Car accident - I would like peoples honest oppinions please...

Retrogamer

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, unfortunately even if everything works out ok and you don't lose any ncd, you premium will rise at renewal and for the next 5 years because you are now perceived as being a higher risk.

Do some dummy quotes putting the same ncd but putting that you have had an accident ( whether or not it was your fault) and if there's much difference have a word with your solicitor about claiming for this rise.

Only 40% of insurance companies raise the premium for a non fault accident so it's highly unlikely you can successfully claim back for increased premium. It usually only happens when liability is very clean and the third party company is feeling generous.

joeyjennings wrote: »

I can assure you that I will not be settling for anything less that it being decided it was his fault. I will not pay a penny for this as i believe it wasn't my fault. I have paid £75 to my solicitors when I started to cover myself for any legal fees or court fees invade it did ever go to court so I will be going if needs be. Thanks for all your comments, I feel a little better about it now. Any more comments or advice/experiences from people are welcome

Even if you won't accept it being anything less than his fault, sometimes your insurance company will make the decision for you and in the case of accidents on roundabouts where both parties dispute the claim it's normally a 50/50 liability split.

This isn't always the case but if you claim the accident was due to his negligence and say he done X,Y, Z to your insurance company he can do the same with his and with the lack of any avidence (CCTV or independent witness) then they will usually go the 50:50 split to save them self time and money.

joeyjennings wrote: »

I am claiming personal injury as I was injured and was in hospital because of it

Is that one of the no win / no fee type solicitors?

Quentin

Retrogamer wrote: »

Only 40% of insurance companies raise the premium for a non fault accident......

Where does that come from?

Skools_Out

joeyjennings wrote: »

I would like to know peoples opinons on this, i have descirbed to the best of my ability below what happened. The other driver is claiming that i did not give way, but if you read below you would clearly know that he is wrong. This is now in despuite with both insurances and just wanted another persons view for closure. I have a solicitor who says it wasnt my fault, and so has my insurance, but its made me angry what the other driver has done.

Thank you for reading this, all comments welcome.

I was working on the day of the accident, and was asked at roughly 11:25am to go to the shops and buy some milk. The road that the accident has happened on has three small round about and i was onto the second one, leading to the third, as the round about lead off to different parts of the retail park. I approached the round about with caution, looked both ways, and continued as it was all clear (to drive across the round about). I am then nearly off the round about and then i hear this massive bang hit my car and push my whole car to the left, which felt like my car had lifted and it pushed my car to the kerb (He was turing right as i wanted to go straight ahead. But i was already on the round about, nearly off it as well). I then stopped and moved my car onto the pathway and so did the other car. The car had came around the round about too fast and did not look, and instead of going around the round about he had just mounted the round about (the round about have nothing inside the, just a higher level of painting to mark thats the round about) if he had gone around the round about like he should have, he would have missed my car completely, as i was nearly off the round about, thats why he hit the back rear tyre of my car, which is why the police officer immediately told him he was at fault, which he did not like.

Further more, i got out of my car to see if the other driver was okay, and was hit with a massive amount of swearing and abusive comments. His hands were up in the air and pointing all over the place, i then tried asking him again if he was okay but he just kept on shouting and talking over me, embarrassing me in front of everyone around. I noticed he had a piece of pen and paper in his hand and was screaming at me for my insurance details, which i thought was an odd thing to do as soon as you have had a crash, i would have thought people would make sure everyone is okay. I then got in my car and phoned my mum, because i was so un-sure of what to do next. He resulted in banging on my window and trying to open my door, i told him 1 minute then locked myself in my car to which he returned to his car after repeatedly banging on my window while i was very upset on the phone to my mum. I then had spoken to my mum who heard all the banging and screaming and she told me to ring the police, which i then did as my mum was on her way. The police women told me to keep calm and then within about 40 seconds a riot van and police can pulled up and they came to me.

The police officer said, not written on paper of course, that by the sounds of it it clearly looked like it was his fault. All of a sudden when the police arrived Mr. Wood suddenly became very cautious and stayed in his car. The police offer asked me to tell her what had happened, which i did. She then told me that she had informed the driver that he would not be given any of my details because of the way that he had acted and he had been told to leave the scene, which he did. I then had a brief chat with the police offer who told me to calm down, and that it was now left to me but i had done the right thing in calling the police as i was scared it was going to turn into a fight.

Well you did ask for honest opinions, so here goes (sorry if it's not what you really wanted to hear)

1. Police officers are generally very good diplomats, knowing what to say to appease irate or upset members of the public.

2. Having said that, I doubt a serving police officer will be prepared to jeopardise their career by perjuring themself in court over this. It appears on the first highlighted text that there were at least 3 people at the scene; the police officer, the other driver the police officer spoke to, and you.

3. When I was involved in an accident where the police officer also thought, after carefully considering all the facts at the scene, that the other driver was at fault, he told me that he had arrested the errant driver for driving without due care and attention. As the officer explained to me in private "that should assist you with your insurance claim".
I later found out that no charges were actually brought about, but that decision wasn't made until well after his insurance company had agreed full liability.

keith1950

OP , the one thing that seems to be missing in all this is any reference to " independent witnesses ", it doesn't matter what anyone says at the scene or in the heat of the moment, without an independent witness this is likely to go 50/50.


This means you would be hit by the double whammy of a rise in premium because of being a "perceived " higher risk and another rise in premium because of losing 2 years NCD.


As you cant be 100% sure whether this will go your way I would not take the risk of getting a hire car as you could end up paying for it.


A solicitor will probably tell you what you want to hear because if your claim fails you will end up paying his bill.


Your best bet would probably have been to employ a "no win no fee" accident management company.


Don't get carried away with " winning " , be realistic about the possible outcome.

notanewuser

Do you have business cover, OP?

Retrogamer

Quentin wrote: »

Where does that come from?

I see Loon who works with Insurance on Pistonheads post it a few times.

LoonR1 wrote:

Read this

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/apr/16/no-fault-claims-car-insurance-aa

60% of insurers do NOT load for the first nin-fault claim. Some do, but they may well still be cheaper than those who don't load. Either way, you have no right to cheap insurance and you can NOT claim for any increase in premium. How do you put a price on it, when I can show you over half the market that won't charge you more, therefore no "loss"

This is a regular topics on here and it goes on and on and on, but it can't be claimed successfully for and that is the end of the discussion in theory; in oractice it will run and run with people going on about it being unfair for days.

As for the comment about insurers releasing their data, I keep saying it is competitive commercial data and can not be released. Do Supermarkets release all the pricing details of all their products? Do petrol stations release the full details of all their costs to deliver the price at pump? Do car or bike manufacturers tell you how much each individual part of a car or bike costs to design, manufacture and assemble?

Thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassiNG/topic.asp?h=0&f=10&t=1522042&mid=388875&i=0&nmt=Non+fault+claim+-+affecting+my+insurance+premiums&mid=388875

prowla

jrtfan wrote: »

Prowla - could the other car have been behind the OP and intending to go right at the roundabout? I think they said the other driver hit the rear offside wheel of their car and pushed them to the left?

Not based on the description in the OP.

rich13348

By the sounds of the description the drivers were head on across the roundabout and in this case no one has priority over the other so it is down to who entered the roundabout first. If your description was accurate and by the sounds of the damage then you entered first and he sped up and took the roundabout too sharp and ploughed into you.
What car do you have out of interest because on mini roundabouts an estate car can be nearly at the exit but it's !!!! still hanging out over the roundabout.

prowla

rich13348 wrote: »

By the sounds of the description the drivers were head on across the roundabout and in this case no one has priority over the other so it is down to who entered the roundabout first. If your description was accurate and by the sounds of the damage then you entered first and he sped up and took the roundabout too sharp and ploughed into you.
What car do you have out of interest because on mini roundabouts an estate car can be nearly at the exit but it's !!!! still hanging out over the roundabout.

Hmmm, not 100% sure about that, as you have to give way to traffic from the right; I would say that if two oncoming cars arrive at a mini-roundabout simultaneously, then the one indicating right would have priority.

However, the Highway Code and the law are clear about straddling mini-roundabouts:

164: Mini-roundabouts Approach these in the same way as normal roundabouts. All vehicles MUST pass round the central markings except large vehicles which are physically incapable of doing so. Remember, there is less space to manoeuvre and less time to signal. Beware of vehicles making U-turns.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD reg 10(1), 16(1)

david78

If you have not got business cover then you are not technically insured to "pop out" on an errand for work.

The vehicle on the right has right-of-way so you technically share some of the fault. However, if the other drive was not paying attention they will share some fault too.