Car accident - not my fault but discovered i'm not insured !

ILW

Has the other driver accepted liability in writing, or just given you his insurance details?

Cruiksl

Thanks for the advice. I have an independent witness who was walking by who can verify that I was stationary when he hit me.

I'm on ASKMID - I've just checked.

"Your lucky the boys in blue wernt around at the time " i forgot, didnt get the reminder " etc are old hat excuses "

I know it seems unbelieveable that it's old hat but in my 19 years of driving, I have never driven without insurance apart from this time and it was a genuine oversight on my part. As soon as I realised this when I called Tesco after speaking to them in tears I hung up, gathered myself together and I immediately phoned them back and got insurance.

"i am not sure but i dont think you will be able to claim money from the insurance company..but instead if you knew that your insurance had expired, u should have there and then asked the driver of the other car to pay you the money for your damage.."

There is no way I would have driven the car had I realised I wasn't insured. I didn't discover this until I got home and phoned to make a claim.

From experience would you have been happier having a policy that automatically renewed unless you instructed otherwise?

Yes - I wouldn't be in this mess if it had ! If in the end I have to pay for it myself, then it's an expensive lesson learned and one I won't repeat.

roddydogs

Also, a lot of accidents occur, the driver admits laibility, you exchange details, then low and behold, when it comes to the claim, its a different story. happened to me.

Cruiksl

An update here, yesterday I took the car into a body shop for a valuation on the damage and was awaiting written confirmation about the car when I got a phone call from the other guy's insurance company.

They have admitted liability and asked me would I like to go through my insurance company or would I like them to deal with it. I jumped at the chance of them dealing with it and in the last hour they have arranged for a body shop to collect the car and for a courtesy car while it's being repaired.

The lesson I've learned - never to presume that you have auto renewal on insurance. I've been very, very lucky.

McKneff

Hope youve stopped beating yourself up about it.

Good luck.

PNPSUKNET

in a way its lucky in a strange way you had the accident, better to be pulled this way than by the police and them giving you 6 points

aah

it is easy to be intimidated into aadmitting guilt when it is not your fault.

my 18 year old daughter turned right at lights right into the path of an oncoming car who hit her. seemingly her fault. the oncoming driver certainly told her so in no uncertain terms as both their cars were written off. she ended up agreeing, admitting guilt and apologising. he was a boor and a bully and behaved to her in the same way that he drove. there are many of them out there.

but her insurance company have looked at the likely speeds and it seems the guy could have been doing 60+ in a 30 mph area and police are now interested - in prosecuting him.

olly300

roddydogs wrote: »

Also, a lot of accidents occur, the driver admits laibility, you exchange details, then low and behold, when it comes to the claim, its a different story. happened to me.

Some insurance policies clearly have it stated in their terms and conditions that you are not allowed to admit liability for an accident, as it's up to them to decide on your behalf.

In addition due to the fact that lots of people are some form of shock after an accident, a court of law will ignore the fact that they admitted liability on the scene. Instead they will look at the evidence presented to them.

So basically if you have an accident exchange details with the driver(s) involved, take photos on your phone/camera in your glove box and get details of witness but don't regard the other driver(s) admitting liability on the scene as being worth anything.

Rolandtheroadie

aah wrote: »

it is easy to be intimidated into aadmitting guilt when it is not your fault.

my 18 year old daughter turned right at lights right into the path of an oncoming car who hit her. seemingly her fault. the oncoming driver certainly told her so in no uncertain terms as both their cars were written off. she ended up agreeing, admitting guilt and apologising. he was a boor and a bully and behaved to her in the same way that he drove. there are many of them out there.

but her insurance company have looked at the likely speeds and it seems the guy could have been doing 60+ in a 30 mph area and police are now interested - in prosecuting him.

What way was he driving? In a straight line? With right of way? And a green light?
An alligation of speeding not by your daughter, but by an insurer thats hoping to go 50/50? That wasnt even there?

JoolzS

aah wrote: »

it is easy to be intimidated into aadmitting guilt when it is not your fault.

my 18 year old daughter turned right at lights right into the path of an oncoming car who hit her. seemingly her fault. the oncoming driver certainly told her so in no uncertain terms as both their cars were written off. she ended up agreeing, admitting guilt and apologising. he was a boor and a bully and behaved to her in the same way that he drove. there are many of them out there.

but her insurance company have looked at the likely speeds and it seems the guy could have been doing 60+ in a 30 mph area and police are now interested - in prosecuting him.

You need to teach your daughter that sometimes it really is her fault. It doesn't matter if the other guy was speeding - she was unaware of the road around her and couldn't judge the speed of the other cars on the road.

From experience I know that every 17 or 18 year old driver will have an accident. I had one, my DH had one, every friend of mine had one. I was actually 24 when I had mine, but I had only been driving for a few months. New drivers simply cannot judge "the road".

Julie