Drunk driver crashed into my car today

gemmylouise

Update - my insurance company say the car is very close to the repair / write off threshold from photos but upon inspection it may tip it over to write off. They have given me two garages in their approved list... Which are half an hour away. They are small back street body repair shops which I don't feel confident in using so I have told them I want it to go to my local BMW dealer. Do people agree with this?

I have been without a car all week, they won't give me a courtesy car until the other parties insurance have confirmed their customer was at fault! I have been told Tradex is a correspondence only company so they won't get on the phone to my insurance company!

huckster

If you use their approved repairers, the Insurers are responsible for the repair work. So if you found it was not done properly, you can get your Insurers to pay for further work if necessary.

Go to a BMW garage and they will submit an estimate to your Insurers making it a write off, because of what they will charge for parts and labour. Some large car companies do actually outsource their work to the small bodyshop companies. The BMW garage might not do their own bodyshop work, but they will charge BMW rates, because they guarantee the repairs, after checking them.

If you need a car, you could arrange your own hire car, on the basis that you know that you have a third party who was 100% at fault, so can claim it back. Some bodyshop garages have coutesy cars, so that is worth checking.

lush_walrus

wongataa wrote: »

Insurance companies cannot get out of paying 3rd party claims - which yours was. If their driver was drunk then they may not pay out for their driver and then sue them for the third party costs.

My insurance documents states that if I am drink driving they will pay all the third party costs, not pay me for any damage to my car and then reclaim all the costs of me.

Maybe it's changed since then no idea. I do know what the time of my accident it was a very real possibility, to such a degree that the legal representation from my insurance company told me he was not covered and thus I employed a solicitor myself outside of that cover.

Parking_Trouble

lush_walrus wrote: »

Maybe it's changed since then no idea. I do know what the time of my accident it was a very real possibility, to such a degree that the legal representation from my insurance company told me he was not covered and thus I employed a solicitor myself outside of that cover.

Wongataa is right. The Road Traffic Act is quite clear that the insurer has to pay the third party costs so the OP will not be out of pocket.

gemmylouise

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Don't insurers have a time limit in regards to claims? Needing to be informed within 48 hours or so of the incident being discovered? I would say just go through the insurance but if it looks like the guys life will be ruined, go to a garage, a BMW specialist ideally and get a quote and give him 24 hours to pay it.

The drunk driver will be off the road regardless.

BMW did a quote on Friday and sent it directly to my insurance company. I guess they will now decide to repair or write off. The police are prosecuting her for drunk driving so I have to go through the insurance. If I didn't claim she could use this in her defence at court! Been without a car for a week but they say courtesy cars are only available if you use their approved garages! Hopefully repaired or write off negotiations next week x

rs65

gemmylouise wrote: »

The police are prosecuting her for drunk driving so I have to go through the insurance. If I didn't claim she could use this in her defence at court!

That sounds like nonsense to me.

dacouch

rs65 wrote: »

That sounds like nonsense to me.

The court can see the accident as an aggravating circumstance when determining sentencing. It might make a difference to the length of the ban / fine but it might not.

Retrogamer

gemmylouise wrote: »

BMW did a quote on Friday and sent it directly to my insurance company. I guess they will now decide to repair or write off. The police are prosecuting her for drunk driving so I have to go through the insurance. If I didn't claim she could use this in her defence at court! Been without a car for a week but they say courtesy cars are only available if you use their approved garages! Hopefully repaired or write off negotiations next week x

You could get a hire car for yourself then just invoice the third party insurance company for the costs of it.

Johno100

huckster wrote: »

People have tried in court to get the increased costs of Insurance due to loading and have failed. Judges can only deal with current losses and won't consider an unknown. People won't know increased Insurance costs because Insurers won't have calculated rates years ahead. Also it is always up to claimants to mitigate potential losses, by in this case shopping around.

If the courts can only deal with current losses and not future unknowns, then why do we hear of multi million pound PI settlements for the future care of the injured party? Yes payments of this nature are usually structured and paid annually, but equally the victim could die next week. So I can't see why the courts can't make a similar award for consquential losses such as a rise in insurance premiums.

Alternatively couldn't someone bring a claim against the at fault 3rd party at a latter date when the increased costs have been quantified and paid?

rs65

dacouch wrote: »

The court can see the accident as an aggravating circumstance when determining sentencing. It might make a difference to the length of the ban / fine but it might not.

Agreed, but whether she claims through her insurance or not doesn't alter the fact that the accident happened.