Thread: reversing into a parked car - who is at fault?

i left my car parked outside a friends place on saturday and we all took his car to auckland for the day. when i got back my car has been reversed into - buckled back door in, bent the doorjamb, and a decent bit of paint damage too. (quote from panel beaters was $2.5k+)
when i finally managed to get hold of the guy there was a lot of yelling screaming, swearing etc (by him not me) saying things like i shouldnt park there, it makes it hard for him to get out, "why should i have to do a 3 point turn to get my own drive" etc. he is not accepting liability, and i really dont want to have to pay my own excess and take this asshole to court.
i have never parked here before, although apparently every time someone else does, he goes over and has a big screaming rant at them about parking here
there are no yellow lines, restriction signs etc anywhere near here, it is a perfectly legal park.
so who do think is at fault?

arrows are his path. blue car is my car. parked up, stationary.

definitely him if you are parked legally. call your insurance let them get the money out of him

I had this exact situation in 2002 when parked legally. I just reported it to my insurance company and they took over getting money out of him. Amazing how the word 'police' gets them to think logically.

You've done nothing wrong, just the other guys inability to drive his car.

definetly the other guys fault, as long as it was legally parked. dependant on whether you have third party or full, your insurance should be able to sort it out for you, other wise small claims

You're totally in the right if things happened as you've said. Others have posted the same advice, just wanted to add my voice so you know plenty of people have the same opinion......... nail him....

Had something similar in the GTR once when I was parked somewhere someone didn't like (legally) and I watched him get all shitty, then come up to my car and run his key up my drivers door !!! I was 6 flights up at the time but came down and he was coming back to put a shitty note on my window........ then started going on about how hard it is to have screaming kids in the car..... life is stressful etc etc........ I was like are you going to give me your details or do I have to call the cops ??

Had to repeat myself a couple of times, but eventually it was paid for ......... insanely enough I called his insurance to say he'd done this and they covered the cost !! So now insurance companies seem to cover criminal damage when it's their customer that's the criminal !!! Odd........

Still, not as bad as the damage you've sustained........ hope you get it sorted mate......

Exact same thing happened to me. Like EXACTLY the same thing. Other guy is at fault.

He can apply to his council to have yellow lines painted there if he likes, that will stop people parking there. In the mean time, no yellow lines = you are not at fault.

Just take it to his insurance company.

actually in the ensuing argument, he was the one who threatened me with police for harrassment. (i called him back half an hour after he hung up on me) its very entertaining when someone is screaming at you on the phone trying to argue their stupid point.

funniest part is that his wife, the one driving, was in a toyota estima van, which has a reversing mirror right above the corner he hit me on.
scary thing is that he only has paint damage, and i have a door that wont open and a half stuffed chassis

I agree how the hell can it be your fault if your not even at your car and its stationary? hes a dick and needs to pay!

Take a dump in a paper bag, light it on fire and drop it on his door step, knock on the door and gap it.

I'll admit you wont getting anywhere doing this, but should provide teh lulz when he stamps on it to put teh fire out

i dont understand why they have reversed onto the wrong side of the road nearly facing oncoming traffic. seems a little weird

Originally Posted by crshbndct

"why should i have to do a 3 point turn to get my own drive" etc

LOL, becasue its a toyota estima.

Perhaps print some material about how to do 3 point turns and mail them to him This again wont help the situation, but will provide again self satisfaction in them realising what you have done

well i think your in the right, I was parked in a car parking bay outside a bakery in taupo, it had a reversing bay behind so you could reverse without going out onto the busy road tho and as i started to head out onto the road straight the car that was parked next to me reversed right into my car!! and craved my door in! altho i was right behind there car they hit me! so they had to pay out as they were found in the wrong!

So to me it seems your right, your car was still his car was moving

That person sounds like a complete idiot. Let us know how you get on

One could argue that if you cannot reverse out of your own driveway without hitting a car parked on the opposite side of the road, you do not possess the skills necessary to hold a drivers licence.

One could also be sexist, but then again, we could safely say that regardless of sex, lots of people cannot drive for sh** and shouldn't be on the road.

Young people might cause a few of the big crashes, but at a guess I would say its the people that are older that do more of the 'shopping trolley'-like accidents like this one

You are going to drive up to Whangarei for that? lol

fully agree with everyone. It is his fault.

His fault get your insurance company to PAWN his ass....he knws its his own fault,prob the reason he started yelling, thinks he might be able to scare you off.