Just had a car accident

robnye

thats much clearer now

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

It would cost tens of thousands to go to court and insurance companies simply aren't going to do that without any witnesses.

Where did that figure come from?

Cases are often brought to the small claims court with no independent witnesses, and cost a few hundred pounds - sometimes much less, as insurers watch what happens when one party sues the other over their excess (which could be just £100 - the cost for such a case to be heard is around £50), then if the claimant wins, the whole claim is settled based on the decision.

geri1965_2

Do you think the two cars would have been able to pass safely if you hadn't gone into a skid and gone up the bank, came down and hit their car?

To be honest it does sound as if you may have been completely at fault and if you were, you should do the decent thing and own up.

It would be unfair on the other party to have the claim settled 50/50 just because there were no witnesses.

robnye

no two cars could not pass unless one car had stopped at a passing point, which was actually on their side of the road. (looking on googlemap and multimap - proves the 2 passing points are there)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=church+lane&daddr=&sll=51.24772,-0.099928&sspn=0.007038,0.021544&ie=UTF8&ll=51.247848,-0.095865&spn=0.00088,0.002693&t=k&z=19

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|church lane, bletchingly#map=51.24778,-0.09551|20|64&be=24006562|North&loc=GB:51.24837:-0.09583:14|church lane, bletchingly|Church Lane, Bletchingley, Redhill, Surrey, England, RH1 4

i went into a skid and steered away to try and avoid hitting the other car, which didnt seem to be slowing down quick enough. if they had used the passing point, then this wouldnt have happened.

in fact where we stopped ( i had to reverse back up the bank to allow traffic through, whilst we where stopped at the second passing point, both places where in fact to allow golfers to cross the road

how can you assume that i am 100% to blame, i was doing 10mph less then the 40mph speed limit as my part of the road was going downhill. the other driver appeared to be talking on a mobile which only became apparent when i got out of my car to talk to them. if i said we where both male, would the blame change..... if i said im a male and the other driver was a female.... does that make the blame more likely to fall on the man?

i am not saying i am not partly to blame, as you say there werent any witnesses, i am not asking how to get out of having any blame cast at me, just questioning the claim/notification process.

lisyloo

Where did that figure come from?

My MIL was given this figure in relation to one case (for personal injury).
My SIL was given a similar figure for a divorce case.

If they watch individuals slog it out in a small claims court then the costs will be different (much smaller as you say), but if there are insurance company employees and solicitors being involved then it will cost a lot more.

It can be a five figure sum if one side is awarded the other sides costs.

Thanks for the clarification.

Bagpuss741

Were they able to see you? I don't get if they had two passing points why the other car didn't pull in?

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

My MIL was given this figure in relation to one case (for personal injury).
My SIL was given a similar figure for a divorce case

The cases you quote are for court hearings far removed from the small claims court, which is how most straightforward claims for bodywork damage in a road accident get dealt with.

robnye

Bagpuss741 wrote: »

Were they able to see you? I don't get if they had two passing points why the other car didn't pull in?

good point.... i saw the passing points and the other car, which is why i started slowing down, assuming they would pull over, hence when i realised that they werent slowing down i had to brake harder, causing me to skid (didnt help that water was running down hill (i had just come down) and gravel was across the road due to golfers crossing point)

adouglasmhor

Cars going uphill used to have right of way, has this changed?

robnye

adouglasmhor wrote: »

Cars going uphill used to have right of way, has this changed?

not as far as im aware.

the prang happened just passed the bottom of gentle hill, that i had just come down, the 2 passing points where on a flat stretch of road