never claimed before help needed

[arthur_daley]

my wife was in a minor crash she was pulling out of a juction on a small road (in a built up area) turning left there was a 7 1/2 tonne lorry coming from the left which was indicating to turn right into the road she was coming out from then when he saw how tight the road is as it has cars parked on both sides all the way down he changed his mind at the last min which in turn made the back of the lorry swing out as they do and catch the front drivers side wing and prob written the car off.at the point of impact my wife had stopped with her wheels just over the white lines at the juction as she saw what was happening and stopped to give him room.it was a hire lorry and we have put in a claim but now the lorry driver is disputing the claim saying that my wife had kept going out of the juction when she should of stopped and given him room.she did stop but like i said she was only just over the white line and if he hadnt changed his mind he wouldnt of hit the car.id like to know if as my wife was stationary at the time would the onus be on the lorry driver to stop before the accident happend.it was at very low speed and there was no damage at all to the lorry.we do have a witness its just that my wife is worried that he can lie and we will end up with nothing but a damaged car.please advise and help if you can.thank you just remembered at the end of the chat at the scene of the crash he said sorry even tho he was very rude at the start

Edited August 15, 2009 by arthur_daley
forgot something

[Wulfyn]

Get a written statement from the witness. If they back up that your wife was stationary and had left the lorry with plenty of room to pass by then you should be fine.

 

This should be all that your insurance company will need to persuade the lorry driver's insurance company that it should be a non-prejudicial claim. The cost of taking such a claim to court when you have an independent witness against you is so high compared to the chance of winning that the lorry driver's insurance company will most likely decide to settle regardless of what the lorry driver states.

 

 

Things are never clear cut in these situations, but you need that witness report as soon as possible. Were the police called? Hopefully they will have the statement from the witness already.

[arthur_daley]

thank you for your advice.the police wasnt called and we are going to try and get the statment tomorrow.the insurance company asked for pictures of the damage today and we are also going to take some of the road he was trying to turn into where my wife was about to come out from to show how unsuitable it is for lorrys