Minor car accident....and change of story...

[Nosh]

So my daughter had a minor prang - the other car hit her head on at slow speed on her side of the road going around a parked car.

The other driver admitted her error (even saying that she hit the accelerator pedal instead of the brake) and was apologetic. Didn't want to go through insurance as she is a new driver.

Details exchanged.

My nephew who is a mechanic had a look and the front crumple panel in front of the rad is buckled in and the bumper has come away. It is likely to be written off as it is only worth 900 quid probably.

My daughter phoned the other driver later who said she did not believe it was her fault and that her Dad would now be dealing with this.

So - what our the options?

Also, any advice from someone who has been involved in something like this would be appreciated?

Thanks
Nosh

[anonymous-user]

Phone insurance.

Get on with your day

[DaveH23]

Get the insurance company involved ASAP.

This is the exact reason we all pay for it.

[pmanson]

Phil,

Sorry to hear this.

Get your daughter to write everything down that happened (speed she was travelling at, road conditions, position of parked cars etc). Ideally get some pictures of the location, draw a diagram of what happened etc.

Any witnesses? Dash cam?

I'd give it to the insurance co to deal with

[Nosh]

pmanson said:

Phil,

Sorry to hear this.

Get your daughter to write everything down that happened (speed she was travelling at, road conditions, position of parked cars etc). Ideally get some pictures of the location, draw a diagram of what happened etc.

Any witnesses? Dash cam?

I'd give it to the insurance co to deal with

Thanks all

Hey Phil - hope you are well mate - only witnesses are the aftermath variety I think - checking that today. Lets see how it goes.

Cheers
Phil

[pavarotti1980]

I think the explanation with maybe a couple of photos of what happened will suffice. If the other vehicle was on the wrong side of the road and hit your daughters car it would be very difficult for anyone to deny responsibility.

[Chedders]

Same thing happened to my sister a few year back, but she was sat stationary in traffic when a silly girl crashed into her. This girl admitted fault, but as soon as her dad got involved it changed and got very messy - they told the insurance my sister had driven into her.

We kept at it with the insurance company and they eventually saw both cars and decided it was obvious my sisters car was driven into. The girls dad kept ringing us up to try and sort it outside of insurance, which didn't help his case.

Keep at it op, it will be an arse to get sorted - end of day that's what dads do for their kids.

[Nosh]

pavarotti1980 said:

I think the explanation with maybe a couple of photos of what happened will suffice. If the other vehicle was on the wrong side of the road and hit your daughters car it would be very difficult for anyone to deny responsibility.

agreed.

[anonymous-user]

Let insurance sort it and i hope they do. Really chaps me off when people cant be honest and accept responsibility for their actions.

[pavarotti1980]

Who_Goes_Blue said:

Let insurance sort it and i hope they do. Really chaps me off when people cant be honest and accept responsibility for their actions.

This is where mobile phone video would come in handy. Any other time they are waved around i hate them but having her admit it on camera would be good

[Durzel]

This sort of thing is a good advertisement for dashcams. Don't be surprised if it goes 50/50 based on an alternative set of facts.

[motco]

Sadly lying and denial seems to be the standard behaviour these days...

[Nosh]

Durzel said:

This sort of thing is a good advertisement for dashcams. Don't be surprised if it goes 50/50 based on an alternative set of facts.

I am presuming I can disagree with the outcome and go to court?

[untakenname]

Even if you don't have it on dashcam tell them you do and as they aren't co-operating you'll be going to the Police, that will probably make the father think twice.

[RBH58]

Yeah...been there too. I had a guy reverse into me whilst I was negotiating a U-Turn. He wasn't there when I started the turn. And then started to reverse whilst I was half way through completing it. I was stopped and sounding the horn continuously for 10 seconds and he still kept reversing into me. 2 weeks later he tried to claim I was trying to beat him to a parking spot and had driven into him. What made his claim absurd is the all of the damage was to the side of my car which means I'd have had to have been driving sideways to incur the damage. When my insurance company pointed this out, he retracted the lies.

[Retroman]

Phone insurance, describe what happened and hope it goes fully in her favour but might take a very long time to be resolved.

Another good reason for running a dash cam.
Protection against dishonest drivers.

[justinio]

Nosh said:

I am presuming I can disagree with the outcome and go to court?

Possibly, but what evidence would you have to present to the court?

The father/daughter combo could claim it was your daughter who drove into the other driver. Your daughters word against hers.

Very, very annoying when this sort of thing happens. Times like this when dashcams are worth their weight in gold.

[Durzel]

Nosh said:

I am presuming I can disagree with the outcome and go to court?

You subrogate your rights to your insurance company when you take out a policy, so it's their choice to pursue legal action or not. Outside of personal injury claims I'm not sure you could take action, though IANAL.

[Red Devil]

motco said:

Sadly lying and denial seems to be the standard behaviour these days...

In days gone by when I first started driving (over 50 years ago) every insurer was at pains to tell their policyholder not to admit liability at the scene. That would get sorted out later based on the claim paperwork. Hence the need need to make detailed and contemporaneous notes/sketches. Modern technology (mobile phone mic + digital pics/dash cam/Google Maps/etc) make much of that task a whole lot easier.

When disposable cameras first came on the scene I used to keep one in the glove compartment. I only ever needed it once and it proved to be the deciding factor. The TP insurer folded like a punctured balloon when mine mentioned their existence.

[Nosh]

Just spoken to a witness and got his details - "No way your daughter was in the wrong...." he will give evidence.

He also saw the resting places of the cars directly after the incident as well

Guilty as a puppy sitting next to a pile of poo comes to mind. I am a great believer in karma as well