Hi I need some quick advice on this one - was leaving a car park and came out onto a small side road, had squared up my car straight on the road in first gear at around 5-8 mph. Had made sure that the road to my left before turning was clear (its a short dead end). Someone who had parked at the dead end then drove out and up the left hand side of the road, did not see me in front of them, and flew past on my inside, cutting in in front of me so that the front left side corner of my car made contact with her rear passenger door.
If I had come straight out the car park into her I can see I would be liable. As I had made sure the road was clear, turned slowly into the road and straightened up, at which point she has gone past me admitting she didnt see me on my left and pulled in in front of me where the road narrows, Im claiming I am at least not fully liable.
Unbelievably, my insurer spoke to her, called me back without speaking to me about it and said, you drove into her on a main road, you are liable, which I am querying so they are coming out to look at the site. They want to take both cars in to be repaired this week and then work out liability from there onwards but Im concerned that we lose evidence if I let them do that. The grain of the "grazing" on my car clearly shows the direction of someone squeezing past me on the road and not me running into someone.
I am not sure what to do - I reckon at the worst, its an accident with no witnesses and minor damage to both vehicles, I was on the road NOT turning into it when the bump occured, it should at worst be joint liability as she admits she did not see me there.
Any advice - and asap please before my insurer stuffs things up for me!
Thanks
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From that I take it you came off the Car Park onto the side road and did or intended to make a right turn. The other car camne from the left and down you nearside as you were turning.?
If you had squared up how come she went down nearside without mounting pavement/verge? Damage tends to indicate you had not squared up.?
Could be a 80/20 on blame. 80 on not ensuring it was safe to pull out and maybe 20 if one coming from left failed to appreciate the movement maybe less if very close when you pulled out.
No injury/damage only - let the Insurance Companies sort it out.
dvd
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Thanks for comment - Im ridiculously stressed about this.
The road narrows in towards the left shortly after where I pulled out therefore we touched where she, travelling at a much faster speed than I am and not realising that I am there, begins to pull in to the right in front of me and cuts more or less across me.
Does that make sense? Im not always great at explaining things but am quite clear on what happened. Damage on my car is consistent with someone cuttting across as well and not me running across them.
I hate unpleasantness - which unfortunately always follows these type of things.
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Can you get a good aerial view from Google Maps?
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You mention in your original post that she admitted not having seen you. I would be making a great deal of that to your insurance company.
However you also said that you made sure the road was clear when you pulled out - are you saying that you didn't see her 'travelling at a much faster speed' coming down the road towards you?
What distances are involved? From the dead-end end of the road to car park exit? From car park exit to point of road narrowing?
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Can you draw a diagram, and then post it to the 'net? if you go to xs.to (that's a web address for all that it doesn't look like one!) you can upload it.
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No Im saying she was parked and pulled out after I had begun to turn onto the road thus when I looked to the left she wasnt there. Literally.
From where the car was parked to the car park junction (if you get that) approximately 100 feet, from the junction to the point on impact about another 30 feet, bearing in mind I was travelling at 5 mph if anyone is good at maths?
Im suspecting given that I do actually know this person (although I dont think thats relevant) she does not have fully comp and is trying to pull a fast one on my insurance. First thing she said was I never saw you second was your liable its your fault followed by "if I was liable I would be panicking about how I would afford the repairs for your car".
If I have to put my hands in the air and deal with it all then so be it, but I am convinced at very least she was partly responsible, her car is quite a bright blue and easily visible whiles mine is a dark silver and as the rain was heavy less so.
Really appreciate everyones comments - makes me feel better just ketting some other viewpoints. Google isnt coming up with anything too clear for the level of detail, sorry.
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100 feet (call it 30 metres - it makes the sums easier) is a long way at those speeds. Say the other driver pulled away and accelerated at 3m/s 2 (which would leave her travelling at over 60mph after 10 seconds, so quite a rate) it would have taken her more than four seconds to reach you. In practice, it must have been longer, since she'd had to extricate herself from a kerbside space. This says to me that in all those seconds - from the time you decided it was clear to move out to the time of the collision - you didn't once look to your left to check that it was still clear.
Were you, incidentally, showing any lights on your grey car at the time? Silver and grey cars can be almost invisible in rainy or misty conditions.
Don't mean this to sound inquisitorial, but can you say confidently that the road to your left was clear immediately before you began to pull out?
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Not inquisitorial at all - a fair comment. What I have been racking my brains to remember is where in the row of cars hers was parked which would help me work out a lot. 100 feet is to the very end of the dead end and I am sure thats further than she would have been parked.
I am certain that the road was clear. I am naturally a cautious driver at junctions. I should have checked my left hand mirror again but Im then heading up towards another junction, which is out onto a busy main road, with a car parked on my right just prior to the junction, and I am looking ahead to make sure noone is coming from the main road out past the car on the right.
It certainly seemed like longer than four seconds - long enough for me to pull out in quite a wide turn, get myself aligned on the road and I was just moving from first into second gear.
I didnt have my lights on - it was mid afternoon and afterwards I thought, if I HAD put them on anyway, she would have seen me and that wouldnt have happened. Roll on the law on all cars having to have them on all the time (which previously I thought was a waste of power!).
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.......... afterwards I thought if I HAD put them on anyway she would have seen me ......
Having lights on doesn't guarantee another driver sees you, particularly in daylight.
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I'm sorry to go on about this but...
You say she was parked and pulled out after you started to turn but that 'she wasn't there' when you looked.
Are you saying she was there but stationary and you didn't see her because you physically couldn't, or that you didn't clock her? At what point did you first see her?
What are the road markings?
From what you've said it sounds as if you are more in the right than her. However I know of many people who have had accidents where they were 'right' and it ends up on a 50/50.
If I were you I would write, while it is fresh, a detailed account of what happened. Read it through several times and make sure it is crystal clear. If you feel you were in the right don't accept any blame and persue it as far as you can. Take good pics of the car from various angles.
If however you're getting nowhere swallow your pride and accept it as one of those annoying things.
I knew someone who was stationary in her car, engine off, outside some shops. Transit van reverses into the gap in front and bashes the front of her car. Three blokes get out, the driver full of apologies and admitting guilt. She, due to this admission doesn't get any witnesses. Her insurance company then contacts her to say transit driver and two witnesses claim she drove into the back of them while they were stationary.
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Take lots of photos of the damage, both vehicles if possible. This saved my no claims bonus.
My insurers asked for them after someone opened a door into my car, and claimed I'd driven into an already open door. The photos proved I would have to been moving sideways!
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Ive got as many photos of mines as I can. Thats why I am not sure about just sending both cars off to the body shop asap as I think they might be useful.
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Thanks for the advice. Im meeting someone from my insurance company this evening; its not a money issue, I wouldnt have bothered repairing my own car but if its going to be a claim anyway Im getting that done and even tho its minimal damage a respray would cost more than my excess. I will write down exactly what happened in case its of any use.
There are no markings in the road at all.
Im saying basically that I checked the road to the left and there were no vehicles proceeding along the road and no vehicles in the process of pulling out - ie I did a hazard check and there were none. Then checked to the right, pulled out, straightened onto the road, looked ahead to check for potential hazards coming from the junction/parked car there and at that point she cut across the front of me at an angle, at the point where the road narrows in.
I did try to put something on that website someone recommended - spent ages doing the best diagram I could on word only to realise I cant save it in the proper format!
I know its hard to follow from me talking through it.
I think I am just furious that someone from my insurance company fones and tells me Im fully liable on the basis of what the other driver says without asking me if it was accurate or not. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to give me some pointers.
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I hate unpleasantness - which unfortunately always follows these type of things.
If you claim on your insurance policy and, as Dwight Van Driver advises, let the insurance companies sort it out between them, there should be no unpleasantness whatsoever.
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