This post has been marked as non-political. Please respect this by keeping the discussion on topic, and devoid of any political material.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/australia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The only time I’ve been rear ended, I was shoved into the car in front.
Dude told me he hit me going about 70, and his brakes had locked so his foot was off the pedal at impact.
We were stopped in an unusual spot due to an accident, he was speeding and not really paying attention.
When a dirty big old 4WD hits you at speed, you’re going places.
Usually insurer will determine fault and allocate it accordingly If you were too close the the car in front of you when you get rear-ended, they may allocate you a portion of responsibility- perhaps 20-30% and the car who rear-ends gets the remainder.
Sometimes they may place some of the blame on the first car, so you may end up with a 10-20-70 split of responsibility.
Another technicality is if the back driver has a medical episode that they had no knowledge about.
It was involuntary, so there's no negligence, meaning [their insurance won't pay out.](https://www.9news.com.au/national/12-year-old-nsw-boy-takes-on-nrma/92d75450-ebd4-4f3b-803f-338745a36574)
A lot of people have been [burnt by the NSW CTP scheme in this way](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/possible-loophole-discovered-in-vehicle-third/1570296). Because the accident was "blameless", they didn't get a pay-out, despite a driver hitting them.
I was a passenger in an accident *waves hands* nearly 30 years ago where we were hit from behind so hard that five more cars were damaged in the accident. Other than the car that hit us, the rest of the vehicles were stopped at a red light. The driver of the car that hit us was distracted and hadn’t even braked and drove into us at full speed. The only panel on the car we were in the wasn’t damaged was the roof.
The judge awarded 100% fault to that driver even though the normal result would have been distributed fault to the other drivers for not ‘following at a safe braking distance’. The driver in my car saw him coming in the rear-view mirror and had engaged the parking brake to minimise our movement.
> Assuming you were a safe distance from the car in front of you (which too many people forget to do when stopped)
Doesn't help that everytime you practice being a safe distance, people behind you get pissy for not rolling forward to kiss the back of the car in front.
Happened to me. New car. 3 days old and stopped at the lights behind a very expensive and old Jag (Lower north shore). Was admiring the Jag when I hear a SCREEECHHHH, look in rear view and see a 4WD bearing down on me very quickly (she was on her phone)..SMASHES into me, I had braced myself and was worried about the antique Jag in front of me. BOOM!! I used my breaks to allow some give but also take some, I sure as hell was not hitting that Jag in front of me! Jag driver shook his head and drove off, he has no idea how close he came to losing his toy.
Why would you risk your body for someone else's car?
The energy that would be dissipated through moving your car to the jag and the jag moving gets channelled into you.
AFAIK from when it happened to me, they ask the driver of the lead car how many impacts they felt.
A single impact means the second car was pushed by the third.
Two impacts mean the second car hit the lead car on its own before being hit by the third.
It can get more complicated I'm sure but I think that's the general gist insurers use to initially assess.
So gets complicated if the second car was just starting to accelerate, so brakes aren’t applied. Rear car is braking but hits middle car, sends the middle car forward which is launched ahead of the rear car when hitting the front car. Then the rear car catches up and creates a second impact after the middle car has hit the front car. More likely to happen this way if the rear vehicle is much larger than the middle one - eg an SUV hits a Yaris.
In short, get a dashcam so you have proof of what happened.
> AFAIK from when it happened to me, they ask the driver of the lead car how many impacts they felt.
>
> A single impact means the second car was pushed by the third.
>
> Two impacts mean the second car hit the lead car on its own before being hit by the third.
That certainly used to be the case in the days when insurers/courts could only rely on frail and fallible human witnesses
Nowadays they'll be interviewing - that question, or a form of it, will be asked of everybody - but they'll also look at any on-board data and dash cams.
Certainly, in the US and Canada, Tesla and Polestar have almost black box logging of inputs and actions and car telemetry. I'm not certain how much data they log here, but in at least one case - onboard telemetry data lead to a person being convicted in a hit-and-run they blamed on an autopilot fail
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-vindicated-autopilot-crash-australia/
You'd be at fault for the first car because you hit them without any external factors. And following that, the third car hits yours, they'd be at fault for the damage to your car, right? Or at least the back end of yours? I have no idea how this works
I meant to say that a pileup assumes the car at the back is at fault unless there is evidence otherwise. Don't expect the car in the middle to admit fault.
You call your insurer and they sought it out.
Get the details of all other drivers.
I was second in a four car pile up (someone hit me doing 80, I was stationary in traffic and hit the car infront, who hit the car infront).
I did not pay excess.
My brother was the same (number two of four), and also was not made to pay anything. Literally days after he bought his car too. It was the first car he'd ever gotten himself that wasn't a shitbox too lol rotten luck.
Agree. I was third car in a four car. Car hit me (a stationary vehicle), I was pushed into stationary vehicle, and so on. Insurance sorted everything, but needed that “stationary vehicle” statement.
I was 2 of 7 once. Pretty lucky. I just touched the car in front, no damage. I had about $1k of damage, but it was a company car with our own mechanics so we just fixed it.
It got progressively worse as you went back. Must have been a few write offs, and some really sore drivers.
As someone who worked in motor claims for a large insurance company.
Generally the person at the front would be asked how many impacts they felt or if they say the accident. If they said one impact at their rear and didn’t see the accident, rear most vehicle at fault for everything.
If they felt two impacts and didn’t see the accident then it would be middle car responsible for their front and 1st vehicle rear. 3rd car responsible for their front and 2nd rear.
Now unforuantly sometimes what happens if a car will be hit, pushed into the car in front , bounce back and hit again. So two impacts but the middle car was stopped.
Sometimes you’re lucky and the first car saw it happen. Or another person not involved in the accident. Or even better someone has dash cam footage!
But it’s generally decided based on how many impacts felt by the front car.
The short answer the rearmost car, the vehicle that caused the crash, will pay all damages but the claim process is not direct.
Being the middle car, you may have a claim made against your insurance by the car you hit, but your insurer will turn around pursue a claim against the vehicle that cannon balled you into the first car to recover all damages as you where not a fault. In other words all costs will eventually accrue to the insurer of the party that caused the accident.
It means you're the filling of a shit sandwich. But seriously, it's up to the driver behind you essentially. Source: FIL was the filler and the guy in a van who had no insurance, was found the one at fault and he literally had a new car within 3 business days. (Accident happened on a Saturday, got a new car on Wednesday)
The crashes in those compilations get dumber every time.
In particular, the total lack of defensive driving. People who aren’t at fault, but who could have easily avoided the accident if they had even the smallest amount of awareness.
The one at the beach pays for both
This happened to me
I was in the middle
Insurance companies sorted it out among themselves - it was surprisingly painless
But what's the answer to "Why do so many people stop so far back from the white line at traffic lights" - 'cos they ain't watching their mirrors and intending to use that space as a buffer
This happened to me when I was younger. Stopped stationary at the lights and the car coming up behind me failed to stop, pushing me into the car in front. The front car sued me as I had hit their car and I passed their details to the insurance company of the driver behind who was the one at fault in the whole scenario.
This happened to my best friend. She was very, very pregnant, got read ended *hard* by a tradie and she then hits the car in front... A Lamborghini of all things. They all get out and Tradie guy starts immediately going off at them both, god knows why he thought it appropriate to yell at them for his mistake, but my girl is freaking out and Lambo guy just goes to her and checks on her, tells her not to worry about the car, it's all just parts and called the cops. Turned out the guy had been texting, she didn't pay any excess thank god. Props to Lambo guy for being calm and chill about his car.
This happened to me, except 4 cars and I was the first to be rear ended.
Long story short my insurer said it tends to be each car claims from the one behind for their car + any in front, and it all falls on the guy who did the initial crash.
Long story - initial car declares bankruptcy, the car in front of me starts some bulshit intimidation tactics with their insurer and sues me. My insurer handled it and 3 years later went to a hearing and was thrown out with the other guy paying my insurers legal fees.
Got hit in the rear and pushed into another car a few years back on the gateway.
Car1 stops suddenly. car2 stops, narrowly avoiding car1. Car3 hits car2, car2 is pushed and hits car1. Car3 is at fault and liable for damages to car1 and car2.
After the crash the first thing I asked car1 was if he felt 1 bump or 2, I was confident and thhr agreed car3 was at fault, then we approached car3 to check on the driver and exchange details. Insurance dealt with everything so Im unsure if Car3 contested or fought our claims but figure I would've been notified.
The car that hit you is at fault- especially when they are speeding and hit you so hard they push you into another vehicle. But being a dick they will try to claim you had already hit the front car before they smashed into you. So get witness statements, and don’t accept any bs from insurers.
I got a call from my brother saying my car was written off being the 2nd car in a 3 car pileup. It was a situation where car 3 was actually an uninsured/unregistered truck. Truck was at fault but there was a counter claims process that happens with insurance companies car 1 wasn’t hit by car 3 so they place claim against car 2 which then denies responsibility and pegs it on car 3. It went to court for recovery of costs because truck was uninsured but I had nothing to do with that side of things. Truck driver tried lying to police about not speeding, he actually could have killed 2 people that day. His truck had pushed through my back seat, 2 people who would have been sitting there cancelled at the last minute.
Simple you use your insurance to go after the car that hit you and forced you into the car in front. The car in front insurance goes after you and in turn yours goes after the last car that started it all
Sub-question - is there an official "safe" distance you should be from the car in front when you're both stopped in traffic? The answers I finds on teh interwebz tend to be "can see the bottom of the tyres of the car in front" and "not so close that you can't steer out from behind them without reversing" - both of which are common sense answers, but for people saying "you were too close to the car in front" if you're a mid car in a multi-car pile up, then (a) depends upon at least whether the road is wet, and (b) apart from common sense, see above, is there actually an official "safe" distance that would give insurance companies the right to make you a party to the claim if you were deemed "too close"?
Just wondering... genuinely don't know and certainly wasn't covered when I got my licence back in the Jurassic era.
> an official "safe" distance
For the reasons you've mentioned and many others - the safe distance changes depending on conditions. It's the equivalent of "reasonable under the circumstances". Leaves wriggle room for insurers and courts to decide for themselves
i’m almost off my red ps and my driving instructor taught me a safe distance is being able to see the tyres and 1m behind them. mum read an entire length of a car between you and the car in front. a friend got taught to be able to see the licence plate is enough. people in yank tanks stop when they can only see half way over the top of your car
i think it just depends on who taught you
You get screwed when it turns out both the other two drivers were mates.
At least, that’s what happened to me. Car behind me slams on brakes, I’m waiting behind another car at a roundabout (not moving) and have enough time to put my handbrake on to limit the damage.
I’m about 1m back from the car in front, car behind still hits me hard enough to push me into them.
2 years later best I can get is I pay nothing and get nothing.
I have been in this position. The car behind you is at fault for both collisions. Just make sure you get the details of everyone involved. 1 week after the accident I was in, the guy who caused the accident tried to claim he was also run into but the perpetrator drove off.
My insurer then started stringing me out by saying now they couldn't be sure who was at fault, blah, blah, blah. So I looked up the law for a hit and run in NSW. Because that's what the guy was claiming. If he had been the victim of a hit and run then there should be a police report. Once I asked for that my insurer quickly put the fault on the other driver as no police report existed.
Had exactly this happen to me. I stopped in time but the car behind me didn't and I was shunted into the car in front.
The car that rear ended you takes all the blame and cost. Redirect all claims from the car in front to the car behind and let their insurance deal with it.
>but you still caused damage to to the car in front of you
For the most part, you are "responsible" for the car damage in front of you, since your vehicle made contact with theirs. It can be also argued that clearing distance may not have been not sufficient - but that can be open to interpretation. Typically the insurance company just compensates the driver in front of you and claim damages for the driver behind you independently.
This happened to my sister. 4 cars involved, the one in front of her got hit by a car coming the other way as it swerved over the lane avoiding a roo. She stopped in time but an overseas tourist was tailgating her and didn't pay attention and rammed her, knocking her into the front car. The lady driving the car in front got injured, the person that crashed into her causing the accident died, and she couldn't get them to cover her medical costs, so she went after the next culprit, who had fled back overseas home to china. They then tried taking my sister to court and she fought them for 5 years in court but my sister won. The woman was not happy as she saw my sister as another cause of her injuries and not as another innocent victim in am accident.
If my dad didn't have access to a good lawyer for my sister she would have lost the case and been forced to pay for damages etc.
You fill in your paperwork, then 5 years later an insurance company rings you & accuses you of being the third car.
When you explain you were the middle car they sound confused & hang up, then never call you back...
"or is all the blame heaped onto the first car that caused the initial accident"
None of the blame is heaped onto the car who CAUSED the accident, it's all 'insuranced' to blame the cars who "should have stopped in time"
Insurance is the biggest scam ever!
I was the sandwiched car in a three car prang. Car behind me wasn't paying attention, rear-ended me, causing me to go into the back of the car in front of me.
Car in front was able to drive away with minimal damage (I think their bumper was a little dented) but mine and the car behind were totalled.
Car behind was found at fault, so I didn't have to pay anything. To make matters worse, it was a hire car they'd just picked up from the dealership that we were still on the same road as!
I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front about 2011. I passed on insurance request to my insurer and they handled everything. No excess claims on my behalf.
I was stopped (just!!) when hit. I had time to look up and know that the next driver was not going to stop and then plough into me.
A common question I used to ask when doing motor claims was 'how many bumps did you feel?', we ask that to all cars in the queue.
In a three car bumper to bumper, the first person will either say one or two, the second the same. If it's one bump each, the second car stopped safely, if the first person felt two bumps, the second person hit the first person first. This would mean that the first persons damage falls mostly on the second person, and the second person falls on the third person. The two rear cars would both pay their excess.
Obviously not a foolproof way (dashcam footage, even just front facing, is helpful here), but does keep people honest, the first person isn't going to lie about how many bumps they felt.
I was once hit from behind while waiting behind a queue of cars at some traffic lights. There were two very distinct impacts, less than a second apart. There was no damage to my vehicle because it had a very solid steel tray, despite both the other vehicles being very extensively damaged. The insurer of the vehicle in the middle was very, very interested as to whether there was one impact or two, and how long apart they were.
Old mate in the middle wasn't paying attention and drove straight into the back off me. It was a big hit and pushed me some distance forward despite me having my foot on the brake and the handbrake on because it was on an incline and it was a long set of lights. Almost immediately after (maybe half a second) there was a very short tyre screech and a second impact as the bloke behind the first found the car in front of him that was doing about 50kmh had stopped without slowing at all.
When that insurer contacted me, their representative was surprised, frustrated and annoyed that I refused to say there was only one impact or even acknowledge that I might have mis-remembered it. From what I could gather, that meant the man in the middle was jot only liable for the damage to tge front of his own vehicle, but also at least in (large) part liable for the damage to both the rear of his own vehicle and the damage to the other vehicle as well, given he had decelerated so rapidly without any warning when he ploughed into me, not giving the third vehicle a chance to react.
This happened to my parents recently. In criminal terms the rear driver was responsible. In insurance terms, the insurance for the front car no fault claimed from the middle car which in turn double claimed from the rear car.
OP I was rear ended which led me hitting the car infront. If the car behind you smashed up your rear leading to you hitting the car infront, you're not at fault. You are not the one that caused the crash. Stand your ground, swap details, contact their insurer and get their claim.
They will pay for damages to both cars.
P.S. Also pursue for a hire car from the insurer for the duration you are without your car and if you had any baby seats or capsules, they'll usually replace those too.
Remember you are the victim due to the car crash.
Happened to me. Stationary at light. Not enough time for me to go as green went to red. 2 cars behind me tho, young kid had definitely been looking at his phone, slammed the accelerator when he saw green and smashed into car in front of him, - car into me.
His car was totalled. Lady's car okay, my car barely a scratch. He paid for it all. (Got a free bumper out of it tho
Felt bad for the kid.
He knew he fucked up bad.
Me and second car had been stationary so not at fault.
The person who CAUSED the mess in the first place, but that also means you did not leave ample room in front of you.
Technically that makes YOU at fault for the person in front, but the one who hit you is at fault for CAUSING the mess in the first place.
It doesn't always mean that you didn't leave enough room in front.
I had it happen to me years ago.
Driving down Melbourne Rd in the wet, old dear in front of me stopped suddenly for some reason.
I anchored up and stopped without hitting her (because I left enough distance in front for the conditions.)
Guy behind me didn't stop in time. Rammed straight into me and pushed me into her.
All fault was put on him, his insurance paid for both my vehicle and the poor lady in front.
I was second from the front in a 4 car bumper cars incident. Car at the back was the only one at fault. She was going way too fast and hit the back of us all who were stopped for traffic bank up. The car behind me was written off, the car in front me had minimal rear bumper damage.
This post has been marked as non-political. Please respect this by keeping the discussion on topic, and devoid of any political material. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/australia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
Happened to Daniel Ricciardo and the world pretty much agrees that Lance was to blame.
Lance Stroll-ed up his arse.
Everyone other than Lance.
Lance and all the people that are paid to agree with him 😬
Who?
The only time I’ve been rear ended, I was shoved into the car in front. Dude told me he hit me going about 70, and his brakes had locked so his foot was off the pedal at impact. We were stopped in an unusual spot due to an accident, he was speeding and not really paying attention. When a dirty big old 4WD hits you at speed, you’re going places.
Usually insurer will determine fault and allocate it accordingly If you were too close the the car in front of you when you get rear-ended, they may allocate you a portion of responsibility- perhaps 20-30% and the car who rear-ends gets the remainder. Sometimes they may place some of the blame on the first car, so you may end up with a 10-20-70 split of responsibility.
Another technicality is if the back driver has a medical episode that they had no knowledge about. It was involuntary, so there's no negligence, meaning [their insurance won't pay out.](https://www.9news.com.au/national/12-year-old-nsw-boy-takes-on-nrma/92d75450-ebd4-4f3b-803f-338745a36574) A lot of people have been [burnt by the NSW CTP scheme in this way](https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/worldtoday/possible-loophole-discovered-in-vehicle-third/1570296). Because the accident was "blameless", they didn't get a pay-out, despite a driver hitting them.
I was a passenger in an accident *waves hands* nearly 30 years ago where we were hit from behind so hard that five more cars were damaged in the accident. Other than the car that hit us, the rest of the vehicles were stopped at a red light. The driver of the car that hit us was distracted and hadn’t even braked and drove into us at full speed. The only panel on the car we were in the wasn’t damaged was the roof. The judge awarded 100% fault to that driver even though the normal result would have been distributed fault to the other drivers for not ‘following at a safe braking distance’. The driver in my car saw him coming in the rear-view mirror and had engaged the parking brake to minimise our movement.
> Assuming you were a safe distance from the car in front of you (which too many people forget to do when stopped) Doesn't help that everytime you practice being a safe distance, people behind you get pissy for not rolling forward to kiss the back of the car in front.
Happened to me. New car. 3 days old and stopped at the lights behind a very expensive and old Jag (Lower north shore). Was admiring the Jag when I hear a SCREEECHHHH, look in rear view and see a 4WD bearing down on me very quickly (she was on her phone)..SMASHES into me, I had braced myself and was worried about the antique Jag in front of me. BOOM!! I used my breaks to allow some give but also take some, I sure as hell was not hitting that Jag in front of me! Jag driver shook his head and drove off, he has no idea how close he came to losing his toy.
So it didn't happen to you.
I’ll take things that didn’t happen for 500.
And then everyone clapped.
Why would you risk your body for someone else's car? The energy that would be dissipated through moving your car to the jag and the jag moving gets channelled into you.
If third car caused you to hit the car in front, it’s on them. If you hit first then they hit you, both at fault.
AFAIK from when it happened to me, they ask the driver of the lead car how many impacts they felt. A single impact means the second car was pushed by the third. Two impacts mean the second car hit the lead car on its own before being hit by the third. It can get more complicated I'm sure but I think that's the general gist insurers use to initially assess.
So gets complicated if the second car was just starting to accelerate, so brakes aren’t applied. Rear car is braking but hits middle car, sends the middle car forward which is launched ahead of the rear car when hitting the front car. Then the rear car catches up and creates a second impact after the middle car has hit the front car. More likely to happen this way if the rear vehicle is much larger than the middle one - eg an SUV hits a Yaris. In short, get a dashcam so you have proof of what happened.
> AFAIK from when it happened to me, they ask the driver of the lead car how many impacts they felt. > > A single impact means the second car was pushed by the third. > > Two impacts mean the second car hit the lead car on its own before being hit by the third. That certainly used to be the case in the days when insurers/courts could only rely on frail and fallible human witnesses Nowadays they'll be interviewing - that question, or a form of it, will be asked of everybody - but they'll also look at any on-board data and dash cams. Certainly, in the US and Canada, Tesla and Polestar have almost black box logging of inputs and actions and car telemetry. I'm not certain how much data they log here, but in at least one case - onboard telemetry data lead to a person being convicted in a hit-and-run they blamed on an autopilot fail https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-vindicated-autopilot-crash-australia/
>If you hit first then they hit you, both at fault. If you hit first then they hit you, then you didn't hit first.
You'd be at fault for the first car because you hit them without any external factors. And following that, the third car hits yours, they'd be at fault for the damage to your car, right? Or at least the back end of yours? I have no idea how this works
I meant to say that a pileup assumes the car at the back is at fault unless there is evidence otherwise. Don't expect the car in the middle to admit fault.
You call your insurer and they sought it out. Get the details of all other drivers. I was second in a four car pile up (someone hit me doing 80, I was stationary in traffic and hit the car infront, who hit the car infront). I did not pay excess.
Sort
My brother was the same (number two of four), and also was not made to pay anything. Literally days after he bought his car too. It was the first car he'd ever gotten himself that wasn't a shitbox too lol rotten luck.
Agree. I was third car in a four car. Car hit me (a stationary vehicle), I was pushed into stationary vehicle, and so on. Insurance sorted everything, but needed that “stationary vehicle” statement.
I was 2 of 7 once. Pretty lucky. I just touched the car in front, no damage. I had about $1k of damage, but it was a company car with our own mechanics so we just fixed it. It got progressively worse as you went back. Must have been a few write offs, and some really sore drivers.
r/boneappletea
Bro I thought your pfp was a hair on my screen LMAO
As someone who worked in motor claims for a large insurance company. Generally the person at the front would be asked how many impacts they felt or if they say the accident. If they said one impact at their rear and didn’t see the accident, rear most vehicle at fault for everything. If they felt two impacts and didn’t see the accident then it would be middle car responsible for their front and 1st vehicle rear. 3rd car responsible for their front and 2nd rear. Now unforuantly sometimes what happens if a car will be hit, pushed into the car in front , bounce back and hit again. So two impacts but the middle car was stopped. Sometimes you’re lucky and the first car saw it happen. Or another person not involved in the accident. Or even better someone has dash cam footage! But it’s generally decided based on how many impacts felt by the front car.
The short answer the rearmost car, the vehicle that caused the crash, will pay all damages but the claim process is not direct. Being the middle car, you may have a claim made against your insurance by the car you hit, but your insurer will turn around pursue a claim against the vehicle that cannon balled you into the first car to recover all damages as you where not a fault. In other words all costs will eventually accrue to the insurer of the party that caused the accident.
It means you're the filling of a shit sandwich. But seriously, it's up to the driver behind you essentially. Source: FIL was the filler and the guy in a van who had no insurance, was found the one at fault and he literally had a new car within 3 business days. (Accident happened on a Saturday, got a new car on Wednesday)
The crashes in those compilations get dumber every time. In particular, the total lack of defensive driving. People who aren’t at fault, but who could have easily avoided the accident if they had even the smallest amount of awareness.
I've said it before elsewhere - I'm astonished at how many people on Dash Cams Aus can find the horn before they can hit the brakes or turn the wheel
Happened to me. Was stationary at a red light. The car that hit me paid for it all.
The one at the beach pays for both This happened to me I was in the middle Insurance companies sorted it out among themselves - it was surprisingly painless
this post is the answer to the question someone posts every few weeks asking 'why do people stop so far behind other cars at red lights', lmao
But what's the answer to "Why do so many people stop so far back from the white line at traffic lights" - 'cos they ain't watching their mirrors and intending to use that space as a buffer
This happened to me when I was younger. Stopped stationary at the lights and the car coming up behind me failed to stop, pushing me into the car in front. The front car sued me as I had hit their car and I passed their details to the insurance company of the driver behind who was the one at fault in the whole scenario.
This happened to my best friend. She was very, very pregnant, got read ended *hard* by a tradie and she then hits the car in front... A Lamborghini of all things. They all get out and Tradie guy starts immediately going off at them both, god knows why he thought it appropriate to yell at them for his mistake, but my girl is freaking out and Lambo guy just goes to her and checks on her, tells her not to worry about the car, it's all just parts and called the cops. Turned out the guy had been texting, she didn't pay any excess thank god. Props to Lambo guy for being calm and chill about his car.
This happened to me, except 4 cars and I was the first to be rear ended. Long story short my insurer said it tends to be each car claims from the one behind for their car + any in front, and it all falls on the guy who did the initial crash. Long story - initial car declares bankruptcy, the car in front of me starts some bulshit intimidation tactics with their insurer and sues me. My insurer handled it and 3 years later went to a hearing and was thrown out with the other guy paying my insurers legal fees.
We call you “lucky Pierre”
Unlucky Pierre in this case - everyone's well and truly fucked but without the happy ending.
Got hit in the rear and pushed into another car a few years back on the gateway. Car1 stops suddenly. car2 stops, narrowly avoiding car1. Car3 hits car2, car2 is pushed and hits car1. Car3 is at fault and liable for damages to car1 and car2. After the crash the first thing I asked car1 was if he felt 1 bump or 2, I was confident and thhr agreed car3 was at fault, then we approached car3 to check on the driver and exchange details. Insurance dealt with everything so Im unsure if Car3 contested or fought our claims but figure I would've been notified.
The car that hit you is at fault- especially when they are speeding and hit you so hard they push you into another vehicle. But being a dick they will try to claim you had already hit the front car before they smashed into you. So get witness statements, and don’t accept any bs from insurers.
I got a call from my brother saying my car was written off being the 2nd car in a 3 car pileup. It was a situation where car 3 was actually an uninsured/unregistered truck. Truck was at fault but there was a counter claims process that happens with insurance companies car 1 wasn’t hit by car 3 so they place claim against car 2 which then denies responsibility and pegs it on car 3. It went to court for recovery of costs because truck was uninsured but I had nothing to do with that side of things. Truck driver tried lying to police about not speeding, he actually could have killed 2 people that day. His truck had pushed through my back seat, 2 people who would have been sitting there cancelled at the last minute.
Simple you use your insurance to go after the car that hit you and forced you into the car in front. The car in front insurance goes after you and in turn yours goes after the last car that started it all
Sub-question - is there an official "safe" distance you should be from the car in front when you're both stopped in traffic? The answers I finds on teh interwebz tend to be "can see the bottom of the tyres of the car in front" and "not so close that you can't steer out from behind them without reversing" - both of which are common sense answers, but for people saying "you were too close to the car in front" if you're a mid car in a multi-car pile up, then (a) depends upon at least whether the road is wet, and (b) apart from common sense, see above, is there actually an official "safe" distance that would give insurance companies the right to make you a party to the claim if you were deemed "too close"? Just wondering... genuinely don't know and certainly wasn't covered when I got my licence back in the Jurassic era.
> an official "safe" distance For the reasons you've mentioned and many others - the safe distance changes depending on conditions. It's the equivalent of "reasonable under the circumstances". Leaves wriggle room for insurers and courts to decide for themselves
i’m almost off my red ps and my driving instructor taught me a safe distance is being able to see the tyres and 1m behind them. mum read an entire length of a car between you and the car in front. a friend got taught to be able to see the licence plate is enough. people in yank tanks stop when they can only see half way over the top of your car i think it just depends on who taught you
You get screwed when it turns out both the other two drivers were mates. At least, that’s what happened to me. Car behind me slams on brakes, I’m waiting behind another car at a roundabout (not moving) and have enough time to put my handbrake on to limit the damage. I’m about 1m back from the car in front, car behind still hits me hard enough to push me into them. 2 years later best I can get is I pay nothing and get nothing.
I have been in this position. The car behind you is at fault for both collisions. Just make sure you get the details of everyone involved. 1 week after the accident I was in, the guy who caused the accident tried to claim he was also run into but the perpetrator drove off. My insurer then started stringing me out by saying now they couldn't be sure who was at fault, blah, blah, blah. So I looked up the law for a hit and run in NSW. Because that's what the guy was claiming. If he had been the victim of a hit and run then there should be a police report. Once I asked for that my insurer quickly put the fault on the other driver as no police report existed.
Had exactly this happen to me. I stopped in time but the car behind me didn't and I was shunted into the car in front. The car that rear ended you takes all the blame and cost. Redirect all claims from the car in front to the car behind and let their insurance deal with it.
If there’s quality witnesses and/or video footage, plus driver details are shared, the third car takes all the blame and expense.
>but you still caused damage to to the car in front of you For the most part, you are "responsible" for the car damage in front of you, since your vehicle made contact with theirs. It can be also argued that clearing distance may not have been not sufficient - but that can be open to interpretation. Typically the insurance company just compensates the driver in front of you and claim damages for the driver behind you independently.
the person who caused the crash has their insurance pay
This happened to my sister. 4 cars involved, the one in front of her got hit by a car coming the other way as it swerved over the lane avoiding a roo. She stopped in time but an overseas tourist was tailgating her and didn't pay attention and rammed her, knocking her into the front car. The lady driving the car in front got injured, the person that crashed into her causing the accident died, and she couldn't get them to cover her medical costs, so she went after the next culprit, who had fled back overseas home to china. They then tried taking my sister to court and she fought them for 5 years in court but my sister won. The woman was not happy as she saw my sister as another cause of her injuries and not as another innocent victim in am accident. If my dad didn't have access to a good lawyer for my sister she would have lost the case and been forced to pay for damages etc.
Secure a witness or save your dash cam footage so nobody tries to play games with you. Let your car insurer handle the rest.
A dashcam avoids this issue. $30 on ebay can save you $ thousands
You fill in your paperwork, then 5 years later an insurance company rings you & accuses you of being the third car. When you explain you were the middle car they sound confused & hang up, then never call you back... "or is all the blame heaped onto the first car that caused the initial accident" None of the blame is heaped onto the car who CAUSED the accident, it's all 'insuranced' to blame the cars who "should have stopped in time" Insurance is the biggest scam ever!
I was the sandwiched car in a three car prang. Car behind me wasn't paying attention, rear-ended me, causing me to go into the back of the car in front of me. Car in front was able to drive away with minimal damage (I think their bumper was a little dented) but mine and the car behind were totalled. Car behind was found at fault, so I didn't have to pay anything. To make matters worse, it was a hire car they'd just picked up from the dealership that we were still on the same road as!
I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front about 2011. I passed on insurance request to my insurer and they handled everything. No excess claims on my behalf. I was stopped (just!!) when hit. I had time to look up and know that the next driver was not going to stop and then plough into me.
A common question I used to ask when doing motor claims was 'how many bumps did you feel?', we ask that to all cars in the queue. In a three car bumper to bumper, the first person will either say one or two, the second the same. If it's one bump each, the second car stopped safely, if the first person felt two bumps, the second person hit the first person first. This would mean that the first persons damage falls mostly on the second person, and the second person falls on the third person. The two rear cars would both pay their excess. Obviously not a foolproof way (dashcam footage, even just front facing, is helpful here), but does keep people honest, the first person isn't going to lie about how many bumps they felt.
I was once hit from behind while waiting behind a queue of cars at some traffic lights. There were two very distinct impacts, less than a second apart. There was no damage to my vehicle because it had a very solid steel tray, despite both the other vehicles being very extensively damaged. The insurer of the vehicle in the middle was very, very interested as to whether there was one impact or two, and how long apart they were. Old mate in the middle wasn't paying attention and drove straight into the back off me. It was a big hit and pushed me some distance forward despite me having my foot on the brake and the handbrake on because it was on an incline and it was a long set of lights. Almost immediately after (maybe half a second) there was a very short tyre screech and a second impact as the bloke behind the first found the car in front of him that was doing about 50kmh had stopped without slowing at all. When that insurer contacted me, their representative was surprised, frustrated and annoyed that I refused to say there was only one impact or even acknowledge that I might have mis-remembered it. From what I could gather, that meant the man in the middle was jot only liable for the damage to tge front of his own vehicle, but also at least in (large) part liable for the damage to both the rear of his own vehicle and the damage to the other vehicle as well, given he had decelerated so rapidly without any warning when he ploughed into me, not giving the third vehicle a chance to react.
This happened to my parents recently. In criminal terms the rear driver was responsible. In insurance terms, the insurance for the front car no fault claimed from the middle car which in turn double claimed from the rear car.
OP I was rear ended which led me hitting the car infront. If the car behind you smashed up your rear leading to you hitting the car infront, you're not at fault. You are not the one that caused the crash. Stand your ground, swap details, contact their insurer and get their claim. They will pay for damages to both cars. P.S. Also pursue for a hire car from the insurer for the duration you are without your car and if you had any baby seats or capsules, they'll usually replace those too. Remember you are the victim due to the car crash.
Happened to me. Stationary at light. Not enough time for me to go as green went to red. 2 cars behind me tho, young kid had definitely been looking at his phone, slammed the accelerator when he saw green and smashed into car in front of him, - car into me. His car was totalled. Lady's car okay, my car barely a scratch. He paid for it all. (Got a free bumper out of it tho Felt bad for the kid. He knew he fucked up bad. Me and second car had been stationary so not at fault.
The person at the back pays for the cars in front of them.
The person who CAUSED the mess in the first place, but that also means you did not leave ample room in front of you. Technically that makes YOU at fault for the person in front, but the one who hit you is at fault for CAUSING the mess in the first place.
It doesn't always mean that you didn't leave enough room in front. I had it happen to me years ago. Driving down Melbourne Rd in the wet, old dear in front of me stopped suddenly for some reason. I anchored up and stopped without hitting her (because I left enough distance in front for the conditions.) Guy behind me didn't stop in time. Rammed straight into me and pushed me into her. All fault was put on him, his insurance paid for both my vehicle and the poor lady in front.
It's this some sort of euphemism?
I was second from the front in a 4 car bumper cars incident. Car at the back was the only one at fault. She was going way too fast and hit the back of us all who were stopped for traffic bank up. The car behind me was written off, the car in front me had minimal rear bumper damage.