Car accident - am I at fault?

[Dolly5678]

I was involved in a car accident today. I drove into the side of a car at a junction where I was turning right onto a main road. The other driver was indicating left to turn down the road I was coming out of, hence why I pulled out, but he didn’t turn left he drove straight on. I told him he was indicating left and he agreed but said he then turned it off.

An independent witness came up to me at the time of the crash and said she saw what happened and that he was at fault. I’ve submitted the claim with my insurers and they said I am technically at fault as I drove into him, regardless of whether he was indicating incorrectly. That doesn’t seem fair?!

has anyone been involved in anything similar? How much weight does an independent witness statement hold? Not as much as dash cam or video footage I’m guessing.

The guy was polite enough at the scene but I have a bad feeling about him and how this claim will go…

@PutKettleOn

@Dolly5678As always, there are a lot if posters here who do not know what they're talking about...
There is very well established case law relevant to this scenario and this would suggest settlement on a 2/3, 1/3 basis in favour of the driver on the main road.
Look up Misleading Signal, Wadsworth v Gillespie.
An independent witness is always useful - if they will assist...

It is not that clear cut though, and there is more recent case law such as Davis v Swinwood (2003). Claimant pulled out in front of a lorry indicating left but was found 100% liable.

I had exactly this scenario (the only time I have ever trusted the indicators 🙄).

The insurers settled at 60/40 (60% to them, 40% to me). My insurers were really surprised.

This poster has nailed it. A very common case law in the insurance industry!

Probably split as suggested above. Your insurers should get the witness statement and argue it.

Sorry OP but you should have waited. People are rubbish with their indicators these days I find so you can't overly trust them

I had a similar accident - only I hit the side of someone who was coming the wrong way down a one way road in a car park (the car park had altered routes due to one aisle being blocked off, but there was no signage change at the junction)
Insurers said because I drove into the other car, the default was I was at fault - even though I had no reason to expect any traffic coming from my right. Sucks, but there we go…

Thought I’d give an update on this as it could help others… indeed I was wrong to have trusted his indicator and pulled out before he had started to turn into the road I was coming out of. However my insurance company have passed the case onto another company to investigate it as a potential fraud - crash for cash. Looking back the guy driving the other car was incredibly calm and had his insurance details really immediately. I was so shaken up I didn’t suspect anything dodgy. Anyway, they’ve not got to an outcome yet and it will take months but they told me crash for cash scammers target lone Mums on the school run so I was a good victim if he did mislead me deliberately. I will never make that mistake again and I’m extremely wary of other drivers ‘waving you’ on or flashing their headlights to say go ahead - that’s another common crash for cash tactic apparently :-(

@Dolly5678 I'll be interested to see how this plays out. About 25 years ago we had a very similar incident. The other cab was a complete rust bucket and had it been in better repair there would have been a lot less damage. Unfortunately for us we were deemed to be at fault because we were coming out of a turning onto the main road which had right of way. There was absolutely no damage to our car and it was purely down to the state of the other car that meant there was any claim at all. I hope it gets investigated thoroughly.