To think this woman is an arsehole?

[parkQlsss]

Hubby was in a fender bender a few days ago. He rear ended a woman in stop-and-go traffic VERY slowly. She got out screaming at him, even after he apologized and admitted fault... Hubby's truck had no damage and her car had basically none, just a few scratches on the bumper. Anyway, they exchanged insurance information but did not call the police. Now she is claiming that her car has over £1500 in damage and she has neck pain! Her car had almost zero damage, and I can't believe a few scratches would cost £1500 to fix. And she is claiming that she is going to miss work for her "neck pain" from a tiny bump, even after she immediately jumped out and started screaming at my husband! AIBU to think that she is being an arsehole and taking advantage of us?

A man pulled out on me on a roundabout. Fortunately for me he was found to be at fault (I took photos straight away showing he had ignored a give way sign) roundabout accidents are usually 50/50 according to my insurance company. The damage to my car looked minor and I drove it for a couple of days. The garage showed me the damage when I took it in, the front had crumpled, £6500. At this point my insurance thought it would be a 50/50 claim and authorised the repair so must have thought the quote was reasonable.

It's likely there's damage not visible at first glance. Let the insurance company deal with it.

I've been rear ended by a much smaller car than your DH has and none of us were injured. Speed similar to described as I was behind a give way marker & the car behind drove into the back of us.

However I'm sure the repair and respect of my bumper was around that cost to my insurer.

As others have said perhaps she has suffered an injury. Either way I would refuse to engage with her & explain your insurance companies are sorting it out, that's what they are there for.

The reality is your DH was at fault

I was hit from behind at low speed a couple of years ago and my bumper looked fine, but when I took it into a garage there was damage which could have compromised the integrity of the bumper in future crashes, so they recommend I get it fixed. It was about £800 but I didn't benefit from that money, the insurers paid it straight to the garage, so I don't understand why you think the woman would be making it up. She won't get that cash.

As for the injury claim, the companies who call following an accident are very very pushy at trying to get you to claim you have whiplash. I was hounded and hounded and was told I needed to see their doctor, that the symptoms could come later, I was called by several different companies and still get calls now a couple of years later. I stood my ground and refused to engage with them because I know what deceitful money grabbing bastards these companies are, but if you in a vulnerable position, and experience even a small amount of pain I can see how easy it would be to get carried along down the compensation route.

We were rear ended about 6 weeks ago. We were stopped at a roundabout and a lady bumped the back of us. Despite it being fairly low impact it has really hurt my husband who was turned looking for incoming traffic and he's had trouble ever since, starting physio. And the car was ruined underneath, despite it looking like just boot and bumper. So now I've lost my car. Yabvu.

Someone went into the back of me at traffic lights. Very lightly. Hit out checked the back of the car and it looked fine, no scratches etc so went on our way.
Got home and opened the boot to get the shopping out and then tried to close the boot. Couldn't the knock had slightly put the boot lock out of sync and whilst it was closed it was ok but once opened it couldn't be closed again.
Cost £3,000 to fix! Luckily for me it was a company car but it taught me a valuable lesson to get details no matter the damage and to take pictures and opens doors etc to make sure all is ok.

Just tell him to tell the insurance company exactly what happened and perhaps she's pulling a fast one - insurance companies on each side should battle it out
Tell him not to speak to her
Is there cctv on that road
Does he have a witness?

So, just to be clear, you have the power of being able to see events when you weren't there and both you and your trucker DH have special X-ray vision that enable you to see hidden damage?

Have you thought of auditioning for the X Men?

I would say it is likely if it is a repair on insurance .... something that winds me up. If it is an 'insurance job' the bill shoots up.
DP backed into a car - his fault for not paying more attention (although tbf it was late and v. dark (no lights). And the car was parked round a corner in a space that actually belonged to DP's business...so he wasn't expecting a car to be there...)
The bill to repair the car he backed into apparently was £6k (it was a posh car -but he wasn't going at speed and it only had a tiny dent) - his car (cheap one) -also small dent repaired on his comprehensive insurance was going to be £700 - they said he needed a new tailgate etc. His excess was £250 - we took it to a local bodyshop garage - they repaired it perfectly for £120...
In fact I had a leak in the house and needed a room redecorated - it was on the insurance. I was quoted just less £1k for strip paper, paper with lining paper and paint....by more than one person. I asked the guy who did it for a quote for my hallway - much much bigger and harder job - £450...

See this is why insurance premiums are so bloody high!

You can't really tell what damage was done behind the bumper by looking at it. I know this from experience when I was rear ended while stopped at a red light.

I was so glad FIL advised me to still go through the insurance, which is exactly what your DH should do.

I know someone who had a similar incident in which a truck pushed into her from behind. She hit her head on the metal part where the seat belt fastens at the top of the door. She stopped on the hard shoulder as did the truck driver. No damage appeared to have been done so the truck driver left. Half an hour later she had a blinding headache and her husband had to come out to fetch her as she couldn't drive. She went to A&E and her husband took the car into a garage to be checked over. It was damaged underneath and the bill was nearly £1000. As for the woman, she ended up in hospital for several weeks on and off with some bleeding to the brain. Her personality has changed with her having major meltdowns and panic attacks. So severe she has now had to leave her job as a teacher and is unlikely to work again. She also cut herself off from friends and has spiralled into depression. As for the truck driver, he was European and has disappeared never to be found again in spite of the Insurance company contacting the truck company.
YABU and your husband is a bad driver.

Insurance companies send you to a specific garage usually who then provide the quote to the insurance company. Your DH won't be paying it directly ; his insurance will. He'll take a hit on his insurance premium next year but would anyway for any reported accidents so £250 /£15000 : what's the big deal??

Is there something else that bothers you?

I got whiplash and had hundreds of stupid claims company phone me : it was actually a pain in the neck (excuse pun) so she's in for a nuisance period if she does want to make money. But, again, let the doctor and insurance sort that. If I had wanted to claim whiplash, I had to go to an independent doctor in a place 20 miles away, not my own GP.

In fact, I just said everything Eminy said !

Maybe your "DH" shouldn't let himself be in the position where he causes accidents. I had a car written off when a twat went into the back of it. Poor woman it's infuriating when twats don't know how to drive.

Yabu for the word "hubby" anyway. Its not netmums "hun"... Eugh.

When I got hit (I was sat in traffic) it didn't look like much damage had been caused but closer inspection showed the crash bar had come through part of the bumper and it cost £2000. I was surprised. I also had solicitors sending me almost completed paperwork to sign for whiplash which I shredded.

I got hit from behind in slow moving traffic. There was a big bang and he was driving a jeep. I was very easy going and he was full of apologies. I said it looks ok. He gave me his business card in case there was a problem. My dh saw a dent so we had a garage look at it and the underneath was out of line. By next morning l couldnt move my next . I had ongoing physio. I was in agony for weeeks. It really affected my job.To this day l cant look oer my left shoulder to reverse my car. I am not an arsehole.

I got shunted at a roundabout and let the other driver off as it looked OK. Few months down the line it turned out to have done more damage than was immediately apparent underneath and of course by then it was too late to claim and we had to pay.

Your husband drove into her with a truck. No reason to think she's scamming but even if she is his insurance will deal with it. That's what he pays them for.

Let the insurers sort it. I'm another one who was rear ended, at low speed and ended up with a staggering bill for repairs. What looked like a few scratches ended up with several parts needed replacing and damage underneath the back. The days of metal bumpers being hammered back into shape by the apprentice for 50 quid are apparently firmly behind us.

YABU because your husband should have left enough space to stop and if genuinely traveling at walking pace he needs to pay more attention to the road. If I'd been rear ended by someone not paying attention I'd be pretty annoyed as well.

We were involved in a car accident just after Christmas - there had actually been a huge crash in front of us - it happened just as we were joining a dual carriageway.

We were all at a standstill because of the other crashes. We had a van in front of us, as the emergency services started to arrive the van panicked and reversed. We were stuck, car behind us. Put car into reverse but obviously nowhere to go, slammed on the horn etc.

I tensed as the van hit us and there was damage to our car only. DH jumped out and admittedly swore at the other driver this was simply as our dd's were screaming and crying trying to get out of the car, to this day I am thankful that we had the child locks on otherwise they would have got out on to the dual carriageway where emergency vehicles were flying down to get to the original accounts.

We exchanged information and took pictures of both vehicles.

Our car had several thousands of pounds damage despite looking minor and I hurt for almost a week where I tensed waiting for impact.

We were lucky the other driver admitted fault straight away. We didn't claim for any injuries although our insurance company was very pushy in trying to get us to claim although I had stated several times that there were no injuries.

So no, I don't think she is trying to pull a fast one.

An elderly gentleman drove into the back of my car a few years back. My car was small, his medium sized. I was stationary at a roundabout and at the time it felt like a very minor jolt. I think he had decided to move off before me. There was a tiny scratch which on closer examination was a small crack on my bumper. He was very upset, crying before I could hurl the abuse which would have been my natural reaction. He said his wife had died and he was on his way home from bereavement counselling, but he did smell of alcohol. We exchanged insurance details and he signed as I requested to accept liability. When the car was checked the panel inside the rear boot and behind the Bumper was dented and I needed a new bumper panel too (the large shock absorbing ones are expensive) much to my surprise I also had a painful stiff neck for over a fortnight - I didn't claim for that. YABU, op, for minimising your h's involvement and for using the awful descriptors "fender bender" and (even worse) "hubby"

This was at less than 5 mph

Assuming your husband is telling the truth, think about what happens if you walk into a lamppost at 3mph. Not pretty, is it? Then multiply that for the kinetic energy of the truck. This is the trouble when we think (or don't think) about the damage motor vehicles can do. A heavy vehicle such as a truck has much more mass and so much more kinetic energy even in low speed collisions.

She might be a chancer, she might be someone who was in shock and shouting. A couple of years ago I fell off a friend's horse. I got up fine and walked around but I could feel my back muscles had had a shock. Over the next few hours the muscles in and around my SI joint went into spasm and it was a week before I could walk comfortably.

I understand wanting to stick up for your husband but honestly he rear-ended somebody. And cars now have so many electronic gizmos that seemingly slight damage can be expensive. YABU.

I even been in three car accidents.

The first in a taxi which didn't slow for a roundabout and someone pulled out in front of us. This caused significant whiplash which still affects me almost 15 years later.

Second was my fault. Driving too fast on a slick road and I spun it and ended in a ditch. No damage to car and no injury to me because I was braced for the impact.

Third accident was as a passenger in a friend's car at a roundabout waiting to pull out. Friend got ready to go and took her foot off the brake and began to roll forward but realised the gap was too small, so stopped. White van man bumped into the back of us at a crawl. We got out, he said 'I thought you'd gone!' Another knob who didn't use his eyeballs.

At the time it seemed like no damage to the car and we were fine. Next day we both had sore, stiff necks and the car had sustained a fair amount of damage as although the bumper looked fine (they're designed to crumple and spring back), it had damaged the underneath if the car and the boot catch was broken.

This third accident aggravated my first whiplash injury and I do still have problems several years later, costing me a fortune in osteopath fees. It's well known that if you see an impact coming, you brace to protect yourself, if you don't, you have no way of stopping that extreme forward-backward motion as your body stops but your head carries on travelling.

So actually, no, the woman isn't an arsehole and £1500 is probably getting off lightly for your DH tailgating in a large vehicle and not paying attention to vehicles in front. This woman could potentially have long term ligament damage, plus the inconvenience of being without her vehicle while it's off the road and in for repair. Your DH's poor driving behaviour has caused this and he needs to suck it up. It's his fault and nothing - not even her shouting at him or her claim on the insurance - mitigates that I'm afraid.

Deal with the insurance and hope that your DH learns from this that driving too close and intimidating other road users is actually bloody dangerous for other road users and costly for him.

As it stands, the other driver involved is going to be far more inconvenienced than your DH, who is, in fact, the arsehole.

Like you I would have also thought scam.... Until I was bumped from behind at low speed earlier this year. In my case no damage to car whatsoever but I had terrible neck pain for about a week, luckily gone now. It took surprisingly little to set it off. The difference is that I saw no reason to claim but I have to say I won't make assumptions about whiplash again.

The person in front does not see the bump coming, they do not brace themselves, so a small jolt can have a big effect.

Another one who was rear ended and car looked like it just had scrapes on the bumper but there was massive damage. My cheap crappy car was a write off as it was worth so little.

Also have back pain from another car accident that I didn't claim for at the time and wish I had as I still suffer 20 odd years later.

If your DH had been paying attention it wouldn't have happened.