Crashed into me and is now saying it was my fault!

[CarCrashBus]

Name change for this because it’s completely obvious who I am if you know me 😁

In March a school bus drove into my car. It was a narrow street and she came flying round a corner. I stopped, backed up and pulled out of the way. She then hit the back side of my car and drove off. It was my first experience of a (very small!) crash and I had a panic attack while in the car with my two young children. She stopped down the road to pick up some school children so I went over and explained she had hit me. She started screaming that she hadn’t, and she knew who was following her and they’d agree with her.
I contacted the police, because she had effectively driven off, and then called my insurance company when I got home. They said the position of the damage meant it was clearly her fault, and they didn’t need to see my dash cam footage. I was quite relieved because the footage makes it obvious that she hit me, but doesn’t show it directly because she’s behind me when it hits. Anyway, my insurance were amazing, sent a curtesy car, collected mine from the house and sent money to replace the car seats. I thought it was all done and sorted

Then today, I’ve had a call from the insurance company saying she’s disputing liability, and I’m shitting myself! Why does it take 9 months for this? And how can she dispute it when the insurance company said it was clearly her fault. I’m terrified it’s going to cost a fortune and my insurance company might say it was my fault some how?

So, if you managed to get through all that! Has anyone been through this before? Is it likely that the insurance company will throw me under the proverbial bus and make me pay half? Anyone got any reassurance for me? Most importantly, do I need a diagram 😬

Write it all down and do a diagram while it is fresh in your mind.
My dd was injured in an accident and it was clearly the other drivers fault. He got out of his car and shouted and ranted at her. She is tiny and was absolutely terrified.
It turned out he did not know the highway code in this country and had driven straight into her when she had right of way.
It took 3 years to resolve.

Years ago I was hit in the side of my car by a lorry coming out of a side entrance.

I was driving down an empty road on the lane furthest away from where the lorry was emerging. The drive got himself into the middle of the road, obviously to follow behind me but instead banged into me.

He tried to claim that I should have let him in and I was driving discourteously.

I handed it all over to my insurance company and they were marvellous.

The insurance company of the company the lorry driver worked for tried all sorts of ways of getting out of paying out for my written off car and the whole thing dragged on for ages.

However, as I say, my insurance company were fantastic and eventually I got a much larger pay out than I expected.

I imagine this is just your insurance company letting you know what's happening. There doesn't seem to be much doubt about it being the other driver's fault so hopefully, you should be fine.

This happened to me. I was rear ended while sitting stationary at a traffic light by a lorry. Car completely written off, driver admitted liability at the scene to police in attendance. About 6 months later his insurance company tried to dispute the claim and that I was at fault. Luckily I had about 50 pics from the scene and drivers statement to the police to refute this.

I think it's become a standard part of the process, they do it to see if any potential chancers will cave in and go 50/50 instead.

Your biggest problem once the insurance is sorted out (Other than your own insurance going up) is the number of accident claims &BEEPS& who'll ring you up for the next 6 years.

I was in a similar position. Took two years to resolve and ended up 50:50. Sorry

Well from what you've said you were stationary when it happened so your dash cam footage will show that. Try not to worry, it is up to the insurance companies to sort it out.

@Zilla1 I was wondering about posting it on the local Facebook page but it seemed really petty! If I end up paying for this then I’ll definitely be feeling petty!

@Mamamia7962 the car is stationary and you can hear me put the handbrake on so I’m hoping that’ll save me! You can also hear what I said after she hit me and drove off though 😳

@CarCrashBus

I know I wouldn’t have to actually pay, but if it does go 50:50 then I’ll have to pay the excesses and lose my no claims bonus won’t I? And I’d expect my insurance bills to skyrocket as I’d have to declare it when the annual change came up?

You will still lose your no claims because you have been in an accident. This is a claim. It isn't "no claims that aren't my fault". Sorry but this is something that should be made patently clear in all policies. It always astounds me people don't know this when the financial implications are so huge. Your renewal will also be significantly higher than it was so please be prepared for this. Insurance is a scam I'm afraid. Great in huge cost claims but you'll be paying for this one way or another for the next few (at least 5) years.

Your insurance company is there to deal with this for you. Worry about when you know you have something for sure

A removals truck pulled in to the side of me completely writing off my car. The person behind had dashcam so got the whole thing on camera and the driver of the truck still denied fault and tried to blame me... sometimes some people just can't accept they're in the wrong. Took 7 months but we finally got found not at fault (hardly surprising but I was still worried).

We have had a couple of instances of our cars being hit that ended up in court. Actually although it sounds scary, it was all absolutely fine in the end and the court experience was quite low-key with calm/sensible/supportive judge/magistrate. It took ages to get to that point with the other drivers denying liability but we won both cases in minutes in court. I really don't think you should worry - this is why you pay for insurance.