Should I take this to court?

[Oxongirl]

Hi guys

 

Back in December another car hit mine in a school car park.....

 

I had reversed out of my space, and as I couldn't see around another parked car (not in a space, just dumped at the end of a row) to carry on into the main flow of traffic, I decided to stop and give way to a school taxi which would enable me to reverse straight back into another area of the car park. As I was stationary, another car reversed straight back out of her space and into the left near side rear (just in front of the rear wheel arch) of my car. I had a dent, her car was undamaged. She got out screaming at me that it was a stupid place to park, to which I said I was waiting for the taxi to go.

Anyway, I filed a claim with my insurance. They 'wrote off' my old L reg car as uneconomical repair, and paid the money less my excess.

I had to provide two detailed statements/diagrams as the other persons insurance claimed they could not read it when it was received, even though it had been typed.....

I received a letter from my insurance legal team yesterday stating that I should agree to 50/50 as the other person has claimed we were both moving out from parking spaces. They also stated that if I decided to take it to court I would still get a 50/50 conclusion.

I have spoken to the taxi driver and he says he remembers me stopping for him, but couldn't be certain.

 

My question is, do any of you think I should take this to court, or just agree to 50/50?

 

I am just so annoyed that this woman is willing to lie about what happened. It is pretty obvious I was not backing out from a parking space, I was well into the traffic area when she hit me. She just obviously did not take in what was around her before reversing (at quite a speed, actually), and to prove the point she has almost had me again twice since the original prang! God forbid if she ever hit a child in that car park, but I guess she'd lie about that too.

 

Do I take a chance on whether the judge will be in a good mood.....or give up and let her get her own way??

 

Any constructive replies gratefully received.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

In my opinion (as the same thing happened to me many years ago) unless you have independent witnesses or CCTV evidence of what happened, you would be throwing good money after bad.

 

As galling as it is, this is likely to have the same outcome as your insurers have said

[Oxongirl]

Thanks for the reply.

Have to say that is pretty bad that someone can lie and get away with it....or maybe I was just brought up to tell the truth??

Do people honestly have no conscience?

I guess I have to give up then, and she'll just carry on smirking at me every day knowing she got away with it.

[crem]

I have to agree with silverfox that in almost all cases, car park bumps are settled 50/50 as both drivers tend to say "he moved, I didn't". Unless their is an independant witness, it's going nowhere.

[CarsOrBikes]

well, she won't get away with it, as a claim of 50/50 is still a claim, and if her car isn't damaged, it is her insurance paying half of you repairs/loss no?

 

You could have tried a non fault company, but on private ground difficult. If you try court now I think you're wasting money personally, just if there's a next time, don't be so quick to claim immediately, check the no win no fee solicitors first. I know a forensic engineer who would identify the damage you describe as not possibly caused by your manouvre, as in fron of the rear wheel arch to get a dent for example, depending on scratch evidence and shapes etc could explain your car would have to have been going sideways!

 

anyway

 

only my2p, she has a claim against her, so do you, but you get another car hopefully.

 

(you do know you can ask to keep your car don't you, worth doing sometimes and repairing later if minor. Often the case with older cars, written off because the insurance can't be bothered, and you could be paid several hundred still, with sometimes only token amount deducted to buy your car back)