Accident on an unclassified road

CornishWildFlower

Hi all,

Need a bit of advice if you will, having driven for years I've never had to make nor settle a claim, until now. So am completely clueless!

To cut a long story short, on a very stormy December night here in Cornwall I was driving my children home from a visit to their GP. I was fully committed on a narrow stretch of road (room for one car only at a time) when around the bend comes another car and, instead of waiting at the wider part of the road, carries on until we can both go no further and the bonnets are alongside each other with about an inch between them. I had a vehicle behind me so motioned to the lady that she would have to reverse, which she did, turning her steering wheel to the nearside. End result, she scraped down the wing of my car and managed to hook the bumpers together, she then stopped and that was it. Vehicle behind me reversed and I had to wrench my car free as we were completely blocking the road. I reversed to a passing place and she drove past me about 100 yards up the road and parked. I had to leave my children in the car, in the dark, on a wet country road and run to her car where she refused to give me her details until I'd given mine. Gave her my name and address and while she foostered about for a pen (still in her car) I said I couldn't leave the children any longer and ran back to my car without getting her details (except reg.) I called the police when I got home.

Anyway, as my car is an old P reg, wasn't too bothered about the scratch but the bumper was pulled from it's fixings and bent in the middle, offside headlight and indicator housing was also pulled loose. I called my insurance company and said that I didn't want to claim on my insurance as the excess (£400) is more than the damage is worth (husband reckons a trip to the scrappy would sort it if need be) but that I did want to claim on hers. Later on they said that her insurance company had received a different account of events, surprise!

This morning I got a letter from my insurers saying that "Zurich's client is not pursuing a claim through their policy. Please confirm in the next 10 days if you intend to pursue a claim through your comprehensive policy".

Why can't I claim from her insurance without going through my own?

mjm3346

Presume you would have to prove it was her fault to claim against her insurance.

vaio

CornishWildFlower wrote: »

........Why can't I claim from her insurance without going through my own?

you can but you'll have to do it yourself.

Your insurance company will accept a claim from you (plus your excess) and might then try and recover the costs from the other party if they decide that
a. there is a >50% chance of winning
and
b. it's financially worthwhile for them to do so.

In reality, a P reg car isn't worth much, will be written off and the payout to you will mostly be covered by the excess you'll have to pay so the insurance company won't be much out of pocket and are unlikely to gamble time & legal costs on trying to recover from the other party.

CornishWildFlower

vaio wrote: »

you can but you'll have to do it yourself.

Your insurance company will accept a claim from you (plus your excess) and might then try and recover the costs from the other party if they decide that
a. there is a >50% chance of winning
and
b. it's financially worthwhile for them to do so.

In reality, a P reg car isn't worth much, will be written off and the payout to you will mostly be covered by the excess you'll have to pay so the insurance company won't be much out of pocket and are unlikely to gamble time & legal costs on trying to recover from the other party.

Hi, thanks for your replies. I know it's not worth much, except to me, without it I'd be in dire straits and can't afford another (at the moment anyway)

The whole thing is just really irksome, from the lady's behaviour to paying vast amounts over the years to insurance companies who do little or nothing to help come the time that you need it. Why people have to lie about everything these days is beyond me.

So, if I just tell them I don't wish to pursue a claim, that's it? I need to renew in April so I wouldn't have to advise any company I obtain a quote from of any claim?

Thanks for your help.

Quentin

CornishWildFlower wrote: »

So, if I just tell them I don't wish to pursue a claim, that's it? I need to renew in April so I wouldn't have to advise any company I obtain a quote from of any claim?

Although you can of course cancel the claim, you do now have to tell any insurer you approach for a quote about the collision you were involved in. (And will get found out if you don't, as the details will now be on the database)

(But now the third party doesn't want to make a claim against you, then maybe that is because her insurer has convinced her she was to blame, and you making a claim directly against her may now succeed??)

JimmyTheWig

Correct, you will have to declare the accident whsn searching for new quotes.
Your premiums will increase.

But at zero cost it won't have such an impact on your premiums as a claim would. And you won't lose your no claims discount.

vaio

as others have said, the incident will now be on the CUE database so you'll have to declare it (and likely pay more)

On the bright side, this.......

vaio wrote: »

.......Your insurance company will accept a claim from you (plus your excess) and might then try and recover the costs from the other party if they decide that
a. there is a >50% chance of winning
and
b. it's financially worthwhile for them to do so.

In reality, a P reg car isn't worth much, will be written off and the payout to you will mostly be covered by the excess you'll have to pay so the insurance company won't be much out of pocket and are unlikely to gamble time & legal costs on trying to recover from the other party.

also applies to the other side so if you launched a DIY claim against the third party and convinced them that you will take it to small claims court then it could well be that their insurance would pay rather than gambling on a court case in which they would not be able to recover their costs even if they win

CornishWildFlower

Many thanks to all who've replied, I'm a lot clearer now! I've called my insurers to advise that I won't be pursuing a claim through my own policy and will advise any potential new insurer of an accident but with no claim made.

Vaio, thanks for the information on pursuing the third party insurers through small claims, I'm going to give it some thought. I do feel pretty sore about it, I see this car all the time, local filthy rich farmer's wife (her car's all sorted alright) Naive I know, but somehow I expected that a 60 odd year old woman would tell the truth.

Quentin

If her car is all sorted, all the more reason to feel confident about sending in a claim for your repairs to her insurer, stating you hold her responsible for the damage caused.

Had they thought you had any liability at all, then they would have come after you!

(Though they won't pay for repairs if that's uneconomic, and would go down the write off route)

oramgepekoe

Did you get the details of the person in the car behind you as a witness?

CornishWildFlower

oramgepekoe wrote: »

Did you get the details of the person in the car behind you as a witness?

Hi, unfortunately not. By the time I'd reversed into the passing place there was a queue waiting in both directions, he did stop and ask if we were ok though.

It was one of those nights, we're right on the coast near the Lizard and it was an effort to keep my feet on the ground the wind was that strong, and not raining so much as god chucking bucketloads of water down. No one was wanting to hang about!