Car Accident Advice

daparojo

I was parked up with the engine off, with my vehicle facing uphill of a slope in a car park. My car was one car length behind the car in front. Without warning, the car in front rolled backwards into mine causing damage. I sounded my horn several times as it rolled back to no avail. I got out my car, and the occupant infront didn't know that they had moved backwards. They then got out of the vehicle and started to blame me and it was my fault. Currently there is no CCTV footage.

It was only when challenged that they admitted they had caused the accident, and sent me text messages  later offering to pay. I have had some quotes, of around £500 to repair the work, but now they have changed their mind after talking to 'others' as the text messages later explain, and to tell me to go through the insurance.

After some research, and looking at the Insurance Database online (MID) it tells me the car is not insured. On top of that, even though it had passed it's MOT early in the year, it has had an advisory for the past three years of a worn parking brake.

If have informed my insurance company, sent them photos, screen shots of the text messages. If I was to go through my insurance will this affect me going forward as I am not at fault?  If they have no insurance, will they get away with it ? 

DullGreyGuy

daparojo said:

After some research, and looking at the Insurance Database online (MID) it tells me the car is not insured. On top of that, even though it had passed it's MOT early in the year, it has had an advisory for the past three years of a worn parking brake.

If have informed my insurance company, sent them photos, screen shots of the text messages. If I was to go through my insurance will this affect me going forward as I am not at fault?  If they have no insurance, will they get away with it ? 

So you breached the terms of the MID database and claimed you owned the vehicle or you paid £10 for the TP search?

On a traditional policy your insurers would pay for your damages (assuming comprehensive cover) less your excess and then attempt to recover from the third party. When the third party is insured the claim is redirected to their insurers to settle. 

If the third party is uninsured they'll try to get the money back directly from them but will be pragmatic about their chances of success. A little digging will show up some likely results of their financial situation but generally those who don't pay for insurance generally don't have thousands sitting in their current account. 

Fault as far as an insurer is concerned is based on if they get their money back or not, nothing to do with blame. So if the TP is uninsured and has no obvious means to repay then it would traditionally be considered a fault claim. Some insurers (eg Direct Line) however have various "promises" that say that if the TP is uninsured then it either won't effect your NCD or won't count as a fault claim etc. You'd need to check your own policy to see if they have such provisions. 

daparojo

Many thanks for your input. For the record, I have paid for the MID result.

DullGreyGuy

daparojo said:

Many thanks for your input. For the record, I have paid for the MID result.

How long ago was the incident?

The advantage of the TP search is you specify the time/date of the incident and it returns what was in force on that date inc policy number and insurer name. The free own vehicle checker only checks "now" and doesn't tell you who the insurer is etc. 

Most insurers update MID over night but sometimes companies can be slower. So if they happen to have renewed/bought in the day or two before the incident and you immediately came home and ran the search then it could be they are insured and MID just hadn't been updated yet. If you ran the TP search several days after and selected the correct date to check as of then its unlikely the vehicle is insured 

daparojo

Thanks for the support. Interesting is that the paid one says it is insured, the free one says no insurance as a comparison. So I guess they are insured. If they are insured, will this strengthen my claim i.e. not put as fault claim ?

DullGreyGuy

daparojo said:

Thanks for the support. Interesting is that the paid one says it is insured, the free one says no insurance as a comparison. So I guess they are insured. If they are insured, will this strengthen my claim i.e. not put as fault claim ?

The paid one goes beyond saying it's insured but gives the insurance details and policy number. 

If you've just breached the terms, claimed its your car and run the free check my car one and it says uninsured that would mean the insurance has ended between the date of the insurance and today but thats of no interest, you only need insurance to have been in force on the day of the incident. 

If they have insurance then it's more likely your insurers can recover their outlay however there remains the potential debate on if they rolled back into you or if you drove into the back of them.