Found liable but still denying it!

annie27

Hi there, hoping for some advice on this.
I was involved in an accident last week & my car is a total write off. Some guy swung out from my left & tried to do a U turn causing our cars to collide. I know he was doing a U turn because he called someone on his mobile immediately after the accident & said 'I was trying to do a U turn & some girl hit the side of me'

His driver door was badly damaged & my car was written off.
The insurance assessors have examined both our cars & have deemed him to be liable. It was his fault & he seemed to accept it at the time. He was so nice that night but now he's turned into Mr nasty!

He's now claiming that he was sitting in a box to turn right & that I swerved into the box & hit him, a physical impossibility!

I only passed my test in June & had no experience of what to do in an accident so I was pretty naive. The police were called but as there were no injuries they said there was no need for them to attend so I didn't push it... I could kick myself now!

I have third party insurance so while he's contesting it I'm left without a car & cant afford a new one until his insurance pays out.

So my question is.. How long can he drag it on for and can the insurance company eventually overrule him & pay me out?

Annie xxxx

Mr_Bear_2

do u have leagl expenses? i take it you werent injured? how much is your care worth or repairs cost?

mattymoo

Go and get some photos of the junction / alleged box etc.
Some folk use Google Earth for this kind of stuff as well as the level of detail is pretty amazing.
Get everything down in writing, almost as if you were writing a statement for court. That way, if he does dispute liability, you will have the facts at your fingertips, prepared while the matter was still fresh in your mind.

two_sheds_2

I've had a car-crash and 2 push-bike crashes (none my fault, no really)
The first 2 accidents happened when I was young and naive - I expected the police and insurers to be honest and sort it all out. Ha ha ha.
I sued the drivers in Small Claims but the case dragged on for over 6 months each time and it ended up being dropped.

The last crash I had I was much more sussed - I knew the police weren't bothered, and that insurance companies wriggle out of paying any money - so I pursued the guy myself. I was at a roundabout on my bike in front of this car, and he basically accelerated over me. Bike was mashed, I was okay but cross. He got out, saying "I don't know what happened, so sorry, I saw you but pulled out anyway" (trigger happy)
I made him get out of the car and we swapped details, I took his car make and reg number. He offered to pay for the damage to my bike. So far so good.

When he got the repair bill (£100) he played up, saying he'd buy me a 2nd hand bike for £40. I said my bike was a handbuilt £400 nearly-new model, and he could take it to his insurers instead if he preferred.
He did cough up a cheque, but got a bit nasty about it all.

My friend was recently hit on a roundabout by an elderly guy who failed to give way to the right... he just pulled out into the side of her. Despite being clearly in the wrong, he contested it (well, his insurers did) and it dragged on. My friend was fed up and said "just forget it" but I helped her to fill out diagrams, we looked up the road names, visited the scene again to check out visibility, trees, roadsigns etc to strengthen her case, and she won.

My advice is - don't give up. Get all the evidence you can to PROVE you are right (just being right isn't enough). And persevere. The other side WILL try and wriggle out of it, you just keep on at them.

Good luck.

anewman

I keep a little disposable camera in my glove box in case of any accidents. Sometimes from road markings guilt can be very easy to convey in just a photograph. Also have the mobile phone too to take pictures with if needed.

anewman

two_sheds wrote: »

When he got the repair bill (£100) he played up, saying he'd buy me a 2nd hand bike for £40.

I'd be asking him where he buys bikes, I'd want a decent one at that price:rotfl:

annie27

Mr_Bear wrote: »

do u have leagl expenses? i take it you werent injured? how much is your care worth or repairs cost?

Hi there, thanks for replying. Yes I have legal fees. I wasn't really injured just bruised. Have been told by the insurance company that the car is a total loss. It was an old car so it's only worth £500.

Thanks Annie xxx