I had a crash on the motorway last week. There were no witnesses. Both myself and the man I crashed with have put in an insurance claim. We have completely different stories.
I was in the fast lane and he was in the middle lane. It started hailing and became very foggy, so I began to break, not suddenly, but quite rapidly. At the same time, he had gone to move into the fast lane, and clipped the bottom left of my car with the front right of his. I'm not sure whos fault this makes it? (Not sure if it would be my fault anyway due to 'wreckless driving' because I began to break..)
The man I had the accident with claims that I was in the slow lane, he was in the middle and I careered from the slow lane to the fast lane, clipping him on the way. This is just not true.
In this instance when the stories are completely different and there are no witnesses, can anyone actually win the dispute? And if not, do we each pay our own damages or do we split the overall damage 50:50? Also, having reached a 50:50 settlement, can I opt to pay myself (as my damage is £200 and my excess is £400), rather than through my insurance company as this would avoid higher premiums next year, or would it be too late?
Finally, the man involved works for a vehicle delivery company. I looked at his car after the crash and there did not appear to be much more damage than a bump. I am concerned that, because the insurance is on the behalf of his company, he is just putting in a claim as standard procedure, and may try and blame me for damage that was not actually part of the accident.
Sorry to bombard with the questions but really have no idea what to do!
Ribena666