Hit by another vehicle. First time. Insurance & what's next?

Not_Me_Officer

Today i've been hit by another vehicle. I could see this person was overtaking dangerously in my rear view mirror & then when they came to overtake me there was oncoming traffic & they just pulled in to me before falling in behind me.

I didn't feel it was safe to pull over where it took place so i pulled in perhaps 1/4 - 1/2 mile further down the road where we could both pull off the main road. Only thing is the other person didn't pull off. I didn't turn late either, i gave plenty of indicating notice.

So i got their reg & i've phoned the police who said i did the right thing to pull in where i did rather than where it took place.

My concern is that my vehicle will be written off. It's not worth a great deal in terms of money value but it's worth much more to me. I've had it for a long time & it's been a great runner.

Having never done this before what happens? If i call the insurance can they just say it's not worth it to repair so they're going to write it off, take it off my hands & scrap it?

Bit green but how does that work?

My only previous accident i had someone hit the rear of me in the wet, no damage to my car but they gave me money to not go through the insurance & as a youngster at the time i said no problem - my tow bar cover had just popped off so i just picked it up & put it back on So i've never had to go through the insurance before.

Tiexen

Have you told your insurance company?

Strider590

Did you accelerate when he was overtaking you? If they have a dashcam and you did do anything stupid, then you need to think very carefully about what you do now.

I'm not saying you did do anything wrong, but these days 80%+ of the people I overtake, will try to create trouble OR kill me, and it's usually the 40mph everywhere brigade.
Sometimes if I have plenty of room I will overtake on half throttle JUST to see if they try to stop me and yes 8 in 10 drivers do at least try.

Not_Me_Officer

Yes i've told the insurance company (although with the value of the car & the damage done it would've (money wise) been better not to. I just don't see why i should let the other person get away with it).

I was accelerating yes but not aggressively so. No more or less than if he wasn't there. I doubt he has a dash cam since if he did he wouldn't need to be driving along while holding his phone on the steering wheel facing me. I assume recording me but maybe he was typing in my reg.
Or maybe watching YouTube. Who knows.

There was no room for him to complete the move. There was no room behind me as a car was there & no room in front of me as a car was there. The only space was in front of the car that was in front of me but he never went for it since there was oncoming traffic. I've seen what looks like this vehicle around before, it's quite distinct & it may or may not be the same person but when i've seen it in a morning the driver has been overtaking wildly.


Anyway to stick with the facts, the insurance company say without his personal details i can only claim from my own insurance. It'd be for the police to identify him.
The police say this is nonsense & the insurance company should be able to identify him but that they (the police) will identify him one way or another.



I was speaking to a work colleague today & they had a similar case a while ago. They were the one overtaking that time & they collided with the car they were overtaking & didn't stop. Story short a police phone call went their way that night & details were exchanged very quickly.

So how it can be sorted out for my work colleague in a pretty identical situation & not me i don't know.

Strider590

Not_Me_Officer wrote: »

I doubt he has a dash cam since if he did he wouldn't need to be driving along while holding his phone on the steering wheel facing me. I assume recording me but maybe he was typing in my reg.

Why would he be doing that?

Not_Me_Officer

Strider590 wrote: »

Why would he be doing that?

Who knows. I wasn't the one who didn't pull over don't forget. I could've asked him if he'd have stopped but he didn't.

But when you think of list of reasons for someone having their phone on top of their steering wheel pointing direct at you then the top 2 reasons have got to be video & photo.
If he's logging reg then i doubt he'd have it on top of his wheel.

If not one of those 3 then who knows.

Car_54

Not_Me_Officer wrote: »

I was accelerating yes but not aggressively so.

There was no room behind me as a car was there & no room in front of me as a car was there.

So, you speeded up while being overtaken?

What speed were you doing, and how close to the car in front? Why was there no room (2 second rule)?

Joe_Horner

Not_Me_Officer wrote: »

But when you think of list of reasons for someone having their phone on top of their steering wheel pointing direct at you then the top 2 reasons have got to be video & photo.

I would have thought top reason would be trying to hold the wheel while reading / answering a text.

Not_Me_Officer

Car_54 wrote: »

So, you speeded up while being overtaken?

What speed were you doing, and how close to the car in front? Why was there no room (2 second rule)?

It's very easy to talk about it on a forum where you can say this happened so that should've happened & then the other happened. It's a little different in real time.

You question if i was speeding up while being overtaken but i say i was being overtaken while accelerating, there's a little difference.

Speed i would be purely guessing. I didn't actually look at the speedometer, although since we went through a speed camera i'm sure if i was speeding i'll be getting a letter shortly. I'm confident this wont happen though.

Interesting the police haven't taken your line of questioning. Maybe that'll come later.




Joe Horner - normally maybe, but after you've just based someone? I'd guess not.

Strider590

The situation i'm imagining, is a "queue" travelling somewhat slowly, maybe not at that exact moment, but maybe doing 40mph in the previous 60 limit, one angry/impatient driver and a bunch of muppets with a "I can't overtake, so i'm going to stop everyone else" mentality.

The other driver clearly thinks OP did something to wrong him and OP was clearly abiding by the unofficial highway code.

Instead of:

Rule 168

Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, maintain a steady course and speed, slowing down if necessary to let the vehicle pass. Never obstruct drivers who wish to pass. Speeding up or driving unpredictably while someone is overtaking you is dangerous. Drop back to maintain a two-second gap if someone overtakes and pulls into the gap in front of you.

It states:

Rule 168

Being overtaken. If a driver is trying to overtake you, murder the cheeky !!!!!! and his/her entire family by speeding up and using oncoming vehicles as a weapon

Norman_Castle

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm not saying you did do anything wrong, but these days 80%+ of the people I overtake, will try to create trouble OR kill me

I cannot remember anyone trying to create trouble or trying to kill me while overtaking. Is it possible 80% of your overtakes are poorly judged and provoke this reaction?