Car parking accident - who is at fault?

[Mammyofonlyone]

My Dsis has had an accident in her car and is locked in a wrangle with the other driver (insurance firms are involved) as to who was at fault. She feels it wasn't her fault - is she BU??
She was reverse parking on the road side of a one way street in town, with cars parked on both sides. She had reversed into the space on the left hand side of the road and was pulling forward to straighten up in the space. As she pulled forward the other car came along the road and they collided (my sisters right hand front wheel and the other cars left hand front wing). DSIS's tyre popped and front wing was damaged, as was the other car.
The most important thing is that nobody (inc my two year old niece) was hurt. However the other woman came running up to my sister (DSIS immediately asked if she was ok but the woman ignored her) and started shouting in my sisters face, saying it was her fault and being generally very aggressive, to the point that a (handy) random vicar who was passing by told her to calm down and not talk to my DSIS in such a way. The vicar had also seen the accident take place and told the woman she didn't think DSIS was at fault and that the woman had been driving too quickly.
The woman's insurance company is saying my sister is entirely at fault and hence she must 'pay' (through insurance) for the damages. Obviously this is why we have insurance but, only two months ago someone drove into my sisters car in the supermarket car park, as witnessed by another shopper, then just drove off which resulted in an insurance claim so her premium has already gone up once so she really doesn't want it to go up again as she feels it wasn't her fault.
So, if you have made it this far and managed to follow my rambling explanation, who was at fault??

I think your sister is genuinely at fault.

Before you start any manoeuvre you have to ensure that the road is clear, especially when reversing. It may have initially been clear when she reversed in but she should have checked again before pulling out - this would have prevented the situation, you’re most at risk of collision when you swing your car out like this. She didn’t necessarily need to pull back into the road to straighten her car up her car parked on the left - she should have waited for this car to leave first as her actions were unclear to the other road user. They didn’t know if your sister had finished parking or not, it could have already seemed like she was stationary to the other driver.

You sister is at fault

Sorry I should have said the car approached from behind so DSIS reversed into the space on the left hand side of the road. The car approached from behind as DSIS was pulling forwards out of the space to straighten up. As such DSIS front right wing collided with the drivers' front left wing. Does that make sense?

On a one-way street I would expect the other car to be approaching from behind, otherwise one of you is driving the wrong way!

As PP have said, it sounds like she pulled out in the road. Yes, the other driver was rude but that doesn't make your sister any less at fault. You could give some blame to the other driver because you do need to give a door's width to parked stuff in case people do stupid things, like open car doors without looking. Plus, the level of damage would be less if the other driver were travelling more slowly. But it sounds as if your Dsis is at fault. Sorry.

The key to this situation is your sister needs to speak to her insurer. All to often the insurer will make the decision especially if the claim is under (in most cases £5k to £10k) to concede. This means they will pay out no matter whose fault as It’s more a tick box claim therefore no claim advisor really looks at the claim. Your sister really needs her insurer to stand her ground. To this end she should not loose anymore NCD; however I fear from the description of the accident it’s a 50/50. Good luck

Totally your sisters fault.

Well, you don’t just pull out into traffic do you, so your sister’s at fault 🤷🏻‍♀️

Unfortunately your sister is at fault as she should have checked her wing mirror to see if anyone was approaching from behind before pulling out to straighten up.

Your sister pulled out into the road without looking. It’s her fault.

The key to this situation is your sister needs to speak to her insurer. All to often the insurer will make the decision especially if the claim is under (in most cases £5k to £10k) to concede. This means they will pay out no matter whose fault as It’s more a tick box claim therefore no claim advisor really looks at the claim. Your sister really needs her insurer to stand her ground. To this end she should not loose anymore NCD; however I fear from the description of the accident it’s a 50/50. Good luck

Nonsense. It's completely the sisters fault, she pulled out in to traffic!

Well soon find out this is a reverse thread 😉

When I reverse park - I move in to the space and then if I straighten up, I go forward and perhaps over to the curb more, not forward and out into the road. Perhaps the other driver saw her and was impatient, perhaps they didn't and got blindsided by your sister pulling out. We'll never know - it's speculation.
To paraphrase the Great Gatsby, it takes two careless people to cause an accident.

Sorry but totally your sister was at fault, she moved into traffic without checking her mirror.

1. It's your sister's fault.
2. If neither you nor your sister realise this, you both need to do driving refresher courses. This is NOT a complicated situation. The car driving along the road has priority over any car pulling out into the flow of traffic, whether they are parking or not.

This happened to me but I was the 'other' party i.e. the driver approaching from behind. There was never any question that the other party (i.e. your sister) was anything other than at fault and they paid up immediately. When you are in charge of a car you have a responsibility not to pull out in front of moving vehicles...

As far as I understand it doesn't really matter whose fault it was regarding her premiums, they will go up because she was involved in an accident. I hope that she got the Vicar's name and address as a witness to the incident.

I assume your sister wasn't actually in the space. Sounds like she was reversing into the space (not in it) and needed to reposition herself to get into it properly, so pulled forward a bit to reposition the car.

I would think that on a one way street (so not room for two cars) that the woman in the other car should have waited for your sister to be in the space to make room for her to safely pass.

Im not sure what the legal position is really, but nobody pulls OUT OF a parallel parking space to straighten up. If you're in the space you tend to straighten up in it without the need to pull out onto the road again.

I'm not saying your sister is right, but I think she may not be as wrong as people saying she pulled out onto the road without looking. Sounds like she was still on the road and the other car tried to squeeze around her.

Sister 100% at fault here op having read your update

Your sister is at fault. She pulled onto the carriageway without checking if it was clear. If the claim was based on who was nice and reasonable, that would be your sister.

To be fair people act differently when they're in shock. Did your sister ask the other driver if they were OK also? I think I'd be confrontational if I was driving along and someone pulled out and made me hit into them.

Unfortunately I don't think speed comes into it although the other driver may have been going too fast it will be your sister that is "technically " at fault in the eyes of the insurance company. Not really fair but that's usually the way it goes

I think I agree with the majority!
Thank you all for your input. Now I just need to think about how to break to it her 😂. Think I'll say 'don't blame me, it's what MN said...'!
Thank you again