Near Miss Caused Car Damage - Advice Please

mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 18:42
Last edited 11/12/2021 - 18:52 by 1 other user

I was travelling on the left lane in a 4 lane road (2 lanes each way). Idiot driver tried to cut in front of me which caused me to brake hard and swerve to the curb.

My vehicle hit the curb causing scuff marks on the rims and tyres. I horned and flashed my lights at the idiot wanting them to stop. Idiot just drove off.

Is the idiot in front responsible for the damage? What would be my next course of action?

Got pics and rego of idiot before he/she got away. No dashcam footage though.

I don't believe our vehicles touched each other.

MS Paint diagram

Automotive

Comments

  • Mattec078 on 11/12/2021 - 18:56
    +9

    Would have been better hitting them ???? sadly its now only your word against theirs….. as without any witnesses / Camera i would find it hard to be able to prove it was them

    • mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 19:10
      +6

      Thanks. You're right, maybe it would have been better just ploughing straight into them and then claiming insurance.

  • highon2str on 11/12/2021 - 18:59

    While it is unfortunate, unless you can prove that they intentionally swerved into your lane with the intention to run you off, it is your words against theirs. Get the tyres inspected at a tyre shop if you are concerned, perhaps a wheel alignment also. While you are there, they may be able to quote for rim repairs.

    • mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 19:10

      Should I have chased them down?

      • highon2str on 11/12/2021 - 19:14
        +1

        Chasing them down would have been dangerous and unnecessary. If anything perhaps focusing on more brake pressure while keeping the steering wheel straight may have avoided damage to your wheels. It was also fortunate that your car did not swerve into another car or person. All in all, this could have been a much worse outcome than just damaged wheels.

        • mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 19:32

          My brakes were already fully pressed and if i didnt swerve, i am 99% sure i would have hit him/her.

  • oscargamer on 11/12/2021 - 19:06
    +4

    It's on you OP….

  • Muzeeb on 11/12/2021 - 19:14

    đŸŽ»

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 11/12/2021 - 19:15
    +1

    If you had dash cam at least you can report dangerous driving.

  • PissLUR on 11/12/2021 - 19:19

    sorry op. but the fault is on you. if you have comprehensive insurance, you will need to pay excess.

  • AdosHouse on 11/12/2021 - 19:31
    +8

    I don't know how many time I have had to tell people to never swerve. Only exception is if you know 100% that it is safe to do so, but that is very rare.

    OP you are lucky you didn't either mount the gutter and risk lives, or lose control of the car when you hit the gutter, it does not take much to do so.

    • mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 19:33

      So the advice im seeing here is to just plough into whatever is in front of me and claim insurance.

      • AdosHouse on 11/12/2021 - 20:18
        +4

        In the vast majority of incident, the best course of action is to keep the car straight and to hit the anchors.

        • Muzeeb on 11/12/2021 - 20:23
          +6

          Especially with wildlife in regional / rural areas.

          Fun fact : Trees are stronger than cars.

          • AdosHouse on 11/12/2021 - 20:24
            +4

            @Muzeeb: And those drainage ditches/embankments on the side of country roads make cars go flippy.

            • Muzeeb on 11/12/2021 - 20:30
              +1

              @AdosHouse: Table drains ✅

              • AdosHouse on 11/12/2021 - 20:35

                @Muzeeb: Thanks, didn't know the true name.

                I've driven a good chunk of the QLD outback, and have spoken to country cops, and they attend a lot of accidents where people dodge animals and end up in bad ways.

                • jjjaar on 11/12/2021 - 23:28
                  +2

                  @AdosHouse: If it’s any consolation, I prefer “make cars go flippy”

          • Zachary on 14/12/2021 - 13:05

            @Muzeeb:

            Fun fact : Trees are stronger than cars.

            Im guessing you have first hand experience with that, thinking oh shit a tree just popped out from nowhere, well its usually unsafe to swerve so I'll just run that tree down? hahaha

            • Muzeeb on 14/12/2021 - 13:09

              @Zachary: I have witnessed it. It's not pretty. The joys of regional driving.

      • Stopback on 11/12/2021 - 22:14

        Ideally you should be aware of your surroundings at all time.

        So if you swerve you don't hit anyone.

  • El cheepo on 11/12/2021 - 20:33
    +4

    No dashcam no proof.

    Even a dashcam wouldn’t guarantee you a win with insurance in that circumstance as there was no contact and dashcam footage doesn’t always accurately portray distances well.

    It’s a messed up system, but hitting them would of at least given you a chance to fight it out with insurance.
    The downside been, if you did that, you could lose even if you did nothing wrong.

    Long story short.
    There’s sweet bugger all you can do about it now.
    People suck.

    • md333 on 12/12/2021 - 12:16
      +1

      Generally if you hit the back of someone it is assumed to be your fault, so would still be the onus on you to prove they swerved in there, so not really sure that would be a better outcome for anyone.

      Not to mention the possibility of other cars being involved following the collision.

      • El cheepo on 12/12/2021 - 13:52

        That would be the issue i mentioned.

        Even with dashcam footage, the angle you hit and how much perceived distance was involved on camera would determine the outcome, which isn’t always accurate.

        It’s a messed up system that you can cause an accident by driving like a fool and get away with it so easily if your car isn’t damaged. It’s illegal to do, but so damn hard to prove someone did it.

  • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 11/12/2021 - 20:43
    +4

    Just get a dashcam, people!!!

  • TheBird on 11/12/2021 - 20:45

    You two didn't collide. I don't belive they have any legal responsibility to stop or to make you whole for the damage to your vehicle.

    So the advice im seeing here is to just plough into whatever is in front of me and claim insurance.

    You have a responsibility to avoid an accident if possible. Choosing to "plough in" may simply add yourself to the list of those responsible for the accident. if safe, you should avoid the accident and maintain control of the vehicle as best as you can.

    I get that it sucks and I get you're upset that the person you feel is responsible gets away scott free. At least no one, especially you, were hurt.

    • aoeueoa on 11/12/2021 - 22:04

      If they caused an accident they have to stop. You can drive down the wrong way on a road and make 10 people drive out of your way and crash into trees - that would be your fault even if you didn't hit any cars.

      • TheBird on 12/12/2021 - 00:28

        If they caused an accident they have to stop.

        I did some digging and couldn't find anything that even suggested this. Is there any legal reason where they have to stop if they didn't make contact?

        • aoeueoa on 12/12/2021 - 13:18

          Law states you need to stop if you're involved in an accident. The contact isn't important if it was clear that the driving caused an accident. It's probably been easily argued in case law, or they might charge it under negligent or dangerous driving laws under Road Transport Act

          • TheBird on 12/12/2021 - 22:23

            @aoeueoa: There's that phrase, "Involved in the accident". Everything I found led me to believe there had to be contact for it to be involved. Is there anywhere that states that a non-contact includes being involved? And if not, there may not be a legal reason where they need to stop.

            I've seen cases like this one where the other person to the OP contributed to the accident and may legally share in some of the cost, but that involves you suing the other driver. I don't see anything that suggests that insurance companies are willing to take that route, so you're on your own in that case.

            You're right, they might charge it under something else (in this case, probably failure to give way - What is that? 1 point and a hungee?), but who cares? How much time should the OP spend to chase down a scratched wheel. Practically speaking it sounds like penny wise, pound foolish.

  • core101 on 11/12/2021 - 20:49
    +1

    MS Paint diagram checks out.

    • mrvaluepack on 11/12/2021 - 21:17

      You're welcome. Its the no.1 unwritten ozbargain vehicle accident advice rule to have one.

  • brendanm on 11/12/2021 - 21:15

    Is the idiot in front responsible for the damage?

    No.

  • Stopback on 11/12/2021 - 22:07

    I'm sorry best to be more a defensive driver.

    I try not to drive around blind spots.

    And keep solid distance from any car

    And keep solid distance from cars that seem to behave erratic.

    Still most of us will get unlucky.

    End of day one thousand dollars is cheap for health

  • MelbEng on 11/12/2021 - 22:09
    +1

    Had a similar type of incident a few years. Spoke to my insurer and was told I would have been better off if I had hit them. Hit the centre curb instead and destroyed a $300 tyre. With only a dash cam video and their registration I was still not able to claim.

    • brendanm on 11/12/2021 - 22:16
      +1

      With only a dash cam video and their registration I was still not able to claim.

      That's because you can't blame them for something you chose to do. You can say "if I don't serve I would have hit them", but you did, and you didn't, and that was your choice.

    • mrvaluepack on 12/12/2021 - 07:15

      Thanks for the info. Just curious which insurer was that?

  • pharkurnell on 11/12/2021 - 23:23
    -2

    Its a rim and tyre… fix it and move on.

  • spurf on 12/12/2021 - 08:27

    Unfortunately your chances in getting them to pay are slim as they would essentially need them to accept responsibility as you have no evidence to corroborate your story. Tyre sounds like it is OK so you just need to get the wheel resprayed. Ring around for quotes… you should be able to get it fixed less that what your insurance excess is.

    I don't think those suggesting to not serve understand how brains work in these sorts of situations. Not a lot of strategising happens in the split second between seeing something and reacting to it.

  • Roll Eyes on 12/12/2021 - 09:41
    -2

    Your fault for swerving. I have no idea when this stupid habit of swerve instead of braking became so common. Even worse that you think your only 2 options were ‘swerve or plough into him’.

    • mrvaluepack on 12/12/2021 - 10:39
      -2

      Already explained above. Brakes were already fully depressed, felt vibrations from ABS. If i didnt swerve, pretty sure i would hit him/her.

      I pray and hope you experience the same thing next week and i want to see what you would've done in that 2 second window.

      • Roll Eyes on 13/12/2021 - 12:23
        -1

        It happens often, reaction of swerving to avoid another car can cause the swerver to hit someone else. The original ‘bad act’ drives off because nobody hit them. Swerver is then at fault for the other car.
        You can “hope and pray” for it to happen as much as you want, doesn’t change the outcome. I have a different driving style to you :-)
        They changed lanes in front of you in a 50/60/70 zone (?) so much so that you had to activate ABS and swerve, nobody else ran into the back of you luckily, you were then able to get photos, use the horn, and flash your lights. BS.

  • singingwolf on 12/12/2021 - 10:48
    +2

    based on your MSPaint diagram, you should have seen him wanting to change lanes - he had a big arrow sticking out from his car.

  • Jianbin on 12/12/2021 - 15:52
    +1

    Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to the o to er driver. Even if you have their Rego you can’t prove anything. They could say they did an overtake safely and far away from your car.

    I haven’t encountered a situation like yours yet, but I’ve thought about it, and like many have said, the safest way is to break as hard as you can, and hold onto your steering wheel tight and straight like it’s your dear life.

  • Drj55 on 12/12/2021 - 15:56
    +1

    Happened to me. Chased them down. Got their rego and details. Filed police report. They denied it. Police opinion was that no motor vehicle accident had happened as there was no collision. Gave up and bought new wheel myself. Just be thankful it wasn't a major accident.

  • jv on 12/12/2021 - 16:04
    -2

    You should have left them in after they overtook, instead of trying to speed up and cut them off.

  • Jianbin on 12/12/2021 - 17:28
    +1

    Sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately there’s nothing you can do to the o to er driver. Even if you have their Rego you can’t prove anything. They could say they did an overtake safely and far away from your car.

    I haven’t encountered a situation like yours yet, but I’ve thought about it, and like many have said, the safest way is to break as hard as you can, and hold onto your steering wheel tight and straight like it’s your dear life.

  • brownsound on 13/12/2021 - 20:47
    +1

    hope everyone learns from OP's post to stay out of other car's blind spots

    • Zachary on 14/12/2021 - 13:08

      put side cameras (that point outwards of the sides) on the car so you have proof they tried to swerve into you

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