Driving home last weekend, I was checking my blind spot on the approach to a roundabout and shunted into the car in front of me. I accept full liability. The damage to the other car was visible, but repair would cost less than the excess of the driver’s car insurance. Should I offer to pay for the damage done? I am a full-time student.
It’s not just a question of whether you have any right to be excused coughing up for damaging someone else’s car, but whether you have any right to be behind a steering wheel on public roads at all. Checking one’s blind spot involves a brief flick of the eyes, not the sort of prolonged look you might give if you happened to spot Monica Bellucci frolicking naked right there in your blind spot. Certainly not long enough for you to shunt into a car that was presumably not right in front of you when you began your blind-spot-checking manoeuvre.
By mentioning that you are a full-time student, are you suggesting that this entitles you to be wholly spared from behaving morally (as opposed, maybe, to being partially spared, were you studying only part-time), just as being a student entitles you to travel discounts, cheaper cinema seats for matinees, and to read contemporary French philosophers without sniggering?
Should you offer to pay for the damage done? If you are truly not sure, ask yourself this: were you the driver of the car that had been shunted, landing you with an undeserved bill not covered by your insurance policy, would you want the driver responsible for causing that damage to foot the repair costs? You would? Then why are you trying to shirk responsibility, avoid the blame, and pass the buck? What are you studying, politics?