Daughter's Car Accident - please help.

tesuhoha

I need information and advice but please don't be judgmental in any way as I am suffering from extreme shock.

My daughter had a car accident today on the M4. She is extremely lucky as she has walked away from a 70mph crash with minor injuries.

I'll tell you what happened. She was driving home from a weekend away and she has some amnesia as she had a bump on the head but the hospital have discharged her. She remembers driving, thinks she was in the middle lane and then remembers suddenly spinning and hoping that nothing else would hit her. She spun into the central reservation, then spun back to the other side of the road and hit the other crash barrier. The air bags were deployed and the car is a write off.

There was one witness who thought the BMW hit my daughter but he was not sure. The BMW stopped but denied hitting my daughter's car. The policeman looked at the BMW and said there was no sign of damage. My daughter said that the only thing she noticed was that the woman would not make eye contact with her and she felt there was some level of involvement there.

Anyway, the policeman told the witness he was an unreliable witness and sent him off. This was after my daughter told him that she had passed her test in July. However, she was a nervous learner and because of it is a very careful driver and does not go above 70.

There was no sign of a puncture or anything like that. It was a completely straight road with not much traffic. What would make a car suddenly spin in the road? My husband said a nudge could do it.

Anyway, the situation is that the car was only bought in July and although we put some money towards it she has a car loan of £7,000. Also she works a long way from home so is stuck without a car. Sometimes she has to start at 4am.

Can anyone tell me what will happen now, as she has to claim on her insurance. How much is she likely to get back?. She has fully comprehensive insurance. She still has the car loan to pay, she needs another car and her insurance will be sky high now.

I feel very sad this has happened to her in her first year of driving, because it has damaged her confidence and she has lost her independence in one second and has hurt her financially. I am so very grateful that she came out unscathed and that is what I am trying to focus on. However, it was a nice little car and she was so proud of it and happy to be driving around. I want to help her but we can't really afford much.

attila_

at least no one got hurt. The insurance will take of the lot. Declare it a write off, you pay the excess and get the value of the car back.

tesuhoha

attila_ wrote: »

at least no one got hurt. The insurance will take of the lot. Declare it a write off, you pay the excess and get the value of the car back.

thank you very much. any idea how long it takes

Weird_Nev

What kind of car was it?
Some cars are less stable than others, it's not impossible to spin on a straight road after hitting water/ice or a broken bit of road. Sleep/sudden steering input could do it too. Tyre deflation/puncture could do it, but you say this did not happen. Perhaps she slept, veered into central reservation and then back across the road?

A "nudge" to knock a car into a spin WOULD leave a mark on another vehicle. It takes more than a tap, it would take significant and continued contact. I would expect a seasoned traffic officer to know what to look for, and they would not release a witness from the scene unless they were satisified with their account and that they were not responsible.

Your daughter will hopefully get the market value of her car back minus the excess. She should pay off as much of the finance as possible and sort herself out with a less expensive car. She may need some time off work if she's had a shock.

McKneff

Maybe the BMW got a bit close, it happens, nervous daughter dips the steering wheel, it happens,
no one got hurt, she is so lucky and you to still have her. Tell her to focus on that.

Im consoling my daughter and fiance at the moment, got engaged on Friday, had a lovely weekend, went to
the theatre on Monday, came back to the car and found 3 windows smashed. Mobile phone taken, Sat Nav (all locked in
the boot) 100 miles away from home, luckily Green Flag brought them home, they are still shaking but I keep telling
them to focus on the weekend and the happy time they had, windows have been mended, mobile phone replaced.
It was only an old Fiesta, but it could have been worse, the windows could have been smashed while they were
still in it and they would have been injured.
Good luck to you all

mikey72

You will find her insurer will make a very low offer for the value of the car.
Refuse it, and threaten to refer them to the FOS if they do not make a fair offer, this should be the price to replace the car with the same make and model from a dealer.

Insurers will try it on, then back down when thet realise you know your rights.


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/66/66-vehicle_valuation_disputes.html

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

atrixblue.-MFR-.

hope she's OK. firstly anything can cause a spin from a oil/petrol/deisel patch to wet road causing an aquaplane. but a slight nudge to back could also cause a spin out at 70MPH, police inspected the vehicle in question the BMW, found no sign of bumper to bumper nudging and the witness was unreliable as to not actually see any contact. was there any cctv pointing that way? perhaps writing a letter to the local authority or local police HQ who ever oversee's traffic control room to find the footage and review it? i'm suprised the policeman didnt check this at scene to estabish the alligation of contact because there is potentially a driving without due care and attention allegation towards beemer driver.

what will happen now is that if no witnesses or anyone can be found to back up the contact between both vehicles, your daughter has to claim form her own insurers as a fault accident, she will have to pay her excess and compulsory excess from any pay out, and possibly have to pay up her remainder of her insurance policy on completion of her pay out. the car will be collected and taken for inspection and valuation.

if at any point your daughter remembers any more detail like heared a bang before she spun, contact the police officer to check the footage, they may have possibly caught it on cctv, and then he can investigate further.

Weird_Nev

It was on the M4 - There may be CCTV but I would expect that to have been reviewed as matter of course on police attendance.
One car hitting another with enough force to spin it will leave obvious and fresh contact marks on both vehicles. This was checked by an officer and discounted.
Godd of the BMW driver to stop as a witness in my opinion. Many would drive on.

tesuhoha

Weird_Nev wrote: »

What kind of car was it?
Some cars are less stable than others, it's not impossible to spin on a straight road after hitting water/ice or a broken bit of road. Sleep/sudden steering input could do it too. Tyre deflation/puncture could do it, but you say this did not happen. Perhaps she slept, veered into central reservation and then back across the road?

A "nudge" to knock a car into a spin WOULD leave a mark on another vehicle. It takes more than a tap, it would take significant and continued contact. I would expect a seasoned traffic officer to know what to look for, and they would not release a witness from the scene unless they were satisified with their account and that they were not responsible.

Your daughter will hopefully get the market value of her car back minus the excess. She should pay off as much of the finance as possible and sort herself out with a less expensive car. She may need some time off work if she's had a shock.

Thanks. The car was a Yaris. To be honest, I think the fact that it was an expensive car saved her life so at the moment I can't think about economising in that way. However, she is very strict about making payments and conscious of what she owes. She has the rest of the week off but is determined that she is not going to take any time off.

I asked her if she slept or blacked out but she says definitely not and she is not a sleepy person. She is a gym going, salad eating healthy person. She doesn't remember fully but her gut feeling is that something hit her or she hit something in the road.

tesuhoha

McKneff wrote: »

Maybe the BMW got a bit close, it happens, nervous daughter dips the steering wheel, it happens,
no one got hurt, she is so lucky and you to still have her. Tell her to focus on that.

Im consoling my daughter and fiance at the moment, got engaged on Friday, had a lovely weekend, went to
the theatre on Monday, came back to the car and found 3 windows smashed. Mobile phone taken, Sat Nav (all locked in
the boot) 100 miles away from home, luckily Green Flag brought them home, they are still shaking but I keep telling
them to focus on the weekend and the happy time they had, windows have been mended, mobile phone replaced.
It was only an old Fiesta, but it could have been worse, the windows could have been smashed while they were
still in it and they would have been injured.
Good luck to you all

Thank you. I am sorry to hear that. Its very sad for them. However, I am also thinking how much worse it could have been and that's why I'm not as upset as I could be. I am very thankful.

tesuhoha

mikey72 wrote: »

You will find her insurer will make a very low offer for the value of the car.
Refuse it, and threaten to refer them to the FOS if they do not make a fair offer, this should be the price to replace the car with the same make and model from a dealer.

Insurers will try it on, then back down when thet realise you know your rights.


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/66/66-vehicle_valuation_disputes.html

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

Thanks. Oh dear, is this likely to happen. Will look at the links.