Person who crashed into me not telling the truth.

Charlie George

Hi there ,i was involved in a crash last weekend where a person who was driving in front of me on a back road pulled into the left hand side of the road (across from an entrance to a house), i took it that he was leaving me off, i indicated to overtake and as I was passing him out he turned right and we both collided, when he got out of the car he apologised and said he never saw me behind him, his wife got out of the car and started mouthing off asking "where else did I think they were going" and that I shouldn't have overtaken them.
The Guards were called and to make a long story short after moving away and talking to his wife he then told the guard that he put his indicator on and that I was at fault, i was livid and lost it, I cant get my head around someone that would lie through there teeth to get away with something that was totally there fault, I had my 15 year old son in the front who could see that there was no indicator on also. The insurance company said they will investigate and come back to me.
I only have third party f and t so if I'm not covered by his insurance I will end up paying for it myself and my car which is worth around e1800 is now classed as written off, not sure about his.
Just looking at my options if the insurance company goes against me, I am prepared to go to court and force that man to lie under oath, but do I take him to court or is it the insurance company.
Not sure what to do and where I stand and any help would be greatly appreciated.

NUTLEY BOY

Charlie George wrote: »

Hi there ,i was involved in a crash last weekend where a person who was driving in front of me on a back road pulled into the left hand side of the road (across from an entrance to a house), i took it that he was leaving me off, i indicated to overtake and as I was passing him out he turned right and we both collided, when he got out of the car he apologised and said he never saw me behind him, his wife got out of the car and started mouthing off asking "where else did I think they were going" and that I shouldn't have overtaken them.
The Guards were called and to make a long story short after moving away and talking to his wife he then told the guard that he put his indicator on and that I was at fault, i was livid and lost it, I cant get my head around someone that would lie through there teeth to get away with something that was totally there fault, I had my 15 year old son in the front who could see that there was no indicator on also. The insurance company said they will investigate and come back to me.
I only have third party f and t so if I'm not covered by his insurance I will end up paying for it myself and my car which is worth around e1800 is now classed as written off, not sure about his.
Just looking at my options if the insurance company goes against me, I am prepared to go to court and force that man to lie under oath, but do I take him to court or is it the insurance company.
Not sure what to do and where I stand and any help would be greatly appreciated.

A few thoughts.

His duty of care was to look where he was going. He failed to indicate and obviously failed to keep a proper watch out otherwise he would not have turned across you.

I would see primary liability as being that of the other motorist.

You might be guilty of contributory negligence if your driving might have contributed to the accident. That would be a matter for argument on the facts.

Your insurance company will not be pursuing the other motorist for your damage as you are TPF&T only.

You must pursue the claim for damage to your car yourself. That means contacting his insurers directly. They will probably want to inspect your car including taking photographs.

It would be helpful before your car is disposed of to take your own photographs showing the exact damage from various angles. This would help to verify the direction of impact and might assist in arguing liability.

Do not waste time being angry about liars. They are to be seen in witness boxes regularly and you would be dazzled by the shine off their brass necks. You need to concentrate on the facts and the evidence as that is how you defeat a fact-twister.

You and your son should write down now your detailed recollections of every fact that you can recall of the accident. Try and write your recollections independently without inadvertently drafting each other's statements !

Best of luck.

Squatman

if you had the guys contact details, you could call him up and tell him "after reviewing my dash cam recordings, it is clear that you were not indicating", and see if his memory improves *Note, I am aware that you may not have a dashcam

NUTLEY BOY

Squatman wrote: »

if you had the guys contact details, you could call him up and tell him "after reviewing my dash cam recordings, it is clear that you were not indicating", and see if his memory improves *Note, I am aware that you may not have a dashcam

:eek:

cml387

I don't want to be too negative but you may have a problem.

If you were overtaking as he was turning right into an entrance you could be in the wrong, especially if he alleges that he had his indicator on. His pulling in to the left before the manoeveur could be just to get a wider swing (i's an annoying habit some people have to make a big swing to the left before turning right).

People will lie, or even convince themselves they're right unfortunately.

Sue Pa Key Pa

In the absence of independent witnesses and 2 different versions of events. Insurers will apply the rules of the road. From what you say above, the other party has stated that he indicated and made a turn. That would appear to go against you. Insurers reserve the right to handle a claim as they see fit and you cannot force them to defend it in the courts. If you want to proceed to the court, you must take that action yourself, but the decision taken by both insurers will weigh heavily in any decision being made by a judge

I feel for you OP, but as the saying goes, the truth and proving the truth are 2 different things

As an aside, I fitted my dash cam yesterday. What I see on a daily basis put the fear of God in to me to get one

Marcusm

Apart from anything else, no insurer would pursue a legal action over a car worth €1800 as the legal fees would be 10-20 times that amount as a minimum.

It will end up being a he said/she said situation and I suspect hardly any weight will be given to the evidence of your son.

Sorry.

Car99

Marcusm wrote: »

Apart from anything else, no insurer would pursue a legal action over a car worth €1800 as the legal fees would be 10-20 times that amount as a minimum.

It will end up being a he said/she said situation and I suspect hardly any weight will be given to the evidence of your son.

Sorry.

18000 to 36000 euro wow that's alot

dev100

Charlie George wrote:

Hi there ,i was involved in a crash last weekend where a person who was driving in front of me on a back road pulled into the left hand side of the road (across from an entrance to a house), i took it that he was leaving me off, i indicated to overtake and as I was passing him out he turned right and we both collided, when he got out of the car he apologised and said he never saw me behind him, his wife got out of the car and started mouthing off asking "where else did I think they were going" and that I shouldn't have overtaken them. The Guards were called and to make a long story short after moving away and talking to his wife he then told the guard that he put his indicator on and that I was at fault, i was livid and lost it, I cant get my head around someone that would lie through there teeth to get away with something that was totally there fault, I had my 15 year old son in the front who could see that there was no indicator on also. The insurance company said they will investigate and come back to me.

Did he pull off the road to the left ? And where were you positioned when you were overtaking him ?

Laws are slightly strange .... did the cops take statements and what did they say ?

Marcusm

Car99 wrote: »

18000 to 36000 euro wow that's alot

To organise and run a case even in the circuit court? I wouldn't think that it was much. Perhaps you could get a solicitor to run a claim through the DC and it might not even be defended at that level but rather just accepted and written off.

Problem is once the claim is lodged, someone will find a personal injury or soft tissue damage claim.

Car99

Marcusm wrote: »

To organise and run a case even in the circuit court? I wouldn't think that it was much. Perhaps you could get a solicitor to run a claim through the DC and it might not even be defended at that level but rather just accepted and written off.

Problem is once the claim is lodged, someone will find a personal injury or soft tissue damage claim.

No wonder insurance companies settle whiplash cases out of court for €15k a time if it costs more to go to court . Gravy train for the law professionals.

Sue Pa Key Pa

Car99 wrote: »

No wonder insurance companies settle whiplash cases out of court for €15k a time if it costs more to go to court . Gravy train for the law professionals.

It's not just the cost of bringing it to court, The OP's situation is typical of what happens. Apart from the two parties giving different accounts, what EVIDENCE could be put in front of a judge to consider?

Charlie George

dev100 wrote: »

Did he pull off the road to the left ? And where were you positioned when you were overtaking him ?

Laws are slightly strange .... did the cops take statements and what did they say ?

No,he didn't pull off the road,he just pulled up on the tight on the ditch on the left hand side of the road, obviously getting plenty of room to turn right.
A nice guard came and he knew by the fellas reaction and body language that he was lying but said he was just taking an account of things that the insurance company would determine who was wrong.

StiffOldMan

If there's no evidence then laws of the land apply. He said/she said... It comes down to who hit who from behind most likely. Sure my uncle was up north near Belfast, hit a taxi from behind.. The taxi man knew he'd get more money for an injury claim in the republic so that's exactly what he did. He lied about his injuries and even said the accident happened on a different road at a different time. There was no evidence to back my uncle. The taxi driver got over €50k. The judge said both cases were very convincing but because it was a he said/she said situation, the taxi was hit from behind which made my uncle have liability

dev100

Charlie George wrote:

No,he didn't pull off the road,he just pulled up on the tight on the ditch on the left hand side of the road, obviously getting plenty of room to turn right. A nice guard came and he knew by the fellas reaction and body language that he was lying but said he was just taking an account of things that the insurance company would determine who was wrong.

StiffOldMan wrote:

If there's no evidence then laws of the land apply. He said/she said... It comes down to who hit who from behind most likely. Sure my uncle was up north near Belfast, hit a taxi from behind.. The taxi man knew he'd get more money for an injury claim in the republic so that's exactly what he did. He lied about his injuries and even said the accident happened on a different road at a different time. There was no evidence to back my uncle. The taxi driver got over €50k. The judge said both cases were very convincing but because it was a he said/she said situation, the taxi was hit from behind which made my uncle have liability

Think it's time I installed cameras in car.

frag420

Surely if the other driver pulled into the left and was then indicating to cross the road then its up to him to make sure there was no other traffic behind him before making his move?