Crash - Who's Fault?

A[L]C · 14 Oct 2006 at 20:30

Surely it cant affect my NCB as I wasnt driving?

Northwind · 14 Oct 2006 at 21:08

squiffy said:
Can't understand why the person would be on the other side of the road

There was a car in the middle of his own lane

From my understanding, that's a 100% fault for your partner, I'm afraid. Combination of impeding traffic- pulling halfway across a junction, which is generally not acceptable- and failing to observe the other car. She can't say "He was on the wrong side of the road" because he can respond that he was making the maneuvre to avoid her- which, true or false, is probably all he needs. Hope it works out OK.

PMKeates · 14 Oct 2006 at 21:10

A[L]C said:
Surely it cant affect my NCB as I wasnt driving?

I'm afraid it will. It's your policy, and therefore your NCB at risk. You won't have to ever declare that you've had an accident, because you haven't, but if any claim is made on your policy - as this could be the case - I'm fairly certain you'll be penalised for it via a loss of your NCB.

Kol · 14 Oct 2006 at 21:12

A[L]C said:
Surely it cant affect my NCB as I wasnt driving?

It's your policy though.

edit - pmkeates reads threads quicker than I do

The_Dark_Side · 14 Oct 2006 at 21:31

her fault.
she was behind give way lines waiting to join "his" carriageway and as such it's upto her to judge how to do this safely.
sounds to me like she was in a hurry and was edging out due to impatience.

Fuzz · 14 Oct 2006 at 21:34

Yep, That'll be your GF's fault...
How do I know, I pulled out and a Motorbike slid into me in the same way.
All went against me.

Ahh well, bike only glanced my Impreza and the insurance company wrote his bike off.

Andy

Tommy B · 14 Oct 2006 at 23:17

As much as the guy is an ******** who hopefully suffered serious injury, it is your girlfriend who will get the blame due to the black and white views of the insurance companies. In terms of common sense, the guy was in the wrong, but this is not how it will be viewed. There shouldn't really have been any need to pull out, especially if the road was clear, I only ever do that If I've literally been waiting at a junction 5 minutes.

What car was the bloke driving?

A[L]C · 15 Oct 2006 at 00:15

Tommy B said:
As much as the guy is an ******** who hopefully suffered serious injury, it is your girlfriend who will get the blame due to the black and white views of the insurance companies. In terms of common sense, the guy was in the wrong, but this is not how it will be viewed. There shouldn't really have been any need to pull out, especially if the road was clear, I only ever do that If I've literally been waiting at a junction 5 minutes.

What car was the bloke driving?

I believe a 54 plate focus.

Any idea how much it would be to repair it? Could offer to do privately.

blueboy2001 · 15 Oct 2006 at 01:21

A[L]C said:
Could offer to do privately.

I really wouldn't even consider this given the circumstances.

First of all, post details on http://www.traffic-answers.com/ - this place is frequented by traffic police and insurance claims handlers who will give you their opinion. Just be aware that civil liability and compliance with the law are two often entirely different things - bear this in mind when considering any responses.

Overtaking on a junction is mentioned in the highway code - it says you shouldn't do it. However, if you emerge across a give way line and cause any vehicle on the major road to do any of the 3 S's - that is slow (change speed), swerve or stop, then you would more than likely be found guilty of driving without due care and attention if the police get involved. In the circumstances you might get a split settlement, depending on the will of the respective insurers involved, but I reckon your driver must accept some blame for the incident.

If you read your policy terms you will find that you are obliged to inform your insurers of the incident ASAP.

Settling privately sounds like a good idea, but is an absolute minefield these days. Bear in mind anyone can claim for injury or other losses 3 years after the event - if you've settled with cash and not informed your insurers they will tell you to settle any further losses yourself and you'll be left high and dry. I had a very minor accident at a roundabout in 2002 where I hit the back of the car in front at single figure speed - he went then stopped abruptly. I accepted it was my fault but offered to have his car repaired (D reg Nissan Bluebird) for him, but for various reasons I got suspicous and went through the insurance on the car (wasn't my own car, it belonged to a company I was doing some work for at the time). They paid £180 for repairs to his car, and a five figure sum for 4 personal injury claims submitted 2 years later. Had I got my mate who owns a bodyshop to repair his car, I would have almost certainly had to foot the £11k bill for the further claims from my own pocket, as by not informing my insurers would have breached the conditions of the policy.

You can always pay your insurers back anything they pay out in terms of claims and retain your NCB.

Rotty · 15 Oct 2006 at 01:36

Sirrel Squirrel said:
Her fault, she shouldn't of pulled out half way as there was no need

yep , there will be no doubt in the insurers minds

re settling privately, if it is just a small area paint job then £300 or so should cover it

BigglesPiP · 15 Oct 2006 at 01:40

She shouldn't have started to pull out untill it was clear both ways.

The other guy however should have waited for her to get out of the way, and been angry at her, not overtake her.

The_Dark_Side · 15 Oct 2006 at 02:43

blueboy2001 said:
However, if you emerge across a give way line and cause any vehicle on the major road to do any of the 3 S's - that is slow (change speed), swerve or stop, then you would more than likely be found guilty of driving without due care and attention if the police get involved.

i'm sure the exact wording is along the lines of...
"when you join another carriageway, you should do so as not to inconvenience other road users".
something like that anyway.

A[L]C · 15 Oct 2006 at 09:05

blueboy2001 said:
You can always pay your insurers back anything they pay out in terms of claims and retain your NCB.

can you?

Thanks for the advice everyone..

Sadgeek · 15 Oct 2006 at 12:17

Tommy B said:
As much as the guy is an ******** who hopefully suffered serious injury...

Bit of an extreme description for someone who was just going from a to b with the minimum of fuss, don't you think?

After all, he had right of way, not the OPs girlfriend

Noxis · 15 Oct 2006 at 12:55

squiffy said:
Aye you don't creep forward and block the oncoming road. She should have stayed on the junction give way line until she traffic was clear on both sides.

You have to in the london area or you dont get anywhere (especially in a BMW as no one lets you out). Although when I visit my parents in inbred stupid people land (otherwise known as Stroud) I tend forget and drive like normal.... scares the hell out of them farmers

A[L]C · 15 Oct 2006 at 16:25

from another forum....

The Phone Guy said:
My mrs who works for norwich union says its the other persons fault as they where on wrong side of road at the time of impact which tells they saw her which 1. they where being nobs and tried to overtake 2. they where speeding and was trying to avoid.

The worst that will happen is both parties go 50/50 on insurance.

Comments?

The_Dark_Side · 15 Oct 2006 at 16:30

A[L]C said:
Comments?

if you have an accident when joining another carriageway it's your fault.
the road was straight so unless the other driver was travelling at warp factor seven he would've been visible had your gf been looking properly.
regardless of his actions, she should've waited until he had passed.
mistake number 1, make a manoevure based on what you predict an other driver is going to do.
he had right of way and she went for a gap that wasn't there IMHO.

A[L]C · 15 Oct 2006 at 16:52

The_Dark_Side said:
if you have an accident when joining another carriageway it's your fault.
the road was straight so unless the other driver was travelling at warp factor seven he would've been visible had your gf been looking properly.
regardless of his actions, she should've waited until he had passed.
mistake number 1, make a manoevure based on what you predict an other driver is going to do.
he had right of way and she went for a gap that wasn't there IMHO.

Devils advocate.......There is a slight bend from where he was coming. The road right was clear when she started to pull out. It was a 30 which meant he would;ve had enough time to stop without having to take evasive action had he not been booting it.

:shrug:

Gaygle · 15 Oct 2006 at 17:07

Although you might not lose your NCB, because what insurance companies do is base it on how bad the accident was. For my little scrape, the total bill came to under a £1000, and the insurance company said, we're not going to get rid of your no claims, you just don't get this years no claims. Didn't really matter though, or premium was only £34 more expensive with the accident.

The_Dark_Side · 15 Oct 2006 at 17:14

A[L]C said:
Devils advocate.......There is a slight bend from where he was coming. The road right was clear when she started to pull out. It was a 30 which meant he would;ve had enough time to stop without having to take evasive action had he not been booting it.

but aren't you saying he should've stopped to let someone out that had barged onto the road on which he had right of way?
if he was speeding big time, and as such there was no way she could've seen him until after she'd began to pull out then the blame lies at his door.
if she either didn't look properly, or she saw him and ASSUMED* he would slow or stop, then the blame is firmly at her feet.
if the latter is true then strictly speaking the insurance companies and the police will both say she was trying to "bully" her way out of the junction.

sorry if your NCB takes a dive btw.

*second thread today where a driver has assumed something only to find out they'd made an error of judgement.