Non fault car accident, other party won't admit liability!

mrsphillips

Hello, I'm new to the forum so please excuse me if i'm slow lol.

We had a non fault car accident nearly 2 weeks. We were travelling in middle lane on a roundabout (the right lane for going straight on). The other party was on the inside lane, when we got past the 1st exit on the roundabout he came over into our lane and hit the front nsf damaging the wheel, tyre, wing and bumper. He admited liability at the scene and he exchanged details with my husband. We left it there and both went on our way.

My husband contacted our insurance company within an hour of the accident. 2 days after the accident the other party still hadn't reported it. He since has reported it and won't admit liability. he has said my husband hit him, which you can clearly see from damge on both vehicles wasn't the case.

My husband has pictures from the scene but still isn't good enough for other parties insurance company.

Please can someone help and advise what to do now, we are at our wits end. We had an independant assessor come to see our car and it is a cat c write off. We are only TPFT so can't claim from our own policy. Don't have any access to another car so i'm walking 2 miles just to get my children to school.

Sorry to ramble on and on.

lisyloo

which you can clearly see from damge on both vehicles wasn't the cas

How can you tell from the damage, who hit who?

Did you get any independent witnesses? (someone who wasn't a passenger or driver).
Is there any CCTV?

mrsphillips

There is cctv on the roundabout but it's for traffic management and it's only recorded for 2 days. When i spoke to the council who own the cameras it had all ready been deleted.

Someone stopped at the scene but then drove off so that's not an option either.

The damage on our car is n/s/f like I said, sorry I forgot to say he is claiming my husband went up the rear of him so the damage on the car is side which is impossible unless we drive a crab lol.

forgotmyname

Have they supplied their version of events?

You need to supply as much info as possible to prove they are wrong otherwise it may got 50/50.

lisyloo

n/s/f

near side front????

I don't see how that proves he hit you. You can certainly drive into someone else with your near side front.

I'm not saying he didn't hit you BTW, just saying I don't think the damage proves it.

If you think the damage contradicts his story then you should definitely explain that to your insurer as to how the two are contradictory.
I personally can't see it, but perhaps that's because I don't have pictures, diagrams.
Don't tell us, tell your insurer.
That's evidence.

Quentin

When you chose to take out third party insurance you accepted you had no cover for damage to your own car.

Now it's been damaged then you are on your own fighting your corner.

As you are facing a fight with the third party then your choices are limited if you aren't able/prepared to use your solicitor.

1) See if a claim handler is prepared to take your case on

or

2) Continue to pursue the third party in the hope that if not able to get 100% liability, you end up with a split liability decision.

(If the third party puts in a claim against you and is partially successful, (say 50/50 is agreed with your insurer), then you would be able to claim your 50% losses off the third party)

mrsphillips

Thanks for all our your replies.

We are just going to try and fight it as best we can. Received letters today from solicitors working on behalf of our insurance company (our legal proctection covers this).

The other party hasn't supplied anything to either insurance company. He hasn't responded to 2 letters from his own insurance company and apparantly his phone is switched off.

He has told his insurance company my husband drove into the rear of him. He had no damage what so ever to the rear of his van, it was side impact on both vehicles. Think it's just going to be a waiting game.

Thanks again for your replies, they are greatly appreciated.

lisyloo

He has told his insurance company my husband drove into the rear of him. He had no damage what so ever to the rear of his van

If his story is clearly a ie then that puts you in a good position.

Good luck.

Quentin

mrsphillips wrote: »

Think it's just going to be a waiting game.

Now liability is being disputed this could take some time to resolve.

In the meantime check up who is paying for the storage of your car - it could be you!

It may be that although it's classed as an insurance write off, you could get your car repaired cheaply at a back street garage - and get mobile again a lot quicker!

(Then sort out the write off settlement if you win the liability issue when it's eventually settled)

mrsphillips

Hi, just thought I would give a quick update.

We are now nearly 6 weeks after the accident and still none the wiser as to what is going on. We have instructed our solicitor through our legal cover to fight it for us.

Basically the other party first told his insurance company he was away til mid Feb and surprise surprise it was a lie. He is now going down the route of he didn't know who was drving at the time as it was a company van. Our car is still parked at home in the same spot it was in nearly 6 weeks ago.

He won't comply with anyone at all including our insurance company, his own and our solicitor.

Biggest regret is that we didn't call the police to the scene, would have been so much easier.

Quentin

mrsphillips wrote: »

Biggest regret is that we didn't call the police to the scene, would have been so much easier.

Don't beat yourself up over this.

Even if you had called them they wouldn't have been interested.