So angry. AIBU the driver who is now disputing he caused crash

[Eastie77Returns]

I was sitting stationery in my car when another driver drove into the side of my car causing substantial damage. He was an elderly man who emerged from the car looking quite confused and buffudled. He was extremely apologetic and we exchanged details. My claim was initially a no-fault claim but the other driver has now claimed that I drove into his car (impossible, I was not moving) and damaged HIS car. This despite the photos showing my doors are caved in and his car barely has a scratch. The incident happened outside a local business but the owners will not release the CCTV footage due to GDPR etc.

This will obviously impact my premiums going forward and NCB. I have been driving since the age of 17 and have never had an accident.

I have this person's number and am tempted to send him angry text message. I know this will not acheive anything. WWYD in this situation?

I had a similar situation years ago. I was parked on a road that had cars either side - there were no spaces to pull in so once a driver entered the road they invariably sped up to get as far down the road as possible so any oncoming traffic would have to reverse. I was parked on the left hand side indicating to come out. A speeding driver saw my indicator, panicked, slammed his brakes on, lost control of his car and drove into me 🙁 he told the insurers that I drove out in front of him. I literally hadn’t moved … and they believed him 🙁

I had similar - young driver went into side of me, asked me not to go through insurance that they would pay. Got quotes, bigger than they thought, they started playing silly buggers, I went to insurance to find they had opened a claim against me!! Luckily I had photos which showed it was their fault.

@Eastie77Returns put a Facebook post asking for Witnesses.

I'd also speak to someone at your insurance to say you were not moving at the time and it would be physically impossible for you to have driven sideways into him. Your insurance sound useless!

I bloke fell asleep at the wheel years ago and rear ended my car at traffic lights. He admitted liability then his insurance then tried saying it was my fault e.g. implying I reversed the wrong way up a dual carriageway at a high enough speed to write his car off!! I spoke to my insurance and told them this was ridiculous and they agreed and fought it. I won.

I think insurance parties will always try and claim their customer was not at fault even when it is ridiculous!

@Eastie77Returns the business cannot release CCTV to you but can to your insurance company or the police. Keep calm and contact your insurance company about it. Do not speak to the other driver at all.

If it was the side of your car that was damaged you can't possibly have caused it as cars can't go sideways. Stick to your guns and let the insurance sort it. Don't engage with him at the gym.

Stick to your guns, dishonest of the other driver and you shouldn't be out of pocket for his poor driving.
We were at a junction and a driver was speeding and didn't break in time so drove into us and our car was a write off. He claimed we were at fault! Anyway we were proven to be truthful and the claim was settled.

Oh yes, this was how it when DH was bashed in the side. Other party said she didn't want to go through insurance but wanted to think about it over the weekend. DH rang her Saturday and she said she hadn't had time to think. Rang her again Monday, said she was still thinking. DH rang his insurance Tuesday and they told him it looked really bad for him that he'd waited so long!

If there's a next time, we'll be straight to insurance within the hour!

Ask insurance to fight it

I would advise the insurance company about the cctv.

I would also report the accident on 101 and put down I am concerned about the gentleman’s eye sight

I was hit head on by someone on my side of the road. So many photos to show the position of the cars, but the other driver blamed me. Our insurance company didn’t give a crap and went 50/50, killing my premiums. Not a claim from me in nearly 30 years driving all up the spout.

I have a dash cam now.

Keep at your insurance company and keep refusing to accept such an idiotic arrangement.

Similar happened to me 3 months after I passed my test, I was driving down the main road and next thing I know I had been hit in the drivers' side by an older man who either misjudged where I was or was just too impatient and couldn't wait for me to pass before pulling out of his parked position outside my local shops. No cameras, no witnesses, absolutely nothing to back me up. Just 3 weeks of constant phone calls and questions from my insurers asking the same thing over and over again: can you explain what happened in detail please.

My story remained consistent every single time, whilst his changed over time - I think that may have been what went in my favour (not the fact that cars can't drive sideways....) but I refused to back down and I kept to my version of events (the truth) and it paid off in the end. My car was written off but my insurance premiums weren't affected and I still have my NCB to date.

I would definitely get the police involved, or just keep pestering your insurance company to do their job and find that CCTV footage before it gets deleted, if it hasn't been already. No, you yourself can't request that footage, but the police and/or your insurance company most certainly can (I'm a manager in retail, we have to deal with this whenever there's an accident in our car park) and that is what you are paying your insurance company for, they need to pull their finger out. At the very least they should be speaking to the mechanic and getting their professional opinion, which seems to be that you being at any fault is near impossible.

Good on you for cancelling the membership, I'd be inclined to let the manager know you will only speak to them about the cancellation when they agree to release the footage of their 'friends' accident outside... that should at least stop them pestering you to change your mind about leaving.

Drivers can't admit fault. Your insurance company can, a driver cant. So let the insurance company handle it.

This happened to me… driver concocted a fake witness and totally fictitious version of events. I had no witness so my insurance had to pay a fault claim.

So many sad stories on here of liars and vagabonds getting away with ripping honest people off. Awful. Not sure what the answer is though. Maybe insurance companies need close examination of how they investigate and what weight they give actual real evidence like witnesses, dashcams, CCTV etc.

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Op glad you reported him you might want to tell the police how confused he seemed to just in case it’s a health issue. Also his family have probably told him to deny it. Get the police to look at cctv in case he’s got a health issue he could be a danger to others.

I think everyone should have front and rear dash cams. I got dashcam footage of an collision a decade ago. The driver at fault tried to blame the victim but I sent the footage to the victim's insurance company. It was my footage and I was happy to send it. The claim was all sorted in days.

The guy who hit my daughter in her car hasn't even reported the incident to his insurance company .. despite the police being called and the insurance details being handed over to either party by a police officer... It's nutty and not sure how it's going to end. This was about three months ago and she ended up with a substantial neck injury and even the police said at the scene he was speeding... I just cannot imagine being in a place where not reporting it to his insurance could possibly end well.

I've scheduled a front and back dashcam fitting at a local service centre.

To everyone saying "just let insurance sort it", unfortunately my insurers seemed quite passive about it all. I have pushed back on accepting 50-50 fault but my sense is if I hadn't they would have just settled with that. They have waived my excess as they accepted I was not at fault, quickly organised a courtesy car and a repair so I cannot fault their service in some respects. When I spoke to them earlier today and said I would not accept 50-50 under any circumstances and the photographic evident shows it would have been impossible for me to drive into the other driver, they said "ok so you will support us in litigation" which I took to mean they would be prepared to go to court..

I have a reference number from the police and waiting to hear back from the gym regarding my SAR

I haven’t read the whole thread, but brava for standing up for yourself OP. I’m a huge advocate for dash cams. Especially after some of my family were in an awful collision through no fault of their own, and it became very obvious they would’ve been screwed over by the other driver without the footage to prove they weren’t to blame (luckily everyone got to limp away this time).

And as for the ticking time bomb that is elderly people driving way beyond their declining capacities… yikes

I had a similar incident. A lorry went into me while I was stationary at traffic lights. The driver and company initially admitted liability but then I received a call from my insurance company saying that he was now denying hitting me, there was £2500 damage to my car. A court date was sent eventually and a few days before I was due in court I was informed that the company had admitted liability. It took almost 18 months and was very stressful. Just fight him all the way. They should be able to tell you’re telling the truth due to the damage if necessary.

Standard defense. Most people claim they didnt cause the accident even if they did.

I had an elderly male driver go into the back of me at low speed then get out and yell at me - its standard behaviour it seems. There was luckily no damage.

Ive had another elderly male driver go straight into my side whilst I was driving around an island. He claimed I drove into him despite the obvious and significant side damage of my car and front damage on his. When it came to exchanging details he was unable to see my phone number on my phone which I showed him and unable to write down any details. He had dashcam footage but did not submit it. It was easily settled as him at fault.

After that I got a dashcam in place. Id recommend you do the same.

Ask the insurance company to arrange an inspection of your vehicle.

Our insurance company did this for us when the other driver denied hitting us. They found evidence that it was the other driver's fault.

Hrft but i would report the driver to the police as unfit to drive. Sounds like he perhaps has health issues which should stop him driving.

Oh and if you have Aa or Rac cover sometimes they will fight the insurers for you, i believe also some household insurance policies do this.

Dont accept what the insurance says, just keep contacting them saying you are not accepting 50 50 liability. There are witnesses and CCTV they need to get off their arses and find it.

Its a pants system that allows insurers to take easy options at the cost of customers.