Yesterday........

[micmak]

A car pulled out in front of me. I managed to swerve and avoid it but.... If I had run into the back of it would it have been my fault. I always believed that if you ran in to the back of another vehicle it was always your fault.

[ummmm]

How would you hit the back of a car if it pulled out in front of you?

Either way...yes it would be your fault.

[micmak]

I was on the main road. The car pulled out of a side street. If i hadn't swerved I would have ran in to the back of it because by that time the car had completed the manoeuvre.

[ummmm]

Ok...

Yes it would be your fault. You would have been going to fast to stop in time.

[redcrx]

if they completed the manoever then you were either going too fast to stop or not paying attention if you hit them. In the eyes of insurers anyway

[Nosha123]

someone pulled out infront of me once - and I swerved to the right and scraped all down the side of their car!

Their fault - claim settled in my favour...

however - I dont see how it could be anyone elses fault but yours had you hit this car in the rear as they would have completed the manouvre and even if they had pulled out a bit pronto - you still should have had enough time to stop (and beep at them!).

Just thank your lucky stars someone was looking down on you ;-)

[SlackAlice]

Some idiot did the same to me, I hit them with my bus and wrote their car off. CCTV on the bus and CCTV from the local council, supported me. Local plod arrived and told the driver he was at fault, no action taken.
He did learn an important lesson though!

[chas2008]

it wouldnt be your fault,with the best will in the world you couldnt anticipate his actions no matter how fast or observant you were.
The only issue that i could see ,if there were no witnesses it would be your word against theirs , if the impact was square on it would easy for the 3rd party to say they just braked and you hit them from behind, no way of proving otherwise.

[joko]

yes it wouldnt be your fault if they shot out and only just managed to straighten up befiore you hit them...they should wait until the road was clear

you are not suppose to do things that cause other drivers to have to slow down suddenly

[Count-A-Strong]

So the car has time to pull out and be fully straight. Your fault.

[boxtops]

Generally yes, you should always be able to stop in time. My boss when I worked in insurance used to say "imagine that what you hit is a child running out in front of you". However if it was contested you could argue that the other driver was negligent in pulling out without making sure the road was clear enough for him to do so.