Car park collision, who at fault?

[dolol]

Sister had a collision this morning and wants to know who will be deemed as at fault

Car A driving along the car park row in a straight line, likely slightly too fast

Car B has reversed parked in the space. Is about to drive off, having done all observations. Crawls forward slightly to check left and right as visibility obscured by big vehicle parked to the left.

Car B (bonnet only a few inches out of the bay) collides with Car A who was doing some speed. MPH limit in car park when checked retrospectively was 5mph

All occupants fine but damage to the side door of Car A
Car B has paintwork damage near the headlight which will need buffing out and probably a new lower splitter

YABU - Car A at fault

YANBU - Car B at fault

Or possibly 50/50 fault? If 50/50 fault who would pay the excess? Thanks so much :)

Car B is at fault. From your description there is no way that A could have hit B with their door. It must be that B hit A.

You may find that no one is at fault, as you are not on a road, and the land is privately owned. I only mention this because of an incident when my youngest son was two. I was in Morrison’s supermarket car park, just undoing his pushchair straps when a speeding car, skidded into us. The side of car hit the pushchair and the front hit me. There was three police cars, two fire engines and an ambulance in attendance. My son had to be cut out of his pushchair by firefighters, I was wedged against the door which broke off and I fell to the ground. The police said they couldn’t do anything about it, as it wasn’t an offence, as she wasn’t on a road, it was private land. The woman never even apologised, she just stuck her head in the ambulance and said I don’t know why everyone’s upset, he’s not dead!! She nearly killed my toddler, but it wasn’t a crime.

In my experience, yes, it would be cheaper to use a different garage.
What I’ve noticed is that garages that sign up to insurance companies will charge more because they know the insurance are paying it. They’re often miles from where you live, and you probably won’t have cause to use them again.
Local garages who value your regular custom will do you a better deal.

So when you sister pulled forward, having done all her checks, why did she pull out in front of a car coming along the car park, not only oming along the car park, but doing so faster than they should have been?

I'm sure she'll say she didnt see it coming, in which case she is in no position to judge what speed it was doing. Why assume it was exceding the speed restriction?
She either saw it coming or she didnt

You don't pay excess on someone else's claim. Only your own (if you decide to claim of course).

Can you be more specific where the damage is?

If car B is damaged and the SIDE of the right front headlight (as you wrote above) then that means the car had already edged out and car A therefore hit car B as they were no doubt going too fast.

But this would not tally with damage to the SIDE of car A... the damage would have been at the front.

Something doesn't add up.

Your sister needs to push a no fault claim, that they edged out slowly due to poor visibility, car A appeared quickly, your sister stopped but A was unable to stop.

She will need to make it clear she stopped before the collision occurred.

Its Car B. And your sister is lying.

B can't be stationary and hit the car door. If it stopped as A came along the damage would be on front. A had right of way.

This is absolute bollocks. It is far safer to reverse into a space and drive out.

Same goes for a driveway. You are supposed to reverse in and drive out.

Car B
Car A had right of way
Car A damage is to the side so Car B went into them

She will have to pay the £600 anyway. It is the excess in the cost of the claim in it’s entirety, your sisters and the other driver’s if your sister is found to be at fault and the insurer pays out against your sister

If it goes to the insurance, it will almost certainly go 50/50. Collisions in car parks usually do unless one party is very clearly entirely at fault.

You're better off not going through insurances sometimes - if you all get quotes on how much it'll cost to repair, and if it's cheaper than the £600 excess, then all can avoid insurance companies. The other driver, in theory, wouldn't want to go through insurance either as even if they're not at fault, it will still affect their no claims bonus, so it usually works for both parties if they avoid insurance companies altogether and you just sign something to say that no one can come for more money etc.

That's horrific! Was he okay? did you try and pursue her through civil court?

I've read about this sort of thing before where the police can't do anything for motoring offences as it's on private land, I don't think that matters from an insurance/damage/injury point of view though.

If the damage is on the other cars door it will class as a fault accident on your sisters policy as this will show she has driven in to the car.

she will not have to pay her excess if she does not claim for her own car but it will be logged as a claim on her policy.

you say the car was speeding, that would be very hard to prove.

the post about not to reverse in to a parking is incorrect, it is much safer

no she won't. That's what the insurance is for. You only pay excess on your own claim (if you decide to claim)

Dash cams can be so cheap these days, I would never be without one as you never know when you may need it to prove what actually happened.

I’ve had two accidents, one fault and one non fault. My premium actually went down the next year when I added the fault claim! Insurance varies so much. With you saying there’s damage to the side of car A- do you mean car A has scraped past Car B when they had stopped? That’s the only perspective I can see it not being fault on Car B’s part?

Also, my excess was deducted from a final payout- the fault claim made my car a write off due to the age of the car etc.

Happened to me. I was car A, but I wasn’t speeding (I was hardly moving). Car B admitted they were at fault so they paid to repair the damage (four figure sum).

What the hell are you talking about? Most companies and businesses including virtually all construction have a rule that all parking must be done with reverse parking as it's the safest method to park.

Sorry but your utterly wrong.

This makes zero sense

Personally I would think it's knock for knock..IF she was emerging v. slowly because of reduced visibility ie large vehicle next to her impeding her view and IF the other vehicle was going at speed it's 50/50 surely? How else was B supposed to exit her space other than v slowly emerging? If I was B I would be pressing my case.

Not to kick your sister when she’s down, but it’s worth letting her know, and everyone really, to only have an ‘affordable’ excess on your car insurance.

I see the sliding scale on the comparison sites offering £1k excess coverage, but it’s only worth going for if you know you can get your hands on a grand at short notice.

This is bollocks.

Completely wrong, so best to completely ignore.