Car reversed into me, what should I do?
Discussion
Hi All,
Im in a terrible position, ive just got myself a Q7 and my insurance excess is 3K. 2 days into my insurance ive had a bump! So ill try to explain how it happened:
I was reversing out of my parking bay, my Q7 is now completely out of my bay (front end of the car is clear of parking bay lines)
I see a white reverse light appear behind me, i quickly change from Reverse to Drive but before even getting into Drive the car behind starts reversing! I panik and manage to sound my horn 5 - 6 times but they continued to reverse until they hit me.
I get out in disbelief, two people get out the car and quite frankly seem oblivious to how it happened. One said to me
"was you going into the parking space or?"
"My rear sensors never went off"
Im looking at my big Q7 which at the time of stopping would have been in complete view of his back window and drivers side wing mirror thinking, how can you be that oblivious? Given that hes talking about his "parking sensors" and not knowing if i was "leaving or entering the parking space" he was even in cuckoo land or very likely staring at the reverse sensor screen as it would be impossible not to see my Q7 with any basic check, oh and not to forget 5-6 sounds of the horn, stopping at any of those would have prevented impact.
So im worried now, i have no doubt i wouldnt be at fault, i even had a woman see my distress in the car park and she said she would be a witness and gave me her details. But my excess is £3000! Would i have to pay that and hopefully get it back in a few months assuming the third party was proven at fault?
The guy told me the garage quoted him £250 replace the little bumper piece (I've seen this same piece second hand for £40) but even if i was to contenplate settling outside to avoid a loss of no claims and higher excess, they have years after to claim for injuries...
Could i have opinions please?
To recap on the insident, my cars position at the time of the other car engaging reverse gear was all the way out of the parking bay, my car was at a complete stop the moment their reverse light came on and then bibbed 5 - 6 times before they finally made contact with my car. They have a dent, i dont even have a blemish to my car, and not one of us actually felt the impact so im curious as to whether it could be a con claim (but that can be debated at a later date)
If you've made it this far i appreciate your time and your opinions on the matter.
Im in a terrible position, ive just got myself a Q7 and my insurance excess is 3K. 2 days into my insurance ive had a bump! So ill try to explain how it happened:
I was reversing out of my parking bay, my Q7 is now completely out of my bay (front end of the car is clear of parking bay lines)
I see a white reverse light appear behind me, i quickly change from Reverse to Drive but before even getting into Drive the car behind starts reversing! I panik and manage to sound my horn 5 - 6 times but they continued to reverse until they hit me.
I get out in disbelief, two people get out the car and quite frankly seem oblivious to how it happened. One said to me
"was you going into the parking space or?"
"My rear sensors never went off"
Im looking at my big Q7 which at the time of stopping would have been in complete view of his back window and drivers side wing mirror thinking, how can you be that oblivious? Given that hes talking about his "parking sensors" and not knowing if i was "leaving or entering the parking space" he was even in cuckoo land or very likely staring at the reverse sensor screen as it would be impossible not to see my Q7 with any basic check, oh and not to forget 5-6 sounds of the horn, stopping at any of those would have prevented impact.
So im worried now, i have no doubt i wouldnt be at fault, i even had a woman see my distress in the car park and she said she would be a witness and gave me her details. But my excess is £3000! Would i have to pay that and hopefully get it back in a few months assuming the third party was proven at fault?
The guy told me the garage quoted him £250 replace the little bumper piece (I've seen this same piece second hand for £40) but even if i was to contenplate settling outside to avoid a loss of no claims and higher excess, they have years after to claim for injuries...
Could i have opinions please?
To recap on the insident, my cars position at the time of the other car engaging reverse gear was all the way out of the parking bay, my car was at a complete stop the moment their reverse light came on and then bibbed 5 - 6 times before they finally made contact with my car. They have a dent, i dont even have a blemish to my car, and not one of us actually felt the impact so im curious as to whether it could be a con claim (but that can be debated at a later date)
If you've made it this far i appreciate your time and your opinions on the matter.
Edited by Mrsweet1991 on Wednesday 18th January 00:21
Edited by Mrsweet1991 on Wednesday 18th January 00:47
rainmakerraw said:
Quoted for posterity.
You start your post saying you were almost out of your bay, and end it saying you were fully out. Which is it? I'm not a legal bod, nor do I have intimate knowledge of the insurance industry, but a couple of questions spring to mind. Why on earth buy a policy with a £3k excess that you can't afford? If your car is undamaged you wouldn't be making a claim from your insurance for your own car either way, and a claim for your own vehicle is when an excess would be due afaik. What did the witness actually see? You being 'distressed' isn't any kind of help, nor evidence. Did she see the other party reverse at you, whilst you were stationary, and hit you? Witnesses can have a habit of disappearing once they have to start filling in forms etc, so don't bank on them. This could well end up 50/50 I reckon.
I apologize as they are contradictive. My car was fully out, the front end of the car was clear of the bay lines. And unfortunstely she didn't say much, she walked over to the car and said "would you like a witness", my partner said "yes please, did you see it happen" and she said "yes" it still leaves a grey area because we dont know what she seen. As for the excess i have no problem paying it and the only time my excess went down from 3k is when the premium went to 26k so i had no lee way on the excess because of my past. You start your post saying you were almost out of your bay, and end it saying you were fully out. Which is it? I'm not a legal bod, nor do I have intimate knowledge of the insurance industry, but a couple of questions spring to mind. Why on earth buy a policy with a £3k excess that you can't afford? If your car is undamaged you wouldn't be making a claim from your insurance for your own car either way, and a claim for your own vehicle is when an excess would be due afaik. What did the witness actually see? You being 'distressed' isn't any kind of help, nor evidence. Did she see the other party reverse at you, whilst you were stationary, and hit you? Witnesses can have a habit of disappearing once they have to start filling in forms etc, so don't bank on them. This could well end up 50/50 I reckon.
Mandat said:
In simple terms this is a collision between 2 cars who are both reversing out of parking spaces.
The insurers will most likely treat this as 50/50 unless the witness is credible enough to sway the liability onto the other driver.
Hi Mandat,The insurers will most likely treat this as 50/50 unless the witness is credible enough to sway the liability onto the other driver.
Could i confirm please that this is classed as two cars reversing. My car was completly out of the bay, when the third party selected reverse gear my car was completely stopped, out of reverse and i then bibbed the third party in attempt for them to stop. So from the moment they selected reverse my car remained stationary which is why i didnt think this would be a 2 cars reversing scenario?
Many thanks
Hi,
Thanks again for the reply. I suppose jotting it down bit by bit it does make it sound like an easier scenario to do things like just drive away and i've not explained it as well as i could but here goes,
when i said about moving from R to D the third party within that short space of time had already started to reverse their car and the distance between my rear and their rear is like 1m or so.. so we're talking 1 - 2 seconds before impact which is why i frantikly sounded my horn. Furthermore im fairly sure i had started to steer to the left as i stopped the car so if i would have floored it theres a possibility i may have hit the car in front. If you can imagine, when i stopped my car theres probably 1m distance behind me and my bonnet was 2 metres or so from the car in front of me (to the left bay) so there wasnt a huge amount of distance. I would like to post the pics but im sure your not suposed to release them prior to insurance claims?
Thanks again for the reply. I suppose jotting it down bit by bit it does make it sound like an easier scenario to do things like just drive away and i've not explained it as well as i could but here goes,
when i said about moving from R to D the third party within that short space of time had already started to reverse their car and the distance between my rear and their rear is like 1m or so.. so we're talking 1 - 2 seconds before impact which is why i frantikly sounded my horn. Furthermore im fairly sure i had started to steer to the left as i stopped the car so if i would have floored it theres a possibility i may have hit the car in front. If you can imagine, when i stopped my car theres probably 1m distance behind me and my bonnet was 2 metres or so from the car in front of me (to the left bay) so there wasnt a huge amount of distance. I would like to post the pics but im sure your not suposed to release them prior to insurance claims?
Taz1383 said:
Why put your excess at 3k if you can't afford it? You're clearly driving something beyond your means. Get a cheap car, pay £250 excess, end of.
Treat this as an expensive lesson.
Hi Taz, Treat this as an expensive lesson.
I never chose 3k excess, it was all that was available given my history. The only time the 3k excess dropped to £250 is when the premiums went to 26k or so as opposed to the 1.7k premium i have now. In addition, i never did say i couldnt pay the 3k, i had money in my bank prior to taking the insurance But.. its potentially a 3k loss so of course its still a big deal regardless.
405dogvan said:
My first-hand experience of car park knocks is that insurers generally rule them as 'no fault' - your insurance will repair you car, his will repair his.
The reason for this is partly that the rules-of-the-road don't technically apply in car parks which makes legal challenges difficult but mostly because they are almost always "he says she says" situations which aren't worth getting involved with.
If this really happened and I was you, I would seek CCTV evidence if available (tho I might have fitted dashcams because of my silly excess so I'd have that already and I'd be GOLDEN)
I guess I'd have to inform my insurer, I'd make it clear I didn't consider myself responsible for the incident and that I didn't intend to pursue a claim for my own damages and that in the event they weren't interested in pursuing the other party as being at fault, I'd be taking them to small claims court (with my CCTV or dashcam evidence, this would be a lot easier of course)
Just saying...
Hi,The reason for this is partly that the rules-of-the-road don't technically apply in car parks which makes legal challenges difficult but mostly because they are almost always "he says she says" situations which aren't worth getting involved with.
If this really happened and I was you, I would seek CCTV evidence if available (tho I might have fitted dashcams because of my silly excess so I'd have that already and I'd be GOLDEN)
I guess I'd have to inform my insurer, I'd make it clear I didn't consider myself responsible for the incident and that I didn't intend to pursue a claim for my own damages and that in the event they weren't interested in pursuing the other party as being at fault, I'd be taking them to small claims court (with my CCTV or dashcam evidence, this would be a lot easier of course)
Just saying...
Well so far i have a witness and there is a possibility of CCTV footage as for a dash cam yes it would have been great but despite my description of the event its still been said that its 2 cars reversing scenario and it would be 50/50 so the excess may play part regardless of the dashcam or not :/
Hi all,
Wow i don't think ive ever had such a huge response on a forum! I think i should at least answer some questions even if it is out of curiousity..
So why a 26k policy to get a normal premium? I have 5 claims on my history:
1st 70/30 split - (30% my fault)
2nd returned to car park and someones car scraped rear courter (notification to insurance)
3rd car pulled out and hit front passenger side - non fault
4th guy used engine braking then slammed brakes on so rear ended him.. was fraudelant claim but the third party dropped everything with no explanation but my insurance went against me as they had to call out investigators and what not
5th car scraped car in car park (yes for a second time)
So thats it.. 5 claims 2 of them went against me (30% liability and the other fraudelant)
As for the current issue its now resolved, paid third party in full for repairs and also shopped around and got 1 insurance company willing to do a normal excess of £300 My current excess was not only 3k but also an "All sections excess" meaning the 3k excess is paid regardles of fault or whether i want to claim repairs for my car
So never turned out too bad at all given what it could have been.
Wow i don't think ive ever had such a huge response on a forum! I think i should at least answer some questions even if it is out of curiousity..
So why a 26k policy to get a normal premium? I have 5 claims on my history:
1st 70/30 split - (30% my fault)
2nd returned to car park and someones car scraped rear courter (notification to insurance)
3rd car pulled out and hit front passenger side - non fault
4th guy used engine braking then slammed brakes on so rear ended him.. was fraudelant claim but the third party dropped everything with no explanation but my insurance went against me as they had to call out investigators and what not
5th car scraped car in car park (yes for a second time)
So thats it.. 5 claims 2 of them went against me (30% liability and the other fraudelant)
As for the current issue its now resolved, paid third party in full for repairs and also shopped around and got 1 insurance company willing to do a normal excess of £300 My current excess was not only 3k but also an "All sections excess" meaning the 3k excess is paid regardles of fault or whether i want to claim repairs for my car
So never turned out too bad at all given what it could have been.
garyhun said:
Someone needs to explain this to me - obviously hard of thinking today 
26K mile policy, £26K a year, or the policy is for a car worth £26k!
I think its all got mixed up, the 26k premium was the lowest price for a normal excess (£250) all the other quotes like the one i took out had a premium of 1.7k but 3k all sections excess (all sections excess meaning i pay 3k excess regardles of fault or whether i want repairs to my car) 26K mile policy, £26K a year, or the policy is for a car worth £26k!
brrapp said:
I don't know where you're getting your information from, but no insurance policy in the UK has an excess for third party damage, it wouldn't be legal. You said in your initial post that there was no damage to your car, and as the insurance company cannot charge you an excess for the cost of a third party claim, regardless of the excess on your policy , you would not have to pay anything in the event of a claim.
As said on this thread several times already, if the other driver had made a claim against you, in the unlikely event of your insurance accepting responsibility on your behalf, the worst that would have happened is a slightly higher premium next year.
Taken from my policy booklet:As said on this thread several times already, if the other driver had made a claim against you, in the unlikely event of your insurance accepting responsibility on your behalf, the worst that would have happened is a slightly higher premium next year.
You are liable for any claim (by You or any
third party) made on Your Policy up to an amount of the value of the Excess on the Policy. For
example, if You are involved in an incident where a third party makes a claim against You and
there is no damage to Your Car, You will be liable to pay The Underwriters the amount up to the
value of Your Excess. If You are deemed liable for any such claims, The Underwriters will make
payments on Your behalf to settle the claim on the best terms available as outlined in Condition
1 of Your Policy
saaby93 said:
It looks like the OP paid £250 to save all the hassle of arguing with their own insurer who was about to pay up and claim it back from the OP anyway.
Its not a good idea trying to argue with your insurer and why it's often best for a third party claim to deal direct with the third party or their insurer.
As this thread shows
That is indeed the thought process i had, with an all section excess i need to cough up 3k straight away. Then the insurance companies hastle on whos to blame and what the costs are, once the prices for the repair are agreed (in this case would be approx £240) my insurance would reinburse the £2760 maybe months down the road.. or bite the bullet pay the £240 and work towards my no claims. Im glad it happened anyway, its the only reason i identified this "all sections excess" and managed to source myself a new insurance company with a normal excess and the excess being £2700 less Its not a good idea trying to argue with your insurer and why it's often best for a third party claim to deal direct with the third party or their insurer.
As this thread shows
saaby93 said:
Easily done
you see someone coming towards you that hasnt seen you
you toot - that should make them notice
oh it hasnt
beep again a bit longer
and again
beeeeeeeeep
beeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp
scrunch
oh
Please also note that the distance between my car and his car was 1m or so.. there really wasnt any time to think.. i seen them reversing towards me and paniked and bibbed pretty rapidly, the time it took to hit me was literally a second or two. If i can photoshop the image to remove people out of it ill upload so you can get an idea.you see someone coming towards you that hasnt seen you
you toot - that should make them notice
oh it hasnt
beep again a bit longer
and again
beeeeeeeeep
beeeeeeeeeeppppppppppp
scrunch
oh
Monkeylegend said:
It's all been sorted, you will only be opening yourself up to more of the same, I would quit whilst you are behind. You will only be feeding those that want to score PH bragging rights 
Thanks, and plus i would dissapoint some as i was requested to post a picture with me in it holding a can of custard :S rainmakerraw said:
Giving your situation the benefit of the doubt re: honesty, OP, I would honestly highly recommend you take a course with RoSPA's RoADAR (advanced driving). I passed with a Gold award last year and have since been certified as a tutor. You'll be amazed at how much better your observation, planning and driving will become. It's not about going slow either (quite the opposite at times!)... Just a thought for you. It's something I'd recommend to anyone, but with your claims history doubly so. Not a slight or an insult, but something anyone would find genuinely useful.
Thank you, i didnt actually know that existed. I do have a Pass Plus certification but that really wouldnt have compared to the course you're on about. Going forward from this however i will be investing in some dash cams and i definitely won't listen to someone in the car when they want me to park forward for their convenience.. i think with my history in car parks i may develope a phobia haha. Nickyboy said:
Driving barely 8 years and already 5 claims? Jesus wept, i'd be looking at my driving amongst other things.
2 claims where made when my car was in a car park and someone scuffed the side 1 claim was third partys fault
The other 2 was a fraudulant claim and a 70/30 split (30% my fault)
Put those 5 claims into perspective i wouldnt say its my driving..
Pothole said:
Stop claiming for car park damage. It's not worth it long term unless damage is significant.
I honestly had no idea they was going down so that other insurance companies would have to know, i was under the impression that i was just notifying my insurance so they would know for their own records, there was never a claim and i was told absolutely nothing will happen and they will just send me a letter to confirm that i told them. When i enquired about the dates for my claims to get an insurance quote it was then that i realised these notifications where documented in that way. Lesson learned thoughHannsG said:
I went into the back of a woman as she fukin braked in the middle of a busy roundabout as she thought she saw a ghost.
I s
t you not. Her 500quid Ford Ka had a bumper damaged. I popped it out.
Then I saw the claim for £8k which the insurance company shelled out for. I was in complete shock to be honest..£8k!!!!!!
I now have this on my insurance record as a claim for the next three years.
Chalk it up to experience
I do think now it might have been a setup. £8k....unbelievable
EDIT: Just read that you have £3k excess, are you crazy? If you can't afford it don't drive it.
Madness
hanns.. ive stated about 3 times throughout this thread that i have the 3k in place if need be.. my question was opinions on the incident thats all but just to recap for new readers that insurance has been cancelled and i have a new policy with 300 excess and this incidents been sorted.I s
t you not. Her 500quid Ford Ka had a bumper damaged. I popped it out. Then I saw the claim for £8k which the insurance company shelled out for. I was in complete shock to be honest..£8k!!!!!!
I now have this on my insurance record as a claim for the next three years.
Chalk it up to experience
I do think now it might have been a setup. £8k....unbelievable
EDIT: Just read that you have £3k excess, are you crazy? If you can't afford it don't drive it.
Madness
Edited by HannsG on Thursday 19th January 01:06
deltashad said:
Glad you got it sorted Misses.
Read through the saga. You learned from your mistakes and the last few you've made a few. Nevermind, looks like you have a decent policy now that wont take you to the cleaners.
As others have said and you now know. Avoid speaking to your insurers if at all possible. They are not your friends.
Thank you very much, and i definitelty wont be "notifying" them of scuffs ever again haha. Read through the saga. You learned from your mistakes and the last few you've made a few. Nevermind, looks like you have a decent policy now that wont take you to the cleaners.
As others have said and you now know. Avoid speaking to your insurers if at all possible. They are not your friends.
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