Car Accident - Going Court

Amirali26

Hi All,

I was driving in a single lane road on a smart when I signaled, slowed down to park. I was still in the middle of the road, and I hadn't turned to the side. I then noticed that my car can not fit in the spot to i turned my signal off and continued going straight. Unfortunately there was a motorbike behind me and he went to overtake me as he thought Im coming to a complete stop. When he realized my turned my indicator was turned off he panicked and braked really hard causing him to fall over. He is now claiming that I have hit him (no damage on my car Aviva have inspected it and have confirmed) and he is saying I have cut him off. My insurance is saying even though he was behind me I should have taken extra care as he is a motorbike driver.. We are now going to be going to court. What should I do?

Many Thanks

spadoosh

You do nothing and let the people you pay several hundred pounds per year for dealing with these things, deal with them.

Sounds like everyone did something wrong so i wouldnt be surprised if its 50/50.

Amirali26

Thanks for the response. I just talked to my insurance, Aviva, and they said the court will favor the motorbike and most likely they will decide to not go to court and award the win as apparently I have backed out of the parking and crossed his path. Even though I have told them I havent. They said the judge is more likely to believe the motorcyclist than me. This doesn't seem right does it?

Thanks

Quentin

Whether it's right or not is irrelevant

You agreed to allow your insurer to deal with claims as they wish.

Your route whenever you are not happy with your insurance company is to make a complaint in line with their complaints procedure

Then if you are not happy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you

Amirali26

Quentin wrote: »

Whether it's right or not is irrelevant

You agreed to allow your insurer to deal with claims as they wish.

Your route whenever you are not happy with your insurance company is to make a complaint in line with their complaints procedure

Then if you are not happy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you

Thanks for your response. Do you think from the description I have given above, I have good grounds to appeal? Or would you just concede. They have notified me this today and apparently the deadline for giving a result is on 9th Of Jan whether we accept fault or not.. I am finding it difficult to believe that motorcyclist are more favorable to win even if they haven't crashed in to me and they were behind my car. My insurance company are not allowing me to bring new witnesses as it is also "Too late"..

spadoosh

Amirali26 wrote: »

Thanks for your response. Do you think from the description I have given above, I have good grounds to appeal? Or would you just concede. They have notified me this today and apparently the deadline for giving a result is on 9th Of Jan whether we accept fault or not.. I am finding it difficult to believe that motorcyclist are more favorable to win even if they haven't crashed in to me and they were behind my car.

Bikes dont crash like cars do. Its always much better as a biker getting road rash than it is to risk your head and neck coming in to contact with the reinforced parts of car. Ie its normally always safer to ditch the bike than attempting to land on your feet after cartwheeling over it.

You where dithering and it was your dithering actions that led to the accident.

Theres lots of couldve wouldve shouldves involved here but theres no hiding your partly responsible so just forget about it and let your insurance sort it out. If your particularly unlucky, your insurance premium will rise a few hundred quid a year for a few years.

Amirali26

spadoosh wrote: »

Bikes dont crash like cars do. Its always much better as a biker getting road rash than it is to risk your head and neck coming in to contact with the reinforced parts of car. Ie its normally always safer to ditch the bike than attempting to land on your feet after cartwheeling over it.

You where dithering and it was your dithering actions that led to the accident.

Theres lots of couldve wouldve shouldves involved here but theres no hiding your partly responsible so just forget about it and let your insurance sort it out. If your particularly unlucky, your insurance premium will rise a few hundred quid a year for a few years.

Thanks for the reply, however, the motorbike driver was tailgating and the collision occurred because he tried to overtake me in a single lane road. I have pictures of his motorbike on the other side of the road.

Im also only 22 years old already paying 1300 a year for a damn smart car. I will lose my no claims too which will really hurt me.

Nasqueron

Regardless of the merits of the situation, if you signalled to pull in and slowed, you should have indicated and checked before you pulled away again. The biker was within his rights to overtake you given you were indicating to stop and by cancelling the indicator and pulling away again caused him to swerve and crash. See highway code rules 103, 159 and 161. Also refer rule 168

Amirali26

Nasqueron wrote: »

Regardless of the merits of the situation, if you signalled to pull in and slowed, you should have indicated and checked before you pulled away again. The biker was within his rights to overtake you given you were indicating to stop and by cancelling the indicator and pulling away again caused him to swerve and crash. See highway code rules 103, 159 and 161. Also refer rule 168

Thanks for your response, I had signaled to pull in however before reaching the parking space I carried on going forward. I did not come to a complete stop at all. My car's position in the lane did not change and I did not shift towards the left at all. i just turned the signal to the left for like 3 seconds and he tried to overtake me. I was still travelling at around 25mph in a 30mph zone.

Quentin

As previously posted.

Irrespective of your case, it's your insurer who will ultimately decide on whether or not to accept full liability.

But (again, as previously posted), you can always make a complaint if you consider your insurer has acted unfairly to your detriment.

Nasqueron

Amirali26 wrote: »

Thanks for your response, I had signaled to pull in however before reaching the parking space I carried on going forward. I did not come to a complete stop at all. My car's position in the lane did not change and I did not shift towards the left at all. i just turned the signal to the left for like 3 seconds and he tried to overtake me. I was still travelling at around 25mph in a 30mph zone.

As per comments above, read the highway code. You signalled to pull in and slowed (guessing you braked?) then changed your mind without warning (beyond cancelling the signal) and carried on causing the guy behind to panic and crash.

Rule 161

Mirrors

• use them in good time before you signal or change direction or speed
• be aware that mirrors do not cover all areas and there will be blind spots. You will need to look round and check.

Rule 169

Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous.


Rule 103 in full