Involved in a serious accident - Some Questions.

Stevey

Need a bit of advice folks.

I have recently been involved in a serious accident, where my car was hit at high speed by a lorry, and was written off. I was incredibly fortunate to not be badly injured, but sorting everything out afterwards is proving to be somewhat difficult.

I have excellent witnesses who were behind me, who are testifying I did nothing wrong, and that the lorry literally lurched into my lane and took me out.

The main problems are related to the fact that the vehicle is owned by a Government agency, and they are not admitting liability, and indeed will not even provide a policy number at the moment.

My car is a write off and I drive 20,000 miles a year.

I need a car quickly, but I am only insured third party, fire and theft, and therefore the insurance company will not provide me with a car.

My insurance company have approached specialist accident companies who can lend a car but they are unwilling to do so without the drivers of the lorry or his Government agency admitting responsibility, due to the risk.

I have a couple of questions:

1) I have been advised to keep a record of all expenses incurred after the accident. This includes the fact my car is sat in a pound which incurs a daily cost. To what extent can you recover expenses, and what kinds of things are they talking about?

2) If I get myself a hire car (because I cannot do my job without), does it have to be the same class of car, (i.e. a reasonable match for what was written off? I had a relatively old family saloon). has anyone got any thoughts on how I should do this? My current thought is that I will be paying for it on Credit Card, and therefore I need to be certain it will be covered as part of the liability on the other driver's claim.

3) I was relatively unscathed, but suffered some whiplash and mostly am struggling with the emotional side ( was told by the police it was a miracle I was not badly hurt or worse ). In terms of claiming for personal injury should I do that now, or wait to see how things develop. If so, how long should I wait.

Many thanks for reading this - your thoughts are appreciated.

Quentin

1) If the other party is held in any way liable, then you will be able to claim that portion off the third party for all your reasonable expenses. (eg if the matter is settled 100% in your favour, then you can claim 100%. Were it 50/50, then you could claim 50% of the expenses)

2) You are bound to keep the cost reasonable. If you need a like for like car, then get one, but if you can manage with a smaller one, (thus cheaper to hire), then do so. (Especially as liability has not yet been agreed)

3) If you have suffered personal injury you ought to see about getting your own legal representation over this - they will advise on how to proceed with the claim, and deal with it for you (assuming that they believe you will win the liability argument).

As you have no insurance of your own to call on over this, then consider speaking to claim handlers to see if they will take you on.

Crazy_Jamie

Stevey wrote: »

1) I have been advised to keep a record of all expenses incurred after the accident. This includes the fact my car is sat in a pound which incurs a daily cost. To what extent can you recover expenses, and what kinds of things are they talking about?

You can recover most expenses incurred as a result of the accident. In a claim these expenses are all referred to as 'special damages' (damages for injuries are 'general damages'). Common examples would be storage costs for a vehicle, costs to hire a replacement vehicle, loss of earnings, care costs with more serious injuries, and so on. It can even go as far as things like mileage/fuel costs and car parking fees when attending medical appointments. Keeping documentary evidence of these losses is a very good idea, as it will help you greatly in evidencing your claim.

2) If I get myself a hire car (because I cannot do my job without), does it have to be the same class of car, (i.e. a reasonable match for what was written off? I had a relatively old family saloon). has anyone got any thoughts on how I should do this? My current thought is that I will be paying for it on Credit Card, and therefore I need to be certain it will be covered as part of the liability on the other driver's claim.

You are under a duty to mitigate your loss following an accident or similar. What this essentially means is that you must keep your losses as low as you reasonably can. One example of mitigating your loss is that you must hire a vehicle of a similar class as your own; if you hire a better vehicle this will likely be deemed as not mitigating your loss, and you will not be able to recover that additional cost over and above the expense for hiring a similar class of vehicle.

In terms of how to hire the vehicle, there are two types of hire; spot hire and credit hire. Credit hire is obviously done on credit from the company itself, and is significantly more expensive than spot hire, which is paid for up front. Which route you take depends on your financial situation. If you can afford to pay spot hire rates, be it through direct debit means or on a credit card, then you should do that because it mitigates your loss.

3) I was relatively unscathed, but suffered some whiplash and mostly am struggling with the emotional side ( was told by the police it was a miracle I was not badly hurt or worse ). In terms of claiming for personal injury should I do that now, or wait to see how things develop. If so, how long should I wait.

In response to this and also in terms of general advice, I would look to instruct a solicitor now. Ensure that your case is taken on a 'no win no fee' basis (known as a Conditional Fee Agreement in non-layman's terms), which is how any solicitor should take this case. The solicitor will then be able to guide you through this process and handle a lot of it for you, which should make things much easier for you going forward.

One caveat is that whether or not your case is taken on a CFA will depend on the severity of your injury and/or the value of the rest of your claim. Essentially, for a case to be taken on a CFA it needs to be of fast track value. This means either that your injury must be worth £1,000 or more (which equates to approximately four weeks' whiplash) or your special damages must come to £5,000 or more in total. It sounds to me like this case probably does fall into at least one of those categories, and a solicitor will advise you on that in any event, but I just thought I would mention that for completeness.


EDIT: Having just seen Quentin's post above mine (which was posted when I was writing mine), I should clarify that my post is made on the assumption that liability is established fully in your favour. Quentin is right as to how damages are apportioned depending on contributory negligence and such.

bouncydog1

From the sounds of it your accident was with a foreign vehicle - is this correct as if so I would think you should instruct a solicitor with relevant knowledge.

If UK government agency then this should be more straightforward.

olly300

Stevey wrote: »

The main problems are related to the fact that the vehicle is owned by a Government agency, and they are not admitting liability, and indeed will not even provide a policy number at the moment.

Don't know what agency it is but they may not give you a policy number because they don't have a policy.

Government agencies and authorities are often legally exempt from insurance acts and some are exempt from the Road Traffic Act. In the cases where they are exempt and don't have a policy they self-insure.

The best thing to do is try and find out how you put in a claim against them. First look at their website for details to see if you can find them then phone them up for details.

InsideInsurance

Stevey wrote: »

my car is sat in a pound which incurs a daily cost. To what extent can you recover expenses, and what kinds of things are they talking about?

You are entitled to claim for reasonable costs but you are also legally required to minimise your losses as far as reasonably possible.

Government agencies move very slowly and I would certainly be concerned with leaving your car in a pound that is incurring charges. Likewise potentially the cost of hiring a car for that length of time. It will certainly be looked at if this was reasonable or proportional.