Hit and run - multiple vehicle

faisalpak

Hi

My car was parked on street when somebody crashed into couple of cars and ran away. Basically, a white van crashed into a foreign reg 4x4 (Car , which then pushed into my car (car A) at least 3 meters before white van speeding away.

Both my car and foregin reg 4x4 badly damaged and looks like a write-off. It was a huge crash so the white van must have hit it at good speed. Nobody was in my car, or the car B at the time of incident.

There was only one witness to the event but she couldn't read the registration number of the white van that caused it.

When police came to the scene along with owner of car B, they suggested that I need to claim on the car B as that car has hit mine, not the white van, and gave me all the details of foreign insurance company (in Holland). Even the owner of car B was very co-operative and agreed that I need to claim on his insurance, and that he will claim on white van (if and when police find out who it was). I was advised to contact my insurance company with all the details of the car B.

My insurance company is Octagon, and I only have Third party insurance. Octagon forward all its TP only policy claims to Drive Assist, and so the problem starts here.

Drive Assist are refusing to contact the insurer of car B, saying that they didn't caused the accident and therefore I must give them details of the white van, which I dont have (even police hasn't made any progress yet). I asked them what I was adviced but was told police were wrong in this case and they cannot claim on car B.

They even refuse to call police to get information if there is any progress on the case, as they say police will only give information if you are an insurer, and they are not the insurer but simply handling cases on Octagon's behalf.

After endless waiting and debating on phone I am giving up after being passed between Octagon, Drive Assist and Police, nobody is willing to help and everyone is asking to talk to other party.

My car is not road worthy anymore - without any of my fault.
I would appreciate any advice you can offer me.

Many Thanks in advance.

TAF

Tell drive assist to do one... as far as i know there is nothing stopping you using another claims company.

InsideInsurance

They cannot claim from B as B has done nothing wrong and is another innocent party

The Police have no training in liability at all and any "advice" they give is totally unqualified (and in my experience normally wrong)

You need to investigate a claim under the Untraced Driver Agreement from the MIB

Quentin

If you can trace the reg of the van you can get this sorted via the MIB.

Otherwise you are finding out the hard way that third party cover is no use when damage is done to you by an unidentified third party and all costs are down to you.

andygb

TAF wrote: »

Tell drive assist to do one... as far as i know there is nothing stopping you using another claims company.

:beer:
Totally agree, Drive Assist are the lowest of the low, and the very reason why I came onto MSE in the first place. If you use them, then when you hand the vehicle back, they will claim all kinds of "extra damage" to it.

Quentin

TAF wrote: »

Tell drive assist to do one... as far as i know there is nothing stopping you using another claims company.

All other claims companies will take the same approach as da.

They only take on cases where they feel certain they will get paid!

forgotmyname

Would you give someone your inurance details if they knocked on the door and said they tripped on the pavement and fell head first into your car?

Of course not they or the pavement were at fault for the accident so not your problem except who pays to fix your car if it got damaged.

You wont be able to claim from the other vehicle as they were not in it at the time.

If they were in it then i guess you may be able to get a claim going with a good legal team.

Your 3rd party so your insurance wont really benefit from the incident so not really interested.

Did you not find 3rd perty dearer than comprehensive quotes? Shop around next time.

Although you not have a claim /incident on file., Which needs to be declared for 5 years.