Car drove into me, now claiming I rolled back

Miss_S_2

Hi

Just looking for a bit of advice here. Just after New year a car drove into the rear of my car while I was stationary waiting to go onto a roundabout. I drove up to the roundabout and stopped to wait for a space to enter the roundabout and they drove into the back of my car.

We swapped details, I phoned the police at the time and they confirmed they didn't need to attend. He apologised at least 3 times at the scene. I contacted my insurance company once I got home. Now that repairs have been done he is claiming that I rolled back into him, causing personal injury to him and his passenger, which has completely shocked me.

Is there any evidence I can do to show this is not how it happened? I have gone back to the roundabout and taken videos of the approach, you drive down a slight incline to the roundabout and it flattens out at the roundabout itself. I doubt a roll back could even happen. I have photos of the scene which don't show road markings as the photos are taken from the side and back of the cars, but do, i think, show that I was pretty much at the roundabout junction and not rolled back.

I've tried calling the claims handler but have been unable to get hold of here, if anyone has any advice I would be really grateful.

Herzlos

Beyond informing your insurance company I'm not sure there's much you can do.
If you've got evidence that a car would roll forwards, then they'll have a pretty difficult case to make unless they claim you reversed onto them.

Did he contact you directly or your insurers?
I wouldn't worry too much about it either way.

Miss_S_2

Thanks for your reply. My insurers contacted me via letter to say that the third party claim I rolled back into them. They did say roll back in the letter rather than reverse. I don't think you would roll forward at the round about as the road flattens out at the round about. You're right that I shouldn't worry too much about it but I'm shocked that they can lie, they are claiming they were stationary, and I would be pretty annoyed to be paying for repairs and personal injury that I didn't cause.

uknick

I know it's been said many times before, but we live in a world of cheats and chancers when it comes to insurance.


You have my sympathy Miss S, and I hope it gets sorted out pretty quickly in your favour.


Out of interest, how much damage is there to the rear of your car? I wouldn't have thought rolling back on a slight incline would cause much damage.

Merlin139

I would not worry too much for now. Wait and see if anything comes of it. What I would do is buy yourself a set of forward and reverse dash cams. You will always have proof if anything should happen in the future.

We have them on both mine and my wife's car. Makes us feel a whole lot safer. It also means we are more careful in the way we drive as the proof is always there. Well until 3 hours of recording wipes it off!

Herzlos

I'd also be surprised if someone rolling back into a car at a roundabout would have done any significant damage to car or passengers, since you could only be hitting them at 1 or 2 mph.

ohreally

Miss_S wrote: »

I'm shocked that they can lie,

Who could have seen that one coming. Make next purchase a dash cam.

Miss_S_2

uknick wrote: »

I know it's been said many times before, but we live in a world of cheats and chancers when it comes to insurance.


You have my sympathy Miss S, and I hope it gets sorted out pretty quickly in your favour.


Out of interest, how much damage is there to the rear of your car? I wouldn't have thought rolling back on a slight incline would cause much damage.

I've requested details of the repairs but not received them so far. I have had text updates from the garage that mention the boot floor and rear panel were damaged. From the photos that I took at the collision you can see his bonnet is slightly raised. I'm hoping this would prove the damage is not conducive with a roll back... on a flat piece of road.

Miss_S_2

Merlin139 wrote: »

I would not worry too much for now. Wait and see if anything comes of it. What I would do is buy yourself a set of forward and reverse dash cams. You will always have proof if anything should happen in the future.

We have them on both mine and my wife's car. Makes us feel a whole lot safer. It also means we are more careful in the way we drive as the proof is always there. Well until 3 hours of recording wipes it off!

Yes, good advice, was looking at these at the weekend and will get them fitted to my car.

Miss_S_2

ohreally wrote: »

Who could have seen that one coming. Make next purchase a dash cam.

I know, how naive I've been, they seemed decent enough at the time. Dash cam is a good idea.

Miss_S_2

Thanks everyone for the positive advice, will stop letting it bug me and get a dash cam Will wait and see how it unfolds.