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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was I involved in this car accident? (attempt 2)

253 replies

Chefwifelife · 20/12/2019 20:12

I was at the bottom of a hill turning right onto a main road. Turned right when clear then heard a loud noise. Looked in my mirror to see a wing mirror shattering and debris in the air. Pull over a little way up the road and go and see if I can help.

The lady is really shaken up. I ask what happened and she tells me that she just looked up and I was in front of her!

There is zero damage to my car. I have checked it three times but can only find mud BlushShe has damage to her drivers wing mirror and drivers front wheel arch.

I’ve rung my insurance company, and they have got the information on file ready but it just all seems a bit bizarre.

Anyone been in a similar situation?

OP posts:
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Original poster
Chefwifelife · 20/12/2019 21:18

@Drum2018 thanks for the pep talk.

Must stop replying and sleep!

OP posts:
vivacian · 20/12/2019 21:22

“I just looked up and saw the back of your car”

This immediately brings to mind the car accident in Neighbours. Was it Jane and Joe Mangle? Or Mike Young?

coughandcold · 20/12/2019 21:25

#team bollard

babycatcher411 · 20/12/2019 21:27

@xyzandabc

Could there have been a car travelling the other way on the main road that clipped her then kept driving? When she heard/felt the bang, she looked up and the only car she could see was you? The other car would by that time have been behind her?

This^^ to some degree.

I think the dent could have been pre-existing, and something or someone (you, the bollard, another car) has clipped her wing mirror.

Had it been you, you wouldn’t have seen it in your rear mirror, the angle would be wrong, so I think it’s unlikely to be you.
If it was another car, or the bollard, then as she wasn’t paying attention she wouldn’t realise this, only realising when she looks up (probably due to the noise) that suddenly you’re in front of her, so it has to be you!

For the damage to be where it is on the wheel arch, it would need to be hit head on, had you hit her as you turned, the damage would be more so toward the front of the arch/onto the front right side of the bumper, not directly above the wheel arch.

If it was you (which I think unlikely), and you just clipped her wing mirror it’s quite possible you didn’t feel it, they’re designed to move pretty easily, and as light/thin plastic, against another car, it could easily smashed (hence being on the road) without you feeling it on your side.

MotherofKitties · 20/12/2019 21:29

Raise your concerns with your insurance company and request they inspect your vehicle with a view to assess for consistent damage with the third party's vehicle.

Once they have the third party's engineering evidence they can get a forensic engineer to assess the two reports and advise whether your vehicle has came into contact with the third party vehicle or not. You can then take liability discussions on from there.

SpicyRibs · 20/12/2019 21:33

With the amount of damage on her car, I'd be v surprised for it not to leave even a mark on your car if there was genuine contact.

You probably pulled out in front of her, she panicked and drove into the bollard. Worth going back to have a look at it for damage?

CadburyFestiveFriends · 20/12/2019 21:34

@Chefwifelife
I worked in accident liability/claims for many years. For several of the UK’s biggest insurers. Accidents came in to me, I reviewed circumstances and decided who was at fault.

  • Yes you can be at fault for an accident without sustaining damage to your vehicle. Im surprised you don’t know this as it’s most common in motor cycle claims.
  • If you were pulling out (under any circumstances) you’ve got a 99% chance of being held at fault. This also goes for reversing btw 👍🏻
  • Your insurer doesn’t care whether you think you’re at fault. They care what it will cost and what the likelihood is of winning in court. They also don’t need your permission to admit fault and will do whatever is safest/cheapest- often this is admitting fault to avoid court costs.
  • The don’t care what was said at the scene, how fast you think they were going, whether they were distracted or anything like that. Unless you have hard evidence or a police statement backing you up- doesn’t matter 👍🏻

I have no idea what the woman supposedly hit to cause damage to her car and you seem very vague about that. Did she say she hit your car? She must have told you what she hit. But based on everything you’ve said and assuming there are no witnesses willing to write up their version of events. I’d be saying you were at fault.

Sorry.

CountFosco · 20/12/2019 21:40

Agree with the PPs that say she's not been paying attention and hit the bollard.

Nothing to do with you, I can't work out how you could hit her and cause that damage and end up in front of her.

BlueCornsihPixie · 20/12/2019 21:42

There's no damage to your car, you felt no impact

She doesn't seem to know what she's hit? She clearly wasn't paying attention

If you are going at 30mph, and paying attention there's long enough there for you to see a car pulling out, especially as it sounds like you were fully in your lane when she even noticed you.

I don't think she hit you, it sounds like she wasnt paying attention and has hit something else

Binglebong · 20/12/2019 21:44

Am I being stupid? Looking at that photo it looks like you are going from the main road (with bollards) to a side road. The main roads have bollards, which she could have driven into, the side roads don't. Would you mind confirming?

For what it's worth I think you were not involved.

RandomUsernameHere · 20/12/2019 21:53

Maybe she clipped a car coming the other way, which caused the broken wing mirror, and the damage to the wing of her car was already there?

CorBlimeyGovenor · 20/12/2019 21:55

You won't necessarily have to have felt an impact. You were travelling in the same direction. You heard a crunch sound. That is enough. It seems pretty clear that you pulled out into her path.

Lockheart · 20/12/2019 22:04

Given that there's no damage to your car, or even scuffs to the paintwork, the locations of each car when the crunch happened (from what I understand, you heard the crunch when she was behind you, yet the damage is to the side of her car and not the front; the damage to her car is in the wrong position if it was your car that collided with hers) and that she had to "look up" to see you, I'm inclined to think she wasn't paying full attention and has glanced off the bollards.

I do think you'd have felt it if it was your car involved. I once witnessed a very low speed accident (stationary at roundabout, car behind the front car jumps the gun a tad and bumps the back of the first car) and both cars wobbled quite dramatically!

At 30mph it would have been a significant impact.

Mymycherrypie · 20/12/2019 22:05

I drive in north London where it’s every man for himself - if someone had a crash, couldn’t say they’d hit me, couldn’t explain how they’d been hit, weren’t even looking by the sound of it, no damage to my car, no reason to stop except that I work for the NHS, I’d have said goodbye love and good luck finding out what you crashed in to.

Keewee27 · 20/12/2019 22:05

Just looking back at the pictures of the broken wing mirror. If the glass exploded she had to have hit something pretty hard.

On the road near my house is a metal bollard/pole to slow cars down and I once misjudged it and hit my wing mirror quite hard. It knocked the plastic back part off and cracked the glass but it didn't shatter it.

I think that if she'd hit you and caused that much damage to the mirror then you'd have felt it. I'm going with the fact that she wasn't concentrating and hit the bollard you've got the picture of.

There would have to be some damage to your car. I've been rear ended before and there was definitely damage to my bumper. She didn't hit you!

SmellMySmellbow · 20/12/2019 22:08

I reckon another car behind you exited the junction you had just exited and turned left instead of right like you, but swung out too wide and scraped her drivers side and wing with their drivers side. Or she had drifted into the oncoming lane as they were turning left. They drove off, she looked up at the bump but only saw you in front, not the culprit behind. If you heard the noise of the impact when you were already straight and accelerating away then it couldn't have been you. You looked in your mirror at the noise and saw she was a way behind you so how could it have been you?

adaline · 20/12/2019 22:16

I've had my wing mirror smashed in an accident before and I definitely felt it - and so did the other driver who also had theirs smashed.

There's no way you wouldn't have noticed if you'd hit her car.

wellthatwasthat · 20/12/2019 22:23

If you saw her wing mirror shatter through your rear-view mirror, she must have been directly behind you by then, so the mirror couldn't have come into contact with your car, could it?

Was there originally another vehicle in front of her, that was turning into the road you had just come out of? If she wasn't paying attention she could have caught the passenger side of their rear end, and suddenly looked up and saw only you in front of her, because by then the other car had gone. The damage is in such a weird place and I can't see how the two of you could have collided for the damage to be where it is.

Skidzer · 20/12/2019 22:32

You obviously hit her. If you pulled out in front of her it would be the left side/passenger's side of your car that's damaged. You say you saw splinters flying in the air or something. If you were the only car in front of her, you hit her. This is why I don't drive over here. People pull out in front of you all the time.

Regardless of whether she was looking where she was going, she had the right of way, so you had no right to pull out in front of her.
How you could not see a car coming from your left though is another story. There is no blind spot when looking left and right.

Jux · 20/12/2019 22:35

Someone pulling out behind you but going left could have clipped her.

SourAndSnippy · 20/12/2019 22:36

I think CadburyFestiveFriends post is spot on.

Skidzer · 20/12/2019 22:36

Wellwhatwasthat. That's the only other plausible explanation. But she'd surely have noticed when she collided with that car? And that car would have stopped too as they'd have damage to their left side!

TreeSwayer · 20/12/2019 22:38

#TeamBollard.

I would head back and see if there is any damage to that bollard. Take photos and video if there is.

MsPeachh · 20/12/2019 22:44

The nose of my car tapped the kerb at very low speed whilst parking yesterday and it felt awful from inside! No damage done to my car though. So I reckon you definitely would’ve noticed if she hit you, OP. Bollard sounds most likely.

TreeSwayer · 20/12/2019 22:44

Also you said yourself you were quite a distance in front of her when you heard the bang. If you had swiped her she would have been immediately behind you. But she wasn't.

Like I said check the bollard for damage as soon as you can in daylight, make it a priority.

I can't say exactly what I was hit by but it wasn't a car, or anything you would expect but they were uninsured, police were involved and my premium went up despite my 10 years plus no claims. You do not want this to land on you as your fault. Get to that bollard tomorrow.