Advice Please Regarding Accident

Diamond78

Thank you for your reply. I don't know what I am going to do now. If this is the case, then it's likely the car would be repaired before his insurer pays out, if they pay out. I know I was not at fault and the witnesses told me I was not to blame but these things take long. My car is not worth no more than £600. I don't know where I will borrow the money to pay the excess for. Maybe I should just ring tesco and tell them that I cannot afford to pay that sum right now until I can get the money together and then get it picked up for repair or is that not allowed?

McKneff

Stop worrying, ring your insurance company up, talk to them about it, they will deal with it for you. They will claim the full
amount back so you will not have to pay anything. !!!!!! there is some absolutely stupid advice going on here on this thread. (with one or two exceptions)

You would only have to pay the excess if you alone were dealing personally with the other partys insurance company and not involving your insurance company at all. Then you would claim it back. I have just been through all this, exactly the same as you but without the personal injury

As your insurance company are dealing with it, do what they say, get it from the horses mouth,
Ring them now for reassurance so that you will at least be able to sleep tonight.

bigjl

If there is an injury caused by an accident then you are legally oblidged to inform the police, you can if no injury but you don't need to.

If the car is worth £700 and your excess is £550, then I would expect the car to be written off, as has been said earlier.

It may be worth asking Tesco if they have a non fault accident company that they can refer you to, that way you will not be claiming on your insurance, so no NCB issues, you have done the right thing by informing the insurance company as you are legally oblidged to do so, even if not claiming.

I have used a company called HelpHire before, but that was years ago, not sure if they even exist now, try googling non fault accident claims, they will be more than happy to sort this out, sometimes offering a "credit repair" to allow your car to be repaired without an insurance claim.

Sorry, now read the entire thread, as far as an excess goes you would pay it out and then get this back as an uninsured loss, follow your mechanics advice, if the car is still drivanble then you should be able to continue driving it, my wifes car was hit on the drivers side, £3000 damage, but all cosmetic and she drove it for 3 weeks waiting for a hire car to be sorted out and a slot at the bodyshop.

They will also arrange for a lawyer and medical report to be done for any injuries sustained during the accident.

Diamond78

Thanks again for the replies. I have just spoken to tesco and the guy explained that I would have to pay the excess of £550 first only if the car is repaired before the other guys insurer accepts liability. He then said if they accepted liability before the car got repaired, then I would not pay the excess. But if the car was repaired before liability was accepted and I could not afford to pay the excess, I would have to pay the company who repair the car, charges for them checking what the damage is :huh:

So I explained I did not have the money at the moment to pay the excess and he has put the repair and courtesy car on hold until the other drivers insurers accept liabilty. He said it could take weeks to a few months. He faxed the hire company while I was on the phone and after I got off the phone to tesco, the hire company rang me and said if i didn't take the car out within 48 hours, then the other drivers insurers would not pay the cost for the hire car as it would show I can get about without my car. I explained to the lady my car was not going in for repair yet and that I had no room on my drive.

So that is about it. I hope what I have writen makes sense.

Rainmaker_uk

McKneff wrote: »

Stop worrying, ring your insurance company up, talk to them about it, they will deal with it for you. They will claim the full
amount back so you will not have to pay anything. !!!!!! there is some absolutely stupid advice going on here on this thread. (with one or two exceptions)

You would only have to pay the excess if you alone were dealing personally with the other partys insurance company and not involving your insurance company at all. Then you would claim it back. I have just been through all this, exactly the same as you but without the personal injury

As your insurance company are dealing with it, do what they say, get it from the horses mouth,
Ring them now for reassurance so that you will at least be able to sleep tonight.

Well said - listen to McKneff

Diamond78

Cheers, well I am going to wait for the other drivers insurers to except liability. Fingers crossed it won't take months. The hire company said I cannot take out the car if I wait that long but then I will check that with Tesco when they contact me again. I also think the hire company are tring it on. A friend has said if the car is a write off, then I probaly won't even get £500 for it. And then I should buy back the car after that, although I didn't understand the point of that. She said I should go through the accident management advice company as if I claim through my insurance, then it will affect my NCB. I phoned my local police station and they told me to report it within 24 hours just in case my son ends up getting worse or in the near future as it was mainly his back that hurt at the time but even with mild whiplash it should be reported. I tried to print off the form that I need to fill in but my printers not working, so I will go to the police station first thing in the morning. Thanks again for all the advice.

bigjl

Don't forget that if the accident management co can negotiate some compo for your son, it will be about £1000 to £2000 as an industry average, and you could put that money into the car "fund".

Diamond78

I am going to stick with Tesco, I think that is the most sensible option. That is what I pay my insurance for, so it's best I stick with them and not go with a company I do not know, who will confuse me even more. My cover has legal cover included, so I assume that covers the legal part.

I don't care If i don't get a penny, I just want my son to be well and healthy and the car comes last right now. My son recently started complaining of his arm hurting and head, so I have given him the paracetamol the doc gave him and his now resting although I feel a bit worried now, I am hoping the arm pain is grwoing pains and the headache will go but I will keep him next to me all night and if I worry just take him down to A&E for peace of mind. He can't of hurt his arm from the accident. The doc said whiplash shouldn't last longer than a month and my son should avoid his dancing, swimming and football lessons and PE when he goes back to school, that upset him quite bad. Hopefully it will pass quickly and he will be fine.

McKneff

Your friend is talking rubbish, stay well clear of Claims companies, Let your insurance company deal with it.

No Claims discount will not be affected as you are not making a claim from your compay. Trust me on this.
Yours is a no fault claim, the only claim will be from the third party, Stop worrying (again) you have done nothing
wrong so you will not be penalised.

I was really annoyed and stressed when it happened to me, i was just peed off that I had done nothing wrong, i wasnt
even in my car when a bloody great tractor scraped the side of my car but the anxiety was enormous.
3 months earlier a concrete mixer wagon hadnt washed down properly and as i was going towards it up a hill the excess
(lots ofit) was cascaded over my car, again I hadnt done anything wrong but the company paid to have it removed, it had
baked on before the boss got to see it so it cost them twice as much but they paid up eventually.

Good luck and sleep well.

Diamond78

Thanks McKneff, I will listen to you. Im so sorry you had to go through all that. Its horrible. Im glad your ok and got it sorted. Maybe we need to get a little lucky charm and hang it in the car. I am determined that this does not put me off driving which is why I don't want to be without a car for too long, so I don't feel too anxious when driving again. I think the driver was expecting me to whizz pass the lights quickly but then I was not going to risk crashing into oncoming traffic. He wasn't rude to me luckily, I did get a bit scared when he got out of the van, I thought he was going to scream at me but thank god he never, you never know what to expect where I live, I have seen some ugly road rage incidents where I live.

Can I get a quote from another mechanic rather than rely on tesco's company that they use in Croydon. They seem so far away from me. Also if the repair is more than what my car costs, will it definatly be a write off? I paid £700 for my car but was told I would not get more than £500 for it. But if the repair is more than the cost of what my car is worth, is there any point getting it repaired? Thanks again and sorry to be a pain. And no Im not worry anymore, I just don't want to make any mistakes and want to do things properly and do what would be the best solution. Thanks.