Just when you take your dashcam out of the car. I’m fucked aren’t I?!

[TeresaCrowd]

Pulled up behind a car at a roundabout. Both stationary. Left a decent amount of space. Idiot then just starts rolling back. Sounded horn to warn them of my presence, made no difference. Low speed bumper boop. Americans would have called it parking. Annoying but actually at the time thought it would just be a case of

Exchanged numbers to share insurance details later (maybe foolish but they had work, I had a train to catch, the ‘damage’ to both cars was non-existent. A bit of flappy underskirt trim had partially popped off mine, the dust and dirt had rubbed off theirs in about a 8cm long x 1cm wide line, that I think lined up with the plastic number plate shroud on mine, and it was quite clear neither of us were injured. I know everyone says these slow speed things aren’t that slow and everyone will have whiplash etc but it really was in slow motion, I just believed they would realise and stop when I beeped.

They never contacted me and despite me trying them a couple of times the next day to no answer, just had notification from my insurers that they have claimed I drove into the back of them ‘at speed’ which is quite clearly (to me at least) bullshit.

I’m so bloody annoyed because I’d just had notification that my new car was on the way from the factory and so started pulling everything off the old one including the dashcam, so nothing to help other than I know I’m 100% truthful, and that the road does slope so that someone with careless clutch control would roll back. I probably left 6ft of space to their car (enough to see tyres), so that’s how far they have rolled from a standing start on very gentle slope to build up the supposed ‘high speed’ but even then it was them doing the hitting.

As they have proven themselves to me as willing to lie, this is going to fuck me over isn’t it. Any hints and tips on how I can get them to believe me with no witness and no dashcam. Bloody kicking myself but it was a PITA to unwire and last weekend I had a lot of spare time which going forward I do not, and this car is the trade in collateral so also why I’d have no reason to drive around carelessly and had in fact been extra careful, including parking miles away in the supermarket to avoid this kind of scenario!

I’ve got max no claims (17 years but I think most places don’t actually record that much) and a clean licence no points or fines or anything. I was expecting a bit of an insurance jump this year because of getting the new car, even though it’s a lower group but I really can’t afford to be dealing with careless drivers and the inevitable hike to insurance premiums at a time they are already extortionate!

Anyone been in this situation where you were the following car but stationary?

They will have reported it to their insurer and been told not to return your calls. Did you report it to your insurer and did you get a discount for having a dashcam? This will all go to your credibility if your insurer is going to defend on your behalf - many times I’ve been told a dashcam wasn’t working/removed that day/week when it’s evidence was crucial re liability. Also, same day reporting helps rather than your insurer being advised by the other drivers insurer of the RTA days or weeks later. Did you take photographs at the scene showing lack of damage to both vehicles, lack of debris on the road etc? I have dealt with many roll back claims - first thing I always check is whether the car in front is manual/automatic/EV. You can do this in seconds on line. Then I get all the damage documents to see if this tally’s with what the other driver is saying re speed and point of impact. They may genuinely not realise they had rolled back and be just as adamant as you are that they are not at fault. They can be defended (I have done with some), but it will be an uphill battle to prove you haven’t collided into the rear of them. Good luck (and put the dash cam back in your car asap!).

I would go back to the location to see if there are any CCTVs that may have captured the incident.

Dont assume OP. So many people try it on with rear ending stuff it's now done on a case by case.

Speak to your insurance. You took photos at least didnt you?

No I don’t have a special price, discount or requirement on my insurance to have a dashcam, it’s never been mentioned as a possibility to them, more just that it would have proved my case. Ironically it’s been in my car for a couple of years without being of any use other than I reported a twat on the motorway once who was all over the shop and cutting people up because I genuinely thought they’d cause an accident up the road. I got one because I got one for my pushbike after nearly getting run off the road by a car and it seemed sensible, but because I didn’t know if I’d keep it (as it originally was giving me some battery draining jip, later fixed by an auto electrician) it was best not to rely on having it for insurance purposes, same as I have business cover even though I only really commute, because we are allowed to borrow stuff from work for personal use and if I had a crash with stuff in the car whilst not strictly commuting I wouldnt want them to have an excuse not to pay out. over insured is better than under insured!

I have an auto car with hold. I tried searching if their car was auto or manual and couldn’t find anything online without paying a subscription, but it was a 15yr old small diesel hatchback so on probability it’s a manual (I know that’s not evidence). I went back to the scene, stopped where they were, put my car in neutral, not on hold, and let off the brake and it does indeed roll backwards. Where I was (2nd car) would have rolled backwards too rather than forwards. Given both cars were stationary for several passing cars on the junction, I’d have had to actively drive to hit them. Lifting off the brake on mine should have left it in hold.

I’ve got pictures showing no discernible damage to both cars, that the road was bone dry and that it was sunny and clear. My insurers did say that from the photos I’d sent in my side sounded plausible and that the damage didn’t appear to be in line with a crash ‘at speed’ and they are disputing the other party. I’m not even making a claim for mine, I just popped the plastic trim back! My other half had a more deformed bumper plastic when he parked a bit too close in a bush and just separated the bits that kind of click together (body coloured bit and grey plastic bit). I just don’t know if it ends up in a he said she said that I’d default lose because I was the car behind, or the insurers will realise there’s essentially no repair costs either way and just go 50:50 for an easy life.

The other chap specifically asked me to call him to get his details as he was adamant he had to get to work, he didn’t even give me his name at the scene, and as a lone female that felt safer to get that later than to push the situation. I’m a reasonable human and thought we’d just phone, swap details and get it sorted. Not he’d leave me chasing for the details to even report it in the first place. I’ve never had to report anything to insurers before so thought I’d need at least his name and address, and possibly insurance company. The one time my partner had a shunt this was the details they swapped. They had plenty of time though as his car wasn’t driveable, and it was in a major shopping centre car park with both parties not being on their own.

Start a new car insurance quote using their reg. it will tell you if it’s manual or auto.

A picture of the wider scene would show a car-sized space between him and the entrance to the roundabout. If you had gone into him, he would've logically been waiting at the line.

My friend just had this exact scenario! Insurance said there wasn't enough evidence either way and her word against the other driver so it just got dropped!

Do not accept it. Just getu clearly set out what you have here without mentioning the dash cam as you don't have it on your insurance. Clearly set out your rebuttal and do not apologise. It's up to them to prove it, if the insurance company even cares they can experiment like you did. But you should have reported it to your insurance on the day really then you'd have more clout to your side although I see why you didn't.

If they had cut or dashcam footage yes.

Husband had a similar experience. He’s a taxi driver and was stationary picking up passengers. Young girl just passed her test weeks earlier pulled in and caught his offside bumper. She was pulling in to park in a motorbike only space so she couldn’t legally even park there. Got out and admitted she’s already had an accident. Ran across the road to the shop she was going to and then left after exchanging details. She’s now trying to claim he hit her and 23k in personal injuries. His insurance are refusing to pay as she hit him and it’s she said he said but they’re still fighting it 18 months later. Also found out at the time the car had no road tax but that doesn’t seem to invalidate the claim somehow.Cost him more to insure his taxi because of this ongoing claim but we now have a front and rear dash cam. Always better to have them

A few years ago when we were still paying the insurance on my DDs car (she was 18), we received notification that her car was involved in an accident in central London. She had never been near central London in her car ever.

Eventually to resolve it the insurers sent someone to look at her car. This chap took one look at the front of her car (he had the damage report from the other car) and said he could see that she hadn’t been involved. He said he could also tell that there had been no repair either. I guess that’s why they send an expert to do a visual check.

The chap said most likely the details of the other car involved had been taken down wrong and so that’s why her car came up.

Will your insurers come and look at your damage. They should be able to tell from the lack of damage this was not ‘at speed’.

Did you take photos of the "damage"?

Dashcams are useful but I find they tend to fail quite often. The dates re-set and they randomly stop recording. I had a near miss when a small child shot out from behind a van on a scooter. Fortunately I was only doing about 15mph and stopped. They guy behind me also managed to stop. The child got a ticking off from both me, the driver behind and a passer by.

I checked my dashcam when I got home but it hadn't recorded.

Never had a dash CAM but is it not backed up to the cloud? Otherwise it's pretty useless, how big is the SD card?

@Doggymummar My dash cam and both DC's are just recorded to a large sd card. It deletes on a loop but collisions are recorded in a protected space.

So she should have it recorded the? Great news! That's what I thought.

It’s annoying the the lack of tax/MOT/insurance doesn’t prevent someone claiming. They can even claim for their car, but not for hire charges as the vehicle was illegally on the road. It does adversely affect them re credibility though. Dash cams are helpful - it saved me from a split liability settlement on a changing lanes RTA on a motorway. There is a emergency button you click that saves the footage and I couldn’t have been happier when I got home and secured it on my phone.

I would write out a very detailed recollection of events ie saw the car rolling backwards, no reversing lights, you beeping, conversation afterwards etc. Most insurers will allow you to defend but more likely than not the other driver will litigate to see an end to this. Do you want to go to a Trial to defend? You could look at a 50/50 split but if you are adamant you are not at fault I wouldn’t, especially if there are other inconsistencies the Claimant’s evidence. One inconsistency can be explained away, after several it gets more difficult. You may also need to explain why you didn’t report the accident to your insurer within the stipulated time period in your contract of insurance.

Good luck!

Report them to their insurers, yours, and the police, as they probably rolled backwards into you as a cash 4 crash scam and insurers take a dim view of this. I got stung by one once and thought I was screwed but eventually they got prosecuted.

Your insurance will be able to tell that didn't happen from the damage caused.

You can tell if a cars had a repair/paint. Paint meters record the thickness of the paint and experienced assessors can look at a car and tell you if parts of it have been repaired on sight.

I know someone who had this. It’s a common scam. They even have people who are part of the scam nearby to act as witnesses. The “roll backer” put in a personal injury claim for whiplash, PSTD and god knows what else. It was all handled by the insurance and I think they ended up paying a settlement to the scammer. I hope they’ve cracked down on this more, and the person who did this to you gets convicted for fraud.

I’d just let your insurance company deal with it though because there’s not anything you can do now other than tell the truth. Try not to worry, I hope your premium doesn’t go up because of it. Best of luck.