Someone reversed into my car - it's his fault, right?

[NewMoon76]

I was driving in a car park, and a man reversed and hit the side of my car while reversing out of a parking place.

There is a dent and scuffs where he hit my car on the rear wing. He says it's not his fault and it's a no fault incident, and doesn't want to go through insurers. He said 'I will play fair if you play fair', and wants to settle outside.

I will be getting a quote from a bodyworks next week but friends are telling me to go through insurers. What would you do?

Go through the insurance.

100% go through insurance! A very similar thing happened to me when I was about 19. Some guy reversed into my car and smashed my headlight and dented the front corner. Took ages to resolve because he started lying about what happened! Don’t let this chancer try and convince you it’s a “no fault” thing. If it was the other way around it would be your fault!

It should be reported to insurers anyway. Give them the reg number and they will do the rest. You can check on .gov if the car is taxed and insured. He may not want to go through insurance company because he isn't insured , the car is insured but he is not on the policy, he doesn't have a licence or he has made multiple claims. Those are his problem

Years ago someone reversed into me - denied liability as she said I should have given way to her. I was stationary when she hit me. She insisted we swop insurance details and her insurer admitted liability.

Not according to my insurers it's not 🙄

Actually not wrong - bloke reversed into my side door in a car park - in the end insurance companies decided 50/50. We wanted to fight it (ie. Court) but it was too stressful and so we let it go - still fuming 😡

If it happened in a car park, it will probably be treated as a knock for knock.
Reporting it to the insurers will probably push up your premium.

I had someone reverse into the side of my car in a private car park, and the insurance company treated as knock-for-knock.
I'm a brilliant driver, obviously, but even I can't drive my car sideways.

No she doesn't "have" to but it increases risk. Nobody should be driving past reversing cars in car parks - effectively squeezing their car through a narrowing gap! - without making absolutely sure the reversing driver has seen you and has stopped for you.

(Note I'm not saying the OP has done this - I asked the question)

Think about who has a better view in this situation and a better ability to avoid a crash. Then think about how the insurance company would see it.

Go through insurance. However - make sure you get a 'no fault' letter from them. We were hit once by a stolen car being chased by the police - it was all paid for through the victim's insurance but a year later when we applied for our own insurance renewal, we were charged a surplus because we showed up on the insurer database thingy as 'having a claim' - it took us about 6 months to get it sorted. This was 8 years ago and we still get asked about it every year and need to send the 'no fault' letter.

Also there is not necessarily an assumed priority in car parks - it's different than if you were reversing out of a space (or your drive) onto the main road, for example. In which case obviously traffic on the main road would have priority.

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Your claim may have settled 50/50 but that isn't the default. And your insurer/their sols are shit, unless there's something you're not telling us.

Would a dash cam make a difference in this case if it showed he reversed into you?

I was leaving a car park but stationary as there were cars in from trying to leave. A young guy came back to his car and started to reverse when I was sitting right behind him. I had to honk the horn three times to get him to stop reversing. Surely if he hadn't have stopped it would have been entirely his fault. I also had it on dash cam. I'd like to think he would have had to pay up. I had no way of getting away as car in front and car behind.

Call ur insurance. Is he going to get u a hire car while the work is done. I've had too much experience of this. I had 3 no fault accidents in one year. Went through insurance every time and was glad I did. They got me a courtesy car within the day.

Even the accident where the car was parked and someone reversed in to it, the car was away for about 4weeks. Wasn't loads of damage, wing mirror smashed off and a dent to the door and some scratches.

Someone also had a similar experience and posted about it this week. They said they would pay and after several quotes said no I can't afford that. They were supposed to tell their insurance company about the accident within 24hrs or something. Don't make life awkward for urself. It's his fault he doesn't get to choose whether u got go through insurance or not.

He sounds like a chancer. Please report it to your insurance company.

Why would there be something I’m not telling you?

insurance company said we could go to court but in their experience because it was in a car park it would likely go 50/50 by the judge - we’d already spent months trying to get the other insurance company to admit liability and we’d got nowhere

Oh also get a dashcam! I don't see why the insurers would say 50/50 as others have experienced. I wonder if both parties were insured by same company so makes no difference to them but they can up both the renewal prices as they both get an at fault claim against them.

DH hit a car in a work carpark, they were both moving, it was his fault, it went through insurance as normal.

I did say 'your insurer/their sols are shit' to quantify that. And it seems like your insurer were shit.

I drove into someone. I argued it was their fault. My insurance company asked me if I was prepared to go to court if they pursued it. Yes I was. So they sued me, we went to court and I won.

OP, don't assume he will automatically be found fully at fault. There are various factors that might sway things.

INSURANCE!!!

My father always like to try and settle privately but there are just far too many risks. Take details and move on after an accident.

One thing to be aware of with excess and increase of insurance premiums the accident may be causing one party hundreds of pounds. Swapping details after an accident can be fraught with tension. Do not be intimidated, use police as last option, do not admit liability, record everything, get witnesses It's a bit like the beginning of a court battl......be professionally remote.

Depending on where he hit the car he could have done damage you can't see.
Definitely go through insurance, either he has none of he's had many claims against him and knows his premium will go up. He also sounds like he doesn't drive carefully, so I would report to 101 too.

I had this exact situation man reversed into my stationary car from his car park space, the insures said it was 50:50 as no proof. Despite the damage to my car only being possible by me being stationary and him reversing into me. It’s a joke but def go via insurance !

Rubbish.

I had someone reverse into me in these circumstances. I was indicating and stationary about to reverse into the space next to her. She reversed into me and uttered the words "I didn't see you" when we exchanged details. Her insurance company wouldn't admit liability for weeks so I had to be really persistent.