Car accident - they’ve claimed against me?!

[AEP123]

Long story short. I had to stop for oncoming traffic and a van behind me hit me. (Personally think he has distracted because I was stationary for a good few seconds before he hit me, he had time to stop it wasn’t an emergency break situation)

we’re going through insurance at the moment but now we’ve had a notification from their insurance saying they’ve made a claim against us?

is that normal, or are they trying to blame me?

I thought if you were hit from behind it is always the fault of the party who hits you?

That can't be correct.

No if someone goes into the back of you it’s their fault. Unless you suddonly decided to reverse into them

What?!

It's the fault of the vehicle behind in a shunt. It's never the fault of the person in front stopping.

That's what safe stopping distances are for.

Surely its the opposite of that

Wait why? I was always taught the other way round, that it is the person behinds responsibility to ensure they leave sufficient stopping distance. What action are you supposed to take to ensure no one hits you from behind? Otherwise people would be going into the back of cars on purpose for cash for crash scams way more?

Thus is not the case at all.

No, that's wrong. The driver behind is at fault.

Apologies, I’m watching TV while I’m scrolling so not paying attention!

Definitely the driver behinds fault. The only exception to that is if they are rear ended, causing a pile up.

Did they push you forwards into the oncoming traffic someone else also hit you? Or anything like that so another party was involved? If so they would claim on your insurance, who would then recover from the vans.

Otherwise they're just trying it on - either way leave it for your insurnace to sort

What? It's literally the opposite

Wasn't that a common scam a while back or am I thinking of something slightly different

Let's just hope you are more attentive when driving.

Yeah, just ignore it and/or pass along to your insurance company if you haven't already. He'll be claiming you stopped illegally or something. Just let your insurance deal with it.

The scam was to do an emergency stop when you had a vehicle following too close behind, resulting in them running into the back of you. Then claim whiplash injuries and their insurance pays out £££

So unless you are implying that OP is a scammer, this situation is different.

It's their fault - not paying attention - likely trying it on, making out you ought to have set off - even if you could have set off and didn't, no excuse for them to run into you.

Happens a lot at roundabouts - car behind looking to the right waiting for a gap & setting off without checking the one directly in front has moved out of the way.

You always claim from the person behind who hit you. I’ve been in a shunt before and about 4 of us were involved. Whilst 3 of us were in stationary traffic and it was entirely the fault of the last driver the Police said you could argue that none of us left a safe distance between us and the car in front.

This is LITERALLY the opposite of the usual rule of thumb - if you hit someone from behind, you haven't left enough space and time.

So it’s the EXACT opposite of this.

If you are hit from behind it is the other party’s fault - they pay out.

Unless they are trying to say you brake tested them etc.

The trick was to also disable the brake lights on the scammers car so the car behind had no indication that the one in front was stopping and the scammer slams on the brakes in a place where you are not expecting it, so you could be caught out even if driving sensibly.

I remember something about this - people at roundabouts 'starting' to set off when it's clear only to suddenly stop so drivers run into the back of them and they can claim. I'm always wary at roundabouts since hearing this!

Thanks all. Was only two of us involved (although I had to stop because some nob in a van didn’t give my right of way and pushed through. Insurance are claiming for injuries as I’ve suffered back/shoulder and neck pain from the hit. It does all feel a bit cliche 😂

I had my two year old in the car too, he’s not very verbal so obviously a bit of a shock for us but we’re ok. I did initially feel sorry for the bloke behind but everytime I think about it I just wonder how he didn’t manage to stop, and he seemed a bit panicked about his boss finding out as he’s apparently only just got the van back 🥲 not sure if that means he’s hit it recently or what but oh well. I just need my car back 😂