sons car accident - opinions pleae??

[JimC64]

Hey guys, you may remember both my son & stepson both passed their test almost a year ago. They both got a little Renault Clio runaround that cost the earth to insure.
They're now both coming up for a full year with no issues, until today!!!

Jamie got swiped by a delivery van.....anyway, here's the story c/w pics and I'd be interested to hear your opinions?
I know what mine are and genuinely think he's pretty much blameless but maybe some of you with less bias will offer other opinions, so please post away.

Firstly here's the damage to the car, hit by the van as below...





The van that did the damage below......





The vehicles in location on the street approx where the accident happened. Both were moved a few feet to allow access for other vehicles but essentially are where they were when it happened




As you might see, the delivery van is the "white van man" type with the solid "windows" at the rear ( ie - none ) offering poor visibility with a great big solid step at the rear also.

The story is as follows....

Looking at the pic above ( bearing in mind we drive on the left, so the vehicles would be coming down the street towards you on the right hand side )
The van enters the road coming towards you and Jamie is behind the van.
The van driver then pulls in sharply to the right and into a parking space and applied the brakes. Jamie then continues forward at which point the van starts to reverse. Obviously it all happens very quickly and Jamie tries to steer as far to the left as he can to avoid the van but its too late and the van smashes into his drivers door, the step causing most of the damage.

Although it was only at a few miles per hour Jamie got a bit of a fright as you can imagine. The much older van driver immediately tries to aportion blame to Jamie.
I don't see it that way......as he was reversing, its his responsibility to make sure that the road is clear.

The upshot is....Jamie will be trying to renew his insurance in about 4-5 weeks time. I personally believe its a " Not at fault" accident but you know how these insurance companies are, so we'll see on that one??

The thing is....this could possibly seriously affect his next years premium and make the cost prohibitive to re insure through no fault of his own


Bloody raging, but **it happens.

Opinions please??

[DSG4ME]

Highway code says anyone in reverse gear should stop until the road is clear, as it obviously wasn't the van is in the wrong, your kid should have no problem getting paid out here imo, he's on the road the van isn't the van is moving backwards when it shouldn't be until the road is clear, kiddo has right of way, parked vehicles do not, hth.

[JimC64]

Yeah thanks mate, thats the way i see it too, but I'm wondering even if it all goes as it should if he's gonna get stung when he comes to re insure in about 4-5 weeks time

We'll see I guess

Thanks for posting your thoughts

[Guest 2]

The main thing that he's ok and not hurt cars can be replaced but people can't. As DSG says, the van driver should've made sure that the road was clear before entering it.

Keep us updated on how it turns out.

[Eshrules]

Purely playing devil's advocate here - if Jamie pulled in whilst that van was reversing, it could be suggested he contributed to the accident.

It looks (to me) as if the impact happened with the clio further back than it's currently parked which has led me to suggest the above.

Crux of it is, however, as stated above, the van's hit the clio in reverse - his fault in my eyes regardless of where Jamie was.

It'll more than likely affect his premium next year, whether it's his fault or not you have to declare the claim - it may be worth considering the increase on premium in comparison to cost of repairs and whether it'd be more economical to avoid an insurance claim.

[turbine2]

With the story as you have it the fault is with the van driver. Vehicles revesing don't have priority over general traffic (despite what WVM may think). The problem's going to be proving it.

Is there an independent witness who can back your son up? I have a nasty feeling that if there isn't then the insurance company will just say "can't be proven either way" and your son will take a hit.

[drpellypo]

Is the van a self employed owner driver or a company owned? If it's company owned some will usually accept liability and pay out outside insurance as long as it's below £1k. That's how bus companies work anyway, cos it's easier for them than sorting insurance

[JimC64]

Hi guys and thanks for all your opinions, much appreciated.

I can't really see how Jamie was at fault here to be honest and I'd probably be the first one to say if it were otherwise.
The insurance company has already been told as the guy wass not admitting liability to it.
Seemed to go a bit about how if he lost his licence he would lose his job etc etc....To me that says he's probably on 6-9 points and or has had 2 or 3 bumps over the last few years and is on a warning or similar......could be wrong, but just reading between the lines.

Anuhow, we'll have to wait and see how the insurance companies see this I guess......I'll post how it goes

[phil miller]

I dont think Jamie is at fault one bit BUT by the look of the damage (being only the door?) i think id be tempted to get another door (same colour, common colour for clio's) and fit it, that way there is zero chance of insurance going up and altho the van driver should pay, it can sometimes go belly up, i agree with you but sometimes its not worth the extra cost after the claim, if you get my meaning

[JimC64]

Hi Phil, thanks so much for your comments on this.

You very probably are right on this, but, being as sure as we can be that he's not at fault and out of some sort of idea of justice if you like!
I guess we feel that he shouldn't have to pay a penny for sumthin thats not his fault, and probably the door from a scrappy would have been an option, but the insurance company is now involved, so we'll have to run with it and see!

Fingers crossed it works out the way it should