Hello all, its been a while since I've posted in here, but i need some help.

Basically, my sister had a small accident when reversing off our driveway in July 2007. She was reversing off our driveway and at the same time a woman was reversing up our street on the wrong side of the road. They both didn't see each other and the rear corner of both cars made contact. My sister stupidly didn't come inside to tell anyone and didn't take any pictures, just took insurance details and the woman drove off. My sisters wheels were still on the footpath and just the back end was 'hanging' over the road. So you can tell how far on the wrong side of the road this woman was reversing.

My sisters insurance company Privilege have been dealing with this appallingly. Its taken them nearly a year to get anywhere at all. Privilege said it offered a 50/50 claim as both cars were reversing, the womans insurance company rejected this offer and refused to take any blame. Now we have had a letter from Privilege saying:

" Please note that the other side have rejected our offer of settlement on a 50/50 basis.

Unfortunately, given that their insured was on the main road and you were coming off your driveway, we would not have a strong enough case to justify pursuing this matter further through the courts.

I regret to advise you that will not be able to effect a recovery for you in this instance and propose to close your file.

I will however leave it open for 14 days for any further comments you may wish to add."

WTF so basically the other side refuse and Privilege chicken out and give in.

The other woman had to provide drawings of the event. She put my sisters car in the middle of the road and her reversing out of the street on the correct side of the road. How fucking convenient, shame its a blatant lie.

I have done a quick sketch to explain the incident a little better.

Where the 3 cars are parked she claimed it was a 'turning circle' that was full. Its a parking space to fit 3 cars, stupid woman. She claimed she could not do a turn in the road and had to reverse out. I'm sorry but she was in a fucking fiesta. A Frontera can turn round in the road even if those spaces are full. you'd have to be driving a bloody long car to not be able to turn around in our street.

So we're stuck. Privilege want to close our file. She is lieing through her teeth but we don't have any pictures to prove our side. The damage is going to cost about £700 to fix. My sister's car is an R reg Rover 416 that we bought cheap off a family member for £600. This car has been dealer serviced since new upto 75k miles and now its on 91k and its in great condition.

To top it all off, the womans son comes down our street all the time in his fancy BMW that must have bought for him (he looks about 17). He flies down the street, picks up his girlfriend, then reverses out of the street as fast as he can on the wrong side of the road just like she did. ARGHHH Can you see why this is annoying me so much.

Is there anything at all we can do? Would the Financial Ombudsman be able to help?

Any helpful tips or guidance would be much appreciated.

Revis

Edited 5 June, 200818 yr by Revis

Why did you tell them that you were moving.

You should have said you were stationery on your driveway and that she had reversed up your driveway as if to make a 3 point turn as that is what it would appear she is doing from your image.

It's a little late now to do anything other than keep fighting for 50/50.

have you asked the neighbours if any of them saw it happen? A witness is your best chance I think.

Otherwise I reckon you'll struggle to get anywhere unfortunately. I'm not an insurance type person but I think if a car is moving down a road then it has right of way over a car trying to move out into the road. It's your word against their I suppose. Have you told the insurance company that her diagram is wrong and sent them your version?

If you had a photo she would be screwed, as you would have hard evidence against her.

If you can't get any joy with the clame you could always shafted her son, by taking a video of his dangerous driving and send it to crime stoppers/ police.

It won't get you any money but it may make you feel better if he comes in on a push bike because he has lost his licence!

Thanks for the replies. No neighbours saw it happen as far as i know. The insurance company has seen both sets of diagrams and like you say its their word against ours, but surely that would make it a 50/50 as she was obviously looking over the wrong shoulder whilst reversing down the wrong side of the road?

do the same thing with the son in the beema and get pics and sey its runs in the family

the financial ombudsman wont do anything but i'm sure that every insurance company has to be regulated by the same type of person. I would investigate this further and write a letter to them, enclosing photos of the scene of the accident with measurements of the road where she alleged there wasnt enough room to turn round. If they see that theres 3 parking spaces there and its not a turning circle, it might make any statement she made look fraudulent.

In reality, the police should have been called as then everything would have been noted down and this could've been used by the insurance company to assess the blame.

I would also now get in contact with your sisters insurnace comp again saying that you are not happy that fuck all has happened and the least they could do is insist on a 50/50 blame. After all, what do you pay the insurance premium for? I'd see the police to see if she could be done for driving without due care. Maybe a long shot but its worth a go.

Its a long time since i did insurance claims (9 years ago!) but if i can dig out anything which might help, i'll let you know.

Good luck.

try filling this in:-

http://www.insuranceombudsman.com.au/pages...puteWizard.aspx