New driver, car crash, insurance.

babyemily

Hello,
I would really appreciate your help and advice. My daughter is 18, she has been driving 6 months and on Tuesday was involved in a head on collision. I am so grateful nobody was seriously hurt. She is the driver at fault. She hit a wet patch and lost control.
Her car was fitted with a black box and she has 10+ across everything. She is distraught but it really was an accident. I want to help her but I don't know how. I don't drive. Is there anything I need to do?
She does not think she will get insured again. Is this true?
I have some bits & pieces I am going to sell to help her get back on the road. She wants to be a paramedic and needs to drive
Obviously she can't barely walk at the minute but I can't sleep with worry for her.
I can't afford a pricey car but what cars should I be looking at?
How will she get insurance? What happens to her insurance she has, does she keep paying it?
I've so many questions and no clue to the answers.
Please don't judge her. It was an accident. No more. Thank you.

babyemily

We do not know about a prosecution yet. She was not speeding. The black box shows that much. It was an accident. The road was wet, wet leaves, she came around the bend and hit a wet patch and did not have the experience to deal with it.
Thank you for your advise about the insurance.
The car she hit was newer so unsure of the cost. Both cars were wrote off as they needed to be cut free
Her excess is £300 I think. Thank you

babyemily

They were doing 50mph each. The correct speed. Her car was bought 6 months ago for £600

babyemily

I really just need some help and advice. I do not need berating. It's a major road, every car doing roughly the same speed. How can she be wrong and everyone else not?
Even the police have said it looks like an accident but it's not up to them to decide to prosecute. I'm trying to help her, not destroy her further. Please just offer help. Please

babyemily

How dare you. I stated she is the driver at fault. You however said she MUST have been speeding. She was not. I do not wish to hear platitudes. I asked for help. She knows what has happened as do I. The other car have said she was not speeding. I pray you and yours never have such an accident.

GwylimT

Speed limita are limits, not goals. Yesterday I was doing around 40mph on a 60mph road as it was very wet and the rain was heavy. I can tell you as an experienced driver that if I was doing my usual 60mph around bends I wouldn't have remained in my own carriageway. Unless she was following in a police car she has no idea what speed others were travelling at. I wouldn't be applauding my son for not driving with care if it was him, I would be making sure he didn't do it again as I don't want him to kill himself or anyone else.

Firstly, her insurance will pay for all repairs for the third party and likely a hire car, you say therr are no injuries yet your daughter is clearly injured so it is unlikely the third party isn't injured, so therr may also be a payout on this basis.

If she pays monthly for her insurance she will have to carry on doing this until her term is up and she can cancel, as the car is a write off her insurance policy will be ended unless she purchases another car before the term ends. However as she had a black box they may just fully cancel the policy.

When she buys a new car she will have to declare an at fault accident for 5 years, if the company cancels her policy she will always need to declare.

Why are you looking for a car? If she wants a car and the associated costs she can save up for one, she may respect it a bit more if she is risking her own money.

GwylimT

babyemily wrote: »

How dare you. I stated she is the driver at fault. You however said she MUST have been speeding. She was not. I do not wish to hear platitudes. I asked for help. She knows what has happened as do I. The other car have said she was not speeding. I pray you and yours never have such an accident.

Can you please quote where anyone has said she is speeding? Theres is a difference between speeding, and driving incorrectly for thr conditions of the road, which is one of the biggest cause of crashes where young people are driving.

arcon5

It obviously wasn't, had she been doing less than 40 it wouldn't have happened. Like I said inappropriate speed for the conditions. Hopefully she'll learn from a driver improvement course rather than a dangerous driving conviction.

What rubbish! Sometimes people do just get unlikely and hit the wrong spot at the wrong angle. You saying it wouldn't have happened at 40 is ridiculous.
Sometimes accidents DO just happen.

I think you'll find insurers do care about what she hit, or could hit, more than how much she is claiming. For starters a PI claim on her own policy will be contractually limited. Cars for younger people are often sub £1k cars. Whereas the TP claim is unlimited and they fear a young driver will crash in to a £50k car.

arcon5

Op - people have accidents all the time, having an accident doesn't prevent you from getting insurance at all. Your risk assessment changes though so when you declare an accident and a claim against her the price goes up.

You have to pay the whole sum of the policy, not jsut stop paying. But some insurers allow you to continue on with the remainder of the year of the policy by adding your new car - although a reclalculation will be made based on the risk category of the new car.

Speak to you insurers to find out exactly how they work.

If op is not making a claim on the policy, just the third party then tell them of the incident and leave them to it, and phone them to change the details of the insured car.

babyemily

GwylimT wrote: »

Speed limita are limits, not goals. Yesterday I was doing around 40mph on a 60mph road as it was very wet and the rain was heavy. I can tell you as an experienced driver that if I was doing my usual 60mph around bends I wouldn't have remained in my own carriageway. Unless she was following in a police car she has no idea what speed others were travelling at. I wouldn't be applauding my son for not driving with care if it was him, I would be making sure he didn't do it again as I don't want him to kill himself or anyone else.

Firstly, her insurance will pay for all repairs for the third party and likely a hire car, you say therr are no injuries yet your daughter is clearly injured so it is unlikely the third party isn't injured, so therr may also be a payout on this basis.

If she pays monthly for her insurance she will have to carry on doing this until her term is up and she can cancel, as the car is a write off her insurance policy will be ended unless she purchases another car before the term ends. However as she had a black box they may just fully cancel the policy.

When she buys a new car she will have to declare an at fault accident for 5 years, if the company cancels her policy she will always need to declare.

Why are you looking for a car? If she wants a car and the associated costs she can save up for one, she may respect it a bit more if she is risking her own money.

She paid for this car and all costs herself. I do want to help her because she had an accident. She has been honest & upfront about everything. She knows what happened and I will not beat her with a burning stick for it.
Yes she is hurt, predominantly cuts, bruises & muscular injuries. The other driver is the same.
I have never dealt with this before. I am trying to sort it out. I really just needed help with what to do.

csgohan4

The people on here are not berating or adding salt to the wound. They have given you advice and it seems both of you are emotional and not thinking rationally and reacting at everything.


I suggest you let a few more days pass and think about how to move forward. As someone said earlier this will be on her insurance record for 5 years and her premiums now will be super high, probably at least £1000.


You will need to see which insurer will give you a reasonable price with decent cover.


In regards to the 'accident' I get why som people say about speed according to conditions. You do not drive at 70 when conditions are icy do you? Same for rain, which is why there is more traffic because everyone slows down.


this will be an experience for her and I hope she takes it the right way. We will all have at least 1 accident fault or non fault, it's how we respond and move along that's important.


Raging on here at people making factual and suggestions is not the way to go.


They have given you advice but you continue to ignore it and in fact comments like 'I pray you and yours never have such an accident' is simply laughable and shows your current attitude and perhaps emotional nature at present.


Sure she wants to be a paramedic, but what has happened has happened. She now has rebuild her driving history. It is not the worse scenario is it? She could have lost a lot more than her car and her paramedic career wouldn't have started. See it as a lesson in life.