Some guy cut straight across me today, and I've got a big dent in the front right corner of the car along with a smashed headlight, he seem to only be a bit scraped.
Doesn't look too bad.
I've got a £250 excess with by insurance, so I'm just wondering what the best thing to do is.
Do I report it to the insurance company, or do I see how much it will cost to get fixed first, and then decide whether to claim?
Any help would be appreciated.
|
|
I think the usual advice here is that it's the accident you have to report to your insurer, whether or not a claim results.
|
|
Not least because there could be a third party claim again you.
|
Yep you need to report this to your insurance company, I hope you took pictures as this could proof it wasn't your fault.
In my case I didn't have to pay a penny excess because I was rear ended at lights so my insurance company said it would be automatically waived as its very unlikely it would be deemed my fault. In your car it is not as black and white, so you may have to pay the excess, but you will get it back if the third party admits liability or it goes to court and its judged to the third parties fault.
|
>> I've got a £250 excess with my insurance, so I'm just wondering what the best thing to do is.
>> do I see how much it will cost to get fixed
You've got a current Mondeo haven't you? £250 won't even cover a new bumper, let alone a headlight and a repair to the wing. I would report it asap, whilst the details are fresh in your mind and before the other party gets in his passengers' whiplash claims.
Sorry to hear of your bad luck SS, and glad that no-one's hurt.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 17:23
|
I suppose I was I quite lucky in my case, passenger admitted liability and there was no claims from whip lash from either side.
I just hope you get it all sorted if they were at a give way it sounds like its their fault, even more reason to make sure you inform your insurance company :).
|
>>I suppose I was I quite lucky in my case, passenger admitted liability
>>
Lucky you !
I was always told NEVER admit liability as it screws the insurance company's ability to defend the claim.
A few years ago, 200 yards from home, in my street a woman opened her drivers door without warning and with no way of avoiding it I bent it and my front bumper.
" Sorry It was my fault. I was late for the dentist!" she said.
Paper work filled in and sent off.
Back can the results. She said that I drove into her door and it was my fault.
Of course I did drive into her door!
My photos showed there was no way I could have safely changed course, due to other parked cars, to avoid her and it was less likely I would drive into an already opened door.
|
>>I suppose I was I quite lucky in my case, passenger admitted liability <<
Why did the "Passenger" admit liability?
|
>> Sorry to hear of your bad luck SS, and glad that no-one's hurt.
Likewise, although hardly anyone is ever hurt in these traffic 'nerfs' as the Americans euphemistically call them.
My experience is that such incidents propel one into a sort of nightmare dream world in which what actually happened, and whose fault it was - usually both parties, but in often very unequal proportions - become pretty well irrelevant. The insurance companies talk to each other in a strange language and appear to believe the tissue of lies spun by one or both drivers. Then they tell you it's going to cost you something, and it does. All you can do is try to forget it, unless you can be bothered with the diabolical bureaucratic energy that sometimes saves people a few quid.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 17:36
|
My friends case was quite simple, he was denying liability, he cut her up in a large car park. But the insurance companies wanted to go 50/50. He was also claiming for damages of stock for over £10k and whip lash etc.
She took the twit to court, and she won. The barrister was brilliant and wanted to know why this bloke had £10,000 worth of stock for a shopping trip and he coudn't even proof he owned any of it or it was even in his van.
My friended ended being awarded her excess back and got several £100's in compensation. If she had listened to the insurance companies she would have lost her excess. I think the total payment she received was close to £2k.
So if you'r convinced it wasn't your fault, it might be worth seeking legal advice if you have that cover.
|
>>So if you'r convinced it wasn't your fault, it might be worth seeking legal advice if you have that cover.
>>
Oh yes I always have legal cover.
following on re my example earlier on.
I was due to loose my excess but complained. It was agreed that I got half - £100 back.
After well in excess of 12 solicitors letters it was discovered that the cheque to me from the other party had been cashed by the major insurance company.
Thanks to legal cover that lot cost me zero but I hate to think how much it really cost and there were other letters generated too plus replies. All for £100 dispute.
I was about to instigate court action for being accused of fraud - they said I had cashed that cheque.
Legal cover is a must for me.
|
If it's a clear no fault and unlikely to be contested on the facts, then it might be worth a call to the third party insurer. If they are bang to rights then they probably won't be able to do enough for you.
I did this on advice from a friend in the business when my previous car was hit while parked (the hitter was cooperative). They offered me a like for like car unprompted (I didn't need it and took the bodyshop C1), picked up and redelivered the car. I never even filled in a cliam form. The reason of course being being that, had I submitted a claim through my insurer, they would have passed it straight to an "accident management" company who would have stitched them up with a credit hire vehicle.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 18:15
|
>> If it's a clear no fault and unlikely to be contested on the facts, then
>> it might be worth a call to the third party insurer. If they are bang
>> to rights then they probably won't be able to do enough for you.
It seemed pretty clear cut to me.
I was in the left lane and he turned into my lane from the right but misjudged it, and when we stopped my right front corner was into his rear of his left hand side, with my numberplate almost touching his wheel.
His car is about 45 degrees across my lane and the back end of his car is still in the lane he moved from.
EDIT: Do also have a bit of pain in my neck, but hopefully it is just temporary.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 20:05
|
>> EDIT: Do also have a bit of pain in my neck, but hopefully it is
>> just temporary.
>>
Aye right. Rear ended were you? Did your airbags deploy?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 20:31
|
...It seemed pretty clear cut to me...
Until the lying starts.
"I was moving safely into the lefthand lane when this loony in a Mondeo came charging up the inside and rammed me."
Hopefully, I'm doing the other driver a dis-service.
Do you have his details?
If so, there's nothing to stop you making a claim directly from his insurer.
As has been said, if they accept liability, things will likely proceed very smoothly.
But you are obliged to let your insurer know what you are doing 'for information'.
|
|
Any CCTV cameras around? Not just 'big brother', but shops and clubs.
|
>> Any CCTV cameras around? Not just 'big brother', but shops and clubs.
It helped me when the bloke in front of me stopped, then rolled back into my car, damaging my bumper, but then he said that I had driven into the back of him.
|
>> ...It seemed pretty clear cut to me...
>>
>> Until the lying starts.
>>
>> "I was moving safely into the lefthand lane when this loony in a Mondeo came
>> charging up the inside and rammed me."
Has happened to me and to my wife. I was halfway across traffic light controlled crossroads when somebody actually reversed into the offside of my car. He had been caught in the middle of the cross roads when the lights changed, and had decided to reverse back to where he started. I wrote out a description of what happened, which he signed, and he still told his insurers it was my fault!
There's a certain type who will lie openly if they know it can't be proved. Even to the point of running into the back of another car, getting out and looking at the damage, then denying there and then that it ever happened if there are no witnesses, as was once described to me.
Good luck!
|
So you hit the other car from behind?
Not so clear cut that its HIS fault in my book, or that of people of importance (Police/Insurance).
Not forgetting you have admitted to being pushy in the past.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=7158&m=159155&v=e
And warned what may happen....
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=7158&m=159181&v=e
Full thread here.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=7158
|
|
Thanks swiss, I was going to look for that but did not have time this evening.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 21:14
|
|
Not clear cut is it.50/50 fault.
|
|
If SS hit the other car from behind, (his front bumper and headlight damaged) there is no way it is 50/50.
|
>> If SS hit the other car from behind, (his front bumper and headlight damaged) there
>> is no way it is 50/50.
As soon as there is damage on the FRONT of your car, your story is *always* in doubt. Not saying he is to blame in any way, but the damage is such that it will be remarkably easy to make it look that way.
Witnesses? No witnesses and this is going to end up knock for knock.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 13 Feb 12 at 22:06
|
|
Another problem is the driver that SS had his bump with could claim that SS was undertaking him.
|
>> Another problem is the driver that SS had his bump with could claim that SS
>> was undertaking him.
>>
I don't think he needs to claim that, SS has more or less admitted it.
''Some guy cut straight across me today, and I've got a big dent in the front right corner of the car along with a smashed headlight, he seem to only be a bit scraped.''
What we don't know, of course, are the road layout, and speeds of the 2 vehicles.
Undertaking can be legal (I do it most days, motorcycle (legally) using a bus lane) but great care must be taken (especially on a bike!)
|
Had an accident - WillDeBeest
