Woman drove into me. Fuming.
Discussion
Commute to work this morning, in the snow in SE London.
At traffic lights, two lanes, right hand lane is right-turn only, I'm in left lane going straight on, behind a van. Woman in a PT Cruiser pulls up in right hand lane.
Lights change to green, van in front pulls off, I follow. Woman in the right-hand only lane decides to go straight on it turns out, clearly deciding to jump a few cars.
I see this but as I'm ahead of her I assume that she will pull in behind me. Only she doesn't pull in behind me, she remains alongside me with me ahead about half a car length, as we come down to one lane on the opposite side of the lights. Before I know it AAARRGH BEEEEEEP crunch f
k.
I immediately pull over to side of the road, hazards on, and just about to get out to start sorting details out with her, she indicates and is about to pull past me and drive off. I'm having none of it, immediately pull into the road in front of her to stop her moving off.
Get out and walk over to her, she winds down her window and I tell her firmly to pull over so we can exchange details. I get back into my car and again pull in, half onto pavement so I'm not blocking traffic. She sits there blocking traffic, who are getting pissed off. I gesture to her to pull over so we can sort this out. Eventually she does.
Afro-Carribean woman in her early 40s. I ask her if she was aware that she was in a right-turn only lane. She doesn't acknowledge it and instead starts mouthing off about BMW drivers all being the same. I roll my eyes and say something along the lines of "Oh nice, stereotypes, I'm not going off about you being a woman driver am I". She tells me she can't bare to look at me and that it makes her sick. Things along those lines. I wish I'd been a bit more reticent but I raised my voice in response, trying to get her to acknowledge her fault in going straight on in a right-hand only lane. Should have realised any sensible conversation at this point was futile.
Eventually manage to swap names, reg details and insurers. She's with the same insurer as me.
Anyway. Scrapes to her car on the front NS wing, scrapes to my drivers door. This clearly indicates I was half a car length ahead at the time of impact. I don't think it's indented the door panel, but it was snowing, I was furious, and I haven't checked it properly yet.
Phoned insurer, gave details. Insurer checked google maps and acknowledged the right-hand only lane. I'm not going to claim for my damage, I have more than 10 years NCB and it's protected, but for (hopefully) just a few scrapes it's not worth the excess. If it won't polish out I'll get chipsaway or similar onto it.
Insurer said if she claims however, it may come down to her word against mine. No witnesses. Fault may be apportioned equally. Insurer will contact me if she claims against me.
Get the feeling she won't claim, but if she does, what are my chances? In more than 20 years of driving I've never had a coming together with anyone, so not gone down this road before.
At traffic lights, two lanes, right hand lane is right-turn only, I'm in left lane going straight on, behind a van. Woman in a PT Cruiser pulls up in right hand lane.
Lights change to green, van in front pulls off, I follow. Woman in the right-hand only lane decides to go straight on it turns out, clearly deciding to jump a few cars.
I see this but as I'm ahead of her I assume that she will pull in behind me. Only she doesn't pull in behind me, she remains alongside me with me ahead about half a car length, as we come down to one lane on the opposite side of the lights. Before I know it AAARRGH BEEEEEEP crunch f
k. I immediately pull over to side of the road, hazards on, and just about to get out to start sorting details out with her, she indicates and is about to pull past me and drive off. I'm having none of it, immediately pull into the road in front of her to stop her moving off.
Get out and walk over to her, she winds down her window and I tell her firmly to pull over so we can exchange details. I get back into my car and again pull in, half onto pavement so I'm not blocking traffic. She sits there blocking traffic, who are getting pissed off. I gesture to her to pull over so we can sort this out. Eventually she does.
Afro-Carribean woman in her early 40s. I ask her if she was aware that she was in a right-turn only lane. She doesn't acknowledge it and instead starts mouthing off about BMW drivers all being the same. I roll my eyes and say something along the lines of "Oh nice, stereotypes, I'm not going off about you being a woman driver am I". She tells me she can't bare to look at me and that it makes her sick. Things along those lines. I wish I'd been a bit more reticent but I raised my voice in response, trying to get her to acknowledge her fault in going straight on in a right-hand only lane. Should have realised any sensible conversation at this point was futile.
Eventually manage to swap names, reg details and insurers. She's with the same insurer as me.
Anyway. Scrapes to her car on the front NS wing, scrapes to my drivers door. This clearly indicates I was half a car length ahead at the time of impact. I don't think it's indented the door panel, but it was snowing, I was furious, and I haven't checked it properly yet.
Phoned insurer, gave details. Insurer checked google maps and acknowledged the right-hand only lane. I'm not going to claim for my damage, I have more than 10 years NCB and it's protected, but for (hopefully) just a few scrapes it's not worth the excess. If it won't polish out I'll get chipsaway or similar onto it.
Insurer said if she claims however, it may come down to her word against mine. No witnesses. Fault may be apportioned equally. Insurer will contact me if she claims against me.
Get the feeling she won't claim, but if she does, what are my chances? In more than 20 years of driving I've never had a coming together with anyone, so not gone down this road before.
Timbola said:
Afro-Carribean woman in her early 40s. I ask her if she was aware that she was in a right-turn only lane. She doesn't acknowledge it and instead starts mouthing off about BMW drivers all being the same. I roll my eyes and say something along the lines of "Oh nice, stereotypes, I'm not going off about you being a woman driver am I". She tells me she can't bare to look at me and that it makes her sick. Things along those lines. I wish I'd been a bit more reticent but I raised my voice in response, trying to get her to acknowledge her fault in going straight on in a right-hand only lane. Should have realised any sensible conversation at this point was futile.
You should have clenched your teeth and sucked some air in and gone off about black women drivers, that would have really kicked it off with her. No doubt she'll be claiming whiplash or some other injury off you. Where did it happen?Had a crunch a year or so ago with almost exactly the same impact style (fish van NS wing, my drivers door)
Told my insurers, there was a brief scuffle, his insurers rolled over and paid up. Apparently as I was a) in front and b) in the lane he was trying to get into there is no way he could have missed me unless he was otherwise distracted or on the phone, in which case he was liable anyway.
The other point that my claims handler made was that the other driver had positioned his vehicle such that he was pretty much exactly in my blind spot and as such should have paid more attention!
Best of luck, mate!
Told my insurers, there was a brief scuffle, his insurers rolled over and paid up. Apparently as I was a) in front and b) in the lane he was trying to get into there is no way he could have missed me unless he was otherwise distracted or on the phone, in which case he was liable anyway.
The other point that my claims handler made was that the other driver had positioned his vehicle such that he was pretty much exactly in my blind spot and as such should have paid more attention!
Best of luck, mate!
It'll go 50/50, despite you being in the right (you front wheels were ahead of hers, she should have yielded), but as you have protected NCB, you'll be fine.
If it does end up 50/50, you will of course have to declare it on your next renewal.
Had a similar thing myself recently. Some bloke reversed into me in a supermarket car park. No witnesses, so it went 50/50.
It sucks but then so does the whole car insurance industry in general.
If it does end up 50/50, you will of course have to declare it on your next renewal.
Had a similar thing myself recently. Some bloke reversed into me in a supermarket car park. No witnesses, so it went 50/50.
It sucks but then so does the whole car insurance industry in general.
1....whilst its all fresh make sure that your insurance company have it in detail.
2... the fact that you have informed them goes down on your insurance...e.g when you get quotes for next renewal have you had any accidents in last 3 years...then yes you have. Irrespective of a claim made or not.
3. Assess the damage cost to repair. Paying your excess whilst having protected will not increase much...it's going to increase anyway as marked down as having an accident.
4.you will get your excess back if they are found liable.
5. Did you actually see their insurance or get confirmation from your provider they were on their books? The fact she attempted to drive on and not stop, can be a non-insured driver and trying to blag it.
It's a pain in the backside ..similar thing happened in my old Beemer. I went through insurance and eventually got my excess back but was more than a few scrapes.....
2... the fact that you have informed them goes down on your insurance...e.g when you get quotes for next renewal have you had any accidents in last 3 years...then yes you have. Irrespective of a claim made or not.
3. Assess the damage cost to repair. Paying your excess whilst having protected will not increase much...it's going to increase anyway as marked down as having an accident.
4.you will get your excess back if they are found liable.
5. Did you actually see their insurance or get confirmation from your provider they were on their books? The fact she attempted to drive on and not stop, can be a non-insured driver and trying to blag it.
It's a pain in the backside ..similar thing happened in my old Beemer. I went through insurance and eventually got my excess back but was more than a few scrapes.....
I read 'woman drove into me', then 'south east london' and then 'PT Cruiser' and made an assumption based on my nasty horrible racial prejudices which proved to be correct.
Therefore, personally I'd claim for the damage, as the same nasty horrible racial prejudices tell me she's almost certainly going to claim for damage, whipash, mental trauma, loss of income and anything she can lay her greedy hands on.
Therefore, personally I'd claim for the damage, as the same nasty horrible racial prejudices tell me she's almost certainly going to claim for damage, whipash, mental trauma, loss of income and anything she can lay her greedy hands on.
R36vw said:
3. Assess the damage cost to repair. Paying your excess whilst having protected will not increase much...it's going to increase anyway as marked down as having an accident
It doesn't necessarily go up, a few years ago I had a head on in a country lane that was deemed 50/50 and my renewal went down a few quid next time.OP, If she claims then you may as well go for everything you can, including personal injury.
SuperchargedVR6 said:
It'll go 50/50, despite you being in the right (you front wheels were ahead of hers, she should have yielded), but as you have protected NCB, you'll be fine.
Unfortunately protected NCD protects the discount in % terms but not the renewal premium in £ terms. In other words it's a scam. All they have to do is increase the premium pre-discount, still apply the "protected" discount and you end up with a nice increase for no fault of your own. I hope the other party doesn't claim against the OP though...
Thanks for the responses all.
Sigh.
R36vw said:
2... the fact that you have informed them goes down on your insurance...e.g when you get quotes for next renewal have you had any accidents in last 3 years...then yes you have. Irrespective of a claim made or not.
Hmm I hadn't considered this aspect.Sigh.
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