Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car!

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Sun 20 Mar 2011 09:52
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - Naffy

Motorbike run into the back of the Car today scuff to rear bumper and small dents on rear quarter, so nothing major, my wife was driving and I was not there

He accepted it was his fault at the scene and also to me over the phone when my wife called me to inform me.

He is now saying it was my wifers fault and he has a witnees, which is dubious as no one else was involved at the scene but I now know his wife was on another motorbike but was well ahead of him and probably did not know about the incident until he called her.

So the story is this . Traffic lights, my wife it at the front so no car in front but another bike alongside her on her right. Lights turn green she pulls (taffic so did not even get out of first gear) away, and the other bike shoots off in the distance, then all of a sudden my wife feels her cars judder and a strange noise and wonders what it is, then sees the offending bike ahead of her on her left (in a bus lane) rider pointing to my wife to stop. Details etc are exchanged he admits it is his fault 100% also says the same to me on the phone.

I suspect he was trying to catch his wife and simply misjudged passing her on the insdie and in a bus lane !

I was hoping to simply deal with his insurance as he was accepting liabilty and not really involve mine as I believe this is possible if they accept blame.

Where do I stand now, I have to go thorugh my insurance ? I informed them straight away, but told them he had accepted blame.

He is now saying it was my wifes fault and say he a witness.

I have legal cover on my policy

Any advice.

Edited by Naffy on 20/03/2011 at 09:54

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Sun 20 Mar 2011 11:11
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - LucyBC
It's the motorcyclist's fault - rear end shunt with no frontal damage to the front vehicle is insurance-industry shorthand for a non-fault claim for the vehicle in front.

The only exceptions are if the vehicle in front reversed or rolled back or there is evidence there was a deliberate attempt to cause an accident.

The claim should thus be made against the third-party insurer so you do not lose your no claims or policy excess until the claim is resolved.

The greater risk is probably from your legal cover's "accident manager" putting you in a very expensive credit hire for the duration of the repair when what you have suffered is trivial damage to try and pick up extortionate hire costs.

You are entitled to a replacement vehicle but only for the actual duration of the repair being undertaken in a case like this where the vehicle is perfectly legal and drivable.

Keep me posted as to how this develops and come back to me if you need any help with it: asklucy@honestjohn.co.uk
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Sun 20 Mar 2011 11:35
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - Naffy

Hi Lucy,

Well I have left it with my insurers and yes they tried to "sell" me a hire car etc, but I said no as we have another car to use, as I understand that is if am found to be at fault then I would be liable for the cost of any hire car.

My excess is £350 so this will hurt and anything I can do to recover I will do.

My concern now is that the other party is saying they have a witness who actually stopped the his wife on her bike futher up the road, and his wife is also saying she saw it in her mirrors ! All of this I suspect is be fabricated but we have no witness as such.

I am writing to the council to see if it was caught on CCTV and will ask some of the shop on the high street if anyone saw anything, failing these we only have my wifes word and the actually damage on the car which shows it was hit from behind. Also when my father saw the damage last night the first thing he said was it was a rear end.

The really gut renching thing is that he was as nice a pie to me on the phone and to my wife in person admitted it was his fault and even started to explain to me that any rear end is the fault of the person behind and has now decided he will try it on and blame my wife.

Also the bike is his wifes bike and he is named rider

Thanks

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Sun 20 Mar 2011 12:48
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - LucyBC

The wife is not an independent witness. If you outline the circumstances I think liability will be found in your favour.

I would recommend not going through your insurers in these circumstances instead making the claim directly against the third party insurer. That way the policy excess is then never payable unless liability is found against you.

If the car is drivable and legal then any hire would be for the duration that the car is actually in the garage. In a case like this that should be 1-2 days maximum. That you have another car should not really apply to your eligibility for a replacement vehicle unless you have more cars than you have drivers in the house - but whether you accept one is up to you.

In terms of liability for paying for the replacement car a reputable accident manager (and there are some) will "take a view" as to the liability and take the whole risk on that basis. Providing there is no attempt to mislead or fraud involved there is no risk of having to pay the credit hire charge -- but the problem is that there are relatively few reputable accident managers and unless you are in the business you probably won't know if you are dealing with one.

If liability becomes an issue please come back to me as we have liabilty specialists and accident investigators who will take cases like this.

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Sun 20 Mar 2011 14:03
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - bathtub tom

Take lots of photo's of the damage to your vehicle, showing close-up of the damage and the area of the damage in respect of the whole car.

I had another car open a door as I was slowly passing. My insurer was prepared to roll-over and hold me 100% responsible as my damage was described as being to my front bumper and front wing. The other party folded when I produced photo's of the damage to the bumper where it wrapped round the side of the car and the front wing. All the damage was in front of the front wheel and behind the headlight. They tried to claim I'd driven into an already open door!

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Sun 20 Mar 2011 15:13
Toyota Yaris - 3rd party blaming me after riding into back of my car! - Naffy

Well I have left it with my claim handler to deal now. I will contact the my actual insurance company to discuss.

I have taken lots of photos and will take more, He caught the rear corner of the car and the quarter has an inward ding on it on the flat surface inline with the rear hatch only about 4-5cm's, then some score line along the side of the quarter and some scuff marks on the bottom rear bumper that then run along the side of the bumper.

Really cannot stand the fact that they are now telling bare faced lies and this is what is probably annoying me more that the damage itself.

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