Car Accident - Suspect that she will deny liability - advice please?

Norman_Castle

unforeseen wrote: »

You would struggle to argue successfully that a set of skidmarks that were photographed the day after an accident were from one of the vehicles involved especially as there is no reference such as the vehicle being in the picture or other definite independent evidence

If challenged you would have to provide evidence they were from the event but there is no reason not to take them and offer them to the insurers. Fortunately the op took pictures immediately after the accident.

FutureGirl

I don't think there is anything additional you can do to prove your case, without obtaining any CCTV.

If you have a photo of the skid marks leading to the other vehicle, and showing them stopping at that vehicle - that would help and your insurer can potentially argue the marks are from that vehicle. If you don't then you'll struggle to prove those marks are from that particular vehicle and weren't originally there.

If the witness doesn't want to provide a statement, then it will be 'what is most likely to have occurred' - and the risk here is that, if your insurer was to agree to run it to court, it could even go against you.

You really need to forget any assumptions, and ignore what you 'think' - because they're largely irrelevant and don't prove anything.

Without the witness the best you can hope for is a split liability.

After her vehicle hit yours, what happened to her vehicle? Did she end up on your side of the road at all? Are there lines in the middle of the road, or is it a country road where there are no road marking? If there are road markings, and you have a photo of the front of their vehicle being in your lane that could go in your favour.

gwernybwch

FutureGirl wrote: »

If you have a photo of the skid marks leading to the other vehicle, and showing them stopping at that vehicle - that would help and your insurer can potentially argue the marks are from that vehicle. If you don't then you'll struggle to prove those marks are from that particular vehicle and weren't originally there.

The photo that I have pretty much shows the skid marks making a straight line to where it hit me.
That's why I think that if she had stopped braking and tried to steer the 4x4 she wouldn't have hit me.

FutureGirl wrote: »

After her vehicle hit yours, what happened to her vehicle? Did she end up on your side of the road at all? Are there lines in the middle of the road, or is it a country road where there are no road marking? If there are road markings, and you have a photo of the front of their vehicle being in your lane that could go in your favour.

It is a country road with no markings. That section of the road is wide enough for two vehicles to pass by with care. The one photo shows that as mine was in the ditch, only half of my car was effectively on the road. Hopefully that will show that she had enough room to get by if she wasn't going so fast.

FutureGirl wrote: »

If the witness doesn't want to provide a statement, then it will be 'what is most likely to have occurred' - and the risk here is that, if your insurer was to agree to run it to court, it could even go against you.

Without the witness the best you can hope for is a split liability.

That doesn't make for good reading!

Anybody have any thoughts about the road-worthiness of the trailer (or even the 4x4 itself)? What would be the first steps in trying to prove it? Report it to the Police?

Also any suggestions what to do now, gratefully accepted!

DUTR

gwernybwch wrote: »

The photo that I have pretty much shows the skid marks making a straight line to where it hit me.
That's why I think that if she had stopped braking and tried to steer the 4x4 she wouldn't have hit me.



It is a country road with no markings. That section of the road is wide enough for two vehicles to pass by with care. The one photo shows that as mine was in the ditch, only half of my car was effectively on the road. Hopefully that will show that she had enough room to get by if she wasn't going so fast.




That doesn't make for good reading!

Anybody have any thoughts about the road-worthiness of the trailer (or even the 4x4 itself)? What would be the first steps in trying to prove it? Report it to the Police?

Also any suggestions what to do now, gratefully accepted!

You wrote" I'll guarantee that the brakes on the horse box weren't working correctly and maybe even the 4x4 wasn't in a roadworthy state (the 4x4 was 20 years old and the horse box about the same age). Do I mention that?"

But you have the registration of the other vehicle and can easily see if it has a current MOT certificate, not sure how you can gaurantee that the brakes were not working ?
As mentioned no one is attacking you, justthe other insurered and insurer will wish to protect their own interest.

FutureGirl

If there is damage to the other vehicle and/or trailer and they claim for this, they will have an independent engineer inspect that vehicle, and their engineer report will confirm whether their vehicle was roadworthy or not. You could mention it to your insurers, and they will then obtain a copy of the engineer report, but you cannot guarantee they had an issue with their breaks.

The fact the road has no markings will be an issue. No one has their own set lane, and no one has right of way over the other (unless there is a sign confirming this?).

As previously said, most likely a split liability. If you claim on your policy you will pay your full excess and can claim a % of this back from the this party insures once liability %'s have been agreed between insurers.

The only thing you can do is provide your insurer with all the FACTS, and EVIDENCE you have, and let them take care of it.

gwernybwch

Just to give an update on this.

My vehicle has been confirmed as a total loss :-(
It seems that the insurance claim is following type; her insurers have opened with a 50/50 offer claiming that it was wet conditions blah,blah narrow country road, blah, blah the skid marks could have been made at any point (although they lead directly into my car!) blah, blah
I'm yet to see or hear her statement. But the interesting thing is that the 4x4 that she was driving was borrowed (although my insurer says that they have checked and that her / the vehicle was insured at that time.

The matter of the trailer / horse box that she was towing at the time is still bugging me.

I reported to the Police that I didn't think that the brakes on the trailer at the time of the accident were faulty, but all they said was that they wouldn't necessarily investigate it as the accident didn't result in physical injury! Surely that isn't right?
The insurance company don't seemed particularly bothered by it. I'm not sure they quite understand that a horse box weighs well over a ton!
I've been informed by the previous owner of the horse box that the brakes were definetly faulty.

Any advice on how I could proceed with this now?
How should I deal with the Police now? Is there something that I can do to get my Insurer to check the condition of the horse box?

Any suggestions gratefully accepted!

FutureGirl

I would accept the 50/50 offer and move on.

robertbs

Hi gwernybwch,

I have something very very similar going on for an accquaintence of mine and most of the advice here boils down to going down the honest road. My case although my query is little bit different. My friend was on the recieving end of the accident on a static parked car. Informing his own insurance company in that case is a good Idea? Because my friend is concerned that it will mess up his insurance rates. Getting your lawyer involved is a no brainer. Let me know if including your insurer in this mess is a good idea. I would really know to know how things turned out for you in the end.

robertbs

Just to give a context since this issue arised to us from India, our car insurance ( acko.com/car-insurance) policy details have been mentioned in that link so that you alll give a better insight. Any relavent advice is highly appreciated.

gwernybwch

robertbs wrote: »

Hi gwernybwch,

I have something very very similar going on for an accquaintence of mine and most of the advice here boils down to going down the honest road. My case although my query is little bit different. My friend was on the recieving end of the accident on a static parked car. Informing his own insurance company in that case is a good Idea? Because my friend is concerned that it will mess up his insurance rates. Getting your lawyer involved is a no brainer. Let me know if including your insurer in this mess is a good idea. I would really know to know how things turned out for you in the end.

I'm afraid I'm no expert on this subject, I've been driving for 30 years and this is the first time that I have been hit. I've heard of incidents where people sort out bumps without going through insurance companies, I've got no idea if this is legal though. As this was a serious bump (mine is a write-off), I've got no choice but to go through the insurance company. The process of having a vehicle valued felt like I was dealing with some 'wide boys' rather than a professional valuer.

Perhaps it might be better for you to start a new thread for your own situation?

Edit: Are you even in the UK? Different legal systems exist in different countries!

Cheers.