Car accident claim

utab007

Hello,

I have never been involved in an accident before, so please advise on what I should do.

On 30th June, my wife was driving back from school with the children. There is a small mini roundabout near the school. She started to turn right at the roundabout but was forced to stop as the traffic lights turned red at the crossing which is about 20 yards ahead. She said there was around three cars in front of her. So at this point she is stationary waiting for the lights to turn green and at a slight angle as the turn was not fully completed. Suddenly, a silver MPV 7 seater hits the rear wheel arch of her car on the drivers side and causes some damage to the tyre. The impact was described as light by my wife. My wife told me it wasn't possible to pass her as there was no space to the side or in front, so a bit of a mystery as to what the other driver was trying to do.

The other driver provided his details and took my wife's details. It turns out he is a taxi driver and wrote his details on the back of a blank receipt with the firms taxi details on it.

When my wife returned back she told me the guy was keen to settle in cash, so the following day she drove down to the local body repair shop for an estimate. The body repair shop said the wheel arch damage is not too bad, but the direction of impact on the wheel could have resulted in hidden damage to the axle. He estimated the repair would cost around a £1000 and advised us to claim on his insurance.

Later that day I checked the reg number he provided and it is for a different car. So it looks like he either wrote it down wrong or deliberately gave me the wrong reg number. I then phoned the taxi firm to get his details. They owner told me he left the firm 2 to 3 weeks ago. He didn't have his details to hand but was happy for me to call back if I have no joy with the driver.

Later that afternoon, I manage to contact the drive to pass on the estimate from the body shop and asked him for the correct reg number. He didn't sound too happy and was relunctant to go through his insurance. He wanted to come down to take a picture of the damage, so we agreed a suitable time but he never turned up and is not answering his phone.

This is taking up alot of my time and the body shop was happy to deal with this on my behalf, but without a reg number I can't check if he is insured to pass on to them. I think the taxi firm should be able to help with his details and reg. I will check with the owner tomorrow morning.

Please advise on how I should proceed.

Thanks

Quentin

You have been too patient.


You need to pursue your claim directly with the taxi driver's insurer. (First you need his reg number!)

InsideInsurance

What contact details do you have for the driver beyond a telephone number and wrong registration?

You could report it to the police. Dont expect them to be too interested but they possibly will get more of a response than you do and may trace his true details including insurance and pass these on to you.

I'm sure your wife was shaken up at the time of the accident but did she not check that what he gave her matched the car? Or did she take any pictures of the vehicle?

utab007

InsideInsurance wrote: »

What contact details do you have for the driver beyond a telephone number and wrong registration?

You could report it to the police. Dont expect them to be too interested but they possibly will get more of a response than you do and may trace his true details including insurance and pass these on to you.

I'm sure your wife was shaken up at the time of the accident but did she not check that what he gave her matched the car? Or did she take any pictures of the vehicle?

Good news! The taxi firm gave me his reg number, home address and the name of the new taxi firm he is now working for.

Yes, I could have gone to the police as I believe he has deliberately passed on wrong details and when I told him he still didn't want to give me the correct reg number. I decided not to report it to the police. But not happy this guy has been messing me around chasing him for correct details, so I might end up reporting him.

The body shop advised me to use a third party to make the claim, so I have gone with his advice. The other person initially admitted liability, but I suspect that will change now.

Sounds like this could be a long and drawn out process. Unfortunately my wife took no photos or witness statements.

Any advice?

OnanTheBarbarian

The bodyshop will have recommended you use a third party for the claim as no doubt they have put you in touch with such a company?

there is no problem with this however.

Just take pics of your own vehicle damage and make sure you have a detailed description of the incident so that those who look after you have all the necessary ammunition to present your case. No doubt there may be some attempt by the other driver to dispute liability and allege your missus moved across in front of him/ cut him up.

utab007

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

No doubt there may be some attempt by the other driver to dispute liability and allege your missus moved across in front of him/ cut him up.

Yes, I also suspect he will now dispute liability.

I think it will be difficult for him to allege my wife cut across in front of him as it would have been her right of way on the roundabout. Also as the impact to my wife's car is to the rear and only at a slight angle from the side it kind of works more in her favour in my opinion.

Hopefully, when my wife goes to pick the children up from school she may find some witnesses. It's a pretty busy at that time and I think a witness would settle this matter for sure

OnanTheBarbarian

Witnesses will be key to this if there is a liability dispute.

I'm not saying this will happen, but you can't prove this collision even happened on the roundabout can you? If he says "the woman pulled away from the left side of the road across my path", you would have the same areas of contact wouldn't you?

Hopefully none of this will be necessary, but you have to expect the worst from everyone and be able to prove your version of events.

utab007

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

Witnesses will be key to this if there is a liability dispute.

Using a law firm on a 'no win no fee' basis. As it was a busy time my wife was going to check with other mums at the school to see if they witnessed the accident. But the law firm told me the OP insurance will just claim we know the witness. This seems crazy as there are many mums/dads at the school and we don't know everyone.

So as things currently stand. The OP is not answering calls and hasn't registered a claim. The law firm registered a claim with OP insurance and is waiting for a response from his insurance. But I suspect he will dispute liability.

Is there anything else I can do to strengthen my case? The OP lives nearby and I think he works the late taxi shift, so I could visit his address to take pictures of the damage. But I think most of the damage was to my car, so I'm not sure if it's worth doing

[Deleted User]

Check if there is any CCTV in the area.

forgotmyname

Seems Mr Kumar doesnt know this is a UK site and we dont sue everyone for everything.

[Deleted User]

Small Claims Court would be a better bet and much cheaper.