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Insurance Claim
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Right yesterday I was taking my baby to the child minders when a lady reversed into my car and damaged the front wing - its not superbadly damaged and you'd only notice if you were a real car geek as she pushed in the wing mountings not the wing itself - however she seems to think its all my fault.
I was turning right out of a secondary road onto a main road and she was reversing out of her drive also onto the main road. Neither of us were going that fast obv and as soon as i realised what was happening I stopped and beeped my horn loudly she at this point stopped but then before i could get out of her way she just blithely continued to reverse into me - it felt like she was trying to push me off the road - but that would be demented so the more likely option is that as she had not defrosted her back wind screen she couldn't actually see me which is why she then continued to reverse - because at this point the traffic going in both directions had stopped.
When I pulled over the car she started having a go at me like it was all my fault and said that there was no reason to exchange details as there was no damage - I was insistant that I wanted to and i could see that there was a massive great lump out of her bumper - then her husband came down and was very nice about it all but said that he had seen the whole thing and implied that he too thought i was in the wrong.
So now i've begun to doubt my whole knowledge of the highway code and think that i am somehow at fault - when really i'm pretty sure that I had right of way as I was on an actual road.
Plus even though she is adament that she could see me - i really don't think she could - i mean what kind of nutter purposefully reverses straight into someone - she said she could here me beeping.
Anyway do you think i've got a hope in hell of claiming any money from her - the husband thinks its going to cost about £200 - but would really only be an issue when we come to sell the car as its not very noticeable.
I am slightly worried that if i claim she will counter claim for all the damage on her bumper and i will loose our no claims bonus (as its on a joint insurance policy).
I was turning right out of a secondary road onto a main road and she was reversing out of her drive also onto the main road. Neither of us were going that fast obv and as soon as i realised what was happening I stopped and beeped my horn loudly she at this point stopped but then before i could get out of her way she just blithely continued to reverse into me - it felt like she was trying to push me off the road - but that would be demented so the more likely option is that as she had not defrosted her back wind screen she couldn't actually see me which is why she then continued to reverse - because at this point the traffic going in both directions had stopped.
When I pulled over the car she started having a go at me like it was all my fault and said that there was no reason to exchange details as there was no damage - I was insistant that I wanted to and i could see that there was a massive great lump out of her bumper - then her husband came down and was very nice about it all but said that he had seen the whole thing and implied that he too thought i was in the wrong.
So now i've begun to doubt my whole knowledge of the highway code and think that i am somehow at fault - when really i'm pretty sure that I had right of way as I was on an actual road.
Plus even though she is adament that she could see me - i really don't think she could - i mean what kind of nutter purposefully reverses straight into someone - she said she could here me beeping.
Anyway do you think i've got a hope in hell of claiming any money from her - the husband thinks its going to cost about £200 - but would really only be an issue when we come to sell the car as its not very noticeable.
I am slightly worried that if i claim she will counter claim for all the damage on her bumper and i will loose our no claims bonus (as its on a joint insurance policy).
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Comments
Did you take pictures of damage and positions of the cars etc, where you straght on the pain road or half out of a junction.
Sounds like her fault to me..
Spoke to my sister, she's a driving instructor, she said if you were passed the give way lines of the secondary road when she started reversing, your right of way, her fault, if you hadnt pulled out, 50/50 either way,
If her rear window was iced/frosted, automatically her fault as illegal to drive with impared view. if you have photos of this would be awsome,
Lot's of things aren't illegal, but break the rules of the highway code therefore incurring driving without due care and attention, dirving while looking for a CD, driving with pasty crumbs on the steering wheel
Wyetry, was it an 'A' road ? If it was then she was negligent as it specifically says not to back into an A road.
Oh I agree, that was what I was saying, it is not strictly illegal but very much frowned upon and obviously if found to be done in dangerous conditions means they can be charged with driving without due care and attention / Dangerous Driving.
I think your in the clear from your description so good luck
You are understandbly going through a worrying time at the moment, however, importantly you all came out unhurt.
I'm not sure of the exact implications of this specific situation, but logically it does seem silly that she continued reversing into you even though she heard you beeping.
Do you have any witnesses yourself? Did you take pictures of all damage and take all her details?
These things are important if you wanted to pursue a claim through the insurance companies. There is a good guide on moneysupermarket.com about making an insurance claim, that you might like to have a look at.
Maybe have a look at your insurnance policy to get an idea whether this type of situation is covered - this will help you determine if you can make a successful claim.
I hope this helps and good luck!
It was a B road.
Basically we had both been waiting some time for a gap in the traffic saw that there was one and both pulled out at pretty much exactly the same time.
I didn't take any photo's as I didn't have anything on me at the time - i'd only literally popped out for a 5 min drive so I didn't even have my phone.
Arrgghh i dont' think its worth the hassle you would have to be pretty anal to see that the wing had been damaged - its about 1cm different from the rest of the car - but the husband thinks it will knock about £300 off the value.
Doubt they'd be interested. Leigh was knocked off his motorbike last year and it was wrecked. Called the police at the time and as no one was injured, traffic not affected they couldn't be arsed :rolleyes:
The way insurance works is on risk statistics, and if you've been involved in an accident, even if it's not your fault then statisically you are more likely to be involved in another one so even claims that come out as no fault to you can still put your insurance premium up.
If you've got a friendly local garage or friend with reasonable knowledge then it would be worth getting them to have a good look at it, and underneath the wing to check nothing else has been pushed out of line. If it's all completely OK then you can decide whether it's worth pursuing, as you should come out in the clear, or if it's not worth the knock on costs on your policy.
(To get an idea, run a similar circumstances to yours through an insurance policy quote site with and without an accident in the last 5 years and see what comes out)
Hmm they seem to be crap these days.
Yeah this is really good advice - I'd check out a few sample quotes before you decided whether to report to your insurance company. You can do that for free here as well - http://www.carinsurancequotes.net Hope that helps you and good luck with everything!! :wave: