Had a car accident and confused.

Phil3822

Hi all, a lorry crashed into the rear of me yesterday whilst stationary waiting to turn into a car park. I have today informed my insurance broker (Budget) who put me through to underwriters (CIS) and they took all the details. Co op (CIS) have phoned me and asked if I wanted to claim against my policy. I said I believe this accident to be not my fault and wish to claim against the lorry driver's insurance. The CIS advisor said ok, thats not our job we only pay out if you wish to claim against your fully comp insurance. He told me to contact the broker. Anyway, the broker said its not there job to recover losses and CIS are now closed. I am now confused. First accident I have been involved in. In bad pain following the accident and struggling to concentrate. Have made a log of the events.

Who is responsible for recovering my losses?

Thanks all, hope someone can help and advise.

huckster

If you want to claim against the lorry drivers Insurance, then you can use one of the claims accident management companies of your choice. If you phoned Budget, I suspect they would just put you in touch with the company they normally use.

If you google Car Accident claims management, you will find a number of companies to choose from. Some will try to sell you a hire car, from which they earn money from. Just be careful to keep any such costs to a minimum, as if the 3rd party Insurers challenge, you could end up paying. Also some of these companies e.g. Drive Assist, can try it on, asking you to pay for damage they say you have caused while it was hired to you.

The Car Accident Management companies that offer a complete service will handle both the car repair side of things, as well as any personal injury you may have suffered.

Phil3822

Thanks for that info. So my insurers are not responsible for recovering my losses? That has suprised me! I have just had delivered a Car from Drive assist however having looked at your advice and other advice online think I'll send it back tomorrow! We do need two cars as we both work and for childcare however having thought about dont like the responsibilty of having a hired car.
Thanks for the heads up.

TEDDYRUKSPIN

Hmmm. Do you still have the details of the driver and lorry plates etc? Did you report it to the police for a reference number. Surprisingly, if you did what I mentioned, the police can gather all the details for you including insurance company of the lorry driver.

Phil3822

Yes police were called and I have an incident number. The lorry driver exchanged details then left the scene however the police took the details from me and I got taken away in an ambulance prior to them giving the details back to me. Having phoned the police today though they have given me the Vehicle Registration, who its registered with (Company Name) and insurers which are Equity Red Star.

Are you saying I am able to persue?

huckster

I can't see Budget Insurance helping you too much if you are claiming off the 3rd party directly.

It is up to you. You can contact the 3rd parties Insurers directly yourself to make the claim or use a claims management company to do all the work for you. These companies have been set up to pursue these type of claims and will claim their costs from the 3rd parties Insurers. So personally I would use them, unless the 3rd parties Insurers are really helpful. I can't see Equity Red Star making the process very easy. If PI is involved, then this could end up in court, so these companies, who are often connected to solicitors, can do this for you.

McKneff

Did the driver actually accept liability.

You can do one of two things.

Contact the tPs insurance party and make the claim yourself. This is not a problem at all as long as liability is admitted.
Take instruction from them, always get every thing in writing or email from them. You may have to instruct a solicitor to
cover your injury compensation.

or

Instruct a Claims Management Company and they will deal with everything for you. The other insurance party will be only too pleased to deal with you personally as it will cost them a lot more to settle the claim.

Presumably you have the other partys insurance details.

Youre insurance company wll normally be involved if you have a claim against you, if you see what i mean,

Good luck, been there, done that.

keith1950

Hi, did you not pay the extra £20 or so for legal expenses cover, if you did Budget should have passed you on to the appropriate company to recover your uninsured losses. If you didn't ,then as stated above, contact an accident management company.

Wraggy

I was shunted from behind, and in the eyes of the insurance companies there are very few circumstances in which the driver in front can be at fault (especially in your case when you were stationary). The liability of the other driver was settled without any argument, and the third party insurers (zurich) were more than happy to arrange accident repair (in fact my car was written off!) and a hire car for me. This is cheaper for them than paying an accident management company you get to manage everything for you. I was on third party cover at the time, and my insurer (direct line) would not assist with my car, other than informing their solicitors because I had legal cover.

If you are comprehensively covered, your own insurer will sometimes arrange everything at your end and then claim off the other insurer, although you might have to pay your excess upfront and get it refunded when liability is confirmed. Although when I did this for another non-fault accident the 3rd party insurers were a bit funny because they had offered to handle repairs and such themselves.

If you have no legal cover you might need to speak to a solicitor in any case in regards to personal injury.

In short my recommendation is speak to the 3rd party insurers, check the liability, and ask if they will organise everything for you.

EDIT: When I say the 3rd party insurer, I mean the underwriter of the insurance and not the broker, that may be why you had little luck when you called.

Phil3822

Thanks for all the replies. I did not take out legal cover. I intend to claim for PI so i am thinking it may be best to go through a management company. If I wasn' t injured I would be happy to handle it myself as the third party was decent about things.

PNPSUKNET

what were the exact positions of both of you. Did your insurance instruct drive assist?