to ask the girl who drove into the back of me to pay for the repairs?

[Binkster]

I know I'm probably not, but maybe other people telling me so will make me feel less guilty about it!

We were just coming out of our local supermarket. You have to queue and get out onto a one way road. The trouble is, the road coming out of the carpark is wide and people often think it's 2 lanes. So they overtake the rest of the queue, onto the single lane on the main road causing the person who's been queuing to put their breaks on and wait to pull out.

This just happened to me, and I stopped and beeped at the driver. I was just about ready to pull away again and the person behind me drove straight into the back of me. We were both a bit shaken up and she admitted that she had been too busy looking down the one way street for a gap in the traffic and wasn't looking where she was going.

Why do I feel bad about sending her the invoice for the repairs? It shouldn't be much (fingers crossed) but I just feel really guilty about it- what's wrong with me?!

well if she needs to she'll claim on her insurance.
This happened to me (I was the bumper) and wouldn't have expected the bumpee to do otherwise. I chose to pay directly as it was roughly the same as my excess but she chose the garage etc.

It'sfair enough, basic insurance afaik is that she should have been sufficiently paying attention and far enough back to notice you stop

no, it's absolutely her fault! do't feel bad at all

Yes, legally and according to the insurance companies it is her fault. She has control of her car going forwards, not you. She is meant to leave enought space betwen her car and the one in front to allow for reaction time in case of sudden stops, and she didn't. Absolutely myou should send her the bill and my guess is that she will be pleased not to have to do it through the insurance companies if you can sort it amicably.

oh god yes I didn't even realise you were asking if it was her fault. Yes, if someone drives into the back of you it's their fault - I don;t think there are any exceptions!
Mine was black and white too - her car was parked

Of course she should pay!

My next door neighbour's son left his hand brake off and his car rolled into mine .

It smashed my rear bumper but he didn't want to go through the insurance and agreed to pay for it to be sorted. However, the cheeky git didn't tell me that he was only planning on it being repaired and not replaced and he even told me that he had booked it in to his chosen garage for me (10 miles away) .

Well I was having none of it and so I took the car to 3 local garages who all said that it couldn't be repaired as it had smashed through the mounting brackets. So I booked it into my choice of garage, told him he could pay up I'd go through the insurance and in the end he stumped up the £400 it cost to replace the bumper.

Do make sure you get the full amount from her though and don't feel guilty - hopefully she'll have learned to be a more careful driver in future.

Thank you, don't feel quite so bad now, it's good to have some reassurance! She was just as shaken up as I was and the silly man who caused me to break just drove off without a care in the world. I know it was her fault, and she was so apologetic. Hopefully it won't cost too much to repair.