Minor Car Accident : Who was at fault?

aogra

I was recently involved in a minor car accident and was wondering who is at fault (insurance companies have still not decided, but they are leaning towards 50/50 fault).

- Road has two lanes of slow moving traffic (10-15mph)
- Car A and car B are on the left lane, car B behind car A.
- Car A drifts towards the right lane to get a better view of traffic ahead - at this point Car A is in both lanes (half the car in the left lane, half the car in the right lane) and stays like this for a few seconds.
- Car B tries to advance by squeezing through the gap left between the curb and Car A (half of Car A is still on the left lane), there is just enough space to fit through.
- Car B starts to advance Car A
- Car A indicates left and immediately starts to move completely back to the left lane.
- Car B has to break hard and moves left onto the pavement to avoid a collision.
- No collision occurs but Car B sustains alloy damage against the curb while trying to avoid the collision.

Who is at fault? Should Car B have waited for Car A to completely clear the left lane before advancing? (so to not create a risky situation - at one point the distance between both cars was only a few centimetres), did Car A still have right on way on the left lane? (as it had not completely left the lane yet)? or should Car A not have tried to occupy both lanes to start with, not even for a few seconds (so to not create confusion) and once Car B started to advance him on the left should he just have moved completely out of the way into the right lane? 

Tricky one, all of the above happened in the space of a few seconds - thoughts welcomed

Sandtree

Which car are you?

I'd expect Insurer A would argue no contact, Car B had created their own lane which is naturally a high risk strategy and they should simply have braked given the stated speed and so are the author of their own misfortune 

The problem with claims however is policyholder A and policyholder B have most likely given different stories to their respective insurers and so its not only a case of trying to workout whos liable but also what really happened. Thats why these cases tend to go 50/50 because there is no real evidence one way or the other and for the cost of an alloy its not worth fighting over forever.

8871Jlw

I’d suggest Car B would struggle to win the argument should it be put before a judge in civil court.

Both have been reckless but it’s always the vehicle behind which tends to bear the greater responsibility in road traffic collisions   

If I was the handler dealing at the Insurer of Car A I’d say that Car B didn’t keep a sufficient braking distance given the slow moving traffic, the actions of the driver of Car A were not complete and he didn’t fully change lanes, therefore it wasn’t safe for Car B to advance forward when he did.  

aogra

I am car A - there is dashcam footage (back and front) showing exactly what I described above, including speeds.

The argument for Car B is that they were already fully established on the left lane and my initial intention to move towards the right lane was enough indication/justification for it to advance.....

8871Jlw

There’s merits in both sides argument I would suggest, it’ll likely go down a split liability route in order to achieve settlement.  I’d be happier being the insurer for Car A though

Sandtree

aogra said:

I am car A - there is dashcam footage (back and front) showing exactly what I described above, including speeds.

The argument for Car B is that they were already fully established on the left lane and my initial intention to move towards the right lane was enough indication/justification for it to advance.....

Sounds a link to the youtube video is required

aogra

Sandtree said:

aogra said:

I am car A - there is dashcam footage (back and front) showing exactly what I described above, including speeds.

The argument for Car B is that they were already fully established on the left lane and my initial intention to move towards the right lane was enough indication/justification for it to advance.....

Sounds a link to the youtube video is required

Sure, see below.

Front camera - clearly shows how my car (Car A) was positioned on the lanes.

https://youtu.be/ig6Cakj_CyM

Back camera - shows Car B advancing and stopping.

https://youtu.be/vE3EiwW9sxg

Grumpy_chap

Seems there was no collision involving car a.

Ms_Chocaholic

You can't be sure that Car B sustained alloy damage in this incident, that could have happened at any time.

aogra

Grumpy_chap said:

Seems there was no collision involving car a.

That is correct, no collision between cars - but Car B claims that he scratched his front alloy by hitting the curb while trying to "avoid" the collision.

Ms_Chocaholic

I'd maybe offer £25 and forget it.

But how much will it cost to repair my alloy wheels?

Well, the price will vary depending on the extent of the damage.

For a full, professional refurb which includes a strip, shot blast, clean up and powder coat of entire wheel can cost anywhere between £50-£100.

Or maybe you just want a touch up of scratches and kerbing? The average cost of this alloy wheel repair type is around £40. But this will not last as long as powder coating!