Car insurance help re. claim?

billy102

Hello MSE members,

This is my first post on this forum and I'm hoping this is okay, I've spoken to many people but not much help.

I had an accident in September 2016. In brief, I was travelling down a country road on a blind bend (2 mins from my house) until I was suddenly met with a Skoda driving towards me. I've moved over as much as I possibly could and slowed down, but the Skoda driver didn't and he hit the front drivers side of my car, and my car scraped down the whole drivers side of his car. As I've hit him my car has skidded forwards, and his car has gone over into the bushes slightly.

Now the decision of the liability was battling back and forth for a long while until the case fell off the radar by the end of October and I wasn't hearing anything from anybody. They called me out of the blue today to inform me that the claim has been settled against myself in full.

I don't agree with this whatsoever. I made the claim as the other party was very threatening to me about going to his insurance company (usual names etc and blaming me typically as the younger driver) and I wanted the insurance companies to step in as frankly I didn't want contact with the guy, and I believed he had some form of fault for the accident if not all of it.

I'm not sure what action to take here. Is it going to benefit me in any way going to small claims dept or court just to change the liability blame? Both cars were written off and he claimed for whiplash (even though he said he wasn't injured to me at the scene and said he did not need an Ambulance). I'm guessing that the decision of the claim doesn't affect your premium drastically (i.e if I'm not at fault will it make a difference to my renewal price).

This is my first year of driving and I feel that my insurance company have done nothing but put me under immense pressure, provide no help, and have been totally unprofessional from day one. All because I am a young driver and I am inexperienced with the legalities of insurance.

So any advice would be hugely appreciated Thank you!

pinkteapot

If there were no witnesses or dashcam footage, I'd have expected this to go 50:50 (based on your account). Narrow road, sides of both cars scraped as the cars were too close together in the middle of the road. While you might be convinced it was the other driver's fault, absent any hard proof most claims go down as joint responsibility.

Have they given you any information about how they determined blame? Was it based purely on the accident descriptions that you and the other party gave, or did they find a third-party witness? Do you know for sure that the other driver didn't have a dashcam?

Quentin

When you take out an insurance policy you do agree that the insurer deals with claims as they think fit (though obviously they don't cave in to the third party as it costs them!)


Unless you can overturn this decision completely (ie get the liability 100% with the third party), then the effect on your future premium is the same with a 50/50 claim or a 100% blame against you


So little point considering taking legal action (which you have to pay for up front and only get your court costs back if you win) without getting proper legal advice.


You can make a formal complaint to your insurer that they have mishandled your claim, stating the reasons why you should not be held 100% liable, then if you are unhappy with their reply you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you

csgohan4

dash cams are cheap now a days, could save you more on insurance excesses

billy102

Thanks people for your responses.


Pinkteapot - To be honest I expected it also to be 50:50 as a 'fair basis', as neither party could really have solid proof of the liability. He didn't have a dashcam (well at least that's what he told me), but since the accident I have now had one fitted to my new car.
Initially in the early stages, my insurance company said part of the decision may get swayed due to my tyre marks on the road, but I explained to them this is because he was driving directly towards me on a bend, so I have had to apply firm pressure to the brakes (my car didn't have ABS). As I had a black box fitted, I said I'm more than happy for them to look at the telematics....
There wasn't any witnesses of the accident, but it was right by a stables and about 10 seconds after the crash two females ran out and saw the scene just after the accident. She actually said she saw the other driver only a few days ago driving too fast down the road and did warn him (as you would do being a horse rider). I passed their details onto my insurance company but whether they contacted them or not I don't know.


Quentin - Initially in the early stages, they did say part of the decision may get swayed due to my tire marks on the road, but I explained to them this is because he was driving directly towards me on a partially blind bend, so I have had to apply firm pressure to the brakes (my car didn't have ABS). He was also coming out of a passing place (layby) area at the time, so I felt he could have easily stopped instead of trying to muscle his way through, which clearly didn't end up well...


It's good to know that no matter how much liability is accepted it will affect your premium. It's odd because I've never felt that the insurance company are actually trying to fight my case here, so maybe a formal complaint is all I can do. Maybe there could be some form of compromise. I just don't understand how the other driver can have 0% of the blame, as there's no defining action that you can put your finger on as the 'cause' of the accident.


GSCOhan4 - I've now since this had one fitted to my new car, and check back on it every few days. It's surprising how many middle lane hoggers/mobile phone users/red light runners I catch on a daily basis!

csgohan4

billy102 wrote: »

GSCOhan4 - I've now since this had one fitted to my new car, and check back on it every few days. It's surprising how many middle lane hoggers/mobile phone users/red light runners I catch on a daily basis!

or people who turn into your lane with no signalling and having to brake harshly