right, yesterday while on the road i was behind one of those ford transit things (the tat-man ones) when he braked to a stop, but no indicators to suggest he was parking up. i stopped about 6-8 feet behind when the prick started rolling back... me thinking he'd dropped his clutch or something waited for him to reapply brakes when he went straight into front of me.

got out and he claimed i was too close as he was reversing, to which i told him his reverse lights didnt come on. exchanged insurance details, but me being in a half-flap didnt get his address or phone no. (stupid i know)

spoke to my insurers this morning (ecar insurance) who said cos im 3rd party i ought to contact his insurers, which i did. they then in turn told me they ONLY dealt with their own customers claims and i'd have to speak with my own insurers :bang:

anyone know where i'd stand now, as it seems like pillar to post and its getting a bit frustrating

btw, heres a few pics of damage...









And the damage done to him...

it doesnt matter how close you were, he sound have made sure its clear before reversing, its his fault.

ring up your insurance again and tell them to sort it? even if your third party they should sort it?

sam

Feel sorry for you, i was with e-car last year and they were appalling when dealing with my claim. Good luck to you.

Wouldnt bother with a claim.

Yellow cinq bumpers are fairly reasonably available from scrappy.

Scuff marks will come out of bonnet.

This repair can be done for less than £50, his repair is probably even less for 2 x transit standard rear lights maybe less than tenner

Spending or getting someone to spend £50 for you VS losing your NCB

I know what i would pick

But he shouldt lose his NCB if it wasnt his fault, surely?

He will just say that he stopped and you did not. Fault will automatically be laid @ your insurance company and he will then make a claim against you.

The problem you have is that you have no proof to the contrary of what I just wrote, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Also, you would end up losing due to a simple question from the engineer.

"The Highway code states that a minimum of 6ft (I believe it is) should be left between vehicles to facilitate the manouvering around a stationary vehicle should the need arise. Assuming you left this distance, why did you not sound your horn or in other ways make your presence known to the insured (van driver) within this distance as he was moving towards you?" Any answer you give will either show (or be made to assume) lack of attention, ignorance or fault I am afraid.

I see this problem all the time as I work in a bodyshop, dealing with insurance companies, engineers, etc..

The same as when my little Cinq. got damaged due to some kid racing his mate, cutting round me because I did not pull away quick enough for him, then standing on the brakes in front of me and stopping dead in the road once he had got less than 10ft. in front.

Not my fault that I hit him, it was his manouver which directly instigated the incident. He tried to say otherwise. It was only because the investigator (which I asked for) could see that the kid was lying as his story was not making any sense, plus the fact that mine was already repaired (front panel, bonnet, etc...) within 3 days F.O.C. through work that he told the kid to withdraw his claim and pay for his damage himself.

Basically, you would be better off taking the "hit" (excuse the pun) yourself and replace the bumper out of your pocket as it will cost you more in the long run otherwise.

AppleSei said:

Wouldnt bother with a claim.

Yellow cinq bumpers are fairly reasonably available from scrappy.

Scuff marks will come out of bonnet.

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:yeahthat: Without any doubt.

so i take it with him:

a) not indicating that he was parking up

and

b) not having any reverse lights working on the vehicle

wouldn't bear any relevance in the claim?

as per my original post, i've already spoken with my insurance so would i be able to stop a claim or anything like that? I'm still on first years insurance, so i havent got any ncb yet

i know i probably should've honked (hindsight is great aint it) but would the onus not have also been with him to have made sure where he was reversing was clear prior to proceeding?

oh btw, cheers for all the help on this guys... much appreciated

MikeyBlue86 said:

so i take it with him:

a) not indicating that he was parking up

and

b) not having any reverse lights working on the vehicle

wouldn't bear any relevance in the claim?

Click to expand...

you cant prove that they arent working or wasnt working now as the lights are all smashed up. It would only be your word against his because i would assume he would deny that they were faulty unless any witnesses

would just take the experience on board and just get a slavage bumper for a £ and t-cut the bonnet

they can tell that the reverse light wasn't on
when it became smashed there's something what happens

watched it on a cop show

then again if it wasn't on
it wont have happened what happens when they break and still look like your fault

not to want to upset any one here, but last year exact same thing happened to my son guy reverse on to him knocked him off his bike.
he blamed my son of course insurance company did not agree as law is if someone reverse into its there fault not yours for begin there.
any way short story he had his bike repaired paid by the other driver insurance without any problem at all.

ok cheers for all the advice ppl. spoke to my insurance this morning and asked what my options were... turns out the woman i'd spoken to originally completely cocked all my details (recording me as fully comp instead of tptf) which i assume would've looked like me trying to defraud insurers. anyway, after a fairly short conversation, where she said the likelihood may be that it'd take a while for everthing to go through etc... i told her i wanted the car back the way it was, and halted the claim (which evidentally hadn't even began) so i can repair it myself.

she told me my no claims won't be affected as i'm not claiming, but will i still need to declare the accident come renewal time, and is my 1st ncb safe?

also does it go against me for not claiming if he decides to try and put a claim in for his lights?

cheers in advance for the help

the lights are worth pennys

i doubt he will bother with a claim for a few £ spend but it wouldnt go against you anyway i dont think as it wasnt your fault

you would have to claim the accident occured at renewal time, but you get many options available to say that it want your fault and no claim was made etc

sad thing is is that reversing lamps "dont" have to work (check the Mot list for lighting)

times like this i'm glad i have my basic in car camera set up

You dont reverse on the highway without making sure the road behind is clear so ask him if he looked before he started backing up, if he says no its an admission of liability, if he says yes, you can say you didnt look hard enough because you obviously didnt fecking see me!!....open and shut case. No way are you responsible for this. Ask for a claims form from your insurance company, fill it in send it back and keep pestering them. Its what you pay them for.

record conversation why not
just dont tell him

we are talking just about a two figure repair, rather than thousands.

Is it really worth all the hassle?

Andy Monty said:

times like this i'm glad i have my basic in car camera set up

Click to expand...

It at time like this I still realise I need to set one up Andy

AppleSei said:

we are talking just about a two figure repair, rather than thousands.

Is it really worth all the hassle?

Click to expand...

It's principle. It's blantently his fault.

TBH your 3rd party so you can't even loose your NCB bacuse you can't claim on your policy. Pester the hell out of them, I get ****ed off when people can't admit blame. I mean I went into the back of a Transit. Was defo 100% my fault and I had no problem admiting it. I mean TBH if I were the transit driver I would have offered to pay for costs myself.

Jon.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

It's principle. It's blantently his fault.

Click to expand...

No one is denying that. I could repair this cinq in a couple of hours max by unscrewing the bumper, rescrewing the salvage one on and t-cutting the bonnet

No paperwork to fill in, no solicitors to see or fees involved, no weeks of wrangling. 1 day worth of elbow grease.

It would probably cost more in sending letters all over the place than the cost of a yellow cinq bumper salvage

Sometimes you have to rule with your head rather than heart, to me in this case you go with your head