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Advice please car accident

I had a car accident this morning - I was dropping my wife off at ther school early -7:10am - I stopped at the school gate and was indicating to turn right to go in. I had hardly started turning when a car came out of nowhere - it must have been doing 50-60mph - in a residential area. It tried to overtake me and caught my front wing with a glancing blow. The wheel arch is a bit dented and the mirror was broken off but I don't think there was too much damage beyond that. I parked the car in the school as I didn't want to drive it for safety reasons and some plastic was touching the tyre when I turned.

When I spoke to the bloke that hit me, I was cross but calm - I asked him how fast he was going - 100mph? And he said it was between 40 and 50 and he didn't see me indicating. I was indicating, I recall turning the indicator off as I turned the engine off after the accident. I was thinking of reporting to the police but didn't, and am waiting to find out if he has accepted liability. It is absolutely ridiculous if he doesn't but there were no witnessess. The headmistress of the school came out after hearing the crash and she saw him apologising to us. His daughter was late for her school bus and he was in a hurry to get there.

He had damage to his front left bumber but was able to drive off. Is there anything I should be doing? I am worried in case he decides to invent a story.
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Comments

  • Report it to the insurance company/police asap. Is there cctv outside of the school?
  • I would call the Police as if he was speeding that needs to be reported. If he was doing 50 plus outside a school at drop off time he could lose his licence - and probably should do!

    I would take photos of the car so you can show what it was like just after the accident. I would also take a photo of the road just in case here are any tyre marks.
  • Just leave it. Not worth the hassle and you'll be bombarded with ambulance chasing claims companies for years if you get insurance companies involved.
  • edited September 2017
    I have reported to insurance company - I decided to give him a break re the police. Now worried he may try an concoct a new story. It was on furthest side of road and I dont think school cctv reaches there. But he can't hid the fact the front of his car hit me.

    I need a new front wing so certainly am not going to leave it.
  • You said the wheel arch was a bit dented, you didn't say you needed a new wing! Plenty of backstreet bodyshops who can knock out a dent or two. Who says you need a new wing? A main dealer? Well they would!
  • 1. Make sure you have swapped insurance details. (Sounds like you already have).

    2. Call the police (not 999) and speak to someone about reporting it. Take their advice. As soon as you put the phone down, write down everything they told you and the time and date you made the call, as well as the name of the person you spoke to.

    3. Try and work out how fast the other car was going. In your post, you have mentioned 40-50-60-100mph. It's very unlikely he would have been doing 100. Or even 60. He probably wasn't even doing 50. If it turns out he was actually doing 40mph, you have a problem. And that is, if it can be proven (CCTV, traffic cams) that he was "only" doing 40 as he says, despite you saying he was doing 60, then it makes the rest of his story more believable too. So, in terms of speed, if you report it to your insurer, make sure you don't exaggerate it. (The point is this - if he hit you at 40mph, it's going to "feel" like a big impact. And it might make you think it was much faster than that. Do everything you can not to be caught out on his speed).

    4. Buy your wife some flowers. She's probably shaken up too.

    Good luck.
  • If there is personal injury the accident should be reported to the police within 24 hours.

    If no injury then legally you exchange names and addresses. For practical reasons it's also a good idea to exchange insurance companies and car registration numbers and perhaps telephone numbers.

    As regards the speeding aspect you say there were no witnesses so it might come across that you are being malicious if you call the police. I'm not implying that I hasten to add - i'm sure events happened as you describe but ultimately it boils down to your word against his without witness evidence.

    Sorry to hear this and I know from personal experience of being driven into how these things can shake you up even if you are not injured as such.
  • report it to the police and insurance company and let them deal with it, get your story in first before he has a chance to tell his
  • Something you don't trust about the bloke muttley? (Above and beyond his obvious negligence?)
  • edited September 2017
    If I remember rightly from previous threads @Rizzo might work or have worked in motor insurance so may be able to advise further.
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  • I had a car accident this morning - I was dropping my wife off at ther school early -7:10am - I stopped at the school gate and was indicating to turn right to go in. I had hardly started turning when a car came out of nowhere - it must have been doing 50-60mph - in a residential area. It tried to overtake me and caught my front wing with a glancing blow. The wheel arch is a bit dented and the mirror was broken off but I don't think there was too much damage beyond that. I parked the car in the school as I didn't want to drive it for safety reasons and some plastic was touching the tyre when I turned.

    When I spoke to the bloke that hit me, I was cross but calm - I asked him how fast he was going - 100mph? And he said it was between 40 and 50 and he didn't see me indicating. I was indicating, I recall turning the indicator off as I turned the engine off after the accident. I was thinking of reporting to the police but didn't, and am waiting to find out if he has accepted liability. It is absolutely ridiculous if he doesn't but there were no witnessess. The headmistress of the school came out after hearing the crash and she saw him apologising to us. His daughter was late for her school bus and he was in a hurry to get there.

    He had damage to his front left bumber but was able to drive off. Is there anything I should be doing? I am worried in case he decides to invent a story.

    There is your witness right there... My parents always told me to never apologise if involved in a crash because apparently it can straight away be used against you as a form of taking responsibility for the crash in the first place. My only accident saw me going into the back of someone and did instantly apologise because I knew it was my fault and accept liability immediately
  • Witness statements are a help. Get witness statement from Headmistress if she heard what was said.

    Fact is the insurers don't give a toss and it will be knock for knock if neither side admits liability - and your insurance will go up. I had a women scrape the whole length of my door at 2 mph whilst I was stationary waiting to exit a car park, she said it was my fault I shouldn't have been there blocking the entrance (only room for one car to exit or enter at a time). My insurers said they believed me but she is not admitting liability so nothing they can do without witnesses etc. Unless it's a serous amount of insurance claim they prefer to just to pay out rather than spend money to investigate and establish responsibility.

    He will invent a story and there is little you can do about it without a witness to back you up.
  • I had an accident in March, which I wrote about on here.

    Despite it not being my fault, the other driver said that my car had hit theirs (even though the damage was on my passenger door, and on their front bumper!)

    The police turned up and spoke to both of us about it.

    I'm grateful that a bystander (again no witnesses, only people who heard the bang) called the police. They took photos and looked at road markings etc, worked out that the other driver had committed 3 driving offences, while I'd committed none.

    The officer told me that it is always best to get the police involved, rather than sort it yourselves.
  • Was the road single carriage way?

    If so, the fact your damage was on the right hand side of the vehicle and his will be on the left hand side would be a pretty big indication of who was driving irresponsibly.

    If he does try it on the above alone will put the blame in his court. Being in a rush doesn't give you the right not to wait for someone to complete their manoeuvre safely. Unless he says you weren't indicating, but there were no witnesses, so you definitely were.
  • If I understand correctly you were on the left side indicating right (i.e. To cross the road where cars in the other direction would come from). The third party came from behind you and hit your drivers side front wing?

    Is it a single lane road?
  • Contact the police asap and, as previously mentioned, make a note of the date, time, name of person you spoke to and exactly what was said. Then contact your insurers and advise them of the details. Write everything down and speak to the headmistress of the school to see if there is anyone in the school who may have witnessed the incident.

    The fact that you were signalling right to turn into a school and he was attempting to overtake you should pretty firmly put the blame on him and the damaged locations on each of your vehicles will support your version of events and may help to establish his speed from the damage to your vehicle.
  • I don't know how fast he was going - he admitted 40-50 when I sarcastically asked him how fast he was going 100mph. There is a blind corner just before the gate and he came quickly out of nowhere.

    I worry he will make up a story as he initially said he didn't see me indicate, but I recall undoing the indicator and turning off the engine directly after the incident. He told me he was late for his daughter's school bus, and he was apologising when the headmistress came out. I will get a witness statement came out.

    Surely whatever story he invents, he shouldn't be overtaking directly outside of a school. I caould have braked because a child was in the road for instance. It wasn't like that, but I am thinking that if he invents a story he is still in teh wrong for overtaking outside a school gate which is clearly marked. Surely the circumstantial evidence gives him no get out, whatever his story.
  • single carriageway with school signs clearly marked
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  • Its what you pay insurance for.
    Give your side and what he said to the insurance company and let them sort it out. I doubt the police would get involved.
  • Well worth getting a dashcam, saves a lot of trouble if and when things like this happen.
  • That's my thought with the police - if there is no proof of his speed, what could they do and it might make him more likely to deny. I'll just have to wait and see.
  • single carriageway with school signs clearly marked

    There you have it. He's doing a dangerous manoeuvre. He's in the wrong. The fact that it's outside a school only makes it worse (for him).
  • Well worth getting a dashcam, saves a lot of trouble if and when things like this happen.

    Have to throw it in the Thames when it's your fault though !
  • That's my thought with the police - if there is no proof of his speed, what could they do and it might make him more likely to deny. I'll just have to wait and see.

    The speed is irrelevant. You are only seeking to establish that he is to blame. Leave any accusations of criminality to the police. Contact them as soon as possible. If nothing else, it may help in case the other driver decides to make up a story and contacts them first!

  • Rizzo said:

    That's my thought with the police - if there is no proof of his speed, what could they do and it might make him more likely to deny. I'll just have to wait and see.

    The speed is irrelevant. You are only seeking to establish that he is to blame. Leave any accusations of criminality to the police. Contact them as soon as possible. If nothing else, it may help in case the other driver decides to make up a story and contacts them first!

    Surely the speed has an impact on the fault though no? Also, unless I'm mistaken if you re speeding you can't be found to be not at fault for an accident.
  • single carriageway with school signs clearly marked

    I think all you can really do is report it to your insurers with what happened as you saw it and await what he says/his insurers say. Hopefully he'll admit it, but I guess he's unlikely to say he was speeding on his claim form and didn't see you. Very often these end 50/50 as the third party will state no indicator and no blind spot check (but see below*).

    Go and take pictures of the road, markings, blind corner etc, much easier for the insurance dummies to then picture it. You can draw on where you were and so on, if he crossed the centre line of the road etc. Did he leave any skid marks on the road?

    *The blind corner might be your gold card here (assume it's behind you and where he came from?), if he's come around that too fast to be able to stop if there is a hold up around the blind corner he's clearly at fault and driving carelessly I would argue, it also mean even if you checked your blind spot due to the vicinity of the blind corner your mirrors would have been clear.

    I think you have a good chance even if he says what you expect.



  • Rizzo said:

    That's my thought with the police - if there is no proof of his speed, what could they do and it might make him more likely to deny. I'll just have to wait and see.

    The speed is irrelevant. You are only seeking to establish that he is to blame. Leave any accusations of criminality to the police. Contact them as soon as possible. If nothing else, it may help in case the other driver decides to make up a story and contacts them first!

    Surely the speed has an impact on the fault though no? Also, unless I'm mistaken if you re speeding you can't be found to be not at fault for an accident.
    He may well have been speeding but Muttley has no way of proving that. It's down to the police and any witnesses so leave it to them. And speed and fault are not the same thing. Someone driving on the wrong side of the road is a danger regardless of their speed. Speed is usually an aggravating factor but not necessarily the cause.
  • I don't know what he is doing yet in terms of claiming responsibility or not - He admitted it at the time and gave a reason - he admitted he was doing between 40-50 but only my wife and I heard that- his daughter was late for her bus and he needed to get to the station before they missed it. The headmistress heard him apologise but I haven't been able to check how much she heard, but she might be my best bet. Along with the damage on both cars which hopefully should indicate what has happened. My worry is that the insurance companies won't be bothered enough to try to find out the details, but I am probably jumping the gun.
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