Question
Someone hit my partially opened door in a parking space
I was exiting my vehicle in a parking space when another car pulled in rapidly and hit my partially open door. Who is at fault? The person that hit me was traveling faster than a person can safely travel in a parking lot. After yelling at me that it was my fault, she then offered me cash rather than exchanging information. I insisted on exchanging information. I called the police to get a police report but they stated that they don't consider it a car crash because one car was parked. I've been reading that a lot of times the parked car is considered at fault. As a licensed insurance agent I was wondering if you could explain the rationale behind assigning blame to a parked vehicle. The vehicle that was moving should be at fault because a driver must maintain control of their car at ALL TIMES and she clearly was not in control of her car when she hit me. Thoughts?
Answer
This can be a tricky situation. Although we're both licensed insurance professionals, only a claims adjuster would able to handle this so that is where I would take my question. However, in my experience, the owner of the parked vehicle is considered at fault in these instances because they have a responsibility to ensure the path is clear prior to opening their vehicle door. Again, that is my experience so I would contact your insurance company's claims department in order to verify. For more information, see our guide to claims and the entire claims process.