Car Accident Claim Help

ChrisJBarnes

Basically, I was driving along a straight road within the speed limit, and someone without looking comes out of a side road and slams into the side of my car. There was nothing I could do to prevent this accident, and it was entirely his fault. There were no witnesses at the scene of the accident, but at the time he apologised, said "I had the radio on" and "I wasn't concentrating", however I have no proof of this.

He will not accept full liability, which will mean the claim is judged by the insurance company. The damages came to £1700.

The problem with this is that as far as I am concerned, and the neutral would be, the accident was entirely his fault. What do you expect the outcome will be? I will be seething if I have to pay £200 excess for this, and as I am only 19 my premium will skyrocket.

The man at the garage recommended that we go through a 3rd party accident compensation claim company called QDOS. Anyone have any experience with similar companies??

Cheers

falcon124

Hi Chris

I think you should refer back to your insurers as the areas of damage to both vehicle could prove your version of events and resolve liability, as far as using Qdos they are a credit hire organisation and will ask you to sign a credit agreement which basically means that if there are any problems and they are unble to recover all their costs you would ultimately be responsible, whether or not the credit hire organisation chooses to puruse you in this respect is up to them.

As far as your premium going up this will not happen until your renewal if the matter is still outstanding or not been resolved in your favour; any additional premium you pay will be refunded if you are found not at fault.

P.s you are legally obliged to inform your insurers of any incident whether it be fault or non fault.

Hope the above helps

bryanb

falcon124 wrote: »

P.s you are legally obliged to inform your insurers of any incident whether it be fault or non fault.

Hope the above helps

Obliged by you insurance T&Cs But not legally obliged.

ChrisJBarnes

Thanks. I will be reporting to the insurers at some point. Hopefully the areas of damage will prove its not my fault. There is damage to the side of my car and a little bit to the front of his, but not enough to justify a repair I think. You would recommend not using something like Qdos then?

bryanb

If you have his insurance details, ring them and register a claim against him. Deny any responsibility yourself. Call your own insurance, tell them for information only and you are claiming direct from the other driver's insurance. I have done this successfully with no effect on NCB or premium.

TheRedAdmiral

CJB

Ive just read your post and, in all honesty, dont think you have a lot to worry about.

To put your mind at ease - He is on the minor road - and has the greater duty of care.

He might try a few excuses - but thats all they are.....

eg.

You were speeding - Clearly you werent but even if you were "Speed, in itself, is not an act of negligence" - so he cant use that one.

You had your radio on - So What!

You were indicating - Ive seen this used. Deny it and he then needs witness evidence. If there is a witness "Wadsworth-v-Gillespie" will award 2/3rds in your favour. If there is no witness he is stuffed.

I see so many of these type of claims on a daily basis. 99% of them are settled in favour of the guy on the main road.

Seriously - dont lose a lot of sleep over it.

PNPSUKNET

no matter what even none fault claims will raise insurance, if the car was joing the road they will be liable

Clive_Woody

I had a similar accident a few years ago. I was driving down a long straight road when a car pulled out of a petrol station right in front of me. My car was a right off (his too I suspect considering I was going 50mph).

I sent a nice diagram of what happened to my insurers who then forwarded it to his insurers. They accepted full liability (after me chasing a few times to speed the process up). I got a nice shiny new car and the other guy (I suspect) got an earful from his dad for destroying his car.

daveyjp

Just been through this. Driving along and someone came out of a side road into the side of me.

His insurance started on the road of joint liability, but once I'd done a full statement including diagrams, maps and photos and then a phone call from my company to ask if I was prepared to go to Court (I was) the other side backed down.

From accident to me getting my excess back was 7 weeks, but you must be prepared to put some work in. It took me the best part of a day to prepare my statement.

adamc260

However you look at it a third party vehicle has emerged from a side road and has failed to give way, any good file handler would look at that and say it's clear cut. If his insurance company still dispute liability it's up to them to prove they're not at fault. Clear case, the third party wasn't paying attention.

Don't use an accident management company a garage recommends, they get a kick back (payment) for this and ends up costing the insurance world a lot more money!

Epertetes

Hello,

This might be a bit late in the game now but I must recommend that you do not use the services of QDOS accident assistance. Read their FAQ on the website and be aware that any services they provide you may ultimately be your own liability. For example if you accept a credit hire agreement from their sister company, QDOS Car Hire, it is you who will ultimately have to pay the inflated hire costs if the insurance claim is disputed and for any reason you are found to have even contributed partially to the accident. QDOS Accident Assistance refers cases to associated companies, some of which will have representatives of QDOS working at them. The ones I know of include QDOS Car Hire, Antony Hodari Solicitors (Check their address details) and Triangle Autos (Check the 'our team' section on their website). It is in the financial interest of QDOS accident assistance to get you in a car from QDOS car hire for as long as possible. It is not necessarily in your own interest.

Make no mistake that this is a credit hire referral and commission network that sustains itself through inflated charges. Not all of the charges incurred may be recoverable even if you are not at fault. If you end up in a car provided by QDOS for an unreasonably long period, this will be questioned by the other insurers. Once again, even if the accident was not your fault, you may not be able to recover all of the costs of car hire if they are considered unreasonable. You may have to provide your bank statements as evidence in court that you had no alternative than to use a credit hire company.

I have recent experience of this and I can tell you that someone has to pay the bill. You might be surprised to discover that it's you.

If you are going to use QDOS, by all means do so, but I recommend that you get a signed agreement from them stating that under no circumstances will you be asked to pay any amount whatsoever for any costs charged by anyone who has any association whatsoever with QDOS Accident Management, or anyone else acting in connection with the accident. Do not sign any other paperwork provided by QDOS, just treat them as if they were your insurance company. You've already signed a contract, why sign another one?

This goes for all Accident Management / Assistance companies, I'm pretty sure they all have the same business model. Whatever you do just please read the small print!

I've seen a quote somewhere that 10% of every insurance premium is to cover the cost of accident management companies. These companies do nothing more than any half-decent insurance company already offers. They are simply exploiting the legal ambiguity around car accident liability and damages, and the tendency for insurers to avoid court proceedings, and they are costing every single insured car-owner in the UK money in the process, while providing a service that most individuals who use them probably do not even need.

Remember that Accident Management companies such as QDOS are acting in their own interests, and their interests do not necessarily co-incide with yours.

Sorry for the rant! Rant over now! Bye!