Accident, other party changes story after repairs
Discussion
I was involved in a minor accident a couple of weeks back, in the image below I’d parked on the left in A, I reversed out of the space to leave ending up over the white arrow, I had to stop momentarily (I honestly can’t remember the reason why, possibly someone crossing the road or another car pulling out in front of me) either way I was stationary when the car in space B reversed straight out hitting my rear wheel arch. The driver and her passenger were not looking what they were doing as I could clearly see them facing forward and talking, also I sounded my horn a fraction of a second before they hit my car.
The other driver was very apologetic, said it was all her fault etc. We swapped details and went on our way. I reported the incident about 10 minutes later and informed my insurance that I’d prefer BMW’s bodyshop to deal with the repair, within 48 hours car had been assessed and costs approved (£1500) A week later the car went into the bodyshop for three days.
Whilst driving home after collecting the car from being repaired I got a phone call from my insurer, the other party is claiming that we were both reversing at the same time and their insurer is offering 50/50 - to which I told them where to go.
I’ve since provided a full breakdown of the event with pictures from the day and google maps to illustrate who was where and when.
There is no dash camera footage, there is very likely CCTV from adjacent shops and council cameras which I have told my insurer about.
I was driving with my partner in the car, the other driver had what I assume to be their teenage daughter in their car.
My partner’s 29 year old son and his friend witnessed the whole incident as we had met them to drop something off and they were still loading their car up.
Based on conversations with my insurer (L&V) I have a sinking feeling that I’m going to get shafted on this, in the event this happens is there any merit in following up outside of insurance, for example small claims court to reclaim excess?
The other driver was very apologetic, said it was all her fault etc. We swapped details and went on our way. I reported the incident about 10 minutes later and informed my insurance that I’d prefer BMW’s bodyshop to deal with the repair, within 48 hours car had been assessed and costs approved (£1500) A week later the car went into the bodyshop for three days.
Whilst driving home after collecting the car from being repaired I got a phone call from my insurer, the other party is claiming that we were both reversing at the same time and their insurer is offering 50/50 - to which I told them where to go.
I’ve since provided a full breakdown of the event with pictures from the day and google maps to illustrate who was where and when.
There is no dash camera footage, there is very likely CCTV from adjacent shops and council cameras which I have told my insurer about.
I was driving with my partner in the car, the other driver had what I assume to be their teenage daughter in their car.
My partner’s 29 year old son and his friend witnessed the whole incident as we had met them to drop something off and they were still loading their car up.
Based on conversations with my insurer (L&V) I have a sinking feeling that I’m going to get shafted on this, in the event this happens is there any merit in following up outside of insurance, for example small claims court to reclaim excess?
CSLchappie said:
There is no dash camera footage, there is very likely CCTV from adjacent shops and council cameras which I have told my insurer about.
Have you asked for the CCTV footage? I imagine time is ticking before it gets overwritten, so even if your insurance company gets round to requesting it (which they probably won't) it might no longer be available.tony wright said:
I struggle to work out why people do this. Is there a difference between a fault claim and 50/50? You would think the guilt would help them to “do the right thing”
They think they will pay less on their following insurance policy if they go 50/50 rather than accept full culpability. Any feelings of guilt are overshadowed by the blind horror of what their insurance company may apparently randomly charge for their next policy and for God knows how long into the future. Understandable in that context really.CSLchappie said:
I was involved in a minor accident a couple of weeks back, in the image below I’d parked on the left in A, I reversed out of the space to leave ending up over the white arrow, I had to stop momentarily (I honestly can’t remember the reason why, possibly someone crossing the road or another car pulling out in front of me) either way I was stationary when the car in space B reversed straight out hitting my rear wheel arch. The driver and her passenger were not looking what they were doing as I could clearly see them facing forward and talking, also I sounded my horn a fraction of a second before they hit my car.
The other driver was very apologetic, said it was all her fault etc. We swapped details and went on our way. I reported the incident about 10 minutes later and informed my insurance that I’d prefer BMW’s bodyshop to deal with the repair, within 48 hours car had been assessed and costs approved (£1500) A week later the car went into the bodyshop for three days.
Whilst driving home after collecting the car from being repaired I got a phone call from my insurer, the other party is claiming that we were both reversing at the same time and their insurer is offering 50/50 - to which I told them where to go.
I’ve since provided a full breakdown of the event with pictures from the day and google maps to illustrate who was where and when.
There is no dash camera footage, there is very likely CCTV from adjacent shops and council cameras which I have told my insurer about.
I was driving with my partner in the car, the other driver had what I assume to be their teenage daughter in their car.
My partner’s 29 year old son and his friend witnessed the whole incident as we had met them to drop something off and they were still loading their car up.
Based on conversations with my insurer (L&V) I have a sinking feeling that I’m going to get shafted on this, in the event this happens is there any merit in following up outside of insurance, for example small claims court to reclaim excess?
Your problem is that on a small claim, your insurer has very little incentive to defend it for saving £750, which would be far less than the costs involved.The other driver was very apologetic, said it was all her fault etc. We swapped details and went on our way. I reported the incident about 10 minutes later and informed my insurance that I’d prefer BMW’s bodyshop to deal with the repair, within 48 hours car had been assessed and costs approved (£1500) A week later the car went into the bodyshop for three days.
Whilst driving home after collecting the car from being repaired I got a phone call from my insurer, the other party is claiming that we were both reversing at the same time and their insurer is offering 50/50 - to which I told them where to go.
I’ve since provided a full breakdown of the event with pictures from the day and google maps to illustrate who was where and when.
There is no dash camera footage, there is very likely CCTV from adjacent shops and council cameras which I have told my insurer about.
I was driving with my partner in the car, the other driver had what I assume to be their teenage daughter in their car.
My partner’s 29 year old son and his friend witnessed the whole incident as we had met them to drop something off and they were still loading their car up.
Based on conversations with my insurer (L&V) I have a sinking feeling that I’m going to get shafted on this, in the event this happens is there any merit in following up outside of insurance, for example small claims court to reclaim excess?
Get a dash cam?
ked.caziques said:
If you were moving then your vehicle would be scraped rather than just damaged.
Photos would show one way or the other.
This - if you were stationary - then their damage would be on one point of your car...Photos would show one way or the other.
If you were moving then the damage area would have 'moved'
should be easy to have seen in the photos...
The insurance companies won't care but if I was feeling anal and aggrieved I'd push a small claims court on them for damages caused due to their fraudulent claims. Might change their tune. Then again probably difficult to actually push it through without an independent witness or footage. 
Sadly just normal business. Circumstances not clear cut enough, nobody is going full CSI to investigate damage patterns or hunt for CCTV. Insurance companies will go for quick resolution rather than fight a claim that'll cost them more to fight than they win, IF they win. All I would suggest is try to get CCTV before it's gone. Might be worth your time if not an insurance investigators.
meatballs said:
The insurance companies won't care but if I was feeling anal and aggrieved I'd push a small claims court on them for damages caused due to their fraudulent claims. Might change their tune. Then again probably difficult to actually push it through without an independent witness or footage.
Ehhhh?meatballs said:
KungFuPanda said:
Ehhhh?
Just because the insurance companies won't do anything doesn't mean you cant push a civil case for the damages caused by a third party. It's completely impractical to actually do in the circumstances but a letter is almost free.I had a minicab driver in a rush to get past on the inside, hit my old Vauxhall up the arse in about 1980, did very little to mine but wing, bonnet, lights on OS to his. My insurers told him to swivel, but he took me to small claims with the story I reversed into him at high speed (no I wasn’t for those who like to argue) - he was in his 50s, I was 21, the court believed him and I was not far off a grand out of pocket.
Definitely worth a small claims punt if the insurer won’t - if you win you might even have grounds for your no claims to be reinstated
Definitely worth a small claims punt if the insurer won’t - if you win you might even have grounds for your no claims to be reinstated
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