I was at the grocery store and had to back out of my parking spot so I did what I always do. I looked behind me to see if there were any cars or people and also any other cars getting ready to back out the same time I was. I inched out a little bit the way I always do because there is so much foot and car traffic at the grocery store and much of that thinks nothing of walking or driving by a car that is backing up. I don't think I've ever in my life backed up quickly. I inched out some more, worrying a little bit that my front tire might come in contact with the concrete border next to me. I also go slowly because to hit this border quickly would mean it would tear my tire out. I inched out until I was almost completely in the lane and I heard a crunch. There was no jarring because your car is just not moving fast when you are inching along. I assumed I'd touched the concrete border but that confused me because I was so far into the driving lane. I forgot to mention that each time I inch and stop I also look and check all around the car. That's when I looked behind me and saw that I'd hit another car that was backing up, too.
We both got out of our cars, me in shock and apologizing and her screaming bloody murder at me. She screamed it was 100% my fault but, even in my shocked state I could see that both of us were backing up so both of us must be at fault. We exchanged licence and insurance information, me calm and her still raging. I had enough presence of mind to take a picture of the damage (none to my car but her rear bumper had a smashed spot shown in photo) but then my cell phone lost power. Faye wisely jotted down the woman's licence plate number just in case the photos I took were lost.
I called my insurance company when I got home but couldn't give them much info until my cell phone charged and I could retrieve the photos and give them more. Since I have never had an accident, I have no idea what the procedure is other than to just leave it up to the insurance companies to take care of it. I have $1,000 deductible so I'll probably be liable for that but I really got to thinking after a while and realized that, yes, I'd hit her, but I must have taken ages to inch my car out as far as I did so, therefore, she must have backed out of her spot long after I'd begun to back out. In my eyes (maybe not the insurance company's) that makes her more at fault than me. We'll see.
There is also the fact that I only checked the driver's side of my back bumper for damage because that seemed the logical spot that could have hit her because of the directions we were backing up. There is no damage to my car but I'll have to check the right side of the bumper. If that is damaged, then she must have hit me instead of me hitting her. All interesting semantics but I bet I still will be out $1000.
Update: Apparently I've never understood "no fault" car insurance because it turns out that the $1000 deductible is only if my car is damaged and my insurance has to pay for the repairs. The lady I hit will have her own insurance cover the repairs on her car. I'm still a little bit confused about car insurance because, when my car was parked and hit by another car, that driver's insurance paid for my repairs. That was in the States, though, so maybe it's different there.
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