Car Crash advice needed!

[david k]

Car Crash advice needed!

Looking for some car insurance advice.

Yesterday my son had a RTA, relative small. He says he was traveling on a duel carriageway, the East Lancs road if anyone is familiar with it and a lady pulled out, after some swerving he manage to limit the collision to scraping the side of her car.

She pulled over and blamed my son, he said she had pulled out, a gentleman behind stopped and said he has dash cam footage, and it was definitely her fault.

Its his first year of insurance and the costs are very high, the car is worth around £1k and the damage, although slight crosses 3 panels, worried it may be written off we decided we would do a amateur repair and live with the dame until such time he can afford a new car.

Today (the following day) the lady’s insurance has contacted my son for details.

So what do we do? We are about to collect the footage from the gentleman so that may tell us more. But we see a few options.

• Phone her insurance and say it wasn’t his fault, we have a witness and footage.
• Contact his own insurance and report, saying he doesn’t want to claim but need to react to the ladys insurance.
• Contact own insurance and claim.

Anyone any experience or ideas please?

 

[Sterlo]

If it wasn't his fault, contact own insurance and claim. They will possibly offer a settlement price.

 

[Alex321]

If it was clearly her fault, then claim. You should get your car fixed at the expense of her insurance. And so long as your insurance doesn't end up paying out, it won't affect your no claims bonus.

If not so clear, then you probably have no real choice but to claim, because it will be on record when the other party claims.

 

[Drago]

Having been through all this myself recently, I'd contact the nice chap and secure the evidence as a matter of priority, then I'd claim directly from her insurer.

Then I'd buy him a dashcam.

 

[figbat]

Having been through all this myself recently, I'd contact the nice chap and secure the evidence as a matter of priority, then I'd claim directly from her insurer.

Then I'd buy him a dashcam.

This. My wife had an accident last year that wrote off a 4 month old XC40. It was 100% not her fault so she dealt directly with the other party’s insurers, including securing a courtesy car of the same size and with a towbar and roof rails (since that’s what the Volvo had and we needed to use them). She informed her insurers of the accident but clearly stated she wasn’t claiming through them and was dealing directly with the third party. In the end she got a full payout.

 

[david k]

This. My wife had an accident last year that wrote off a 4 month old XC40. It was 100% not her fault so she dealt directly with the other party’s insurers, including securing a courtesy car of the same size and with a towbar and roof rails (since that’s what the Volvo had and we needed to use them). She informed her insurers of the accident but clearly stated she wasn’t claiming through them and was dealing directly with the third party. In the end she got a full payout.

Thanks everyone.

We are not very bothered about fixing our car, more worried about the impact on his insurance, so if we can deal direct with hers it would be easier, but if we have to inform our own then maybe let them deal with it.
Picking up the footage in next half an hour, so could phone her insurance and send them the footage and details of the witness initially.

Is there an issue if we dont tell our insurance at all? If we have to we will but if it could be avoided all the better.

 

[markemark]

You must tell your insurers - your insurance could be invalidated if not declared whether claiming or not.. Let them sort it out with her insurers.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Is there an issue if we dont tell our insurance at all? If we have to we will but if it could be avoided all the better.

You’ll need to declare the collision at renewal. Check your terms and conditions to see if you’re obliged to notify them sooner.

There’s no point risking having insurance refused later for non-disclosure, bearing in mind that the other party will try to claim your insurance anyway.

 

[Drago]

You must tell your insurers - your insurance could be invalidated if not declared whether claiming or not.. Let them sort it out with her insurers.

If he involves his insurers it gets messy and expensive and drawn out. They'll start trying to foxtrot them over for loan cars and the like, adding an extra unnecessary layer of bureaucracy does nothing to espedite the process, and if it goes sideways and ends 50:50 then the bigger the claim the worse the pain at next renewal.

If it is reasonably possibly to do so deal directly with her insurers. Only deal with your own if hers become unreasonable or difficult.

As aforementioned, I went through this over Christmas (some myopic twit drove into my parked car) and I nearly ended up going all Falling Down because of the huge and expensive drama my insurers made of it.

In my case a £1500 repair became a near £7000 bill for the other drivers insurers, because my insurer treated it as a profit making exercise and not a "let's repair Drago's car swiftly and efficiently" exercise.

 

[markemark]

If he involves his insurers it gets messy and expensive and drawn out. They'll start trying to foxtrot them over for loan cars and the like, adding an extra unnecessary layer of bureaucracy does nothing to espedite the process, and if it goes sideways and ends 50:50 then the bigger the claim the worse the pain at next renewal.

If it is reasonably possibly to do so deal directly with her insurers. Only deal with your own if hers become unreasonable or difficult.

As aforementioned, I went through this over Christmas (some myopic twit drove into my parked car) and I nearly ended up going all Falling Down because of the huge and expensive drama my insurers made of it.

In my case a £1500 repair became a near £7000 bill for the other drivers insurers, because my insurer treated it as a profit making exercise and not a "let's repair Drago's car swiftly and efficiently" exercise.

Many insurers make it a requirement to notify them of a an RTA whether they claim or not. I agree with everything you have written, but to not notify them could void their insurance.

 

[screenman]

I had a no-fault claim 7 years ago; I was not even in the car at the time; a woman backed out of her drive, across the road and then up my son's drive before hitting my car. A no fault claim is still likely to increase premiums if the womens insurers are involved; the incident with your son's name against it will soon be logged on the CUE system, this will flag up when he goes to renew, all companies have access to CUE, non disclosal of an accident can be harmful to him.

 

[screenman]

/www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/car-insurance-claims-guide-how-will-an-accident-affect-my-next-insurance-pr/

 

[Drago]

Many insurers make it a requirement to notify them of a an RTA whether they claim or not. I agree with everything you have written, but to not notify them could void their insurance.

Oh, notify them by all means if that's what your contract states. I wouldn't countenance otherwise.

I wouldn't take insurance advice from the RAC. They're woeful at their core business of repairing/recovering breakdowns, and I see no reason that they would been any more competent at matters outside their own field of (supposed) expertise.

 

[david k]

Update:

1. Collected the dash cam footage and its corrupted! We can try to take it in somewhere to recover but doesn't look promising, other files work its just that one!
2. The gentleman who shared the footage has said he will be a witness and it was 100% the ladies fault
3. Their insurance have messaged again saying they can repair the car, get a hire vehicle and pick up any expenses, so assume she has already accepted blame?
4. He has emailed his insurance with a brief message -
"Good evening,
Just a quick notification that I was in a no fault collision yesterday. The other driver has accepted full responsibility, and I will not be claiming, this is for information only."

 

[presta]

The advice I had from my insurance in similar circumstances was that if you claim you can't dictate to the insurance companies who they find to be at fault, and if you don't claim and you lose, you're on your own, you can't claim after you've made a hash of doing the job yourself.