Just got rear ended - AIBU to ask Mumsnet for advice?

[RearEnded]

Got rear ended this morning on the way to work. We bought a new, much larger car last week and this was only my third time driving it - I think I was very heavy on the breaks at the traffic lights, as I'm adjusting to the longer stopping distance and different brake pedal. The van behind me went into me, he said the sun was in his eyes.

I couldn't see any damage on my car, just some scuff marks (though my husband will take a proper look later) and his bumper was a little bent inwards. We exchanged details, I took two (not great) photos and I went straight to work as I had an important meeting.

I was in a similar crash just over a year ago (as a passenger) and a couple of hours on I can feel the shoulder and lower back pains I had then resurfacing, and wonder whether I'll experience similar whiplash symptoms over the next couple of days.

Should I report this to the insurer? If I get whiplash symptoms again should I make a claim? I'm worried because:

• I know I braked too heavily as the light went amber, though it's a bit of a blur now. The van has it all on dash cam, if it shows me to break suddenly will I be in trouble? What can happen?

• I don't know how fast the van was going when it hit me. There was a loud bang and I was shunted forwards a little. What if the dash cam footage shows he was going a lot slower than it seemed? Or what if it shows that we were both speeding before we braked (I don't tend to speed, but I can't say 100% what speed I was going)?

• I'm literally just settling the previous personal injury claim for when I was rear ended as a passenger (the accident was literally on the same bit of road as today's crash). I'm worried they're going to think I'm taking the piss/ a chancer, when that really isn't the case.

I'm quite shaken up as I've never had any kind of crash or incident before as a driver. Also gutted to have crashed our new (very expensive for us!) car within a week of buying it. Dh is not impressed

Sorry to hear of your accident, you do sound pretty shaken up, so first of all, deep breath and try to calm down a bit. Have a nice cup of tea and try to relax a little.

In my opinion the van is at fault as he should leave reasonable distance behind and should anticipate you suddenly braking fast, eg. A child running into the road or any reason for an emergency stop.

Something similar happened to my mum the other month, car went into the back of her and the woman was on her phone, my mum had stopped at a give way sign, driver tried blaming my mum saying she brakes too harshly etc, but at end of day it was her fault and the insurance found her to blame, she should ha e kept a reasonable distance behind.

Hope you don’t have any injuries

Main thing is you are ok, cars can be fixed x

You need to report the accident to your insurer straight away and go from there. Whether you have personal injury or not doesn't matter at this point. You have to consider no claims bonus and excess as to whether you want to make a claim to repair the car on the insurance. Honesty is the best policy

I know I braked too heavily as the light went amber, though it's a bit of a blur now. The van has it all on dash cam, if it shows me to break suddenly will I be in trouble? What can happen?

You can brake as hard as you like even if the light was green. "I saw something moving into the road out of the corner of my eye, might have been a child but turned out to be a crisp packet"

It's 100% his fault for being too close to you / not paying attention / not leaving a big enough gap to allow for the unforeseen. He knows it's his fault, he's already making excuses by saying sun was in his eyes.

If you report it to the insurers, don't your claims go up next year?

It was 100% the van drivers fault. It doesn't matter how hard you brake.

Your primary concern seem to be whether you can make any money out of it!?

You braked at an amber light - leave it at that. Do not put yourself at any fault here by offering that you may have braked too hard. The van driver is at fault. He should have been prepared for light change anyway when approaching traffic lights. Go to your gp if you feel pain.

Thank you @Auramigraine, I feel okay but my lower back is really aching. Last time I felt okay until the next day when I was really stiff.

I'm reassured that you don't think it's my fault. I've been kicking myself all morning about it.

@moreteaplease0 that was my concern too, if I tell them do I lose my no claims discount even if I don't claim for anything

@JennyOnAPlate Not really, just that last time I had really bad whiplash and damage to my lower and upper back, my symptoms lasted almost a year. I got a small compensation payout that was a silver lining for the pain. I'm not sure if I will have the same issue this time, just thinking ahead

@Drum2018 I'm just worried about how it will look in the footage if either of us claim (he/his could claim too as there was some damage to the vehicle).

My gp won't be able to see me today but if I'm in pain tomorrow morning I'll try to get an appointment then.

You shouldn't worry, you're not at fault insurance wise regardless. I was involved in an accident a few years back where a lady emergency stopped for no reason at 60mph, I went in to the back of her and had to take the responsibility for doing so.

If it turn amber then it must have been green for a bit and the van driver should have been ready to stop

Look, it boils down to 3 separate things;

Your new car was hit, hard enough to shunt it forward. It WILL have sustained some damage, no matter how minimal, you'd be mad not to get it to a garage.

The van is 100% to blame. Never say anything about bring new to the car or heavy on the brakes. You will just make yourself feel culpable, and you are not.

Report it to your insurance. You don't know the extent if any damage to you of the car, of the van for that matter. So report it, cover yourself.

All the pfaffing about reporting it increasing your premiums is ridiculous. If you don't report it in a timely manner and it ends up costing s fortune you won't even be thinking as about premiums.

The van driver can't claim as he was at fault. Your insurance may or may not go up ( in my personal experience it never has when the other driver was at fault) but if you are thinking of claiming for whiplash you have to report the collision straight away. His insurance will pay any compensation.

It doesn't matter how hard you braked, the driver behind should have left enough space for him to stop.

Report it to your insurance company ASAP
If (when) the claim is found to be his fault, your NCD will remain and your premium shouldn't increase, because this wasn't your fault, based on the information given

I've spent all morning flapping at my desk, I'm glad I posted, feel a lot better now. Thank you fellow mumsnetters :)

My husband was saying wait til he's seen the damage and phone the insurance when we get in tonight, do you think I should ring now?

Dh is going to take it to a garage tomorrow to assess the damage. A square flap popped off the bumper so he must have hit at a reasonable speed. We have rear sensors and rear camera for parking, so it's possible they could have been impacted although they seem to be working okay...

The van driver was at fault. He should have been paying special attention if you were approaching traffic lights and the sun was bright, allowing sufficient stopping distance. You are obliged to report any accident to your insurer, regardless of who was at fault, as it could affect any future claim if they find out you didn't disclose a previous incident.

Please don't assume your car is ok if you can only see scuffs. I was rear ended early last year and thought I only had a bit of minor bumper damage. When the car was properly inspected it was found there was damage to the backing iron and carrier that held the bumper. The repairs and parts cost nearly £600 so we ended up having to claim against the other driver's insurance.

I hope you're feeling calmer now. I remember feeling very shocked and shaky after it happened to me.

He must have been too close, don't beat yourself up, I was going through traffic lights (at green) at a junction 2 days ago when a van hurtled towards me (through a red light) I had to do an emergency stop. The car behind me did not hit me. He had left a good distance and was paying attention. He also stopped to check I was ok which was really nice of him. NOT YOUR FAULT!

If someone goes into the back of you when driving or you go into the back of another vehicle then it is automatically your fault. This is how those crash for cash claims work. The reason people have dashcams is partially to prevent scammers like that. If your brake lights are fully working then it is completely the van driver's fault.

Your insurance may go up but you will probably need a hire car and repairs to your car which will cost more than what your insurance has gone up by.

You need to tell your insurer. It’s usually a condition of your insurance policy that you do that. And if someone hits you from behind it’s seriously unlikely to be your fault!

Insurance may go up though. DH was hit in his new car after only a week. It was in a car park and someone took out the entire near side of his car when trying to reverse out of their parking space and despite the fact that DH wasnt even in the car at the time, and watched them do it as he was walking back to the car from the shops, his insurance premium went up

From an insurance point of view the van driver was 100% at fault. I say this as someone who once rear ended someone who did something silly at a junction - it was still my fault as I should have been paying more attention and have left sufficient stopping distance to react to the other driver doing something unexpected.

@MrsPinkCock that's crazy how did they work that one out?!

Thanks everyone I'll phone the insurance company today, and then see what the garage says/ how my back and neck are feeling tomorrow. Fingers crossed everything is fine🤞

From your insurer's point off view it will be the van driver's fault 100%. He's the one who should be worrying about stopping distances.

Definitely report today.

Hope your neck and back are OK.

You definitely need to get your car checked out. There will be damage you haven't seen. Someone reversed into me in a car park. It felt like a little bump and the only obvious damage was a couple of small scratches. The assessor showed us the bumper was cracked underneath, damage behind the front grille and a metal trim which had been knocked out of line. It cost about £1000 to repair.

I'm a GP and whilst this isn't personal medical advice, I don't see people with back/neck pain the day after an accident. I'll give phone advice and suggest over the counter analgesia to start with as it always settles down - if the pain wasn't there at the time of the accident it isn't a fracture. GP only really needed for stronger analgesia if otc stuff not helping after a week or so and maybe for physio referral if not better at 4-6 weeks. Most of the people who ring us for this are just after documenting it for the purpose of the claim.

in 95% of rear ended cases, the fault lies with the driver behind - as they should leave adequate distance to allow you to perform an emergency stop if necessary, or to allow for a failed hill start.

In very extreme cases where somebody rolls back significantly after a hill start failure, or reverses a significant distance, then that's another matter but if you brake suddenly, it's very hard for the driver behind to justify not having enough time to react.

The most common occurrence of this is at roundabouts where someone looks like they will join the roundabout, then suddenly brake, and the driver behind didn't anticipate them braking.

Report the whiplash. I had an injury like this that didn't crop up for about a month afterwards.