My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: Massachusettes

I was driving behind a mini-van when the driver stopped just before a pedestrian crossing. I stopped behind that car as well with at least a 4 feet gap between the two cars. Without any indicator light signal, the driver of the other car started reversing to park into an open spot. I honked a warning but the other car ended up hitting my right front bumper. There are minor scratches on my car and a scrape on the other car's bumper.

The driver of the other car insists that I am at fault because I came too close to her car. She says insurance companies would view this as a case of rear car responsbility. I feel that she did not give any indication (blinker lights or parking signal) of reversing to park which resulted in the accident. We would like to avoid going to insurance companies to settle this, so I would like to know the opinions of the members of this forum?

Thanks!

amricca

You should have called the police when it happened and tried to get a witness who saw it, if there were any. Now it will be between your insurance companies and it could go either way. As Judy states, if the other driver claims you re-ended them, then it will be your word against theirs.

ScottGem

Judy hit on what I've been saying. Given the circumstances as you related it there is no way your at fault. If one car is stopped and the other moving the moving car is at fault, end of story. The problem is proving it.

Let me relate a recent incident with my daughter. She was stopped in a parking lot waiting for the driveway to clear. Another car passed he on her left and made a right turn into the driveway in front of her. He clipped her car as he did so. However, he claimed that she moved and, in actuality she hit him. The insurance company (same carrier) decided there was no evidence to support either party, so they put it at 50% liability so each liability policy had to pay half the other's deductible and each collision policy paid the rest of the repair.

So, even though you state that you were stopped and she backed into you, you have to prove it. If she claims that you rear ended her, you have nothing, besides your wife's testimony to prove it and that's not going to be enough.

I'll give you one more instance of an accident I witnessed. I had just made a turn into the aisle of a parking lot. I saw two cars start to back out of spaces. They were exactly opposite each other and I saw they were going to back right into each other. I started hitting my horn, hoping it would cause them to stop and look around. One car did stop, the other didn't. The driver of the car that stopped was a young girl, maybe 19 or 20 and was visibly upset as she exchanged info with the other driver. I felt sorry for her, especially since it hadn't been her fault so I gave her my name and number as a witness. A couple of days later, his insurer called me and I related the story. The adjuster told me, that with my account of the incident, they had to hold him 100% at fault. But without my account it would have been 50-50.

So the best you can do is report it to your insurer and let them handle it. They will deal with the other driver's insurer.

topgun

Hi folks -

Your advice is sound. I am going to get a damage estimate today. Based on the damages I believe it should be under $500 deductible. If that is the case, then I'll try to settle because the other driver did not want to involve insurance. If the repair cost is significant, I'll contact my insurer today.

I'll keep you posted, for those who are interested to know how it pans out.
Thanks.

JudyKayTee

Number one statement following an accident that should make your hair stand on end: "I don't want to involve my insurance company." Translation usually is: "I'm at fault and I don't want my company to have to pay." The driver who is NOT at fault is usually repeating, "Let's call the Police. Give me your insurance card."

Let us know what happens -

KeepItSimpleStupid

Bottom line:

Don't get burned. Believe me, you will. It doesn't even matter if the driver has a prestigeous job, like the principal of a high school.

twinkiedooter

The vehicle that hit you sustained less damage than your vehicle and also the angle involved was telling as well. A van can do much more damage than a car can when backing up. Also the van has hidden viewing blind spots so the woman probably didn't even see you as she was not paying much attention to what was behind her. The 4' gap was not enough for her to really see you properly if she was in fact looking in her rear view mirror (she probably didn't look anyway) as you probably were too close to her AND she didn't back slowly enough to be sure no one was behind her. I owned vans in my time and I know from experience that unless you are looking in ALL the mirrors you cannot properly see a car behind you if the car is in a blind spot. Vans are hard to drive properly and back properly and most people who drive them haven't the faintest clue to back slowly and look at all mirrors.

ScottGem

One car incurring more or less damage doesn't indicate fault in the least. The angle doesn't mean a thing either. The OP could have rear ended her in the act of turning into the space. The van's blind spot might have a bearing, but its not proof of anything.

Without witnesses to say the van was backing up, its a he said/she said thing.

JudyKayTee

In my experience the angle of the hit tells something but not the whole story - somebody swerves to avoid and it's not what it would seem.

It's back to he said/she said. Only the insurance company can straighten this out - unless driver #1 confesses and offers to pay for the damages to driver #2.

JudyKayTee

PS - and with a known blind spot the driver of the van is held to a higher standard of care/caution when backing up. She KNOWS she can't see behind her as well as drivers of other vehicles.

Sounds like minimal damage and just a fenderbender so 90% of this won't come into play.