Other driver pranged barrier while overtaking.

[Paulm4]

A bit of advice please

60mph A road, single lane in each direction, one mile straight with a bus stop in the middle. The bus in front of my wife pulled into the bus stop but was still sticking out a wee bit. My wife pulled out to overtake the sticking out bit and heard a scraping sound, a work owned 4x4 had attempted to overtake both her and the bus and had ditched into the barrier rather than hit her.

The other driver took my wife's insurance details etc and suggested it was her fault that he had hit the barrier. She says she checked her mirror before moving and saw no sign of him and is 99% she had her indicator on. She doesn't know if he was directly behind her or a couple of cars back.
The other driver never touched our car but was suggesting He'd be claiming off us and called his work/insurance at the scene, asking how many kids were in our car etc.

No dashcams in his vehicle as far as I can see and none in ours.

Who's at fault? Can he claim off us and should I notify my insurance that there might be an incoming claim.

Thanks in advance

[Paulm4]

martinbiz said:

I would suggest from the OP’s description of events it sounds like the overtaking car was already partially alongside in a blind spot hence the wife not seeing it. Which would point to her being to blame or certainly responsible for a large part.

Edited by martinbiz on Monday 20th January 21:50

Some interesting comments so far. Just to clarify:

Surely if he was in the blind spot when she moved to the right he'd have had no time to swerve and would have just hit the side of her car?
Also, my wife's not the dawdling type, she drives 15k a year on this road and has never had a claim in 16+years of driving.

[Paulm4]

roadsmash said:

OP please can you update this thread once it’s ruled as a 50/50, thanks.

I will do 👍
Contacted our insurance and no-one has tried to claim from us as of yet.

Having spoken to my wife first hand, it seems that the bus had stopped for a second at most, she moved out slightly but doesn't believe she crossed the white line onto the other side of the road as it was just the rear right corner of the bus that was sticking out. They had been stuck behind the bus for miles as there is limited overtaking opportunities on a twisty rural road. She says she checked her wing mirror but not her rear view. Presumably she just glanced at it as she didn't intend to cross to the other side of the road and therefore didn't see anything *roll eyes emoji*.

Seems to me that the L200 type truck tried to overtake the whole que at once, got near the front and presumed my wife would pull out completely in front of him when he saw her start to move right so binned it into the barrier unaware that she was not going to cross into his lane. Final resting position was:
Bus is in bus stop/wife in her lane/truck in adjacent lane against barrier with space between our car and him.
Whether it goes 50/50 or not I don't really mind, as long as everyone is ok. It'll be the first claim I've had it 22 years so I'm probably overdue an anal pounding by the insurance people 😂

How do I host a pic of street view?

[Paulm4]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nsHSAXHQDSCLsNhD7

[Paulm4]

Hopefully that works. The bust stop is on the left of the street view where the camper van is currently situated.

[Paulm4]

Sorry, forgot to update this!

I called our insurance, sent them pics and diagrams and my wife's explanation of what happened.
They had had no contact from the other party at this point, a couple of weeks after the incident. They said if no claim is made against us they will just remove the info from our file and there will be NFA.

I'll update if anything happens, thanks for the opinions/advice/etc 😁👍

[Paulm4]

janesmith1950 said:

Every case is fact specific. You've not highlighted the most pertinent point, in that the car driver admitted failing to make proper observations before beginning the manoeuvre to move out of her lane into the opposing one.

In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if the pickup driver had sufficiently light damage that pragmatism kicks in and better to fix some scratches than have a claim to declare and an excess to pay.

It was a company owned and liveried vehicle So I doubt the driver would have any choice in whether to claim or not. The side was also fairly well staved in, not just a few scratches.

Will try and get a chance to call my insurance tomorrow and see if the 3rd party has made any contact.

[Paulm4]

Just as a resolution to this, I called the insurance people for an update on this and they have closed the case due to having had no contact from the third party.
I've also bought a dashcam so that things will be more clear cut should something else happen in future.

Thanks for the advice/debate 😁👍