Claim on car insurance

worldwize

My daughter was hit on the off side rear wing as she left a supermarket car park.
The accident was caused by a lorry which was parked in the car park,it pulled out of the parking bays as my daughter passed it on the service road, out of the car park.
She exchanged details with the driver and informed her ins co.They have now informed her that she has to pay her £250 excess and the claim is knock for knock.I feel this is totally wrong as the hgv caused the accident.Can this be referred to an independent body within the insurance industry as this is also going to affect her premiums when she renews in the future.

DUTR

It may not affect her premium, depends on the insurance company and her current policy eg protected NCB, were you there at the time of the accident?
As sadly people rarely want to accept they are at fault, as the insurance companies are the one paying out, they make the call, however I suppose you could run it by the legal department, perhaps a dash cam footage would have been handy on this occasion.

worldwize

Thanks for your reply, ncb may be unaffected but her premium will be,what ins co do is put up your premium and then you get your ncb on that.No I wasn,t there at the time more,s the pity

DUTR

worldwize wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, ncb may be unaffected but her premium will be,what ins co do is put up your premium and then you get your ncb on that.No I wasn,t there at the time more,s the pity

Remember NCB is no claims not no fault discount. The original description sounds like your daughter was in collision with the lorry which was on the service road? When you say lorry, do you mean a large van as I doubt a lorry would fit in a car parking space, they are hardly large enough for medium sized cars.

worldwize

No my daughter was on the service road leaving the car park the lorry was parked in the car park probably taking up several spaces.It pulled away and joined the service road as my daughter passed by.

InsideInsurance

Its difficult to work out what happened from your accident description to comment on liability.

The knock for knock agreement hasn't existed for a hell of a long time though. Did your insurers actually use this term or say that its a 50/50 and you are interpreting this as a knock for knock?

DUTR

worldwize wrote: »

No my daughter was on the service road leaving the car park the lorry was parked in the car park probably taking up several spaces.It pulled away and joined the service road as my daughter passed by.

This is where it gets difficult, picture yourself in the position of your daughter prior to the accident, lorries are large and high, so it would be difficult for it not to be conspicous as she is driving along the service road.
I'm sure you have had a situation where say a pedestrian has entered the carraigeway or a car pulled out from a side road, with driving experience you know to be prepared for the unexpected and to be ready to evade the situation of a collision whether at fault or not, as the 'hassle' afterwards is not worth it.

We don't know the 3rd party's description of the event and as the insurance companies are not clear on which party maybe totally liable, then the next option is 50/50.

worldwize

Yes maybe I used the wrong wording,what they actually said is" the hgv,s ins co won,t accept liability" sorry if the accident account isn,t clear, vehicles leave the parking bays and feed on to the service road to leave the car park which my daughter was already on as she passed the front of the lorry he pulled away,onto the service road from the parking bays and hit the rear o/s wing of her car

InsideInsurance

A diagram of the accident would help

Ultimately liability takes time to resolve. You cannot do it by only hearing one side of the argument and we would need to hear what the other driver says happened.

Often in these cases where there are conflicting accounts with no witnesses or evidence to substanciate one over the other, the insurers will settle on a 50/50 basis

DUTR

worldwize wrote: »

Yes maybe I used the wrong wording,what they actually said is" the hgv,s ins co won,t accept liability" sorry if the accident account isn,t clear, vehicles leave the parking bays and feed on to the service road to leave the car park which my daughter was already on as she passed the front of the lorry he pulled away,onto the service road from the parking bays and hit the rear o/s wing of her car

Did she take any pictures of the road layout straight after the collision?
The rear collision may suggest 3rd party liability, but this is not always a straight case (as the crash for cash scams increase) .
The other thing is if the speed limits for the service road was being adhered to? Or other conditions, as the Tesco near me, the service road is sign posted service vehicles only, although patrons can enter and exit the car park via the service road.

Mark_Mark

DUTR wrote: »

Remember NCB is no claims not no fault discount. The original description sounds like your daughter was in collision with the lorry which was on the service road? When you say lorry, do you mean a large van as I doubt a lorry would fit in a car parking space, they are hardly large enough for medium sized cars.

But a non fault claim won't affect your no claims bonus.