Been in a car crash - Need advice on going to police etc....

anewman

albionrovers wrote: »

I tried the 2nd link for my 3 cars and it told me that none of them are insured. Pile of cr*p.

It probably does actually mean you are likely to be pulled up by police as cars I've tried come up as insured. Might be worth querying why you're not on the MID with your insurers.

mattymoo

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I know we only ever hear one side of a story and I too thought initially that the OP maybe had a little more "input" than we were told. But then when you think about it, if you were legally driving a nice shiney X5 and got rear ended would you just drive off, no of course not unless you were either illegal or new you had done something very wrong

Does make you wonder doesn't it. Car was presumably not stolen otherwise I'm sure the police would have told you.

There might be a little problem with his insurers. You see, insurance companies cover you for accidents, not deliberate acts. You are alleging he did this deliberately, they may decide not to honour the insurance policy.

They would however settle your claim as Road Traffic Act insurer and then reclaim monies paid out from him. Unfortunately, they need his authority to do this (crims still have rights ) so it can delay matters.

Hopefully your solicitor will keep chasing them though and I suspect he will give a different version of events anyway in order not to implicate himself in a deliberate act.

anewman

Hurrah, so if anyone ever causes an accident, it's "deliberate"

Keith

mattymoo wrote: »

You are alleging he did this deliberately, they may decide not to honour the insurance policy.

It was a fox, it ran out and I stopped, the young guy who was driving aggressively behind me then slammed into the rear of my vehicle. I then drove home scared to stop.

mattymoo

anewman wrote: »

Hurrah, so if anyone ever causes an accident, it's "deliberate"

No, an accident is not pre-meditated. This incident sounds like it was though. I dealt with thousands of claims between 1987 and 2004 and we only considered using this once.

MercilessKiller

Some interesting comments and reads.

Keith, I doubt he can use that excuse due to the location of the road... a very industrial area with no green patches or houses (so no pets or kiddys around either) plus an open view at both sides.

mattymoo, in your experience what would happen with this case?

the police emailed me today saying they've sent a letter to the owner asking who was driving. if they don't reply they're liable to prosecution. My solicitor is also in talks with people I believe...

Meanwhile I still need to find £1000!

mattymoo

Worst case scenario - its a staged motor accident and the driver and passengers pursue you for alleged injuries caused by the accident. Doesn't fit the usual profile though - people who do this kind of thing tend to drive beat up old cars with tampered brake lights and they also stick around to get your details.

Second worst - he counter accuses you of stuff. He could make any thing up with the aim of clouding the waters so the police do not know who to believe. His actions to date though would suggest he knew he was in the wrong.

Best case - your solicitor piles on the pressure and his insurers take a decision to settle early to avoid additional costs being involved.

One factor in your favour is your injury (and I know that doesn't sound right but I'll explain).
Basic motor claims are dealt with by less experienced staff. Its a case of register the claim, send a few letters out and pay the cheques. The mantra here is that in a rear end shunt, driver behind is always at fault.

Claims involving injuries get passed to a different team who will be used to dealing with complex investigations, understand medical reports and can negotiate with solicitors. They are not expected to handle the same case load as the damage only claims handlers so will have more time to consider the file. The extra experience also helps a lot in cases like this.

As for finding the £1,000 I cannot help. Sometimes an ongoing increasing cost such as hire car costs or taxi's can help focus the other sides minds and encourages them to make an early decision on who is at fault.

By using the car in its battered state you are effectively making it easier for them to delay.

Someone may mention firms like Helphire and Angel Assist (IIRC) where they loan you a car while yours is repaired (you still need to fund that part) and they then claim back from the other side. They normally only take guaranteed cert cases and I suspect they will turn you down. If not, be aware that you are usually liable for the cost if they are unable to recover.

Finally, I think everything you have done so far has been spot on. If this does turn out to be a staged incident then the police and your insurers are fully aware.

It might be worth writing down a statement with diagrams now because these things take time and memory fades. I find Google Earth is pretty good for getting road layouts and stuff. You can save the image and then use an art programme to over lay cars / direction arrows etc.

mattymoo

Keith wrote: »

It was a fox, it ran out and I stopped, the young guy who was driving aggressively behind me then slammed into the rear of my vehicle. I then drove home scared to stop.

Yeah - thats the kind of thing I'm expecting them to say (or child with football for even more dramatic effect).

Hopefully the police will see his actions prior to the shunt (chucking coins or whatever) do not gel with the "I was scared too scared to stop at the time" tale.

MercilessKiller

Thanks very much for your comments. Helps my understanding a bit!

It was just one guy in the car. I doubt it was staged as he started it by throwing coins/stones/soemthing at the car... If it was just a stage accident to claim then he would have left that all out I imagine!

As for the second worst bit, I was worried about that a lot but seeing as he didn't stop, and hasn't seem to have reported it at all, it looks in my favour so the police say!

The independant car assessor that the lawyer said declared the car as not roadworthy as he said it would speed up the case. In reality that's because the bonnet is damaged thus not in a perfect state.It would appear that I can still drive it though oddly enough....

Thanks for your help.

photome

MK

Hope you get car sorted without to much expense.but you say you cant afford to repair it????

Poker...Vegas?