Person opened their door as I reserved into a space - fault?

[thetapeworm]

I was slowly reversing into a space this morning when all of a sudden the driver of the car next to me opened her door and hit my rear quarter, as I was moving back. It's caused a scuff (in one of the few unprotected places on a Cactus). She just started to wander off but when I called after her to suggest she'd hit our car her response was that I'd reversed into her door.

Obviously I did reverse in to the door but only because she suddenly put the door where it wasn't previously.

She clearly didn't care either way and just left to do her shopping before I could even get out of the car.

I can probably polish most of the damage out but there are a couple of deep scratches that I won't be able to.

Rear dashcam footage doesn't capture the door opening but it does show it was closed as I reversed past it.

Her attitude has enraged me more than the actual damage but is it just something I should get over or should I go to our insurance company and discuss this with them? Seems somewhat crap to have to just accept that she's flung the door at the car without looking and then left the scene without so much as an apology.

Her car, a Mini, was generally shabby and seemed to already have its share of dings, ours wasn't until now.

Note scratches perfectly placed between hideous protective plastic



Edit: Video showing nothing: https://youtu.be/a8M226BG9E8

Edited by thetapeworm on Monday 24th June 10:00

[thetapeworm]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

When you are reversing, unless you hit another reversing vehicle, anything that happens is down to you. As the person reversing, the onus is always on you to ensure the path is clear, and remains clear throughout the manoeuvre.

That would be my take on it.

That's kind of where I am with it too but it's pretty much impossible to avoid someone flinging their door into your car no matter how much care you take

[thetapeworm]

stuartmmcfc said:

Tbh, as annoying as it is, I’d try and move on. Any other Avenue is just not worth it IMO.

You're absolutely right of course, it's just sickening to come across one of the many humans out there with such a crap attitude.

Any suggestions on how to get my wife to agree with you? I was driving her car

[thetapeworm]

hutchst said:

Another good reason to buy a car with a reversing camera.

We have a reversing camera, I was looking at the screen at the time of the impact, wide as the angle is it doesn't cover the rear quarter when a door suddenly appears there.

[thetapeworm]

I just think it's generally safer to reverse towards things that aren't (usually) moving rather than into a place with the possibility of pedestrians with trolleys, cars moving at speed etc. I feel much happier going forwards towards those.

Anyway it's pretty much polished out, just some scratches on the trim where the initial impact was and some light ones on the paint.



I still don't think I was to blame but I'll certainly up the already high levels of caution from now on.

I appreciate the therapy this post has brought, thanks.

[thetapeworm]

hutchst said:

thetapeworm said:

We have a reversing camera, I was looking at the screen at the time of the impact, wide as the angle is it doesn't cover the rear quarter when a door suddenly appears there.

OK so if she was in your 'blind spot' werent you equally in her 'blind spot' if she had driven in nose-first? Why is she more culpable than you?

She wasn't in my "blind spot" as such as I also have door mirrors that I'd just checked before going back to the reversing camera, unfortunately my eyes and brain can't do it all and even with one of those fancy 360 parking camera setups I doubt I'd have been able to react quickly enough to the door being opened.

She could have checked her mirror before opening the door I guess and prevented all of this discussion

Thankfully at the speed I was going had it been a child randomly running around between parked cars I'd have most likely made them cry as they bounced off the air bump on the rear quarter but nothing more. I'd have some serious questions to ask their guardian though. It would have pretty much been the same as the child running into a litter bin IMO.

If you're driving along a regular road and a child runs out into a situation whereby no amount of talent would allow you to prevent the impact are you to blame?

[thetapeworm]

Engelberger said:

The irony of having a dashcam and the time you may find it useful it is of no use.

Perhaps more cameras are needed?

"No use" isn't quite accurate as it's clearly recorded me reversing really slowly into a space next to a car with a closed door. If I watch on a device with sound I suspect it'll also have the noise of the door hitting the car, our reaction and the conversation I had with the woman.

Yeah it didn't capture the actual door being opened but it goes some way to supporting my claims, certainly more so than no camera.

I'd welcome more coverage though and as someone into 360 photography maybe I need to look at a 360 camera on the roof

Thankfully this time it's annoying rather than costly or ending in a mysterious car park child being hurt so I'm grateful.

[thetapeworm]

Alucidnation said:

That looks like you have nudged a bollard or something and not the scratch that would have been left by a car door.

Maybe, perhaps I imagined the whole thing with the car door and crashed into a bollard that wasn't there.

[thetapeworm]

Utterly hilarious, I was there, I know what happened

[thetapeworm]

There will be no insurance involved.

I'm still annoyed at the attitude of the woman.

Hindsight being what it is I'd have liked to have checked door mirrors again and reacted in the split second I had available but I'm not a robot. I was already being extra cautious because I'd seen there was someone in the car.

But it was a bollard anyway

[thetapeworm]

Engelberger said:

My only gripe is that you have a dashcam.

In my defence my wife has to commute through Bradford every day.

[thetapeworm]

RipTrip1 said:

We only have one side of the story. For all we know the woman opened the door 5 seconds before the OP started reversing. Then got abuse from the OP which prompted her to seek safety in the shop.
Either way, OP at fault.

Classic PH, thanks

[thetapeworm]

RipTrip1 said:

Replace the door with a 5 year old who wondered behind OPs car. Is it the childs fault he got a broken arm or the OP's 1/10 observations?
Must of got his licence from a box of rice crispies...

The troll game is strong in you sir, I applaud this,fine work.

Do you have any scenarios that involve animals?

[thetapeworm]

Trimmed down video from the rear camera, it shows very little, not even the bollard or all the children running around, and I've removed the sound of my little family and the bang, so fairly pointless I guess.

It does show the Mini with its door closed and then a sudden stop by me from my 58mph Russ Swift style reverse.

https://youtu.be/a8M226BG9E8

You can view in 1080p (maybe more?) for even more cinematic titillation if you want.

Edited by thetapeworm on Monday 24th June 10:06

[thetapeworm]

InitialDave said:

I completely understand the OP's frustration, especially when you know that if you'd been looking in the side mirror rather than the reversing camera screen, or spotted the woman as being likely to get out the car, perhaps you could have avoided it.

It's that feeling of "well, st, I wish I'd done XYZ and then I wouldn't be in this scenario", even though it's more down to the other person involved being a fking idiot.

I'd still say the prime issue here is the door being opened at a stupid time, I think it sounds like at that moment the door opener had far more opportunity to prevent the situation happening than the OP did, and it certainly sounds like she had a lovely attitude about it.

As for the "what if it was a child" stuff, it probably wouldn't have damaged the OP's paint, and perhaps the child and parent would both have learnt a valuable lesson about how to behave around moving cars.

So many "what if" things, you're spot on.

I went down a parking road I'd normally avoid like the plague, I didn't go to a parent & child space at the far end away from the main car park like I usually would, I didn't go for a space with nobody either side as I'd normally prefer, I even saw the woman in the car (and said to my wife that it looked like she was breastfeeding as we approached, she wasn't) and evaluated the possible risk and went as slow as I could. But clearly I wasn't looking at the place I would have liked to have been looking at in that split second window I had. If I had I still don't think I'd have been able to stop quickly enough but who know.

We'd just come back from the emergency doctors with a sick child, all I wanted to do was get in to the pharmacy, get the meds and escape back to the safety of my home again, that said I was being my usual cautious self, sadly st happened and I turned to PH for some therapy and amusement from the conspiracy types.

Nobody died, it's a few scratches but the woman is still a horrible human IMO.

[thetapeworm]

stuartmmcfc said:

So were you having a crafty ogle of her tits when you should have been concentrating on reversing?

Rumbled, I just loves me some boobies

[thetapeworm]

M666 EVO said:

I have a similar scrape at the back of my car - how did you get rid of it? What product did you use? Looks amazing.

A rotary polisher and some Menzerna polish left over from my detailing days, any mildly abrasive polish that breaks down as you use it should work though.

[thetapeworm]

Alucidnation said:

That video doesn’t show her opening her door onto your car.

Whaaaaat! Crikey you're right, I'd better change the various comments I've made in this post that say exactly that... Oh wait...

I've shared it to show all the bollards, the kids (there is one if you look closely), the dinosaurs and how stupidly fast I was going.

The original contains sounds including a thud, me telling the lady she's opened the door into the car and her saying I've reversed into her door. You know, the one that isn't there.

[thetapeworm]

Lord Marylebone said:

I'm going to assume that post is just a wind up.

I think he's lonely.

[thetapeworm]

popeyewhite said:

I think he's part right. You can see in the vid that someone is in the car... . I think I might have honked (but I'd be going in front first), not so easy to do when reversing though. Swings and roundabouts.

It's going to get pretty honky out there if we're all expected to cover all the "might do this..." actions of every other motorist.