A friend was hit my another motorist. The other guy came round a bend too fast on his side of the road. Nasty head-on but thankfully no serious injuries.
Friends car was officially written off after two and a half weeks deliberation by the assessor.
He had to obtain the insurance details from the police and pass them onto the other guy's insurer. But nothing has happened because the other guy hasn't reported the accident to his insurance co and without his version of events, nothing can be processed.
Presumably my friend has no option but to claim on his own policy and suffer the costs as a result. This simply doesn't seem right to me that the whole claim process can be frustrated simply because the 'at fault' driver hasn't confessed to his insurer.
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AIUI your friend was hit by another motorist -John Smith. He alleges John to blame. He has John Smith's name/address.
If Smith hasn't reported to his insurance co why are friend's insurer not pursuing him personally?
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Solicitor's letter to the driver advising of proposed court action against him - damage repair, legal costs, car hire, out of pocket expenses - letter to driver not his insurer!
Threat will make most drivers contact their insurer ASAP.
Failing anything from driver just claim on own policy & the insurer will chase the 3rd party insurer.
It used to be the insured had to claim before an insurer would pay out - this is no longer the case.
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Friends insurer will be able to trace his insurer through his reg. no. and they will contact him to see what's going on.
This has happened to me recently. A private hire car scraped the back bumper of the RAV in a B&Q car park. Took a square inch of my paint of the corner of my back bumper. I was stationary. His fault. Exchanged names and phone numbers although he could hardy speak English. Thought no more about it. I wasn't going to make a claim for that...£10 repair when it's warmer !
My insurer contacted me last week...a month on.......so his lot must have got my details from a database. Naturally he's claiming personal injury...whiplash, loss of earnings, a new door and a hire car.
My assessor called in last week and took a statement off me and showed me photos of his damage....massive crease diagonally across the back door from the bottom of the C post to the top of the panel by the B post. Funny that it wasn't on the photo I took at the time. He made one big mistake, he didn't T Cut my paint off his white door showing the point of impact, feet away from the crease. T Cut or at the most Chips Away would have sorted it ! Greedy sod ! The assessor and I had a good chuckle. These types must think we came up the Manchester Ship Canal in a wheely bin !
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Not sure what details were obtained at the incident but my friend had to contact the policeman who attended, in order to get the other guy's insurance co details and a police incident number.
Will try to find out more...
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Sounds straight forward to me - your friends insurers resolve his issue and then pursue the other guy, or just go for one of these accident management outfits if its black and white.
Cant surely be a case of everything stops until he tells his insurer?
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>>
>> Cant surely be a case of everything stops until he tells his insurer?
>>
Pretty quickly his insurers are going to find out anyway, and then he will be in trouble for having contravened his terms and conditions by not having informed them of an accident and a claim.
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I had a similar problem back in 1972. I was rear ended when I stopped at a zebra crossing. I got the guy's address but he never informed his insurance company and they refused to accept any responsibility.
Against lots of advice - including my own insurance company - I saw a solicitor and it went to court. His insurance company settled the claim just before we went in to the court. The judge asked if I was satisfied with the offer.
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>> I got the guy's address but he never informed his insurance
>> company and they refused to accept any responsibility.
>>
I think the law has been changed for a few years now. The Insurance Company is jointly liable regardless of whether the Insured informs them of the accident or not. You submit your claim to the third party's insurance company and it is up to them how/if/when/whether they contact the insured. Some reportedly to settle even without consulting their insured.
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Just curtain tailing on your question......
Yesterday, on the M1 -just 10 N , I was travelling in the outside lane , when the gantry signalled 50mph, which ( unusually for me) I adhered too immediately, ( heard Friends had been fined in this area ) , I saw a Porsche hit another car, so I likewise slammed on the brakes, and stopped a good 30ft from them......
The'person behind wasn't as careful, slammed into the back of me., probably at around 50mph, as we were basically stopped .....after 40 minute wait, for Ambulance( not required by any of us, thankfully), motorway maintenance, and finally police, we were able to continue our journey.......the other car, was likely to be a write off.....
Never been hit before , except as a passenger.......any thought on what I should insure I do.
Yes,my neck is aching, so should I visit a dr to get report on whiplash etc
Any thought would be appreciated
Last edited by: wotspur on Sun 12 Feb 17 at 22:29
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Very similar thing happened to me last year. If your not feeling well go to the GPs. I went to the docs and a lot of pills and a few days off work. Although mine took a few days to start hurting. Report it to your ins company and claim off the other party's. Prepare yourself for endless phone calls from ambulance chasers though.
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"endless phone calls from ambulance chasers" which I get even though I've not had an accident...
If you are genuinely suffering as a result of the accident then of course you should follow it up. I did a few years back and got about £300 for the aggro. Daughter did it more recently and eventually gave up the claim, even though she was adamant she had suffered. The questioning eventually became too much, too frequent and too intrusive... she deemed it not worthwhile pursuing... but then - she made a full recovery. if you were unlucky enough not to then you would want to be able to demonstrate that you had notified at early opportunity.
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I didn't really bother about it. As I said I hurt my neck but I get free prescriptions and full sick pay so I didn't really lose out.
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If you were hit at 40-50 MPH (relative speed), then I'd assume you suffered a real whiplash and so please do all the needful checkup.
Once my insurer (call center agent) told me that they wouldn't argue with a whiplash claim if it is established that it happened over a relative speed of even 10 MPH.
>> ...the other car, was likely to be a write off....
Frontal damage at even 10-15 MPH can write a car off. At 40-50 MPH, even rear ended cars could be potentially write off.
If passenger airbag is deployed (which happens over 10 MPH for most cars) and car is old, then very likely a write off.
Last edited by: movilogo on Mon 13 Feb 17 at 12:41
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Seems a shame I can't find a way of uploading pictures.......my car was quite robust ( Seat Alhambra) his Zhonda Civic crumpled.
So if anyone can provide an idiots guide on how to do pics ?? Please let me know
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You can upload to any free image hosting sites (e.g. imageshack.us etc.) and then paste a link.
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It is great when you know how, but not everybody does. Small matters to some are possible larger hurdles to others.
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>> Small matters to some
>> are possible larger hurdles to others.
>>
MD -
I didn't see anything wrong with movilog's reply. I trust I am wrong, but I get the sense that you are picking on him. Apologies if I have read too much in to your comments.
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>> So if anyone can provide an idiots guide on how to do pics ?? Please
>> let me know
There are many photo sharing websites, Photobucket is merely the example I chose...
Go to...
photobucket.com
A bit down the first page click on "Sign up for a FREE Account"
Complete the [really simple] registration details.
Click on "Create Account". I think it then sends you an email that you have to click on a link to confirm the registration.
Then log in.
Click on "upload"
A screen opens with a box that says "Choose photos & videos".
You can either simply drag and drop your photo onto that box, or you can click it and then search through a file explorer lookalike.
Choose & upload.
Then return to your own library, click on the photo you want to share, and it will appear in larger form with the links on the top righthand side.
Choose the appropriate link, usually the "direct" link. And copy & paste that into your post here.
It sounds more complicated than it is.
Shout if I can help more.
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Update: My friend has recently been contacted by the police who have advised they're sending the other driver on a speed awareness course. This info has been passed onto all insurers. Could be a long drawn out case but at least its a step closer to resolution for him, hopefully.
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Glad to hear that, but surely plod need some evidence to be able to send someone on a speed awareness course? Still, good for your mate as that should simplify any claim.
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>> Update: My friend has recently been contacted by the police who have advised they're sending
>> the other driver on a speed awareness course.
>>
Do the police SEND people on speed awareness courses?
Aren't speed awareness courses OFFERED as an alternative to prosecution?
Or is it me being pedantic again?
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To correct my earlier post, it was a 'driver alertness course'.
I didn't know there was such a thing.
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Just out of curiosity I rang my insurers today, having obtained a reasonable insurance quote online for a replacement vehicle for the Focus ( worst case scenario re the engine management light being on). I have 6 weeks to run on my current policy, and if I cancel it, far from receiving a small refund, I would have to pay a cancellation charge, despite paying the premium in full when I took it out!
And I cannot let it run for more than two weeks after taking out a new policy. My current insurer recommended I pay the additional £38 for the 6 weeks, which pro rata over 12 months works out at £100 more than a new policy elsewhere.
The insurers seem to conspire against me.
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I'm quite happy to do that, and give exact figures.
Would that be acceptable to the mods?
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I've just had to update the policy when changing cars, without penalty. Merely paid any difference in premium, pro rata. Suggest you simply phrase the enquiry as an update?
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So long as it's factual it should be OK.
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Insurance question - Bromptonaut
