Crashed in to me and claiming against me...
Discussion
Hi all
In a bit of an odd situation and I'm not sure where to go next so I thought I'd ask for some of your advice/opinions.
I'll explain the collision first
This is the junction that accident happened at, orange cars are stationary, green are moving, I'm labelled "ME".
I'm wanting to turn right at the junction and am indicating my intention. The queue to my left is due to temporary traffic lights and is quite long. I'm sat in the position on the diagram below for a good 30 seconds waiting for a gap in order to pull out.
Eventually the traffic to the left of me slowly moves down a few car lengths. There are now no cars coming from my left, but a few cars are now coming from my right. The first car approaching my right appears to move on the the oncoming side of the road in order to go around me. I stay where I am. They accelerate and go around me.
The car behind them just goes straight on and collides in the side of me. They didn't appear to be speeding and didn't appear to brake or steer whatsoever. There was an eternity of time for them to see me, they just trundled down the road at a fairly pedestrian speed and in to the side of my car. I only pulled forward at the very last second when I realised they were going to hit me.
The driver initially admitted fault, her partner who was sat in the passenger seat then starts saying he thinks it's 70/30 after about 15 minutes (maybe after he realised there was no CCTV, I had no dash cam and that it would be difficult for me to prove I didn't pull out them).
We eventually agree not to go through the insurance, they would pay 50% of the cost of repairing my car and 100% of the cost of repairing their own. They offer me £250 on the spot to settle it there and then. I say I want to get a quote to repair before I agree. We agree on this, exchange details and go on our way.
I send them the full quote (£800 total so £400 for them to pay, I was very reasonable with the quote).
No reply after a few days, so I text again. Get a reply saying they didn't get my original messages and they have decided they're going through the insurance.
Ring my insurance company to report the incident, explain the circumstances, they say they will have to accept 100% liability as they wouldn't be able to prove it wasn't my fault due to my proximity to a give way. The fact that I was out of the junction and stationary on the road before the car that collided with me was even on the road apparently makes no difference. Balls.
This was super, super annoying but I didn't wan't to waste more of my life dragging this out. I hate this kind of thing and enjoy a great many other things in life that I would rather be doing so I decided to accept it and move on.
Yesterday I got a letter for my insurer saying that they are also claiming for personal injury, they say they will also have to accept 100% liability for this.
The accident was so slow I can't for a second believe anyone has even the tinniest change of being injured. None of the airbags deployed on either car, they took the impact front on, on the squashiest bit of their bumper.
When you put a previous claim on your insurance forms you have to state total cost of the claim, fault and if there were injuries.
I'm now worrying what impact this is going to have on my future insurance?
How can the insurance accept 100% liability without question if it's my word against theirs? (No CCTV, no dashcams, no other witnesses)
Is their anything I can do to dispute this?
How can they claim for injuries when even a 120 year old with osteoporosis wouldn't have even noticed a bump?
TL:DR
Got crashed in to. Not my fault. Third party claiming 100% against me for damage despite admitting fault at the scene and agreeing to not go through insurance.
My insurance company say they have to accept full liability as they have no proof otherwise.
Now the third party are claiming personal injury despite the fact that there were DEFINATELY no injuries.
Now getting a bit concerned how this will affect my future insure costs.
Never been though an insurance claim in 9 years of driving so I'm not too clued up on what comeback I have.
All advice and opinions welcome!
In a bit of an odd situation and I'm not sure where to go next so I thought I'd ask for some of your advice/opinions.
I'll explain the collision first
This is the junction that accident happened at, orange cars are stationary, green are moving, I'm labelled "ME".
I'm wanting to turn right at the junction and am indicating my intention. The queue to my left is due to temporary traffic lights and is quite long. I'm sat in the position on the diagram below for a good 30 seconds waiting for a gap in order to pull out.
Eventually the traffic to the left of me slowly moves down a few car lengths. There are now no cars coming from my left, but a few cars are now coming from my right. The first car approaching my right appears to move on the the oncoming side of the road in order to go around me. I stay where I am. They accelerate and go around me.
The car behind them just goes straight on and collides in the side of me. They didn't appear to be speeding and didn't appear to brake or steer whatsoever. There was an eternity of time for them to see me, they just trundled down the road at a fairly pedestrian speed and in to the side of my car. I only pulled forward at the very last second when I realised they were going to hit me.
The driver initially admitted fault, her partner who was sat in the passenger seat then starts saying he thinks it's 70/30 after about 15 minutes (maybe after he realised there was no CCTV, I had no dash cam and that it would be difficult for me to prove I didn't pull out them).
We eventually agree not to go through the insurance, they would pay 50% of the cost of repairing my car and 100% of the cost of repairing their own. They offer me £250 on the spot to settle it there and then. I say I want to get a quote to repair before I agree. We agree on this, exchange details and go on our way.
I send them the full quote (£800 total so £400 for them to pay, I was very reasonable with the quote).
No reply after a few days, so I text again. Get a reply saying they didn't get my original messages and they have decided they're going through the insurance.
Ring my insurance company to report the incident, explain the circumstances, they say they will have to accept 100% liability as they wouldn't be able to prove it wasn't my fault due to my proximity to a give way. The fact that I was out of the junction and stationary on the road before the car that collided with me was even on the road apparently makes no difference. Balls.
This was super, super annoying but I didn't wan't to waste more of my life dragging this out. I hate this kind of thing and enjoy a great many other things in life that I would rather be doing so I decided to accept it and move on.
Yesterday I got a letter for my insurer saying that they are also claiming for personal injury, they say they will also have to accept 100% liability for this.
The accident was so slow I can't for a second believe anyone has even the tinniest change of being injured. None of the airbags deployed on either car, they took the impact front on, on the squashiest bit of their bumper.
When you put a previous claim on your insurance forms you have to state total cost of the claim, fault and if there were injuries.
I'm now worrying what impact this is going to have on my future insurance?
How can the insurance accept 100% liability without question if it's my word against theirs? (No CCTV, no dashcams, no other witnesses)
Is their anything I can do to dispute this?
How can they claim for injuries when even a 120 year old with osteoporosis wouldn't have even noticed a bump?
TL:DR
Got crashed in to. Not my fault. Third party claiming 100% against me for damage despite admitting fault at the scene and agreeing to not go through insurance.
My insurance company say they have to accept full liability as they have no proof otherwise.
Now the third party are claiming personal injury despite the fact that there were DEFINATELY no injuries.
Now getting a bit concerned how this will affect my future insure costs.
Never been though an insurance claim in 9 years of driving so I'm not too clued up on what comeback I have.
All advice and opinions welcome!
Short answer, without independent witnesses, you're screwed, as 3rd Party had right of way, and are probably spinning their side to say you pulled out in front of them.
I had a very low speed impact with the back of a Mini (start stop traffic, I rolled into the rear bumper because I wasn't paying attention - fair cop). No damage to either vehicle, not even a mark on the paint. We both got out to check for damage, I apologised, they said no harm done and we went on our separate ways.
Fast forward 3 months and my insurers are phoning me asking about the accident, 3rd Party claiming 2k damage on their car and 2k medical bills.
Without any independent witnesses my insurers paid out to them, even though they were certain it was being 'inflated' form their side.
I had a very low speed impact with the back of a Mini (start stop traffic, I rolled into the rear bumper because I wasn't paying attention - fair cop). No damage to either vehicle, not even a mark on the paint. We both got out to check for damage, I apologised, they said no harm done and we went on our separate ways.
Fast forward 3 months and my insurers are phoning me asking about the accident, 3rd Party claiming 2k damage on their car and 2k medical bills.
Without any independent witnesses my insurers paid out to them, even though they were certain it was being 'inflated' form their side.
Welcome to the world of "it's more cost effective to settle than to go through the courts"
Your insurance company may well internally dispute the account of the third party, but they're not going to gamble on losing a case that comes down to one person's word against anothers. It's probably not even worth their time to dispute it, legal fees mount up quickly.
Not entirely sure a dashcam would've helped in this instance as it wouldn't have recorded the impact, only you pulling out and a collision.
Your insurance company may well internally dispute the account of the third party, but they're not going to gamble on losing a case that comes down to one person's word against anothers. It's probably not even worth their time to dispute it, legal fees mount up quickly.
Not entirely sure a dashcam would've helped in this instance as it wouldn't have recorded the impact, only you pulling out and a collision.
In the current world of "its not my fault".... without CCTV your insurance company is basically stating it can't be ar$ed to fight your case, as trying to prove you didn't pull out in front of another car at a 'give-way' becomes your word against theirs.
Even though, if described as you put it, the 3rd party are clearly at fault.
Witnesses from the cars behind you may help if you want to push your insurance company to lift a finger on your behalf?
Even though, if described as you put it, the 3rd party are clearly at fault.
Witnesses from the cars behind you may help if you want to push your insurance company to lift a finger on your behalf?
Atomic12C said:
In the current world of "its not my fault".... without CCTV your insurance company is basically stating it can't be ar$ed to fight your case, as trying to prove you didn't pull out in front of another car at a 'give-way' becomes your word against theirs.
Even though, if described as you put it, the 3rd party are clearly at fault.
Witnesses from the cars behind you may help if you want to push your insurance company to lift a finger on your behalf?
The insurer is right, without a witness or footage the OP crossed the jazz's priority going from a side road. If it comes down to he said she said, insurers have to default to who had priority in the first place.Even though, if described as you put it, the 3rd party are clearly at fault.
Witnesses from the cars behind you may help if you want to push your insurance company to lift a finger on your behalf?
It's a crap cake if the Ops account is correct.
Bit of a live-learn without compelling new evidence.
As for injuries they cam manifest themselves days or weeks after or the jazz driver may be taking the pee. All they are doing if its the latter is ramping up all insurance premiums.
If a driver does something like crash into a stationary car that has been in sight for ages I would call the police and say you suspect the driver is under drink or drugs because they don't seem to be with it. They can then test the driver and if they are it helps you. Also if there any decent police left they may do checks on the driver and find out if they are slim shady.
Inflated claims are pushing up prices for all of us (no sh*t) and insurance companies finally seem to be interested in clamping down on it. If you think it is iffy call your insurance company and tell them you think so, and that it is either a fraudulent personal injury claim or a crash for cash.
Bottom line is you can fight and it will be a PITA or you can accept what they say, get on with other stuff as you have said and accept increased premiums, claims history etc.
Bottom line is you can fight and it will be a PITA or you can accept what they say, get on with other stuff as you have said and accept increased premiums, claims history etc.
Might have posted this before, but several years ago I backed a lorry, very slowly, into a parked car. Felt a bump, stopped, got out, found the owner, took pictures, exchanged details, yadda yadda. The car, which had been empty and locked, had a cracked bumper, nothing more.
Six months later, the office called to confirm the details of the incident. It seemed that the owner was now claiming that :
Six months later, the office called to confirm the details of the incident. It seemed that the owner was now claiming that :
- The collision had happened in a different place
- I had backed into his car at speed
- He and four other people had been in the car at the time
- All five occupants had suffered whiplash injuries.
Can't really help the OP much. However, a woman I work with told me the other day how an incident she was involved in got the other party a big payout.
She did a similar thing to you and was hit side on by a nearly new Range Rover. She was in an old Corsa and it was written off. The Range Rover had a smashed front, but nobody was injured.
Months later she gets a letter explaining how the family in the Range Rover had claimed personal injury and got paid over £20k.
She did a similar thing to you and was hit side on by a nearly new Range Rover. She was in an old Corsa and it was written off. The Range Rover had a smashed front, but nobody was injured.
Months later she gets a letter explaining how the family in the Range Rover had claimed personal injury and got paid over £20k.
Thesprucegoose said:
Gavia said:
What will the OP gain by doing that?
nothing, the insurance industry make money off it anyway.Also, why is the insurance industry referred to as one collective, whereas every other industry is considered to be companies competing against each other?
Just to answer the question I originally asked, the OP will personally gain or lose nothing if the injury claim is paid. He’s already had the impact (pun intended), as he’s got a claim to declare and his NCD will be affected a bit. This won’t worsen or improve if the injury claim is made.
There was supposed to be a clamp down on fraudulent claims like this http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-38....
JPJPJP said:
Were you moving when they hit you?
Certainly looks like it from the impact damage - in front of and behind the arch, but suspension bent backwards.The OP says as much - that he saw them coming and tried to get out of their way - but it could just as easily be a misjudged attempt to dive through. Without any kind of independent evidence, it's going to be he-said-she-said, at best.
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