Who’s Fault?

Author
Discussion

Chrisgr31

Original Poster:

13,440 posts

254 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
The scenario

A newly qualified teenager is driving their grandparents. They come to a village with a long line of parked cars on the left hand stand. There is nothing coming the teenager pulls out to pass them and is doing so when traffic comes the other way. The first 2 cars pass the teenager without incident. However a third car passes and wing mirrors hit. The wing mirror on the teenagers car is not damaged. The back cover on the wing mirror on the car going the other way is broken.

The driver going the other way admits there was no gap for the teenager to pull in to.

Who should pay for the wing mirror?

Edited by Chrisgr31 on Wednesday 11th May 17:06

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Wing mirrors? How old were the cars? hehe

Sounds like it's a 50/50 blow to me.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Must depend on a lot of variables?

Could car coming the other way see the teenager at the point they started passing the parked cars? (Might have been unsighted by previous cars/bend for example)
Where both vehicles moving when the clip occurred?
Was there actually enough room to pass but one car deviated?

Impossible to know really.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
....the only likely thing is that no wing mirrors were harmed in this incident hehe

donkmeister

7,995 posts

99 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Assuming teenager was doing an appropriate speed (i.e. wasn't barreling through at 30mph if it was really a 15mph situation) then this.

I'd also suggest our teenager should have stopped once he realised the other driver was going to be a dick... It gives more time for them to realise their error and correct it, also if you are already stationary when the other car hits you it's a bit more clearcut.

Unfortunately there are people who will take the piss and squeeze through gaps they shouldn't, and there are others who want the whole world to wait and give way to them even when it's a gap you could comfortably get two buses through. It seems likely that at least one of the drivers in this situation falls into one of those categories.

Beetnik

501 posts

183 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
Who should pay for the wing mirror?

Edited by Chrisgr31 on Wednesday 11th May 17:06
The grandparents - that's what they're for... biggrin

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Beetnik said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Who should pay for the wing mirror?

Edited by Chrisgr31 on Wednesday 11th May 17:06
The grandparents - that's what they're for... biggrin
hehe

The big yin

235 posts

40 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
If the teenagers car wing mirror is not damaged then why should he pay , Surely it is the owner of the other car who should pay for his own mirror.

Foss62

993 posts

64 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
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The big yin said:
If the teenagers car wing mirror is not damaged then why should he pay , Surely it is the owner of the other car who should pay for his own mirror.
The correct answer is probably that both drivers should report the incident to their insurers and the insurance companies would end up splitting the costs of the other driver’s repair (as nothing would be proveable as to who was at fault unless the grandson had a dash camera showing him to be established on his course).

However the reality is likely to be that the repair to the mirror would cost less than the other driver’s excess and affect his NCD, so he would have to be completely loopy not to just sort it out himself.

Chrisgr31

Original Poster:

13,440 posts

254 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
The wing mirror is certainly less than the teenagers excess! biggrin

I wasn't there but do understand the other driver was travelling at a greater speed than the teenager and indeed teenager may have actually stopped as they realised the other car was closer than the previous ones. Any cost that falls on teenager is going to be paid by grandparents - even though they think the other driver is at fault. Indeed the other driver admitted he has lost a wing mirror in exactly the same place before.

The other driver at the time showed grandfather a quote for a new wing mirror on ebay of £45. That has now increased to £160 from a local body shop.

My plan is to offer 50% on receipt of VAT receipt, if no receipt I'll offer £45.

Also buying a dashcam!

Gareth79

7,628 posts

245 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
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In this sort of case I think only a dash cam video of the car actually stopped and the other driver colliding would prevent it going 50/50 (or knock-for-knock, or whatever they do these days).

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
I know I should let it drop, but this is a car site after all.hehe

These are wing mirrors, so called because of their location



I suspect you are referring to door mirrors (so called because of their location biggrin)

Just saying…

sorry, I’m annoying I know

Pica-Pica

13,617 posts

83 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
I know I should let it drop, but this is a car site after all.hehe

These are wing mirrors, so called because of their location



I suspect you are referring to door mirrors (so called because of their location biggrin)

Just saying…

sorry, I’m annoying I know
No, I agree.
Let’s get it correct (rather than ‘right’).
How about external rear-view mirror?

Back to OP’s scenario, similar happened to me, but no parked cars, just a narrow lane near me. I clipped my wife’s Fabia, mirror with the other lady’s mirror. We went back, just outside my house, and swapped phone numbers. She said two things ‘my husband is a police officer, he’ll know what to do’ and ‘my mum says I shouldn’t go down that lane’.
Damage to the Fabia, a broken mirror lens (mirror cap had come off but clipped back on OK)
Damage to her Galaxy, a broken repeater lens on the mirror end.
We agreed we would pay our own costs. Mine was about £36.
(I had gone back and taken a photo of our cars tyre print in the soft verge, so, as far over as I could. But the 50/50 self-paying seemed OK, insurance not involved, nor informed).

Allegro_Snapon

557 posts

27 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Pica-Pica said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
I know I should let it drop, but this is a car site after all.hehe

These are wing mirrors, so called because of their location



I suspect you are referring to door mirrors (so called because of their location biggrin)

Just saying…

sorry, I’m annoying I know
No, I agree.
Let’s get it correct (rather than ‘right’).
How about external rear-view mirror?

Back to OP’s scenario, similar happened to me, but no parked cars, just a narrow lane near me. I clipped my wife’s Labia with the other lady’s mirror. We went back, just outside my house, and swapped phone numbers. She said two things ‘my husband is a police officer, he’ll know what to do’ and ‘my mum says I shouldn’t go down that lane’.
Damage to the Fabia, a broken mirror lens (mirror cap had come off but clipped back on OK)
Damage to her Galaxy, a broken repeater lens on the mirror end.
We agreed we would pay our own costs. Mine was about £36.
(I had gone back and taken a photo of our cars tyre print in the soft verge, so, as far over as I could. But the 50/50 self-paying seemed OK, insurance not involved, nor informed).
Sounds painful. I had similar (albeit in the 1970s when parlance was appropriate) going to work at 6 am a Milkman appeared from the ginnel that ran behind our house. "Mate is that your car in the alley?". "No, mine is here on the road but my wifes Austin is in parked in the Ginnel outside our gate". "Ooops sorry, I've just run up your wifes behind and splashed a load of milk, you won't tell the boss will you....".

Free milk for two weeks with a few cheeky bottles of fresh orange pop.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

30,230 posts

234 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Many of us have had this scenario. Usually favourite is to mark it down as one of those things, and each sort out their own repair.

I’ve done the same as Pica yes

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
The scenario

A newly qualified teenager is driving their grandparents. They come to a village with a long line of parked cars on the left hand stand. There is nothing coming the teenager pulls out to pass them and is doing so when traffic comes the other way. The first 2 cars pass the teenager without incident. However a third car passes and wing mirrors hit. The wing mirror on the teenagers car is not damaged. The back cover on the wing mirror on the car going the other way is broken.

The driver going the other way admits there was no gap for the teenager to pull in to.

Who should pay for the wing mirror?

Edited by Chrisgr31 on Wednesday 11th May 17:06
If your daughter was on the wrong side on the road then I doubt she will have much of an argument.

You don't want an insurance claim for a new driver. A wing mirror cover shouldn't cost cost too much. It shouldn't be her excess without loading her policy.

V8covin

7,212 posts

192 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Driver101 said:
If your daughter was on the wrong side on the road then I doubt she will have much of an argument.

You don't want an insurance claim for a new driver. A wing mirror cover shouldn't cost cost too much. It shouldn't be her excess without loading her policy.
So how are you supposed to pass parked vehicles on a narrow road without crossing into the other side of the road ?
The road was clear when they pulled out,tell the other driver to get stuffed,they should have waited

Super Sonic

4,515 posts

53 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Was the other car a Peugeot? I hit one w my Honda mirror once, my mirror folded slightly before popping back out, the Peugeot mirror literally ecploded.

Chrisgr31

Original Poster:

13,440 posts

254 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
Super Sonic said:
Was the other car a Peugeot? I hit one w my Honda mirror once, my mirror folded slightly before popping back out, the Peugeot mirror literally ecploded.
Nope it was a German manufacturer.

Chrisgr31

Original Poster:

13,440 posts

254 months

Wednesday 11th May 2022
quotequote all
V8covin said:
So how are you supposed to pass parked vehicles on a narrow road without crossing into the other side of the road ?
The road was clear when they pulled out,tell the other driver to get stuffed,they should have waited
Must admit I am tempted to tell them to get stuffed. I do think they could have given way, and waited for her to finish passing if they thought there wasnt space.