Hi everyone. I am UK-based and was just hoping for a bit of advice (and sense-checking) after a collision yesterday. I've been very lucky to not have had to make a claim in 14+ years of driving so this all feels quite new!
Here's a diagram of what happened:
My car is the green line, the third party is red. Going straight over the roundabout, I gyrated outwards to exit into the left hand lane. The third party continued over their give way line, entering the roundabout. Their offside wing (which is scraped but nothing major) collided with my nearside rear door and wheel arch:
Not exactly the worst accident anyone has ever seen but could've done without it on a Friday night after a rubbish week at work!
My car is very old, 170k odd miles on the clock, market value of a few hundred quid max, theirs is a pretty new BMW SUV. On exchanging details and taking photos, they were mostly polite but accused me of being at fault as they were 'already on the roundabout'. Can't say I found that in any way convincing but knew better than to discuss it (or indeed anything) at the roadside...
On returning home, I informed my insurer (fully comp, FWIW, with legal expenses cover if it makes a difference) that I had been in a no fault accident and provided details. The other party said they were intending to do the same, against me. No dashcam (I have been meaning to get one installed - argh! Lesson learnt), no-one stopped (so no witnesses), and no CCTV that I could see.
Questions that follow:
- I am a little concerned that given we disagree in which party is at fault, it will become a 'my word against theirs' 50/50 situation. Based on the nature of the accident (and the third party not giving way to the right), does that seem possible or do I stand a solid chance of this going in my favour? (i.e. me being deemed not at fault)
- If I go through my own insurance, I strongly imagine they will write it off given the value of the car and likely cost of repair (Cat N, hopefully not Cat S! It still drives fine and mechanically seems OK, pending further investigation). I am fine to arrange a repair of the body work but a little worried about the cost of buying back and then subsequently insuring a Cat N car... is that justified?
- Does it make any sense to approach their insurers and lodge a third party claim and try and get them to undertake the repair? I appreciate that can be a good route to go down when one party concedes fault, but what if they dig their heels in and insist that I am at fault? Will their insurer just tell me to p*ss off or will they take my evidence seriously?
Or do I just wait for the insurers to fight it out over who is deemed responsible before I do anything?
Any thoughts or advice from those more experienced in these matters would be very welcome! Fully appreciate that the next insurance renewal might not be fantastic but have resigned myself to that reality. Thanks all.
EDIT: to sort out formatting.
Here's a diagram of what happened:
My car is the green line, the third party is red. Going straight over the roundabout, I gyrated outwards to exit into the left hand lane. The third party continued over their give way line, entering the roundabout. Their offside wing (which is scraped but nothing major) collided with my nearside rear door and wheel arch:
Not exactly the worst accident anyone has ever seen but could've done without it on a Friday night after a rubbish week at work!
My car is very old, 170k odd miles on the clock, market value of a few hundred quid max, theirs is a pretty new BMW SUV. On exchanging details and taking photos, they were mostly polite but accused me of being at fault as they were 'already on the roundabout'. Can't say I found that in any way convincing but knew better than to discuss it (or indeed anything) at the roadside...
On returning home, I informed my insurer (fully comp, FWIW, with legal expenses cover if it makes a difference) that I had been in a no fault accident and provided details. The other party said they were intending to do the same, against me. No dashcam (I have been meaning to get one installed - argh! Lesson learnt), no-one stopped (so no witnesses), and no CCTV that I could see.
Questions that follow:
- I am a little concerned that given we disagree in which party is at fault, it will become a 'my word against theirs' 50/50 situation. Based on the nature of the accident (and the third party not giving way to the right), does that seem possible or do I stand a solid chance of this going in my favour? (i.e. me being deemed not at fault)
- If I go through my own insurance, I strongly imagine they will write it off given the value of the car and likely cost of repair (Cat N, hopefully not Cat S! It still drives fine and mechanically seems OK, pending further investigation). I am fine to arrange a repair of the body work but a little worried about the cost of buying back and then subsequently insuring a Cat N car... is that justified?
- Does it make any sense to approach their insurers and lodge a third party claim and try and get them to undertake the repair? I appreciate that can be a good route to go down when one party concedes fault, but what if they dig their heels in and insist that I am at fault? Will their insurer just tell me to p*ss off or will they take my evidence seriously?
Or do I just wait for the insurers to fight it out over who is deemed responsible before I do anything?
Any thoughts or advice from those more experienced in these matters would be very welcome! Fully appreciate that the next insurance renewal might not be fantastic but have resigned myself to that reality. Thanks all.
EDIT: to sort out formatting.