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 wonder if the other car’s insurance is looking for a knock for knock. This is what happened to us when we were hit from behind. Their excuse..road conditions.

These insurance companies like to try it on. When we lived in a terrace house with two adjacent drives our car was damaged when an inexperienced neighbour tried to park on her own drive, and ended up veering into our stationery car on our own drive and her insurance tried to claim it was our fault.

Thanks all!

Poor Dusty has taken a bit of a hammering here. I don’t think we need to jump down any throats, it was an honest mistake.

I appreciate all the advice, my insurance has claimed for both kids car seats, I’ve also got to go for a medical appointment with someone registered with the insurance company or something, and also have to make an appointment with physio appointed by the insurance. They’ve been pretty hot on everything so that’s good. I just hope if they have claimed against us that he gets a little bit of karma come his way because I’d be fuming if he’s tried to blame me 😂

They're probably just trying their luck. Typically, of course it is the fault of the person that goes into the back of the car in front but there are instances where the person in front is found partly at fault and the claim is split liability - for example braking on purpose to cause a crash or pulling in front of the car, not allowing them space to stop.

Many moons ago, before it was changed to split liability if someone slammed their brakes on, I had someone go into me from the rear and had whiplash. I made a comment about the van driver that went into me also being in pain and the physio said due to the forces in motion someone in the rear would not have this type of injury so sounds like they are also lying about that.

The man who went into the back of me did so on purpose (angry little man) and he said he was going to get me done for it. It was only when I said it's the person at the backs fault that he told the insurance i slammed my brakes on. Luckily there was camera footage showing this not to be true.

I also used to work in insurance so I do know what I'm talking about 😃

Tbh I think he's trying it on , especially as he was worried about what his boss would think! Stand your ground and hopefully it will go in your favour. It should do. Please also invest in a front and rear dash cam. They are worth their weight in gold!

van reversed into me not seeing me and insurance made us split 50 50. I was stationary! He even said oh sorry I didn’t see you there and then the f)___. claimed

Try not to worry. It's not unusual for an insurance company to try this on and the man is possibly scared for his job.

Without knowing why you pulled up, it is very difficult to make a comment. Why did you have to stop for oncoming traffic? Was it at a cross roads? Was it traffic light controlled?

You didn't have to pull up behind someone, and as it was oncoming traffic, no dog or child jumped out in front of you. Unless you give more details, how can people help you?

@2doglady that's no more a "genuine accident" than any other idiotic behaviour some drivers display. It's still the other drivers fault, because they should have been looking where they were going, not making assumptions that because you'd moved forward a few feet that you'd gone and were not there. The other driver wasn't looking where they were going and drove into the back of DH car. It's an avoidable accident, caused by carelessness and not paying attention.

Sounds like he may have history of similar incidents in which case he may have misrepresented the facts to shift blame, perhaps suggesting your brake lights didn't work etc - just enough to influence any outcome.
So, ask your insurers to explain why blame is being apportioned as it is and persist with them.

That's why you have a dashcam.

A few years ago I brought a new car as it worked out cheaper than buying a second hand car a few years old due to discounts. Anyway due to a van driver driving like a complete idiot I ensured I got a dashcam and made sure it was visible. Even if it isn't plugged in no-one drives stupidly around me any more.

Doesn't matter why she stopped.

If anyone stops in the road - car, van, bus, child, badger, horse, cow - you don't go into the back of them.

Someone drove into the back of me whilst stationary, claimed I’d reversed into them, no cctv or dash and so it went 50/50. So bloody unfair.

This is why I have cameras in my car. It avoids all this hassle. Someone actually reversed into my dad's car at quite a speed and said he went into them. Luckily my dad just had to send the camera footage in.

I'm pretty sure with you though they are just trying to blame you so they don't get wrong at work. It's obviously their fault. My partner had a crash last year and his insurance kept telling him to put in a claim even though it was his fault.

I hope you don't mind me saying but make sure you claim for a new car seat for your child as you shouldn't use a car seat after any crash.

Consider getting a camera fitted too. When I was hit (passenger side wing) by a car that didn't stop at a roundabout (and promptly drove into me as I was going around the roundabout), it was exceedingly helpful. The person who hit me claimed it was my fault and he was quite agressive. Luckily my dashcam caught the whole thing and soon shut down his version of events.

My camera was just a cheap one from Amazon and it was just plugged into the cigarette lighter (nothing fancy at all) but boy did it save a load of he said, she said.

It sounds like he's trying to shift blame. This is why my DH got a dash cam so if anyone did try the scam he had proof. I'm sure the van's dash cam would show he actually went into the back of a stationary vehicle... He needs to prove it or pay up.

My DH is a police traffic officer and says what others have said, if someone goes into the back of you, they are totally responsible. Have you got any witnesses to back you up..
The van driver is trying to wriggle out of it, basically you are dealing with a piece of scum, pond life.....Do not let him get away with his lies, there is no way he can blame you....Good luck
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