Posted 20 November 2022

minor car accident, been advised insurance will go 50/50 but not sure

hi all, driving family back from London on Friday night, driving away from picadilly down St James st and the road is two lanes, inside lane has parked cars/loading bays, I think he was a uber driver (toyota prius) moved over and clipped the rear alloy/wheel arch and scuffed the rear bumper.

I've managed to polish most of the paint transfer out of my car Saturday on the paintwork and alloy wheel but its left a small crease/dent in the rear arch, and there are some deeper scratches on the alloy.

After stopping further down the road he said i was at fault and he was calling the police, i started filming the scene and cars/damage and you can hear me saying just swap details nobody is hurt let the insurance sort it, and he keeps saying no, no, wait for the police. to be honest i wasn't sure he was calling the police and Friday night in London the chances of them arriving to a minor car accident was going to be slim, I asked over and over to swap details and he said no, you wait here. I said i have your vehicle reg and Ihave footage from the dashcam so i will just speak to my insurance company.
I reported the accident first thing to the police on Saturday morning, and I've also filled out a form for the insurance company and stated unsure whether i will claim.

my excess is a total of £350.00

other driver was the red arrow and im the blue X

i have rear Dashcam, front one I'm struggling to get the footage off the sd card, i think the sd card is corrupt which is great, although i can see mov files on there.

rear dashcam footage

I guess the question is, at best it will go as a 50/50 as they will say i should have anticipated the uber driver coming across as he had parked cars in his lane. I'm not a regular driver in London so was not aware of the road layout too well.
Any help or advice, first accident in 20years of driving.

thanks

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20th Nov 2022
I would say he swerved into your lane, he didnt even indicate. Personally I would keep fighting until they admit full liability.
Author
20th Nov 2022
yes no indication at all but i also know insurance companies want to take a easy route
20th Nov 2022
The fault is always with the person changing lane. You cannot be held responsible for a collision where you were legally driving in a straight line - It is not a requirement to be be courteous and let him out. Demand your insurance company take this as far as necessary as they will likely want to settle 50/50. This is because it will be cheaper for them to repair the minor damage to your car than the court costs should the other party not back down. Tell them if they want to pay for the damages to your car rather than fight the other party, then that is fine but you won't accept a fault claim against your name.
Author
20th Nov 2022
thankyou thats really useful to know, and i think i will proceed with that stance, its an old car nearly 16 years old but it was in great condition and now its got a crease in the arch and the bumper has a gap
20th Nov 2022
As above, he's 100% at fault.
2 reasons why.

1. The damage is to the rear of your car meaning you were ahead of him
2. You MUST give way to traffic from the right. As I understand it, you were in right hand line and he pulled out from left hand lane.
Author
20th Nov 2022
hi thanks, yes i was in the right hand lane and he merges into the lane i was in, i was ahead of him
20th Nov 2022
Sorry to hear about your accident.

To begin, they all say that its not their fault and try to blame you.

Had a similar accident happen to me and it dragged on for months, was even at the point of going to court but when they weighed up the evidence, hit in similar place to you and had some dashcam footage the other persons insurance conceded.

If you know you're not at fault, fight it (especially since you've been hit in the back).
20th Nov 2022
Unfortunately this is the way in London, when I got hit the person asked me for £200 to fix his car LOL.

I just pursued through insurance, if they are so in the right they should have reported to their insurance etc, in my case the person didn't.

However you choose to proceed good luck and stay strong its a bumpy ride.
20th Nov 2022
They're 100% at fault. If you go via your insurance you may have to pay your excess but you can ask them to claim it back off the third party once liability is admitted/proven etc..

Contrary to popular belief your insurance premium next year may not actually increase so long as it's a not at fault claim. Mine was actually £2 cheaper declaring a not a fault claim on the comparison websites. It will vary though. I only compared the cheapest results etc.
20th Nov 2022
From the looks he is at fault I would of given him 24hours to pay up then report it to insurance so annoying
20th Nov 2022
In my opinion he was at fault. By law names and addresses of those involved should be exchanged at the time.
If you get in an accident with a liar you need to decide how you want to play it.
Suck it up, their insurance,court case or your own insurance. As you have already told your insurance company it will affect your next premium, hopefully not by much.
If you want to get a decent repair then, if the other person or their insurance is not accepting liabilty you can go via the small claims court or your own insurance if fully comp. I would probably go through my insurance but also remember you don't have to accept the insurers decision if they say its 50:50.
Just gone through similar, although car was a right off, and took court action (via our insurance) before their insurance admitted liability.
20th Nov 2022
In my eyes the other party is clearly to blame? Firstly he came from his lane, if it is even a lane into yours and secondly he’s effectively hit the rear of your car by swerving into your lane.

Who is saying it will be 50/50, the rear cam footage should be enough to show the position of his car and any lane markings and as other have said don’t accept 50/50 keep pushing your insurance company.
Author
20th Nov 2022
thanks, it was my dad that said it will probably go 50/50 as its merging lanes. Its not as if even there was a merging lane sign in the road , i guess during the day the parking bays are empty so both lanes are useable. And he wasnt indicating to come over
20th Nov 2022
If its an uber driver, driving a prius 100% his to blame they are atrocious drivers on the roads in London he was most probably on the phone and wasn't paying attention
20th Nov 2022
He is in the wrong. You had priority and he should have waited for you to pass. The obstruction was in his lane and you can clearly see in the footage that you had no traffic behind you. He either didn't check his mirrors correctly, or he tried to force you to give way to him. Neither is good for the Uber driver.

Fight it. No way that is 50/50. Your insurer won't want to take the easy route as they'll be doing everything they can to avoid paying out if anything.
Author
20th Nov 2022
thanks, i will upload the footage and pictures to the insurance companys website. thankyou
20th Nov 2022
It's an incident, not an accident.
And claim as his fault so no access for you.
However even if not your fault, your premium will go up regardless, apparently any incident makes you more prone to more, in their eyes.
Author
20th Nov 2022
thanks, yeah i was worried about the renewal to be honest, but to the more i think, dent to be taken out, paintwork to be blended in etc, i reckon it will be more than £350.00 and the way he was on the roadside, if he was apologetic and was fine about it i probably would have left it.
20th Nov 2022
No way you should accept any fault in this incident
20th Nov 2022
If matey is an Uber driver, then he should (hopefully) have Hire & Reward Insurance, which is really expensive. Expect any trick/wheeze to avoid taking liability for a claim. I'd do the lot through your car insurance, and avoid any offer of 'getting it fixed privately' should the driver contact you directly.

As for calling the police? No mate. it would be a call to his mates, who would arrive and block you in so you couldn't drive off and then start berating & harassing you in an effort to get you to admit full liability for the incident.
20th Nov 2022
Your right no way 2as he ringing police
Author
6th Mar 2023
thought i would update this thread just in case someone else in my situation reads this and then decides not to go ahead. I escalated it with admiral and they have finally agreed now that the initial response was not within keeping of their procedures and have overuled the initial ruling. They have agreed to pursue the other driver now for a full claim, however it now transpires after speaking to them today that the other driver admitted fault to his insurer! first time i found out today on this, so perhaps that changed their opinion.
So stick with it, and if you think you are right then keep going, everyone has an opinion by all means listen to it but you don't have to act on it.
6th Mar 2023
If you're right and you know you're right then it's always 100% worth pursuing. This is what you pay them for.

Cracking result.
20th Nov 2022
If you do claim.....and it's not your fault....DENY.....DENY.....DENY and DENY again
20th Nov 2022
Will it be a concern that the date and timings are out on the dashcam footage?

Glad you weren't hurt although obviously a bit shaken by it all. He is probably concerned that he perhaps isn't insured etc......
Author
20th Nov 2022
i hope not, i do have mobile phone footage of the same car with the driver standing outside, but not sure if they wont accept it, perhaps it wouldnt be accepted in court because of the wrong date.
20th Nov 2022
You never know how it's going to go with insurance a car over took me on the wrong side of the road as I was turning right into a junction clipped my van it went to court in the end and even with dash cam footage the judge went 50/50
Author
20th Nov 2022
i've heard of that before aswell, blamed the driver and said they should have used their mirrors, madness isnt it. this is my worry i end up creating more problems for myself
20th Nov 2022
It probably will be 50/50 to start off with so both of you end up with higher premiums, possible loss of no claims discount and have to declare it when getting alternative quotes at renewal time. Then if, all being well, it will go in your favour but could take months.
21st Nov 2022
100% his fault, he has to give way to the right as he was in your blindside, he could see you were in front and should have given way. He is also legally obliged to give his insurance details in an accident.
Author
22nd Dec 2022
Just an update on this. Cant actually believe it but Admiral called today to say that they have review the footage and that they believe that i 'aggressively sped up' and therefore i caused the incident. I kept saying how do you know how fast i was going and he said its not the speed but you sped up and cut the other car off from merging. He said that they will try for 50/50 but worst case its a fault accident on my part. I said i wasn't happy and how to I raise a complaint as it looks completely lazy from Admiral. the saying is true you really only know how good a company is when you have a problem, been with them years and have several cars under a multi car policy. I will be moving in April to someone else.
I did say im not happy with 50/50 and he kept saying that as i drove agressively then the will stand by that decision.
22nd Dec 2022
I'd see them in court then in that case. Irrelevant anyway what speed you were doing as you had right of way.
22nd Dec 2022
Sorry late to this. Had in accident in Feb 18 when someone drove into my lane without signalling so similar to this. Thank God I had dashcam footage. Lady said she was at fault. Her husband called back to say they denied liability now, whole time I said "i dont care let insurance sort it". The insurance came back within like 2/3 days to say they accept liability. Fixed the car. Nothing to pay until 2 years later when an associated issue from the crash had me paying £100 odd to fix something in one of the main beam lights.

Just left with hassle of constantly having to put info into yearly new insurance sign ups. Dont have to now. The whole palaver is not worth it in the end.

*Cant make out the dashcam footage, is it the grey car right at the end that goes into your lane, without signalling and clips you?

How can you be responsible if he leaves from his position which is blocked, doesnt signal and clips you?? Admiral needs to get to Specsavers. Ive been cheeky and in a row of traffic, went a bit further and was blocked, so had to wait my turn to get back into the line of traffic. What this guy was thinking I dont know?! (edited)
Author
22nd Dec 2022
yes its the grey/silver car that comes across and just catches the rear of my car. Im really annoyed by the insurance response, it does smack of them being lazy and taking the easy route. I will contest it as i have done and perhaps an ombudsman can help aswell, but yes we were level as we were going along, he brakes because his lane has cars parked into and then comes across, but im also braking and he then just clips the rear.
20th Nov 2022
Did you not get the answer you wanted when you posted on Reddit?
Author
20th Nov 2022
Nope
22nd Dec 2022
You drive sedately in the video for 30 seconds then suddenly accelerate just as another car merges into your lane. The insurance company will also be very suspicious that you failed to hand over your front camera footage (even if you do say that it is corrupt).

Insurance companies do not want to pay out on your behalf either do they...

Equally, the other driver clearly had no idea that you were even coming, so I can see why both drivers are at fault.
Author
22nd Dec 2022
I drive sedately because i can see ahead another car is blocking my lane as hes coming out of a junction and across both lanes in front of us, i let the silver car go first as the obstacle in in my lane, but as we both get round him we do speed up and then he has a obstacle in his lane. there isnt any proof i can show of saying, your not coming across into this lane im keeping you in there, further down the road it opens back up into two lanes again but i would think the right had lane if you are in it then that has priority over cars pulling into it, certainly if you are level (edited)
Author
22nd Dec 2022
so question for anyone been in the same situation. if i dont claim, really just a graze to my car and it goes 50/50 does that me the total cost is split 50/50 of both cars, or each insurer pays for there own damage
22nd Dec 2022
The cost is split and I believe you have to pay 50% of your excess etc.
22nd Dec 2022
From the photo above I dont see 2 lanes on the road. I see a road wide enough for 2 cars wide but only one lane. If this is the case the car in front always has right of way and may move across the width of the road as required to avoid obstacles. In effect if you pass him on the right you are overtaking and so any collision will be your fault. I may not be seeing the photo correctly however but thats my thoughts. For there to be a real 2 lanes you need white lines dividing them as on the other side of the road. If you were in front the whole time then he is at fault if you overtook him just before the incident its probably your fault. (edited)
22nd Dec 2022
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