Non fault accident help!

leftinamess

Hi,

Back on this forum as it has some great people for advice so here goes!

I was yesterday driving to lunch with my family, we where driving behind a vehicle on trade plates who indicated to turn Left into a car park, he began his manoeuvre and I started to overtake, when along side him the driver changed his mind and went to make a right turn and he hadn't seen me, I saw what was going to happen so swerved to avoid him ending up on a grass verge and through a wall! The police attended and he confirmed to the police what he had done and just said he didn't see me........... According to the insurance company they won't accept liability as I avoided him and missed the collision.

The only other thing was that the young lad in the car was driving on trade plates accompanied by his dad and no one from the dealership was present?

My question is with the trade plates and no one from the dealership present in the car is this legal?

He caused the accident and I don't want to be left with a hefty bill.

Please help!


Thanks

Chopper_Read

No one from the garage will be down to the wording on their policy. It won't affect any third party payout. Your problem maybe the fact you overtook a vehicle turning right.

leftinamess

Chopper_Read wrote: »

No one from the garage will be down to the wording on their policy. It won't affect any third party payout. Your problem maybe the fact you overtook a vehicle turning right.

Thanks for. Your reply

He was indicating to turn left then changed his mind to turn right when I was next to him, I thought the law was on trade plates someone from the dealership had to accompany a test drive.

HappyMJ

Why overtake? Stay back and wait until they have completed their maneuver. to me it sounds like you were following too closely and were not anticipating the other car.

You'll find you will be liable for your claim.

Doesn't matter about the law they will be covered by insurance and so will you so it will all be settled out of court as a civil claim. If there is a criminal element such as driving without insurance then it doesn't affect you at all. They will still be covered by insurance such as the MIB if no other insurance is valid.

BertTheRaccoon

Much is going to depend on what he told plod and also the fact that they may not have prepared a formal police report (if nobody was injured) but due to there being some third party property damage (the wall) they may have.

The insurers of the motor trader can't ultimately dodge a bullet here because of any breach of terms by their policyholder (such as not having a member of staff in on the test drive), so don't accept any crap from them about dodging the claim due to "indemnity" issues as they have RTA insurer liability here due to
a) they insure the car
b) the driver can be identified.

The biggest hassle is likely to be down to him attempting to say it wasn't his fault and denying he had indicated left and pulled left before changing his mind. As I said earlier, if he fessed everything up to the police, they are going to be your best source of info if there is any attempt by the motor trader's insurers to deny liability.

The reply from the insurers that they won't accept liability as you missed him etc is the usual pathetic reply I would expect from an insurer.

Bottom line is his negligence caused the incident. Or to put it another way, but for him not keeping a proper lookout and driving with sufficient care & attention, he caused a third party to take avoiding action and the resulting visit to the scenery.

You need to inform your own insurers of this incident anyway as the odds are you will get hosed down for the wall damage. Also, if the other side are going to try and dispute liability, you may well be better off using your own cover (assuming you are fully comp) to get your own damage sorted and then claim back your excess etc and any other uninsured losses.

With a liability dispute ahead, you may not get looked after by a credit hire company etc and they may suggest you use your own comp cover.

leftinamess

HappyMJ wrote: »

Why overtake? Stay back and wait until they have completed their maneuver. to me it sounds like you were following too closely and were not anticipating the other car.

You'll find you will be liable for your claim.

Doesn't matter about the law they will be covered by insurance and so will you so it will all be settled out of court as a civil claim. If there is a criminal element such as driving without insurance then it doesn't affect you at all. They will still be covered by insurance such as the MIB if no other insurance is valid.

Hinsite is a great thing, thanks for your post.

leftinamess

BertTheRaccoon wrote: »

Much is going to depend on what he told plod and also the fact that they may not have prepared a formal police report (if nobody was injured) but due to there being some third party property damage (the wall) they may have.

The insurers of the motor trader can't ultimately dodge a bullet here because of any breach of terms by their policyholder (such as not having a member of staff in on the test drive), so don't accept any crap from them about dodging the claim due to "indemnity" issues as they have RTA insurer liability here due to
a) they insure the car
b) the driver can be identified.

The biggest hassle is likely to be down to him attempting to say it wasn't his fault and denying he had indicated left and pulled left before changing his mind. As I said earlier, if he fessed everything up to the police, they are going to be your best source of info if there is any attempt by the motor trader's insurers to deny liability.

The reply from the insurers that they won't accept liability as you missed him etc is the usual pathetic reply I would expect from an insurer.

Bottom line is his negligence caused the incident. Or to put it another way, but for him not keeping a proper lookout and driving with sufficient care & attention, he caused a third party to take avoiding action and the resulting visit to the scenery.

You need to inform your own insurers of this incident anyway as the odds are you will get hosed down for the wall damage. Also, if the other side are going to try and dispute liability, you may well be better off using your own cover (assuming you are fully comp) to get your own damage sorted and then claim back your excess etc and any other uninsured losses.

With a liability dispute ahead, you may not get looked after by a credit hire company etc and they may suggest you use your own comp cover.

Thanks for you post, he did confirm to the police that he changed his mind and it was documented by them. I don't want to make a claim on my insurance if there is a possibility it' wont go through there insurance.

BertTheRaccoon

You still have to notify your insurers, "for information purposes" even if you don't want to make a claim from your own insurer.

I take it your car is still driveable/ roadworthy?

leftinamess

BertTheRaccoon wrote: »

You still have to notify your insurers, "for information purposes" even if you don't want to make a claim from your own insurer.

I take it your car is still driveable/ roadworthy?

Listen you have been a great help! Some of the proper people on here! The car is drivable but not road worthy, I will make them aware tomorrow

BertTheRaccoon

Do you know who the motor trader is?

It may be worth approaching them and seeing if they are willing to sort you out directly. The bonus for them doing this is that any trader with a trade policy will get dry bummed on their premiums with any claim. So if they can deal with you and save money then it is to their advantage. Much will depend on common sense. There could be a different mentality though, so don't be surprised if they don't go for it.

If both they and their insurers continue with a "fight 'em on the beaches" attitude towards your claim then you have the following options.

1- Use your own insurance and take the hit of your excess and claim that and any other uninsured losses back - this may be a quicker way to getting on the road.

2- Do temp repairs to your car to make it roadworthy and keep on squabbling with them yourself or use an accident management company (but they may not stick you in hire knowing there is a liability squabble waiting)

I would recommend you go back to the scene and take any pics of skid marks, marks on any grass you went across to show the location of where you went through the wall compared to the car park he was going to be turning into. Is the car park entrance just a junction on the left or does it have a lay-by/ sliproad type approach to it? i.e. has he pulled back out of a slip road?

leftinamess

BertTheRaccoon wrote: »

Do you know who the motor trader is?

It may be worth approaching them and seeing if they are willing to sort you out directly. The bonus for them doing this is that any trader with a trade policy will get dry bummed on their premiums with any claim. So if they can deal with you and save money then it is to their advantage. Much will depend on common sense. There could be a different mentality though, so don't be surprised if they don't go for it.

If both they and their insurers continue with a "fight 'em on the beaches" attitude towards your claim then you have the following options.

1- Use your own insurance and take the hit of your excess and claim that and any other uninsured losses back - this may be a quicker way to getting on the road.

2- Do temp repairs to your car to make it roadworthy and keep on squabbling with them yourself or use an accident management company (but they may not stick you in hire knowing there is a liability squabble waiting)

I would recommend you go back to the scene and take any pics of skid marks, marks on any grass you went across to show the location of where you went through the wall compared to the car park he was going to be turning into. Is the car park entrance just a junction on the left or does it have a lay-by/ sliproad type approach to it? i.e. has he pulled back out of a slip road?

Hi thanks for your advice, the car park is just an entrance, I am sure the dealership could be in trouble for not having someone in the car whilst on trade plates so I think I will contact them tomorrow