Advice needed. Who is at fault

rainyrun

My husband who is a named driver on my insurance had an incident with another car. He was straightreversing to park on the side of a road .and hit a car that was doing a 3 point turn and was on " our side" of the road, stage one of the 3 point turn. He did notice the car driving other side of road via mirrors etc.. But did not expect them to carry out such a manoevere and end up on our side of the road. The area of road was leading up to gates.. We had driven up to gates to see if we could open them and when we realised we couldnt my husband decided to reverse and park on side of road( other cars were parked along this stretch of road)In the end our right rear bumper came into contact with the other cars right front bumper. Minimal damage to our car, but there is damage to the other cars front..not a lot, but more then ours. The other driver was saying it was our fault as we reversed into her, however she appeared on our side of the road and we could just as easily said she could have driven into the back of us.( however we were reversing not stationary) The Gardai had a checkpoint nearby and as neither party was accepting liability we agreed to get Gardai involved. Gardai did come but said it had happened on private property so unless there were injuries ( there wasn't ) then it wasn't for them to decide. They advised as everything was so minor to settle outside insurance.. They could not say who was at fault . ( it was a local beauty spot and a number of cars were parked) We exchanged insurance details phone numbers and we both took photos of damage car position etc.. Do I need to contact my insurance company to let them know in case this lady might try and claim of my insurance?We were reversing so does this make us automatically liable? She was on wrong side of road does that change things? She also had two dogs jumping round the car.. Could that have distracted her?Any advice would be appreciated.. I want to protect my Ncb and this prang is the first ever ..I don't believe we need to put in any claim as minuscule damage to our car and no injuries. However if not our fault I don't want to pay for her damage.. Thanks

corktina

Might not be clear cut, but I'd say your husband will have to shoulder most of the blame.

Mr. Incognito

Its not straight forward but your motion appears to have carried you into her. I.e you reversed into her. On this basis I think it's likely that you would be liable. Is.she informing her insurance?

Mr. Incognito

Its not straight forward but your motion appears to have carried you into her. I.e you reversed into her. On this basis I think it's likely that you would be liable. Is.she informing her insurance?

keithclancy

Sounds like equal amount of blame.

Your husband should pay more attention when reversing.

The other person should pay more attention when doing a three point turn.

No Pants

rainyrun wrote: »

Gardai did come but said it had happened on private property so unless there were injuries ( there wasn't ) then it wasn't for them to decide.

I thought that private property that could be accessed by the public was considered under the RTA.

djimi

Reads like 50/50 to me, and I would imagine that is how the insurance companies would see it also. Two parties both attempted manoeuvres, neither paid enough attention to the other, collision occured.

djimi

No Pants wrote: »

I thought that private property that could be accessed by the public was considered under the RTA.

Private property or not, Gardai will never apportion blame to an incident that they did not directly witness. They can note down the details of the incident (position of cars, damage caused etc), but it is not up to them to decide who is at fault based on this.

martingriff

djimi wrote: »

Reads like 50/50 to me, and I would imagine that is how the insurance companies would see it also. Two parties both attempted manoeuvres, neither paid enough attention to the other, collision occured.

I would agree with this. Your husband saw the car so would have guessed they were doing a turn. The problem is he should expect that someone may fo something do be safe. The other car should have expected the same.

ironclaw

I'd say 50:50 blame. You were both conducting reversing manoeuvres with limited view of the road and area, so one of you should have stopped what you were doing given the proximity of the cars. I always stop what I'm doing (If I can safely) if someone is reversing nearby as they often haven't a notion of whats going on around them.

You also reversed into them and hit their front bumper, so the car was pretty much behind you when you hit them. You should have seem them and stopped.

tin79

I would agree with the 50:50s above. I once saw two cars who reversed into each other coming out of spaces in a shopping centre. They were having a right argument over who was to blame. One lady was claiming it was the others fault as she was further over the line and therefore too close to her ?

visual

Get on to your insurance company and tell them what happen. While most will see it as 50/50 liability the other driver might not be so willing to accept having to pay for her own damage.

visual

Get on to your insurance company and tell them what happen. While most will see it as 50/50 liability the other driver might not be so willing to accept having to pay for her own damage.

cruizer101

You would probably be best if you can sort it out outside of the insurance as they are likely to apportion some part of the blame to your husband leading to loss of no claims bonus, this would also apply to the other driver and so really is in both parties interest to sort it out outside of insurance i would say.

visual

cruizer101 wrote: »

You would probably be best if you can sort it out outside of the insurance as they are likely to apportion some part of the blame to your husband leading to loss of no claims bonus, this would also apply to the other driver and so really is in both parties interest to sort it out outside of insurance i would say.

That would be the most reasonable thing to do but your relying on other driver cooperation.
The easiest way to proceed would be each driver repairs their own car. Giving the other driver a phone call and see how amiable they are.
You still need to inform your insurance as the other driver may at anytime start a claim especially if they believe they are in the right

rainyrun

Thanks for your comments. I acknowledge we were reversing and are partly to blame. Not prepared to take full blame though. Should I inform my insurance company before she does? I don't believe I need to claim as no injuries damage etc.. But should I let them know this happened is should I wait for her to start contact with me or them?

rainyrun

Sorry I posted that without updating my browser I can see my queries have been answered . Thanks again with comments and advice, very helpful.

djimi

If you think that there is a chance that the other party might claim off you then you need to inform your insurer. They wont be impressed to learn about an incident from the other party some time after it happened.