Advice needed re: crash/Police Report

abd08

Hi all,

I'll try and keep it simple:

Situation:
- My mother was involved in an accident last year (November) at a crossroad.
- Both drivers are saying it's not their fault
- Our car written off, received a cheque. Don't know about theirs.
- The claim hasn't been settled according to our insurer (still waiting for something from the other driver apparently)
- Mother was named driver on father's policy

Problem:
- I'm fairly confident that if we have the traffic police report on positions/damage etc to the vehicles, this could be instrumental in proving fault. Is this typically contained in the "Police Collision Report - basic" (£128)? Would the insurance company always request a copy of this?
- My parents now have another car, but am not quite sure how to get insurance for them. If the claim isn't settled, do we just say "pending claim"?!

Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks,
Raj

Sessie

Is there any other element to the claim? Example, was anyone injured and claiming personal injury, loss of earnings etc.. or is it just damage to the vehicles?

If the former applies, then does your parents' policy include legal expenses cover? This would provide them with a Solicitor at no cost to them who would apply for the Police Report IF they felt it necessary to resolve the liability issue. This is probably the reason your parents' insurers have not received their money yet - that liability ie; responsibility for the accident -has not been agreed between the Insurers.

Usually the initial process of attempting to resolve a claim involves a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between the two Solicitors and/or Insurers but the Police Report can be invaluable in "deciding" matters. The cost of the Police Report would then be claimed back by the Solicitors/Insurers of the innocent party from the responsible party's insurers at the conclusion of the claim.

Your parents' insurers may well apply for a copy of the Report themselves if liability continues to remain at issue (ie; in dispute) especially if the amount they have paid out for your parents' vehicle is considerable.

Finally, unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, until the issue is resolved you would need to inform any potential insurer for a new policy of the ongoing claim and this could well affect the premiums quoted. And no, again unfortunately, you can't claim this back as part of your parents' claim.

The system isn't the fairest in the world unfortunately.

I am at work so may not be able to check the topic again until tomorrow (I work til late tonight) but hopefully I have helped at least a bit.

x