To think if you damage someone's car you pay for it?

[butsecretly]

Was driving down a stretch of road which is narrow. Room for 2 cars at a slow pace...usually all fine. Was driving up the road and there was a other car coming so I slowed and made sure we could both pass...except there was someone on the pavement carrying 2 tables, one of which must have been jutting out into the road which then scratched my car. I heard the scrape beeper my horn to alert her and pulled over to look...sure enough scratched...so I went round the corner to find the woman and she told me it couldn't have been her and that even if it was she would accept no liability. She works at /owns a local business...she was incredibly rude and dismissive even when I went to get the car and drove it back round to show her.

Am stunned someone could be so awful...

About to phone insurers so guess I'm paying for it...whether directly or through increased premiums.

Aibu to think who the hell behaves like that?!

That is what insurance is for I'm afraid.

How fast was the table moving?

Is it really worth an insurance claim for a scratch? Chipsaway would sort it for £100-ish, probably less than your excess.

Surely that’s as much your fault for not noticing the table as it is hers for letting it stick out.

I don't know. Were they very small tables? Did she swing one into your car?

Sounds like you hit a table and scratched your car OP.

I don't think you've got a (table) leg to stand on here.

Technically you hit a stationary object.

Yes it might have been a protuberance but that's going to be hard to prove and regardless you should have been aware of it.

It’s also probably not worth going through your insurance. Is it a huge scratch?

More of a gouge than a scratch...it's not just the initial layer of paint. Was a metal table leg so seems to have taken a chunk out while it scraped along. I was only doing about 10-15mph as you can't go any faster on that stretch of road if there's more than one car.

Am more flabbergasted than anything that someone would be such a dick about it. If I damaged something I'd pay for it, and also be mortified that it happened. She was utterly dismissive, like why would it be her problem... Just leaves me feeling a bit jaded about how some people behave towards others.

She was carrying the tables...she obviously swung one out into the road....they weren't still...

I would shame her on her website.

Am I missing something here...? Surely you hit the table? Not sure what the pedestrian is supposed to have done wrong.

But you drove into her table surely? How is she responsible for that?

Why didn't you notice it was jutting out? If you couldn't see that then your speed was too fast even if it was only 10-15 miles an hour.

You should have stopped and let the car pass which would have given you more room.

Or sorry did I misunderstand and you were pulled in stationary and she walked past scraping your car? In which case she should be responsible.

It's a six of one and half dozen of the other. The insurance company would find knock for knock.

I'm obviously not being clear. She was walking along the pavement carrying 2 bistro type tables, one of which obviously swung out and hit my car. I couldn't have been any futher into the road or I'd have hit the car coming in the opposite direction.

Not really sure quite how I could have avoided it

You continued along a road where there wasn't enough space for you to pass, its your own fault, that's why we have insurance. I would also be pissed off if you asked me to pay for something that wasn't my fault.

Her fault if you were stopped at the time or if she was going in same direction as you and it happened as she overtook.

Your fault if she was going in same direction as you & you overtook her or if she was coming towards you & you were moving past her.

Either way nothing you can do to get her to pay. I suspect it’s one of the scenarios in which it’s your fault...

Sorry but this sounds more your fault than hers, I don't see how she swung it out into your car, it sounds like you drove into it

There was enough room for me to pass! 2 cars can pass there but there isn't enough room to avoid someone sticking something out into the road.

Clearly iabu though is the consensus, thanks for your help.

Maybe just be grateful you hit the table and not the person carrying them if you were that close. There clearly wasn't room to pass the other car safely on this occasion so you should have just stopped.

If you were moving then it's as much your fault as hers surely? It doesn't sound very clear cut. This is what insurance is for, really! Annoying for you but not really a situation where it's obvious the woman should pay.

The pavement there is wide, the road narrow. She was miles away on the pavement with the tables on the road side...and to clarify I was on the road not the pavement.