Car ins - should I pursue claim?

[Shelle]

I had an accident back in April of this year.

Basically car in front stopped in road where it narrows into one lane and then needed to reverse to let other car through. I had stopped with a gap of over a length of a car to let him do this and I put my handbrake on as I waited. He started to reverse to let the other car through, but as he got closer but did not stop and went into the front of my car despite my sounding the horn Both cars were damaged. Other driver said he did not have his ins details with him so he phoned his step father to come. I also asked my uncle to come as he was just a few doos away. Step father arrived, as did my uncle. Step father had the ins details, MOT, driving licence etc with him. He took command of situation and gave me the details of drivers ins etc, & took my details. Confirmed no one was hurt & that we would both contact our insurance companies & explain what had happened. Tried to say I had gone into back of his car, but my Uncle stepped in and corrected him that the other driver had reversed into me. Step father asked is that right, to which the driver said yes. I put a claim in together with witness statement from my uncle witnessing the admittance of liability. Now, I have received a letter telling me the third party is disputing my "story" & that I drove into him! They will not accept the witness statement from my uncle as he did not witness the accident & he is not an independent witness. They are making an offer of 50/50 fault. Whilst I am furious & feel like refusing to accept the offer, I realise that I need to consider the facts & whether it will benefit me or not to pursue the claim. If I were to lose and receive 100% blame do I simply just pay my policy excess? I need to know what I stand to lose by refusing the offer? I have protected no claims bonus, plus motor legal protection if that has any bearings on this.

Any advice gratefully received!

[woodchopper]

Whilst I abhore violnce - I would be inclined to have a word with a local hood and get him to persuade ( in a friendly way of course ) the wrong doer to do the decent thing.

[Barmaid]

If you accept the 50/50, you will lose your policy excess (or 50% thereof depending on the damage) and assuming that this is your only claim, should not see a problem with your no claims bonus - depending on what the terms of your policy are.

If you decide to fight the matter, it will ultimately end up in the small claims court. Most insurance companies will, if liability is disputed, pay for legal advice and a barrister to represent you at court and it sounds as if yours would, but check this. If not, small claims is designed for you to be able to represent yourself.

If it does go the small claims court can I urge you to 1) put in the fullest statement you can concerning the facts of the accident (include details of speed, weather conditions, traffic in opposite direction, skid marks or lack thereof and EXACTLY what you did/saw etc etc - don't be fobbed off with the statements that you are asked to fill in - give as much detail as possible and check it very carefully 2) include a diagram drawn as neatly to scale as possible, 3) include photos of the location. Depending on who issues the claim it is for them to prove on the balance of probabilities. However, in reality, what it will come down to who the judge believes.

Unfortunately, judges tend not to take into account too much what was said after the accident on the basis that people very often say daft things immediately after an accident. Your uncle's lack of independence does not matter as such, but he did not actually witness the prang.
So his evidence is ikely to be deemed largely irrelevant by the judge.

You also have to take into account whether you want the stress and hassle of taking this to court.

[elainejo50]

When I read this I just had to answer as I had a similar thing happen to me I was pulling out of a supermarket car park on a keep clear marking to turn right on a one lane of cars and this idiot came up on the outside and went straight in to me. My insurance company at the time wanted to settle 70/30 and I was so furious cos I know I was in the right so we went to court and my insurance company because as they said was a small claim �1,450 that they would not represent at the court so we did it ourselves, we took photos, drew diagrams everything but on the day he turned up with his solicitor they had miniature cars and diagrams everything and I am sure because of this I ended up loosing and paying for him I was outraged as I was 100% in the right so if I was you definitely go to court and fight and insist on your insurance company sending someone along with you and this is the same old thing when you have an accident like this the other person always agrees at the time but as soon as they get back home you get the phone call saying it was your fault not theirs I did. Good luck in what you decide and I really hope you win.

[almcd007]

Fight it Fight it Fight it - You can't let him get away with it - you were stationary at the time of the accident - what about the other driver coming through the other way ? He must have seen him reversing his car into yours ?

[nampara]

i have had a very similar thing happen to me, where the car kept on moving backwards and moved my car a fair way and pushed it over a foot. Fortunately for me my car is always extremely dirty and there were marks from where the mud fell off from where i had been before.

Honesty is always the best policy and if you do take it as far as the court this may urge the guilty party to come clean before it gets too 'messy'.

As they say, honesty IS the best policy and the truth will come out in the end, dont be forced to look like the guilty party, fight it untill the end, good luck.

[Millwall1885]

This may be a long shot but did any air bags get deployed?? If so the cars management system would tell you what either car was doing at that given time.