Who is liable for this crash

rose28454

My DD was driving to work this morning and was passing a crossroads and the vehicle on the left junction was pulled partly out into the road so my daughter pulled over the line a bit to get round him ( she was going straight on) and suddenly a car on the right junction pulled out and hit her side on and badly damaged her door. She said he only seemed to have damage to his number plate and so they swapped details and she came home. He has now rung and asked for the registration number ( that he forgot to take). She told him she had a large excess (£500.00- she is only 22) and so would rather not go through her insurers and he said his excess is £325.00. The problem is that she is crap with money and never opens her post and when we looked for her policy details she found a letter to say her policy had been cancelled 2 weeks ago due to non payment of the last months premium. I am going over to see him shortly so I am wondering what to do. He wants her insurance details which obviously she does not have. What shoe she do? Obviously she should be insured but he is liable as he hit her car.
I despair of her as she is crap with money ( spend it all on clothes!) and I am on my own ( recently seperated) and struggling with money and debt issues and there always seems to be some financial scrape for me to get her out of. Should we tell him she is not insured or just refuse to give him the details. I think he may then try to wriggle out of paying. Also should we report the accident to the police bearing in mind she is not insured??

cogito

There seem to be two separate issues here - the insurance which she's legally obliged to have and the accident which is a civil matter. If the other driver accepts liability, lack of insurance doesn't come into it as she can still recover her loss. If the other driver thinks that your daughter was at fault (and we haven't heard his side), that is more problematic and you'd have to deal with that yourselves.

You are obliged by law to give him insurance details so how you deal with that is up to you. Best hope is to play on his sympathy and hope he's a decent chap.

Meanwhile, reinstate the insurance.

uktyler

Had your daughter crossed the white lines?
Was she even partly on his side of the road?

At 22 she should be old enough to deal with her own problems, not opening her mail is no excuse for driving uninsured.

Poppy9

Quite honestly if I was in an accident and found out the driver was uninsured I would report the matter to the police. There is no excuse for driving uninsured.

If he has her registration details and gives the information to his insurance company, you are obliged to inform them of any accident even if you do not make a claim, then they will know she is not insured.

SandC

She should own up to him and hope that he only does have damage to his number plate. He may decide to go to the police. The problem that you have is that if your daughter was on the other side of the road, over the line, in any way then it is not his fault. Regardless of what she was avoiding, that is how it works.

He may be a reasonable man and your daughter may be lucky if she only has to pay for a new numberplate. The damage to her car is also her responsibility.

Had her insurance been valid then she may have been able to get them to fight her corner in view of the vehicle which was jutting out into the traffic, but unfortunately she has no hope of anyone representing her.

I would ask her to ring the gentlemen concerned, rather than you. It might not go down well if someone's mother rings up trying to sort things out.

Good luck with it.

cogito

if your daughter was on the other side of the road, over the line, in any way then it is not his fault. Regardless of what she was avoiding, that is how it works.

Not necessarily. If there was a Give Way sign (and we don't know that), he is obliged to give way. He appears not to have seen the other car or set off before it was safe. Either way, that would amount to negligence.

rose28454

cogito wrote: »

Not necessarily. If there was a Give Way sign (and we don't know that), he is obliged to give way. He appears not to have seen the other car or set off before it was safe. Either way, that would amount to negligence.

Thanks for all your input. There is a give way sign and he obvisously pulled out to quickly fromthe damage to her car. We are just off to see him now. I take on board all your comments re her being responsible and I have already read her the riot act. I am in severe financial difficulty and have been trying to explain to my daughter that I cant always pick up the pieces. Will let you know how we get on. She has got some quotes and it will be about £300 to fix her car.

SandC

That's fair enough cogito.

Without insurance cover though, he can say what he likes and deny everything even if would have been deemed at fault by the insurers (sounds a bit like 50/50 to me anyway).

£300 not too bad damage on her car, it sounded like it would be a lot more.

rose28454

We went to see him and the damage to his car is a scratched bumper and cracked number plate. He said he needed to get quotes as he did not know if there was any underlying damage. My oh has looked at the car and we all agree that he hit her and as she was on main road he is liable. Re insurance we have re-instated it and will give him policy number later. Regardless I dont think my daughter should pay ( insured or not ) for hers or his car. If her insurance dont want to know how can we pursue him for payment ourselves. I know there is an issue re her insurance status but he did hit her so he is still liable.

Quentin

If he knows your daughter was uninsured and you pursue him, expect police involvement, and big trouble! Luckily for her she just was involved in damage, not injury!

Even if he doesn't yet know, he will find out she was uninsured if he makes a claim (either via her insurer or via his own).

Settling up with him will be much cheaper than facing the consequences of driving with no insurance.

rose28454

Quentin wrote: »

If he knows your daughter was uninsured and you pursue him, expect police involvement, and big trouble! Luckily for her she just was involved in damage, not injury!

Even if he doesn't yet know, he will find out she was uninsured if he makes a claim (either via her insurer or via his own).

Settling up with him will be much cheaper than facing the consequences of driving with no insurance.

The point is he hit her and not vice versa. Yes she was stupidly not insured but he is insured and therefore should pay up for her damage. He damaged his car when he hit her!