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I'm convinced it wasn't my fault, as was the witness and PC on the scene. I think the physical evidence supports that and I have a photograph which I think supports it.
But the 3rd party has decided to dispute my claim saying I was as much to blame. I feel worried, should I be?
Got any tips on dealing with this?
But the 3rd party has decided to dispute my claim
This is standard practice, IME. Dig your heels in, and don't panic.
Just wait it out, I had the same when a lorry went into the back of me, was clear cut his fault and I had no witnesses, took 10months but finally worked out.
Deny blame, stick with your witnesses and do not panic, they will be trying it on.
as above - stick with your story, submit witness details and leave it to your insurers to worry about.
Dig your heels in, even your own insurer will try to convince you to go 50:50 at some point to save themselves the time and cost of fighting it. Been there done that, after a year I won in the end.
You're sure you're right and they're taking the piss ?
tell them that's fine - a quick settlement might not be as attractive as you first thought as you're beginning to develop injury symptoms and may need it looking into anyway - if it, you know, doesn't get better soon ?
My mate had a similar situation - woman in a Merc pulled out of her parking spot on the street as my mate was driving past, didn't check if the road was clear and was on her mobile. The front right of her car smashed into the back passenger door of his, his sister was left with a huge bruise of her leg.
Initially she claimed responsibility (well, apologised and said "I just didn't see you", then "Well, you were going very fast") and swapped details, but when my mate phoned her later that evening to get it sorted, her husband answered and started denying responsibility.
Went through court, she even tried to claim emotional distress but it found in my mate's favour, with the judge actually shaking his head in a slightly disbelieving way. She changed her story three of four times - there was the original one at the scene, then the one her husband gave on the phone that evening, the one she gave her insurance company and the two different ones she gave my mate's insurance company. Fortunately her inability to get her story straight, combined with the photos of the scene (which disproved a couple of her versions) meant it was fairly obvious she was lying.
So, the good news is that you'll likely be fine, especially with reliable witnesses. The bad news is it took 2 years for my mate to get it sorted.
Had similar experience, woman reversed out of a parking space into the rear quarter of my car.
A few weeks after getting the car fixed the claim was still unresolved, upon phoning the insurers they said her insurers were contesting liability. What it actually was, she was not replying to any of her insurance companies letters. They finally agreed it was her fault and it got settled.
It sounds like common practice to try it on first. Good luck.
Garylake +1
If all the insurers club together in a big circle, sharing blame for all the accidents where there's even a chance it could be contestable, they'll win as many as they lose and none of them will pay lawyers fees. The only loser is us, the paying public who all then get dicked for higher premiums.
Dig your heels in and refuse to accept a knock for knock settlement.
You've got a witness and a PC to confirm your version of events, so I reckon you'll be ok.
It was at high-ish speed so it's very lucky IMO, that no-one was hurt at all - I feel physically fine today.
Both the 3rd party and myself are fully comp with Direct Line. They appoint two advocates to contest liability. I'm hoping this makes communications smoother.
I don't want to prejudice the outcome by saying too much, but the PC took statements from me, the 3rd party and the witness (who was lucky not to be hit by the 3rd party). The PC seemed convinced I was in the right.
My photo shows the final position of his car and feint wet tyre marks which indicate he crossed the central reservation. The glancing damage to my car is on my side, it's on the front of his - he clearly drove into me.
I think his dispute will be based on the idea of me being over the central reservation when he struck me. I have the images in my head - I didn't do that.
I will sit tight!
ta
Old woman drove into the back of me when stopped at red light, she is trying to say its my fault as I cut her up, luckily i took photo's at scene as couldn't believe she had done it, pics show my car nicely square on and in middle of lane, her car however IS between lanes................gotta love these people
Some dopey twazzer drove into the back of my brother-in-law whilst he was waiting in a queue at a roundabout, then tried to say he reversed into him 😯
If you're both underwritten by the same insurer they will try to get you to go knock for knock so they can take the excess. Don't let them. Stick to your guns.
It's not all good I'm afraid. I had a witness and the other party admitted it was their fault when interviewed by the police afterwards (recorded in the police report). 18 months later my insurance company, directline, forced a 50:50 settlement as their lawyers had advised them they might not win in court. All the other party/insurance company did was to wait it out ie not respond to letters etc. Not impressed.
I have informed the liability team that I have helpful photos and been told to look after them.
A question about police procedure: I thought if the police attended an RTI, you all got breathalyzed? That didn't happen.
was that the bump i saw whilst minding my own business if you refresh my memory on the details i'm sure i'll remember more clearly as will my mates who would only req limited expenses to cover their traumatic memories...
Any situation / incident now I get out the car with the video camera on my phone running. Then ensure I get photos as well.
Guy that drove in to me in a merc admitted liability at first, then tried to say it was my fault and said - 'of course thats not what i'll be telling the insurance company' when I asked him to sign something accepting liability.
Insurance company took dim view of him admitting he was going to lie to them when they saw the video.
My mate had a similar situation - woman in a Merc pulled out of her parking spot on the street as my mate was driving past, didn't check if the road was clear and was on her mobile. The front right of her car smashed into the back passenger door of his, his sister was left with a huge bruise of her leg.Initially she claimed responsibility (well, apologised and said "I just didn't see you", then "Well, you were going very fast") and swapped details, but when my mate phoned her later that evening to get it sorted, her husband answered and started denying responsibility.
Went through court, she even tried to claim emotional distress but it found in my mate's favour, with the judge actually shaking his head in a slightly disbelieving way. She changed her story three of four times - there was the original one at the scene, then the one her husband gave on the phone that evening, the one she gave her insurance company and the two different ones she gave my mate's insurance company. Fortunately her inability to get her story straight, combined with the photos of the scene (which disproved a couple of her versions) meant it was fairly obvious she was lying.
So, the good news is that you'll likely be fine, especially with reliable witnesses. The bad news is it took 2 years for my mate to get it sorted.
This. Change 'driveway' for 'roundabout', 'woman' for 'daughter', 'husband' for 'mother' and that's basically my story. I had no witnesses. She changed her story so many times but essentially claimed I'd over taken and cut in further down the road when in fact she'd T-boned me on the roundabout from my left without looking.
Eventually got them to bring an independent accident assessor in who concluded that if her story was true, the damage on my car would have looked different and her car would have most likely rolled mine over. He advised them if it went to court that would be his statement, they admitted fault right away.
breath testing after an accident is a policy rather than legislative requirement.
+1 for petrieboy, DL are going to pay out whatever happens so they will look to mimimise their losses. Dont let them dick you about and convince you to take 50/50.
I like scaredypants thought, a long drawn out process may reveal underlying medical symptoms. I hate ambulance-chasing compensation firms but the mention of them might actually serve a useful purpose.
But the [b]3rd party[/b] has decided to dispute my claim saying I was as much to blame.
Do you actually mean this (3rd party is someone who witnessed but not involved surely?) or do you mean the other party?
Hello spammer
Their insurer has told them to mitigate its/their losses.
Standard practice with some of them.
The good thing with mobile phones is you can take pictures quickly but also- set to video mode, pretend to be taking pictures and get the other party talking - a sort of narrative. Then any subsequent dispute can be emailed to their insurer.
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op , the denial of liability is standard practice and for the reasons above direct line may push it to save them money and cost you money. You have strong evidence so stick to your guns.
If it looks like a real fight Direct Lines cost bennefit annalasis will shift in your favour, as they will be forced to fund a contasted case where no matter what the outcome they will be stuck paying both sides legal costs. At which point they will pressurise the other side to accept full blame.
ritu you sound as if you know what you are talking about what are your detailed thoughts.
Completely unrelated but the spam prompted my thinking. My brother broke his wrist playing tennis a couple of weeks ago. He slipped, landed arkwardly and it broke. A simple accident.
He got a call the next day from a firm pressing him to sue the tennis club for damages which he declined - He wondered, as did I, where these parasites got the details of the accident from? What do you reckon?
Who would have known about the accident and also would have your brother's contact details? The hospital (assuming he went to one)? Presumably the tennis club would have informed their insurers of the accident on their property. Their insurers may have sold your brother's details to the ambulance chasers. It seems to be a common practice nowadays.
Aye, my insurers sold my accident details to someone, I now get calls every 3 months asking if I want to take it further. Really starting to cheese me off.
No it'll be a member of staff at one of those places.
Theres a girl at work who has a professional 'Pap's number and if she spots a star etc she calls the mobile and gets a 'finders fee'.
I asked how she knew to do this etc- theres a whole subculture out there where people know how to make extra money doing questionable things.
I saw A Manc footy player outside our office. I came in and casually mentioned him and the next thing you know theres a mobile call made 😯
Presumably there was a post before TJs 😕
Did this get resolved then?
I (and it seems everyone) get fairly regular texts about having been in an accident (which I've not) and claiming for it, I wonder how many people actually follow it up!
offering £3750? I think that one's a scam
Don't trust your insurers to take care of things. I've had to chase my lot for the last year and they've been trying to get me to accept 50-50 from the first month. Keep on their case and stick to your guns or they will screw you.