Who is at fault for this accident? With diagram

[NeighbourHitMyCar]

Hi there!

I'm not going to do those annoying Driver A and Driver B posts.... My neighbour hit the front side of my car while reversing out of their driveway

We have had previous issues with them regarding a skip that was in front of our house and damage to our driveway from the skip lorry taking out a wall so there is history there!!

However, their insurers are now trying to say the accident was 50:50 my fault too and i just can't see how!

I was returning home after work and drove along my road and slightly passed my house. There was no traffic coming either way so I pulled across the road onto the other side slightly to line up the car (our driveway parking is at an angle due to a tree).

I had stopped the car and and put it into reverse when...BANG... I turned to see my neighbours car bonnet at my driver door having dented it.

They park forward into their driveway which means they have to reverse out. They had obviously seen no traffic was coming along the road and not looked directly behind them to see me already in the road.

Hope the dodgy diagram makes sense

Can anyone explain how their insurers are possibly claiming I am in any way at fault here?

Feel like I'm going mad having sent diagram after diagram

Unfortunately no ring footage or dashcam

nooe

positioning of hit vehicle is obviously very relevant

so that’s what their insurer is saying

but what is your insurer saying, as surely it’s them doing the liaising with the insurer on your behalf?

Problem is that other person haw implied thar both cars were moving, ie reversed into each other. In the absence of independent witnesses, it's unlikely to be financially viable to take legal action to get their money back.

and it would be a sensible assumption to assume that someone in a vehicle in the road (partly on the other side of the road no less)… was moving!!

I would guess they are saying you were in motion and came forward onto their side of the road at the same time they were reversing onto the correct side of the road so 50:50?

No idea how to prove who was moving.

Were you at all aware that the neighbour was about to move when you started?

There’s something somewhere about any car entering the carriageway must give way to any vehicle already on the carriageway.
Plus, you were stationary.
I don’t see how you can possibly be at fault. I think their insurance are just trying their luck

No idea of your qualifications on this and happy to be corrected, but ultimately if you drive into a stationary vehicle, reverse or forwards, whether it should be there or not, you're at fault. You need to know where you are putting your vehicle if it's moving...

@llamali when I started what? Sorry

I would think that the absence of any damage to the front or rear of your car would show that you did not drive into them, while the lack of scrapes along the impact point should show you were stationary. Go back to your insurer with photographs showing the above.

Your neighbour has a dent in his boot - it would be quite a trick to hit the back of someone’s car with the side of yours!

op what is your insurer saying

and of course they presume you were moving

otherwise begs the question… why weren’t you moving given you were on the road and in fact partly on the other road of the road!

My insurers see this as a no fault accident and my car is repaired now but are clearly wrangling with the other party and asking me for any physical evidence to support them pushing back on the 50:50 proposal

come again

they are asking you for “physical evidence”?

what could you possibly produce?

@nutrosti ...I don't know how to explain any more clearly why for those 2 seconds I wasn't moving... I would anyone who lines up to reverse, puts it in reverse gear and immediately puts their foot on the accelerator without taking a last glance around. It just so happens that when he hit me I was looking in my rear view mirror about to start backing in

The whole manoeuvre

If anyone has ring video footage or dashcam as I said above

I think if you’re reversing it’s almost always your fault because you should be looking at where you’re reversing?

keep us updated op!

Suppose, insead of reversing into your property on the left,you had been turning right into a property on the other side of the road. Your car would have been in exactly the same position (as I understand your diagram), though possibly moving not stationary. In that case, if the neighbour had reversed into you, there would be no doubt whatsoever that he was at fault; he would have basically reversed into you from his drive without lookingwhile you were on the public highway, manoevering.

There is no way that you are at fault. 50:50 my arse. Only in my humble opinion, of course.

I think nearly all insurance claims start at 50/50 and they try as hard as possible to settle for that. There needs to be clear evidence. Unfortunately it'll come down to your word against theirs. Were there any witnesses or dashcam, have they admitted fault?

OP it sucks.

Who repaired your car? You or insurers? There should be an engineers report and photos.
Insurers will always aim for split liability- can you ask to see if any other neighbours saw what happened?

@FlutteryButterfly strangely in spite of our previous disagreements about damage to our property, he was very apologetic and even offered to pay out of pocket rather than go through insurers (wish we'd done that now!)

He even dropped round flowers the next day as my 10 month old was in the car was very upset

But my insurers say that as none of it is in writing it isn't something they can use as is hearsay

No dashcam, no other witnesses

I have only had one insurance claim; the guy was off his head, road-raging, I was stationary on a very narrow road, police were called etc etc. It was a horrible experience. Went to court as he lied about everything. The day before court his insurers pulled out of the case as he'd gone awol. I still had to attend court to justify insurance costs as courtesy car was priced ridiculously (nothing to do with me; that's what my insurance organised!) I would throw everything you have at them right now to assure you don't end up down this route. Ultimately, if you were stationary (and I got to the point where I myself questioned if i really was, but I had the hand brake on 😅) stand your ground as it can all be proven from the damage. And they really need to learn to reverse into their drive like you do.

@Hall84 we went through insurers and there are umpteen photos, none of which show I have scraps suggesting I was moving. No idea why this doesn't prove I was stationery?

@Proseccoh oh gosh that sounds awful! Glad you got there in the end and I hope this doesn't go that way!