Advice on car accident

twopenny

I live in a cul de sac with a turning space for large vehicles. 
I reversed slowly out of my drive and to the right.
There was nothing ahead.
As I moved forward a car reversed out of the turning space and hit my right wing. 
At the time I was already distressed about something and just couldn't deal with it. Their view was that it was on fault on both sides as we just didn't see each other. 
Now I'm feeling that I was just starting forward and if they were reversing they should have checked behind them first for cars

Granted normally I would have seen reversing lights come on and taken evasive action IE not moved forward but on this occasion I didn't.
No witnesses.
No damage to their car 

As it's no longer a case of a wing being pulled out but a new wing £700+ and it's affected the bonnet which won't open. I've yet to see about that so could be looking at a lot more.

Should we go through the insurance? 
I had thought that insurance would say knock for knock. 
I really can't deal with anything extra at the moment 
I'd be grateful for advice.


 

Mildly_Miffed

Insurers will definitely agree that both are at fault.

twopenny

Thanks for the quick reply Mildly Miffed.
With the prospect of a £1000+ it's grim.

With other horrible stuff to deal with and having arthritis I need the car this is the last straw.

Only had the car 3 MTS and someone else reversed into it with a tow bar while parked at split the grill. He turned into a complete nut case so I left that.
These were nice people. Long shot but they may just offer to help but I doubt it.

Ayr_Rage

Both of you should report the accident to your own insurers, that's the law.

As for liability. sounds pretty much 50/50 as both parties should've seen what was happening, although you may have been in a blind spot of the reversing car.

You were both moving so equally liable for avoiding the other as far as I can see from your description and diagram and you actually had the best view.

Don't mention your distraction/distress about other issues.

MyRealNameToo

twopenny said:

I live in a cul de sac with a turning space for large vehicles. 
I reversed slowly out of my drive and to the right.
There was nothing ahead.
As I moved forward a car reversed out of the turning space and hit my right wing. 
At the time I was already distressed about something and just couldn't deal with it. Their view was that it was on fault on both sides as we just didn't see each other. 
Now I'm feeling that I was just starting forward and if they were reversing they should have checked behind them first for cars

Granted normally I would have seen reversing lights come on and taken evasive action IE not moved forward but on this occasion I didn't.
No witnesses.
No damage to their car 

As it's no longer a case of a wing being pulled out but a new wing £700+ and it's affected the bonnet which won't open. I've yet to see about that so could be looking at a lot more.

Should we go through the insurance? 
I had thought that insurance would say knock for knock. 
I really can't deal with anything extra at the moment 
I'd be grateful for advice. 

You need to be better at describing what happened... I think you are saying you had reversed out of your drive, had stopped and were about to drive off when another vehicle reversed into the side of your stationary vehicle. 

Were you to describe it as such then it's more likely going to be seen as the third party's fault for hitting a stationary vehicle. If you were both reversing then it would have been 50/50. It's still moderately likely to be 50/50 as they may claim you were still reversing and weren't stationary (or at least not for any material time). 

"Knock for knock" agreements had ended by the mid 90s between most insurers, many had ended them before then. Instead of each side carrying their own losses instead we have 50/50 which is vastly fairer. 

chrisw

Bearing in mind your other issues, just let the insurance companies deal with it and save yourself extra hassle. Hopefully you can find a repair garage with loan cars while yours is in for repair if you don't already have that cover on your insurance.

Ayr_Rage

MyRealNameToo said:

twopenny said:

I live in a cul de sac with a turning space for large vehicles. 
I reversed slowly out of my drive and to the right.
There was nothing ahead.
As I moved forward a car reversed out of the turning space and hit my right wing. 
At the time I was already distressed about something and just couldn't deal with it. Their view was that it was on fault on both sides as we just didn't see each other. 
Now I'm feeling that I was just starting forward and if they were reversing they should have checked behind them first for cars

Granted normally I would have seen reversing lights come on and taken evasive action IE not moved forward but on this occasion I didn't.
No witnesses.
No damage to their car 

As it's no longer a case of a wing being pulled out but a new wing £700+ and it's affected the bonnet which won't open. I've yet to see about that so could be looking at a lot more.

Should we go through the insurance? 
I had thought that insurance would say knock for knock. 
I really can't deal with anything extra at the moment 
I'd be grateful for advice. 

You need to be better at describing what happened... I think you are saying you had reversed out of your drive, had stopped and were about to drive off when another vehicle reversed into the side of your stationary vehicle. 

Were you to describe it as such then it's more likely going to be seen as the third party's fault for hitting a stationary vehicle. If you were both reversing then it would have been 50/50. It's still moderately likely to be 50/50 as they may claim you were still reversing and weren't stationary (or at least not for any material time). 

"Knock for knock" agreements had ended by the mid 90s between most insurers, many had ended them before then. Instead of each side carrying their own losses instead we have 50/50 which is vastly fairer. 

@myrealnametoo you need to read a little better too, see the bold highlight in the OP.

MyRealNameToo

Ayr_Rage said:

MyRealNameToo said:

twopenny said:

I live in a cul de sac with a turning space for large vehicles. 
I reversed slowly out of my drive and to the right.
There was nothing ahead.
As I moved forward a car reversed out of the turning space and hit my right wing. 
At the time I was already distressed about something and just couldn't deal with it. Their view was that it was on fault on both sides as we just didn't see each other. 
Now I'm feeling that I was just starting forward and if they were reversing they should have checked behind them first for cars

Granted normally I would have seen reversing lights come on and taken evasive action IE not moved forward but on this occasion I didn't.
No witnesses.
No damage to their car 

As it's no longer a case of a wing being pulled out but a new wing £700+ and it's affected the bonnet which won't open. I've yet to see about that so could be looking at a lot more.

Should we go through the insurance? 
I had thought that insurance would say knock for knock. 
I really can't deal with anything extra at the moment 
I'd be grateful for advice. 

You need to be better at describing what happened... I think you are saying you had reversed out of your drive, had stopped and were about to drive off when another vehicle reversed into the side of your stationary vehicle. 

Were you to describe it as such then it's more likely going to be seen as the third party's fault for hitting a stationary vehicle. If you were both reversing then it would have been 50/50. It's still moderately likely to be 50/50 as they may claim you were still reversing and weren't stationary (or at least not for any material time). 

"Knock for knock" agreements had ended by the mid 90s between most insurers, many had ended them before then. Instead of each side carrying their own losses instead we have 50/50 which is vastly fairer. 

@myrealnametoo you need to read a little better too, see the bold highlight in the OP.

Yes, the "now I feel" is key... effectively they say they dont know what happened really. As someone who's read many third party accident reports you immediately jump on any of these elements of uncertainty etc to show they basically dont really know what happened but our client clearly states the they were still reversing at the time etc. 

twopenny

Real name, thanks for that nudge.
Unfortunately I couldn't have been stopped in that position. 
But I was barely moving and they reversed at speed which is why I came off with so much damage.
It's a tennis club next door and they view our cul-de-sac as their own. Usually I'm good at defensive driving but it was very quiet yesterday.

Get it mended and wipe from my mind. Only worry about stuff you can change.

Happily I have 3 garages in walking distance and one will give me a lift home so no need for a hire car but again, worth remembering.

daveyjp

Mildly_Miffed said:

Insurers will definitely agree that both are at fault.

That may be how they want it to go for ease, but like any accident it very much depends how well the owner of the vehicle which was hit puts across their account of the incident.

Car_54

twopenny said:

Thanks for the quick reply Mildly Miffed.
With the prospect of a £1000+ it's grim.

Why "the prospect of a £1000+"? Your insurers will pay for the damage to your car, less any excess if you are judged partly at fault. Is your excess over £1,000?