Reversing into a space - at fault?

Mawse82

I was in a car park, reversing into a space to my right, there was no one behind me at this point. As I'm backing into the space, another car tries go around the front of me and scrape the side of their car across the corner of my bumper. My insurance company has said I am at fault because I was obstructing the lane of the other driver and is is automatically my fault as I was the one manuervering. Does this sound right? The other driver accepted it was their fault but the insurance company saus otherwise.

daveyjp

All down to how well you describe the incident.  If you were reversing and they went through a space which wasn't wide enough because they consider themselves far too important to wait, it is their fault.

Username03725

You were reversing away from where the other driver was heading and the other driver misjudged the gap. 

He drove into you; you were already getting out of his way.

[Deleted User]

This is why you need a dashcam.

It sounds like the insurance co got the wrong end of the stick. If someone hits you while you are moving away from them, it's almost always their fault.

photome

Username03725 said:

You were reversing away from where the other driver was heading and the other driver misjudged the gap. 

He drove into you; you were already getting out of his way.

I do think its the other drivers fault but  the OP probably swung the front of their car round into the other drivers path while reversing rather than getting out of the way

Sandtree

On the basis the OP states that no one was behind them when they started then presumably the car did come from behind and so the front end of the OP's car isn't necessarily moving away from the TP vehicle. The OP also makes no mention of observing the TP vehicle before the collision which could point to poor obs. As others have said, in the absence of extensive video footage or witnesses then it all comes down to the exact way the accident is described. 

There is a general principle that as the party doing the manoeuvre that the OP has the greater duty of care and this will be why their insurers have said its their fault. It would be interesting to know if its just the person that took the initial report of the accident that the OP has spoken to (the FNOL team) or if they have spoken to anyone else... FNOL receive a much lower level of training than the specialist claims handlers that sit behind them and so it may be worth another conversation with the technical team if the OP isn't happy taking the blame. 

Assuming repairs haven't been started etc then the other option would be to contact the third party insurer, if the TP did think it was their fault at the time their insurers may be following that view and be prepared to deal with the OP on a direct basis. 

shiraz99

Were you actually moving at the time? I don't think the other driver drove into you, it sounds more like they were impatient enough to try and drive round but you continued your manoeuvre and the arc of your reversing brought your front end into contact with them. If that was the case then I'd agree with the insurer. 

prowla

It depends whether the OP's car swerved out into the other car's path.

Highway Code 202:

202
Look carefully before you start reversing. You should

• use all your mirrors
• check the ‘blind spot’ behind you (the part of the road you cannot see easily in the mirrors)
• check there are no pedestrians (particularly children), cyclists, other road users or obstructions in the road behind you.

Reverse slowly while

• checking all around
• looking mainly through the rear window
• being aware that the front of your vehicle will swing out as you turn.

It's difficult to tell from the given description.

Saying "there was no one behind me at this point" doesn't cover the bit about "Reverse slowly while checking all around", so certainly there is a question there.

From an awareness perspective, the other driver's common-sense gene should've kicked in and told them to let the OP complete their manoeuvre before trying to pass.

Since the OP says that they were reversing into a space to their right, that implies they were in the left lane, saw the space, stopped just after it, and started to reverse and turn into it, across the oncoming lane.

Assuming that is correct, then there's no point at which it's the OP's fault if someone dove across in front of them:

• If the other driver was in the oncoming lane, then their was was blocked until the OP completed their manoeuvre.
• If the other driver was approaching the space in the same lane as the OP (ie. behind the OP), then there was no way through until the OP had completely moved out of their lane.

Unless, the other option is that the OP saw the space, pulled over into the oncoming lane, leaving their lane free, and then swung out as they started to turn.

I suppose if depends upon how the OP described the incident to the insurance company.

However, a blanket "you were doing the manoeuvring" clause is nonsensical, as everything you do in a car is "manoeuvring"; the other car was "manoeuvring" past the OP's car.

It could be that the insurance company is going for an "at fault" (or 50/50) resolution so that they can leverage it at insurance renewal time.

Username03725

For those unsure about what was happening, it’s in the original post…

As I'm backing into the space, another car tries go around the front of me and scrape the side of their car across the corner of my bumper.

Sandtree

Username03725 said:

For those unsure about what was happening, it’s in the original post…

As I'm backing into the space, another car tries go around the front of me and scrape the side of their car across the corner of my bumper.

Where does that say that the OP saw them and so stopped? Where does it say if they were even still moving at the time?

Having heard so many people say "they came out of no where" but then are insistent they can describe exactly what the teleporting party were doing at the time even though they didn't see them before the impact. 

Based on the description there are lots of unanswered questions which can mean its the OP's reverse turning that caused the collision not the third party's correctly proceeding vehicle. 

Car_54

Username03725 said:

For those unsure about what was happening, it’s in the original post…

As I'm backing into the space, another car tries go around the front of me and scrape the side of their car across the corner of my bumper.

That doesn't tell us from which direction the TP was approaching.