Just had a car accident - the other driver says it is my fault, I disagree. Who is right?

[bunny2]

Grrrr. Tesco carpark, I was going very slow because I was looking fir a space (doesnt mean I wasnt looking where I was going). A car backed out of the space and into me, my car then pushed the other car into the adjacent one. The other driver kept repeating "you drove into me, you drove into my car", she wants my insurance to pay up. But.... surely she drove into me, I had right of way, i wasnt speeding, I was looking where I was going.... can she really nail this one on me????

Hope you are ok! Sounds like you are in the right here - definitely your right of way. Sounds like she's trying it on...
Take HER insurance and claim against her! Do you have any witnesses?

I think if she has reversed into you it is always legally her fault?

Tell her that her rear view and wing mirrors are for checking for other vehicles, not for using to put her makeup on. If she'd have been checking mirrors and blind spot properly - like you get taught to do - she would have seen you driving up.

where did the vehicles collide?

did her rear end hit the side of your car or did the front of yours hit the side of hers?

I hope you wrote down what happened at the time. Were there any witnesses? Leave it to the insurance co to decide fault but I bet Enid's right. For exmaple if you go into the back of someone it's ALWAYS your fault. The same ought to apply with reversing didn't it (but I could be wrong so will shut up now!)

the other driver is at fault.

definitely. happened to me

I would say she is at fault too. Dh was reversing into a parking space last year, when another driver came round the corner too fast and hit him in the rear. Insurance company said it was dh's fault, even though he had started his manoeuvre when she came racing round the corner.

Write it down, measure it up and draw a diagram of what happened. I would be surprised if it was judged to be your fault but am no expert.

She should tell her insurance co what happened, and you shuld tell yours. Draw a really clear diagram of what happened, which car was where and where on each car the damage is.

I used to work for Churchill Insurance dealing with motor claims, and the reversing party is always at fault. You have nothing to worry about. Report it to your insurers, get a statement down with a diagram and you will be fine.

Hope you are ok x

Gawd, Im worried now. No WWW, I didnt write anything down at the time. I'll do it now. There was a witness, an employee who was collecting trolleys saw it happen and he came up to me afterwards and said "I saw waht happened, she went into you", (the employee does have "learning difficulties" as Tescos put it, I dont know if that can affect his reliability as a witness). I have spoken to Tescos to see if they have any CCTV fottage and they are going to call back.

tissy... that's what happened to me too!
was reversing to get into a space when a car raced up the ramp, round the corner and into the back of me

Why would they say its my fault?

Hope you're all right. I would think you had the right of way and as long as you weren't speeding then she is going to have a problem proving otherwise. Your insurance would have to pay up for the damage to the next car though. She must have been going pretty fast or have continued to move after the first bump to have caused you to hit something else. When you submit your insurance paperwork you should draw diagrams of the different stages of the incident and describe it but ultimately the companies will probably decide "fault" between them.

JM, really?? Always?? Hope you are right, I dont even know who our insurance is with, never needed it before

LIZS, what happened was I went into her rear, and carried on for a second or two, purely out of shock. By doing this I pushed her car into the one parked next to her.

got to go, dd awake

back soon

thanks so much

xx

Bunny2 - yes. And if your car was pushed into another, that would fall on the responsible driver's insurance too.

Classic case, dealt with at least 15 of these on a typical week!

oops posts crossed ! Did you take any of her details or her yours ?

I would say you had right of way and it's her fault but then I don't know if normal traffic regulations apply for car parks.

think its her fault. Ring insurance people they will help you out

Bunny2, hope I've got this the right way round and just being picky, when you fill in your claim form don't write 'I went into her rear', put 'as I was driving along at xxmph she reversed out of a parking space into the front of my car'

Insurance companies can be really awkward when they want to.

Oh sorry, misunderstood , thought you'd hit the second car, not her car. Did she leave her details with driver of that car either ?

back again

thanks so much for all your messages - just read them again and I feel much calmer

Ailsa, that's a really good point - I shall word my report really carefully

Enid, re your post 1:01:06, I think her read hit my side as most of the damage is on the side of my car, right at the front by the light. Does this help my case?

bunny - yes it does help - it proves she came out into you. as long as she has rear damage and you have side/frontal damage there is no contest. It will be fine i promise.