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 :)

Having googled it looks like she will need scratches buffing out and a new lower splitter. I don’t think that would be £600. I don’t know why the insurer thinks she should pay a 600 excess to a garage literally miles away from where she lives, it’s in the next county for goodness sake! She said the other party had a company car so were wanting to go through the company insurance for it

don’t know why the insurer thinks she should pay a 600 excess to a garage literally miles away from where she lives, it’s in the next county for goodness sake!

It will be an "approved repairer" of theirs., that's all. You're not obliged to use them but the insurer will try to push it.

Regarding them saying she'd need to pay the £600 to them, they'd be talking generally and assuming it's more in value of damage than the excess.

insurance companies don't give a toss unfortunately, they just blame the person that doesn't 'give way'.

I had one a few years ago, pulling out onto a 70mph dual carriageway from a t junction, into an empty inside lane (great visibility, a few cars in outside lane, nothing in inside lane), as I went a car slammed into me and then flew off the road. He had been racing another car and they had been bullying people out the way for miles apparently, he was in the outside lane, but swerved to undertake the cars in front just as I pulled out, he had braked but he was still doing over 100mph when he hit me, it's very lucky we weren't both killed.

The insurance were horrific, he told them he was trundling along on the inside lane doing 70 and I just pulled out, so they immediately found against me without looking at any of the evidence I provided and they then 'lost' the three witness details I provided and said they never had them, they just said I was at a give way and should have given way. The was a police crash investigation, witnesses, a court case against the driver for dangerous driving, and all the while them fucktards from Hastings Direct wouldn't listen to any of it, they did eventually but good god it was an ordeal!

Insurance companies will always take the path of least resistance.

If it needs a new spoiler it will probably be way over £600

Sorry, splitter? Lower splitter. The band of rubber/plastic underneath the bumper at the front

Darn woman speeding in a car park , as I was coming out of a road, bumped me. Or I bumped her.
I was blamed, yet she wasn’t there when I started moving, bloody woman, was also smoking.
She wouldn’t stop to exchange details, said she had no damage, but came looking for me the next day, and decided she did have damage. Sadly you will be classed as at fault.

OP, you seem to be misunderstanding what excess actually means.

If you take out an insurance policy with £300 excess and cause damage to your own vehicle, you will have to pay the first £300 yourself. So if you had a crash which was your fault and the repairs to your car cost £500, your insurers would only pay £200. If the repairs cost less that £300, you would have to stump up the whole cost yourself.

Your excess has nothing to do with damage to other people’s cars. If you are at fault for an accident, your insurers will cover the entire cost of the other driver’s repairs. You won’t have to pay for it, but your insurance will likely be more expensive when you come to renew it.

Insurance covering damage to other drivers vehicles is required by law. This is to prevent people from causing a crash and then saying they can’t afford to pay for the other party’s repairs. There is no obligation to have insurance to cover traits to your own vehicle.

Yep

the car she didn’t see but could see was going too fast drove sideways into the front of her stationary car

Sorry, I know what you mean now. A splitter will probably be £100-200 and labour charges of about £60 ph, if not more. Then there is the paintwork to deal with.

An insurance company will have a list of garages who they recommend in the area but you have the legal right to choose your repairer. You can’t choose who the other party uses though.

In my experience, if both cars are moving it'll be a 50-50 fault (regardless of who was actually at fault). I've known of a few similar instances and they all had the same outcome.

Car B is at fault (your sister?) regardless of the speed A was going car b tried to come
out when the road wasn’t clear. Car A was already on the “main road” & the damage is to the side of Car A which aligns with B pulling out and hitting her.

Car B can argue A was speeding which A can deny as whether they were or weren’t speeding B shouldn’t have come out when it wasn’t clear to do so and i don’t think As insurance would accept 50/50 in that instance and will push for liability on Bs side so it’s B out of pocket on excess and potential no claims strike.

I think you’re totally underestimating the cost of car repairs! If she hit the side of the other vehicle she is unequivocally at fault. Having a claim increases the premium even if not at fault. Presuming the side is dented it will probably mean replacing the door and re spraying half the car and will be far more than the cost of her increased premium though

But she’ll have to put a claim in as the third party’s insurers will expect to be reimbursed by hers, given she’s almost certainly at blame. She can chose not to have her car fixed, and not pay the excess. But that’s unlikely to change the impact on her premium much as the bulk of the claim is, I suspect, third party costs.

I'm in agreement with @BungleandGeorge, car repair costs can be massive for something that looks like it'll just "buff out". If a new splitter is needed, depending on the make of the car, this can genuinely be hundreds of pounds alone, it may even need a new door so repairs would easily go above the £600 excess (I've worked in car bodyshops for the past 10 years). Also if it's a company car it may likely be a newish car on lease so the third party (sounding like they are non-fault) are likely only to accept perfection otherwise they'll be penalised when the car goes back off lease, it's common place for this incident to go through insurance. Completely agree with PP's though to see if the third party are happy to take the car to a few garages for them to assess and advise. The insurer will push for the third party to go to their approved repairer as they will be on lower labour/paint rates meaning more money in the insurance companies pocket, however at the end of the day it sounds like your sis is at fault and no doubt the third party will go to nearest approved repairer to save them time and hassle.

Car B.

Car B can argue A was speeding

I think she’d struggle with that anyway as there’s no speed limit in a public car park. You might see 5mph signs but that’s a request and nothing more.

Having a claim increases the premium even if not at fault.

I wish people would stop staying stuff like this as if it's fact. There is absolutely zero that's guaranteed about what will happen with the next policy.

DD was run into at a junction a couple of years ago and the next year her policy was cheaper.

No one can say for sure what will happen after a claim.

With all due respect OP, you obviously know very little about cars and it's not possible to diagnose what needs to be done to the car with a Google search. You have to check the structural integrity of what's underneath.

I had a car written off in my teens and by looking at it you'd have thought it just needed a new bumper.

Thank you, I hope this is the case for my sister. I’ve tried to help as much as I can but not a financial stress she needs right now

Yeah it will. Even if she doesn't claim, as soon as the insurance company find out about the accident then her premiums will rise. Also, if she doesn't contact the insurance company and the other party does then her insurance company may cancel the policy as you have to inform them.

Ours went up after a no fault claim. An animal caused an accident as someone hit it and other cars swerved etc. We only had very minor damage but it cost £700 to fix (we paid £300 excess). Our premium went up and we still had £400 increase even switching companies via comparison sites.

You can't say that for certain as there are loads of different factors to consider.

I had a 50/50 accident in my first year of driving, claimed a 4-figure sum and my insurance still went down the following year.

noone can tell for sure thats the problem everyting is different with each crash and the insurance companies

she might aswell get some quote for her own damage though

Absolutely this. There are so many factors that determine the price of a policy that it's impossible to know what will happen.

People on MN love to post their opinion as if it's fact. It makes it a waste of time for people asking advice.