excess (£100) and then instruct their legal team to pursue the third party. If they still both agree its 50/50, partly because they can't be bothered to investigate or its just cheaper to agree, do I get another bite at the cherry by then going to small claims court?

shaun_from_Africa

jimbo747 wrote: »

The car is under warranty from Citroen still, but I'm intending on getting it repaired at a local garage I've used for years.

Before doing anything, it would be wise to contact Citroen to make sure that getting a bodywork repair carried out by a non Citroen approved bodyshop won't invalidate any part of the warranty.
There is a very good chance that if there is an anti-corrosion warranty, this will have smallprint stating that any work must be done by Citroen themselves to keep the warranty.

DoaM

jimbo747 wrote: »

Wife was reversing out of space in local morrions, then stationary, about to engage reverse and then sensors went off and a car behind reversed in to ours.

I'm puzzled by these sequence of events ... had your wife started moving at all? (i.e. started reversing, stopped, then went to start reversing again). If yes, why did she stop?

Or was her car still in its parking space and the other party reversed into her car?