Neighbour reversed into my car, as I was reversing

[Jess92xo]

Thoughts please.

I got into my car on my drive earlier and saw another car coming down the road (slowly as if they were going to park up on that side of the road).

They go past the house opposite and stop, break lights on for what felt like about 20 seconds or so. I then reverse off of my drive until I reach the other side of the road and as I am about to put my car into "drive" and turn my wheel to move forwards, the stationary car starts to reverse with the back of my car right behind him. I beep my horn continuously and he doesn't even look round to my direction. He then hits my car, and even then still doesn't look round! He eventually looks round and looks totally confused.

Turns out he is my neighbour who lives opposite (I haven't met him properly yet) picking up a new car for his daughter.

He doesn't say much but gets out to look at the back of his car. He seemed quite reserved and doesn't admit any fault, neither do I. I told him that he looked parked up as he wasn't moving (I thought he was waiting to pick someone up) so I then thought it was safe to go into that side of the road when reversing.

I am not angry as these things happen but he should have checked all of his mirrors before reversing back, our road is pretty quiet and no one was there 30 seconds or so before he decided to move again. I just can't believe he didn't hear the horn to stop

He seemed quite timid and did said that all is ok and he doesn't want to go via insurance etc (neither damage was bad - just little scratches) so I'm not sure why he said this. But I'm just feeling so stressed out that this happened with a neighbour! Even though it's not my fault, I hate anything like this that makes things feel a bit awkward

I just want to see what others thought who is at fault? I'm very self critical and am now replaying it over and over as to whether I shouldn't of reversed out, but he genuinely looked parked up for what felt like long enough to believe he wasn't about to reverse.

I am the biggest worrier and stress head and came home and burst into tears! My partner couldn't work out why I was so upset and neither can I

It is not illegal to reverse out of your driveway onto a main or any other road. The Highway Code says it’s advisable to back into your driveway if possible, but there is no law against it.

Doesn’t make any difference, there is no law against reversing out of your driveway onto any road, main or not.

Just like to point out that although you say there only appears to be slight paint damage to the cars, you can't tell just by looking. Someone went into the back of me several years ago at a roundabout and there wasn't a mark on either car. I alerted my insurance though who asked me to take it to the garage and have it checked. Turns out there was several hundred pounds worth of damage underneath. Best to get these things checked.

I have protected no claims , dosent everyone? Madness if you don't. That way your insurance won't go up.

Oh dear. It absolutely will. You’ve protected the discount, not the base premium. 🤦🏻‍♀️

eg discount 50%

base premium before claim: £600. With discount £300
base premium after claim: £1000. With discount £500

Not always true that it's safer.
I used to live on a main road and it was definitely safer to reverse out than reverse in - or actually, it usually wasn't even possible to reverse in. Because despite approaching my drive slowly, with hazard lights flashing and then coming to a halt ready to make the reverse, nine out of ten drivers behind me would stop too close to me, thus preventing me from reversing into my drive - and of course the drivers behind then were also too close to enable any reversing to allow me to make my manoeuvre.
Reversing off the drive was no problem - cautiously edge backwards and it wouldn't take long for someone to stop to allow me out. Much safer.
And entirely legal.

This sort of accident goes as a 50/50.

It's not illegal in the UK to reverse off a drive. It is however advisable to reverse in and drive out. I've no idea of your set up but for most drives I would agree this is far far safer.

No it's not

If he's just picked up new car perhaps he's not insured on it hence not wanting to make a fuss.

Get it checked anyway. A colleague of my dads had a minor “bump” and there were only visible scratches. Turns out there was over £1,000 damage 😳

Its not illegal but the Highway code does discourage reversing out of driveways onto a main road, as it poses a higher risk to oncoming traffic. It advises that, wherever possible, you should reverse into your driveway so that when you leave, you can drive forward, which is safer.

So your car was stationary and he reversed into you? If so then it is his fault. However proving that you weren’t moving is a different matter.

This is an excellent way of demonstrating this and explains perfectly why premiums do still go up with a protected no claims - thank you!

It's much better to have a protected no claims to go from £300 to £500 than to not have it protected and go from £300 to £1,000!

Agree with the poster on you’re not meant to reverse from minor to major roads

however it sounds like he is at fault, you were stationary. He had stopped for 20 seconds then hadn’t looked before moving again. Sounds like his fault and sounds like he knows it xx

The amount of cars I see pull out without looking to the right on roundabouts or turns, they just assume everyone will stop for them. I’ve had to slam my breaks on so many times because of idiots. If I wasn’t heavily pregnant and with a 3 year old in the car I’d just go into them 🙃

Part 200 of the Highway Code states that you should reverse into a drive “if you can”. So it’s not illegal and not classed as a minor to major road.

Surely you stopped when you beeped so you’re stationary he’s at fault?

Unless you have an independent witness who can say that you were stationary at the time of the collision, the insurance will treat it as 50-50.