Car accident not my fault

JodyGray

Hi, at a petrol station yesterday a car reversed into my wifes car (i was driving) causing a dent to the front bumper and wing. The driver drove off but we took his registration and have witnesses. Having spoken to the insurance company the driver is insured with the same company. My wife was told she would still have to pay £250 excess, which is ridiculous. CAB mention this can be claimed back from the insurer once the claim is settled but the insurer said nothing of this, also there is 'credit hire co.' Information which states they will deal with it on your behalf and claim the money off the insurer. Does anyone know about this please? Any advice gratefully received.... 

AdrianC

You have a registration. That's it. You don't know who was driving, whether they were insured, or even if the plate was actually legit. The other car's keeper may produce proof that they were elsewhere at the time.

IF your insurer get that driver to accept full liability, and his policy covers your full costs, then you'll get your excess back and it'll be a not-at-fault claim.
If the other car's keeper disputes it, I doubt anybody would put too much time and effort into forensics for a minor bingle.
Whether it's the same insurer or not is irrelevant.

Credit-hire is the "accident management" and hire car while your car is being repaired. If you accept it, and the claim ends up coming back to you, you may have to pay the very high fees.

shaun_from_Africa

Did you report it to the police as by failing to stop, the driver committed an offence and it's possible ( though unlikely) that the police could get any cctv footage from the garage.
Was the impact hard enough so that the other driver couldn't claim that they didn't notice?

Jumblebumble

JodyGray said:

Hi, at a petrol station yesterday a car reversed into my wifes car (i was driving) causing a dent to the front bumper and wing. The driver drove off but we took his registration and have witnesses. Having spoken to the insurance company the driver is insured with the same company. My wife was told she would still have to pay £250 excess, which is ridiculous. CAB mention this can be claimed back from the insurer once the claim is settled but the insurer said nothing of this, also there is 'credit hire co.' Information which states they will deal with it on your behalf and claim the money off the insurer. Does anyone know about this please? Any advice gratefully received.... 

Your wife would have been told that she would pay £250 excess if she asks her insurers to repair the car which they will keep if they cannot reclaim it. This is completely normal and the opposite of ridiculous.
As AdrianC advises be very wary of Credit Hire as the CH company are looking after their interests far more than yours.

JodyGray

Ok seems the credit hire is a snake pit.. I disagree with you however, so you're saying in the same situation you would be happy to pay £250 for someone reversing into your car by not looking then drove off. You believe it is fair and reasonable to go through the hassle of the aftermath and pay money for something which wasn't your fault. I must be out of touch as this seems beyond ridiculous to me.

JodyGray

Shaun... It was loud enough to hear but i guess he could claim that, no it wasn't reported, I just believe if i was the guy who caused the accident it makes sense and only right that i would have to pay obviously through my insurance. It IS nonsense that my wife gets penalised for something clearly where she wasn't at fault.

AdrianC

JodyGray said:

I disagree with you however, so you're saying in the same situation you would be happy to pay £250 for someone reversing into your car by not looking then drove off. You believe it is fair and reasonable to go through the hassle of the aftermath and pay money for something which wasn't your fault. I must be out of touch as this seems beyond ridiculous to me.

Let's say you get a call from your insurer, saying that somebody has given your registration as having been involved in a hit-and-run like this.

You were nowhere near. It can't have been you.

Would you want your insurer to just roll and pay it? Of course not.

JodyGray

AdrianC. No that's not true, we have a regustration and witnesses. The jnsurance company have already said the car is insured by them which was on the original post. So it's down to his policy then? In any case it seems we both pay our excesses and the insurance company will probably lose nothing or possibly profit as it's unlikely to be over £500 repair though i know how costs escalate so is pure speculation. 

JodyGray

Thank you very much for your comments. I do appreciate all responses. It is wrong to expect someone else to pay for something that isn't their fault, no doubt insurance companies will always be very good at taking money but some not all certainly avoid paying out.

AdrianC

JodyGray said:

AdrianC. No that's not true, we have a regustration and witnesses.

Yes, you do.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's actually that car.

Some years ago, a few of us watched out of an office window as a white Renault van pulled up by the motorcycle parking outside. The sliding door opened, two guys leapt out, picked a bike up, put it in, and left sharply. We all took the same reg down. The reg we all wrote down belonged to a blue Kia hatch.

Not all cloners are that blatant. Some actually use the reg from a similar car.

And... hold the front page, but some people lie. Perhaps it really WAS him. But he's swearing blind it can't possibly have been, because here's somebody who says that he was elsewhere at the time, with that car.

The jnsurance company have already said the car is insured by them which was on the original post. So it's down to his policy then?

Yes. The two ends of the claim will be handled separately internally.

JYD

JodyGray said:

AdrianC. No that's not true, we have a regustration and witnesses. The jnsurance company have already said the car is insured by them which was on the original post. So it's down to his policy then? In any case it seems we both pay our excesses and the insurance company will probably lose nothing or possibly profit as it's unlikely to be over £500 repair though i know how costs escalate so is pure speculation. 

If the other party denies all knowledge or doesn't claim they won't pay any excess.