Re: fighting accident claims
I have been involved in a claim of a similar nature when another driver hit the back of my car, which was stationary, and their insurer wanted the claim to be 50/50. The other driver admitted liability there and then but when the claim was made the other insurer withdrew their Insured's admission of liability.
Not only was there the injustice of knowing it was not my fault as my car was definitely stationery and the original admission withdrawn but there was the cost of my Excess in those circumstances. It works out that
it's not no blame, it's no claim and in a 50/50 claim I would have had to find that Excess payment as it would be a claim.
I fought that claim myself and eventually, after well over a year, the other insurer gave in. I later found they were advised at the time by their own solicitors not to pursue the claim as 50/50 but to pay in full for the damage to my vehicle as the fault was fully with their Insured.
The final comment from my insurer that "it's swings and roundabouts, the next claim might be different" just about says it all. I believe you have to stand up for what you know to be right, insurers are out to make profits in whatever way they can legally get away with if allowed to do so.
Edited to add:
Incidentally it was the threat of taking it to the Small Claims section of the County Court that finally extracted payment from them. This was the cost of repairing the damage plus all my expenses. Letters to them charged for at the same cost a solicitor would have charged etc. had almost doubled what the original cost would have been.
Also be aware that in the event of a defended claim by the other driver, insurance you may have that would provide a car while your's is being repaired may not be possible to claim against. Those insurers will only provide a car if there is a definite way of them recouping that cost from the other driver's insurance company. £30 premium for that eventuality and a clause where you cannot claim. Yet another example of what thieving so-and-so's they are.