Hi,

In June this year my wife and I visited a relative and parked between two vehicles outside her house. There was ample space and I reversed into the gap in a single move. I moved up a foot towards the car in front to let my dog out of the boot of our car and went inside the house. We left 2 hours later, moving back a foot or so and departed going forward in one movement. Later that evening we had a phonecall from the owner of the car parked behind us saying we had hit his car as we departed. Neither my wife or I was aware of any impact and said as much. We drove over to see the other persons damage for ourselves and were told that it was the very evident scratches to the front nearside of their vehicle on the bumper going down to the bottom of the bodywork. The ''incident'' was apparently witnessed by the owners mother and a neighbour both of whom were standing at their respective bedroom windows as we departed. I should explain that the vehicles cannot be seen from the downstairs windows because of a wall which runs along the pavement at that point. I was informed later that a third neighbour had also witnessed it from her window across the street. How convenient that they were all at their respective windows at 3 minutes past 2 on a Wednesday afternoon to witness this.

The scratches were a variety of about 15 ''glancing'' marks which started under the headlight and around the side of the vehicle to the wheelarch ie on the corner of the car. There are also similar scratches in the same area on the offside of their vehicle but they are not blaming me for those ........ yet. The first thing that struck me was that as my vehicle is a large 4x4 and the other vehicle is a small hatchback. The bumper on my car starts vertically where the other vehicles damage ends. I measured the damaged area on the other vehicle and there is only a 2cm overlap where contact could have been made with my car in relation to the damage which was 14cms deep overall. Also because of the curved profile of both car's bumpers it would be very difficult to damage only the left corner from a position where I was parked directly in front of their car.

I denied any knowledge of this incident but I then got a letter from their insurance saying I had caused a collision whilst parking. I rang my insurance and they sent an engineer to examine my car. The only marks on my bumper were 4 spots where I had touched a stone wall 2 years ago. The engineer agreed these were consistent with my explanation and that these were static as opposed to glancing scratches on the other vehicle.

The engineers report has just arrived along with a letter from my insurance stating that the only area where I could be responsible is a small section at the top of the damage area. They go on to say that I would have had to angle my car in relation to the road when exiting the parking space in order to cause the damage on the corner of the other vehicle. My insurance have stated that if the other party wishes to continue to press for the claim they will pay them in full for all the damage as it would be too expensive to fight the case. Even though the engineers report shows I couldn't have caused 90% of the damage being claimed, and the other 10% is very dubious.

Meanwhile they have more than doubled my premium from £500 to £1100 pa. They have admitted that the cost of repairs will be £300 to the other party's car. Yet I will have to pay an extra premium for years to come for something I didn't do and which I could not physically have done.

I have written to my insurers saying I do not accept their decision and that there seems to be a financial incentive for them to pay the claim even though I am innocent. Many years of increased premiums for an outlay of £300 = additional profit. I don't know what to do next if they insist on paying the claim. Any advice would be most welcome, failing that lots of sympathy would help.

You can write to them and tell them that if they are not prepared to fight the case then you will do it yourself. Shouldn't cost you more than £50.

If you have legal expenses on the policy, then they will have to pay the fees.

If you have legal expenese cover it will be of no use here, it is for claiming against rather than defence, that is what your insurer are there for. Options are, you convince your insurer that if they are paying this, it's on a without prejudice basis, to avoid court costs , if ths is the case, they should then allow your ncb.

Other option is, if they pay, you can reimburse, allowing your NCB (not such a great deal for you as you dispute liability). You can let them deal and complain, this is much like option no 1, you may have to take it further, if it goes to the FOS, they may not side with you as the engineer has still stated there is a 10% chance of you casuing the damage.

Or you could tell your insurers you want to deal yourself, send them a letter stating you do not wasnt the policy to indemnify you, you can then take on the claim, should the third party issue (they may not for such a small amount), you can go to court youself - this part is free, again though, if there are witnesses against you and the engineers report stating there is a possibility it was you, this could go against you, claim costs, legal etc.