Hit a car and not sure I caused the damage.

Lbuk

I hit a car at the lights. Lights went to green, cars started moving I was half daydreaming and went to move and the car in front was still stationary.

I hit his rear bumper and you can see the wet horizontal line where I made contact.

He wants me to pay for the paint damage around the lock and to the side, essentially the whole bumper being resprayed and the lettering replaced.

He seemed like a nice guy but I doubt he’d have noticed the damage was already there. Seemed a bit unobservant.

Said he’d look into trying a quote.

What happens in this circumstance?

Lbuk

Pic of car

DullGreyGuy

Normally you inform your insurers inc your concern that there may have been pre-existing damage and they will deal with the third party in the most economical way they believe exists.

baser999

No evidence of any yellow paint flakes on the floor so I’d not be putting my hand in my pocket to repair anything. It’s clear from the wet horizontal line where you bumped him and no doubt had you wiped your hand along that line it’d have disappeared. He’s pulling a fast one and no doubt his estimate will be as laughable. Might pay to give your insurers the heads-up, perhaps send them the photo if you can

Sleepysophie

My daughter had this happen to her a few years ago and she is still getting contacted infrequently by different claim companies. She reversed into a car that was stationary but was parked on double yellow lines. Apparently (because it was a taxi?) that doesn't matter? The driver said she could settle without going through the insurance if she wanted to and given it was only a small amount of damage she agreed thinking this was the best option as she had only passed her test about 18 months before this. 
When she received the quote it was over £1.5k. I called the garage where the quote was from and they detailed the work (which wasn't itemised on the quote!) and they verbally itemised out the quoted work including a new wing mirror replacement and repairs [which were not caused by the incident.] Luckily, she had taken photographs at the time but had not taken them of the whole vehicle - only of the area she had hit. The driver then claimed that he had only noticed later that the car had shunted forward and hit another vehicle causing his wing mirror to fall off !
Like I say, its still ongoing as every three or four month she will get a letter or email about it and the latest one is the driver seeking compensation for personal injury despite him not being in the car at the time it was hit. 
My advice would be to contest the claim and provide the evidence you have available. Be prepared for a whiplash claim too....they have three years to claim that, I think ?

baser999

Sleepysophie said:

My daughter had this happen to her a few years ago and she is still getting contacted infrequently by different claim companies. She reversed into a car that was stationary but was parked on double yellow lines. Apparently (because it was a taxi?) that doesn't matter? The driver said she could settle without going through the insurance if she wanted to and given it was only a small amount of damage she agreed thinking this was the best option as she had only passed her test about 18 months before this. 
When she received the quote it was over £1.5k. I called the garage where the quote was from and they detailed the work (which wasn't itemised on the quote!) and they verbally itemised out the quoted work including a new wing mirror replacement and repairs [which were not caused by the incident.] Luckily, she had taken photographs at the time but had not taken them of the whole vehicle - only of the area she had hit. The driver then claimed that he had only noticed later that the car had shunted forward and hit another vehicle causing his wing mirror to fall off !
Like I say, its still ongoing as every three or four month she will get a letter or email about it and the latest one is the driver seeking compensation for personal injury despite him not being in the car at the time it was hit. 
My advice would be to contest the claim and provide the evidence you have available. Be prepared for a whiplash claim too....they have three years to claim that, I think ?

Reckon your daughters ‘poor injured driver’ could be one of many they feature every morning on Claimed and Shamed

Aretnap

Sleepysophie said:

My daughter had this happen to her a few years ago and she is still getting contacted infrequently by different claim companies. She reversed into a car that was stationary but was parked on double yellow lines. Apparently (because it was a taxi?) that doesn't matter? The driver said she could settle without going through the insurance if she wanted to and given it was only a small amount of damage she agreed thinking this was the best option as she had only passed her test about 18 months before this. 
When she received the quote it was over £1.5k. I called the garage where the quote was from and they detailed the work (which wasn't itemised on the quote!) and they verbally itemised out the quoted work including a new wing mirror replacement and repairs [which were not caused by the incident.] Luckily, she had taken photographs at the time but had not taken them of the whole vehicle - only of the area she had hit. The driver then claimed that he had only noticed later that the car had shunted forward and hit another vehicle causing his wing mirror to fall off !
Like I say, its still ongoing as every three or four month she will get a letter or email about it and the latest one is the driver seeking compensation for personal injury despite him not being in the car at the time it was hit. 
My advice would be to contest the claim and provide the evidence you have available. Be prepared for a whiplash claim too....they have three years to claim that, I think ?

It doesn't matter that it was parked on double yellow lines full stop - taxi or otherwise. The car was there to be seen and your daughter was the one moving, so it's her responsibility not to drive into stationary objects - even ones which shouldn't really be parked where they are.

Ultimately I suppose the thinking is that if you feel it's really unfair that you can be held responsible for hitting a car that's illegally parked you can usually avoid it becoming an issue in the first place by... looking where you are going.

TBH the rest of your post sounds like a good illustration of why the best thing to do in this situation is usually to let your insurers deal with things. At the end of the day you pay them your hard earned money precisely so that when things like this happen it's their problem, not yours.