Mum in a crash - insurance problems

missk_ensington

Sorry this may be a little long but I'll try and keep it brief...

The monday before last my Mum was in a car accident. A bad one (she's still in hospital). It was a narrow lane where only one person can pass. My Mum stopped (much to the annoyance of the cat behind who kept beeping at her to drive on but she wouldn;t as its her new BMW and is her pride and joy) Anyway, she pulled in and an oncoming car somehow got jolted by the adverse camber and hit her at 50mph.

His car is a write-off, but somehow my Mums is repairable. His front end is destroyed, and has damaged my Mum's back-drivers side (around the wheel arch)

The police/ambulance arrived and took her away.

I've since got her mail and his insurance have contaced her saying they their client claims she is at fault and can she pls give her insurance details for the claim.

Meanwhile, Mum has spoken to the local police. The witness behind her (who was beeping in annoyance) has said they were moving at equal speeds (she was stationary with handbrake on!) The police have since cleared away the evidence, and failed the breathalise either party (she suspected this young lad could have been over the limit from night before as it was 8am on Monday morning)

Anyway, the police are saying it was not this blokes fault, they were both going at 40-50mph apparently and collided by accident.

Is the policeman (who we're depending on to give evidence to insuramce about accident) allowed to make these assumptions based only on a witness? He says witness is independent, but we think witness knows bloke who caused accident (quite probable in small town).

What can we do? Feel like our hands are tied because the police have authority, yet all the evidence points to him causing accident (If she was also going at 40mph why was the car neatly parked up, in neutral with handbrake on when ambulance arrived yet driver was unconscious?, why is her front end of car untarnished, yet his front is battered as is her back-side?)

Can anyone suggest an evenue she can go down with this??

iceicebaby

Hiya

Ive no experience in this im afraid. Someone will be along soon dont worry sit tight

MarkyMarkD

It doesn't matter, necessarily, if the police think it's 50:50 responsibility or if it is someone's fault.

The insurers will look at the damage and they will decide the responsibility based on that. As you say, it's very hard for it to have possibly been her fault if the front of her car is untouched and the front and side of the other car are damaged.

poststudentblues

not that i got much experience but, when the cars are inspected for the insurance company they will be able to see quite clearly that your mums car has no frontal damage, and the other car does

the person behind your mum should have given correct details, if not they are BREAKING THE LAW , so if they get found out that they lied or mislead they could be in trouble too.

another thing, just because the police arrived doesn;t mean they are the only ones who can provide a witness account, what about the ambulance driver/paramedic? surely they could be called upon? especially with their experience of dealing with car crashes they would be useful? Also fairly easy to find out who was on duty, just ask at the hospital when visiting your mum.

hope she gets better soon and that this was of some sort of help..

Will.........

mattymoo

Its going to be an uphill struggle but you need to do the following at a very early stage - i.e. tomorrow.
Tell your mums insurance that they are not to settle (or make any offers to settle) a claim from the other driver as this will prejudice her position if she decides to pursue a claim for personal injury.

The other thing that might be worth checking is the accident location. See if any debris left, tread marks etc. Also get photos of the adverse camber you mentioned.

Tomkatt

Hi, I used to work as a claims handler for an insurance broker and I used to receive claims like this all the time.

The best thing you can do at the moment is reply with your insurance details to the other person's insurers and then send their letter onto your mother's insurers along with a full written statement and diagram stressing why your mother thinks she was not at fault. . I would then let the two insurers battle it out between themselves.Whatever you do don't try to contact the other driver or his insurers. Your priority is making sure your mother is OK.

The other option is contacting one of these "no win no fee solicitors" and attempting a counter claim. Does your mother have uninsured loss recovery - if so contact them asap.

Unfortunately, if you have no witnesses and the police state that niether driver was at fault and you have no other witnesses the best thing you could hope for is a 50/50 settlement. Is there any other way your mother could prove she was stationary - why had she stopped? if the damage is at the rear of your mother's car then it would be hard to prove she was stationary as she could have sustained the damage whilst moving. You could obtain an independant engineer's report but that unfortunately costs money.

You can always ask your insurers to fight it but it depends how far they are willing to take it. Most insurers are unwilling to go to court as the costs prohibit it so often they just settle to avoid it.

Either way good luck and I hope your mother gets better soon.

Astaroth

I have to say that you are unlikely to get anything other than a 50/50 settlement.

When you have 2 drivers with differing versions of events then independent witness statements are key. In this case the independent witness states that both vehicles were moving at the time of the accident and as they gain no benefit from lying (but risk committing offences by doing so) then their evidence will be key.

Going out on my usual limb here... whilst areas of damage etc can support some liability discussions I hold a lot less faith in them than most the other people on here who say that they are claims handlers. In narrow lane collisions I would argue that they are fairly useless esp in light of an independent witness that contradicts your mothers version of events.

As stated elsewhere however your real priority should be your mothers health and not either the car or any financial settlement that she may receive

mattymoo

Sorry Astoroth - not sure if you are referring to me here but I have to disagree with you.

The OP's mum is still in hospital indicating this is a pretty serious injury - after all, the NHS try to free up the beds PDQ so this sounds like a bit more than whiplash.

You are correct in that insurers, left to their own devices will go down the path of least resistance and settle 50/50. However, the OP should not simply accept that and give up at this stage.

Accident reconstruction esperts and vehicle damage analysis can yield results along with locus (scene of accident) reports. If the personal injury is a substantial one, these costs may be justified but I did say in my earlier post, it would be an uphill struggle.

Astaroth

I am not sure who I was refering to either now... cant find the post I was mainly responding to though your comment on tyre tracks would equally come under it... as I have said to many people sending in photos of tyre tracks "proving" our client was speeding, prove that it was my client that left those marks and that they werent pre-existing or havent occurred since the accident.

I didnt mention anything about path of least resistance or leaving it purely to the insurers? I didnt even say that it isnt worth fighting, what I did say is that it is unlikely to be settled on anything other than a 50/50 settlement - you really would have to find a way to discredit the independent witnesses evidence to the police - but at this point parents health should come far ahead of if it is 50/50, 75/25, 10/90 etc

mattymoo

oops - double post.

missk_ensington

Tomkatt wrote:

Unfortunately, if you have no witnesses and the police state that niether driver was at fault and you have no other witnesses the best thing you could hope for is a 50/50 settlement. Is there any other way your mother could prove she was stationary - why had she stopped? if the damage is at the rear of your mother's car then it would be hard to prove she was stationary as she could have sustained the damage whilst moving. You could obtain an independant engineer's report but that unfortunately costs money.

Either way good luck and I hope your mother gets better soon.

My Mum stopped because you can't safely fit two cars passing at the same time (its one of them roads with stopping bays, albeit quite far apart)

If she hit him head on, surely her bonnet/front would be damaged? It doesn't have a scratch on it, but rather the back/side of her car is damaged where he has collided with the side of her.

In proving she was stationary, well imagine it, if two cars collide head on at 40/50mph is it likely that on a narrow country lane with ditches either side, that one car is likely to end up parked neatly on the edge, in neutral, with the handbrake on? Baring in mind that my Mum lost consciousness on impact and was still unconscious when people came over to see if she was alright. #

There is over £15,000 damage to her car and potentially £5-6,000 loss of earnings not to mention pain and suffering, and all his costs for a written off car and injuries, at the fault of a boy racer rag ars*ng it down a country lane.

The witness is either blatently lying, or is somehow confused. The bloke who caused the crash and the witness are both male, in their late 20's, both driving inexpensive cars. My mum is 6ft, long blonde hair, was all suited and booted and driving a £30,000 car. I can't help thinking that even if these lads dont know each other, their loyalties would be ot each other.

I know myself if I saw an accident involving a flashy looking man in a Porsche convertable, and a young girl with a baby driving an L reg VW Polo, I'd be hard pressed to feel sympathy for the former, regardless of whose fault it was.

Does anyone know if the police have an obligation to breathalise after a serious crash??

Thanks for all your help x