Freak car accident - other driver did not stop!

archie9uk

I was driving along a country road this afternoon and a pick-up truck was coming the other way. As it went past me, a large blue plastic barrel rolled into the road in front of me (i.e. it bounced out of the truck). There was nowhere for me to go, as there was a wall to the side, so I just had to hit the barrel. The truck did not stop. I reported it to the police by phone - they took the details but told me I need to report it at the police station in person. I reported it to my insurance company and I am going to have to pay my excess of £300. What is going to happen here in terms of my insurance? Will I be classed as being at fault because the truck didn't stop so there is no-one to claim against?

I am really upset about this. I was on my way back to work after lunch when it happened, but I was too shaken up to go back. In a way I am lucky that it didn't bounce up onto my windscreen - I could have been dead if that had happened. It doesn't bear thinking about. Having said that, I don't exactly feel lucky...

dacouch

Unfortunately it is likely to affect your no claims bonus and be recorded as a "fault" claim.

If your Insurer cannot recover their money from anyone else eg the driver left the scene and is untraceable then you lose part of your no claims bonus (Usually 2 years unless you have protected it).

You will not be able to recover you excess from the other people so you will be out of pocket for this and your premium will go up a bit at renewal.

If you can trace the drive you may be able to claim off of them

ariba10

Unfortunately it is a "No claims bonus" and not a "No fault bonus"

mattymoo

Any delivery label on the barrel to help trace the other vehicle?

As ariba says, it is a "no claim" discount, not no blame. The insurers will record it as "hit object dropped in carriageway". An underwriter, looking at the circumstances, should not penalise you heavily for this, other than the lost NCD years (2).

SolicitorMidlands

Are you injured? If so, the Motor Insurers Bureau will consider dealing with it under their untraced driver's agreement. They will also deal with vehicle and property damage subject to an excess.

geri1965_2

archie9uk wrote: »

In a way I am lucky that it didn't bounce up onto my windscreen - I could have been dead if that had happened. It doesn't bear thinking about. Having said that, I don't exactly feel lucky...

You are lucky. I've had a claim today in relation to a man standing at the side of the road waiting for his lift to work, when a spare wheel came off an articulated lorry and threw him 8 feet. He later died in hospital.

SolicitorMidlands

Geri - I am sure I read about that in the paper.

geri1965_2

SolicitorMidlands wrote: »

Geri - I am sure I read about that in the paper.

Yes, it was in the papers yesterday or today.

archie9uk

dacouch wrote: »

Unfortunately it is likely to affect your no claims bonus and be recorded as a "fault" claim.

If your Insurer cannot recover their money from anyone else eg the driver left the scene and is untraceable then you lose part of your no claims bonus (Usually 2 years unless you have protected it).

You will not be able to recover you excess from the other people so you will be out of pocket for this and your premium will go up a bit at renewal.

If you can trace the drive you may be able to claim off of them

As far as I understand it, you are regarded as being "at fault" if there is no other insurer to claim off - i.e. the other driver didn't stop or wasn't insured. Obviously this would apply in my case, but it is equally obvious that this was not actually "my fault". There should be some sort of distinction made between different accidents. As far as any insurance company is concerned would this be recorded in the same way as me having hit someone else?

I won't be able to trace the driver. Even if I saw them again I wouldn't be certain that I had. I didn't pay much attention to the vehicle because it was already past me by the time I saw the barrel. The police said they would pass the info on to the local bobby but I don't think there is much chance of him finding out who it was.

archie9uk

mattymoo wrote: »

Any delivery label on the barrel to help trace the other vehicle?

As ariba says, it is a "no claim" discount, not no blame. The insurers will record it as "hit object dropped in carriageway". An underwriter, looking at the circumstances, should not penalise you heavily for this, other than the lost NCD years (2).

There were no markings on the barrel at all - no writing, no label, nothing. I am told it is the sort of thing often used by builders, but that doesn't exactly help tracing them!

I had a look at the info you put into confused.com (where I got my insurance from) and on there you only just put that it was an accident and what the settlement amount was, not a description of what happened, so would another insurer either know or care about the circumstances?

Unfortunately I only have two years NCD, so that will be gone...

archie9uk

SolicitorMidlands wrote: »

Are you injured? If so, the Motor Insurers Bureau will consider dealing with it under their untraced driver's agreement. They will also deal with vehicle and property damage subject to an excess.

In shock, but not injured (although I could easily have been).

I will look them up, thanks.