Parked car got clipped by a trailer — driver says it's OUR fault?? What now?

Oh man, this is almost exactly what happened to my cousin last year — parked car, someone's trailer took out the whole rear bumper, and the other driver tried to blame her immediately. The aggressive blame-game right after the crash is usually a panic move. It didn't hold up once the insurance companies actually looked at the photos and saw how wide that trailer had swung. Hang in there.

I used to work claims and I want to be honest with you: a parking violation can contribute to a comparative fault finding, but it's rarely the whole story. The bigger question adjusters actually look at is whether the violation was a proximate cause of the accident — meaning, would a properly parked car have still been hit? If that trailer was swinging that wide, probably yes. The driver's behavior at the scene gets noted but honestly doesn't change the liability math much. What matters more is the physical evidence — photos, skid marks, how far the trailer tracked off the road.

A couple of practical things that might help right now:

• If there were any nearby businesses, see if any of them have exterior security cameras that might have caught the collision. This is worth asking about quickly before footage gets overwritten.
• Get the police report number if you don't have it already, and request a copy as soon as it's available. Sometimes the officer notes things about the trailer's path that help.
• Write down everything you remember right now while it's fresh — time, what the driver said word-for-word, road conditions, all of it.

Not legal advice, just process stuff that tends to matter later.

Not legal advice, but generally speaking: most states use comparative negligence, which means fault can be split between parties. A parking infraction doesn't automatically wipe out the other driver's duty of care — operators of vehicles with trailers are generally expected to account for the extra swing radius when turning. Your sister's partial fault, if any, might reduce her recovery but probably doesn't eliminate it. Worth at least a free consult with a PI attorney to understand how her state handles this.

You mentioned you were in the car when it happened — are you doing okay? Even low-speed impacts can cause whiplash or soft tissue stuff that doesn't show up until a day or two later. If your neck or back feels even a little off, please get checked out and make sure it's documented. Don't just shake it off.

Your sister is lucky to have you in her corner. This sounds so stressful. The other driver screaming at you right after — that's intimidation, plain and simple. You did the right thing staying calm and not engaging.

Here's the blunt version: the other carrier is ghosting her because they're hoping she'll give up or settle cheap. Don't let her do that. If they don't respond with something real within a week, she should file a complaint with her state's insurance commissioner. That usually gets things moving fast. Also — if the damage is significant, get an independent estimate, not just whatever shop her insurer pushes her toward.

I don't want to be harsh but I do want to ask a real question: how far past the line was the car actually parked? Because there's 'slightly over' and then there's 'a full car length into a fire lane.' The answer to that changes the conversation a bit. Also, was there any way the truck driver could have gone a different route, or was that the only path through?