Bus wiped 6 cars out including mine and won't pay out

bossasbury

I'm hoping I can find some answers because I'm I'll with all of this .

On the 22nd July a bus drove onto the pavement outside my home and wiped out six cars including mine .
The fire service were involved , the police etc .
Luckily nobody was hurt as all the cars were parked up empty and at 8.30 in the morning that was a miracle in itself , around half an hour later my daughter may have been in it so in one sense I'm lucky she wasn't hurt .

On the morning I ran outside and it was chaos with people running about and my own car smashed up against somebodies house completely wiped out . 
The bus driver was on the phone to somebody and told them he must've blacked out .
The police took my details and I have a police ref :  
I contacted my insurance company and the bus company  and it's been a nightmare since . 
My car has been written off , it was an old car but reliable with no problems , I paid £820 two years ago .
The bus company have been in touch and took all my details , address , car details etc .
They offered to pay for repairs even though it's not possible as it's written off .
I've also claimed for the belongings in the car including a baby car seat .
My insurance company have paid me a measly £600 for my car but have taken £300 excess so I'm left with £300 .
They also paid for one item with £54.99 and the baby car seat .
I also have a courtesy car which I have to give back within 5 days now I've recieved the £300 .
They said I can't claim more than £250 for personal belongings yet it amounts to over this . 
They also said I will get the excess back once the bus company admit liability and I will not be charged for the hire car which I needed for work ( a 26 mile round journey ) .

It seems I'm paying for it through my insurance as the bus company almost 4 weeks later won't admit liability .
Two of the neighbours actually recieved a letter off the bus company within two days admitting liability and also got what they paid for their cars .
I've not had any of this and they're refusing it seems .
I have to use the savings I have which I was going to use to take my daughter to Euro Disney next year because I cannot get a decent runner for £300 probably not even £600 .

I'm ill with it all , I can't sleep and I've got souch going on I feel sick .
It looks like I may have to take legal action but I don't even know where to begin and I'm struggling to cope .

I've contacted the bus dept I was advised to contact yesterday ( they've been in touch with me previously on the 29th July . 

Does anybody have any experience with this sort of situation and what to do . 
I know I'm going to be vastly out of pocket through no fault of my own even if I were paid out but with the bus company seemingly refusing to admit liability it's making it harder .

MyRealNameToo

bossasbury said:

I'm hoping I can find some answers because I'm I'll with all of this .

On the 22nd July a bus drove onto the pavement outside my home and wiped out six cars including mine .
The fire service were involved , the police etc .
Luckily nobody was hurt as all the cars were parked up empty and at 8.30 in the morning that was a miracle in itself , around half an hour later my daughter may have been in it so in one sense I'm lucky she wasn't hurt .

On the morning I ran outside and it was chaos with people running about and my own car smashed up against somebodies house completely wiped out . 
The bus driver was on the phone to somebody and told them he must've blacked out .
The police took my details and I have a police ref :  
I contacted my insurance company and the bus company  and it's been a nightmare since . 
My car has been written off , it was an old car but reliable with no problems , I paid £820 two years ago .
The bus company have been in touch and took all my details , address , car details etc .
They offered to pay for repairs even though it's not possible as it's written off .
I've also claimed for the belongings in the car including a baby car seat .
My insurance company have paid me a measly £600 for my car but have taken £300 excess so I'm left with £300 .
They also paid for one item with £54.99 and the baby car seat .
I also have a courtesy car which I have to give back within 5 days now I've recieved the £300 .
They said I can't claim more than £250 for personal belongings yet it amounts to over this . 
They also said I will get the excess back once the bus company admit liability and I will not be charged for the hire car which I needed for work ( a 26 mile round journey ) .

It seems I'm paying for it through my insurance as the bus company almost 4 weeks later won't admit liability .
Two of the neighbours actually recieved a letter off the bus company within two days admitting liability and also got what they paid for their cars .
I've not had any of this and they're refusing it seems .
I have to use the savings I have which I was going to use to take my daughter to Euro Disney next year because I cannot get a decent runner for £300 probably not even £600 .

I'm ill with it all , I can't sleep and I've got souch going on I feel sick .
It looks like I may have to take legal action but I don't even know where to begin and I'm struggling to cope .

I've contacted the bus dept I was advised to contact yesterday ( they've been in touch with me previously on the 29th July . 

Does anybody have any experience with this sort of situation and what to do . 
I know I'm going to be vastly out of pocket through no fault of my own even if I were paid out but with the bus company seemingly refusing to admit liability it's making it harder .

There is a disconnect in the story as you say the bus company has not accepted liability yet have offered to repair your car... obviously you dont normally put your hand in your pocket for repairs if you aren't liable so its not clear if they are thinking they are liable but just dont want to put that in writing. 

Given they made the offer of repair have you not asked them directly about reimbursement of the excess and those items that weren't covered because of the £250 cap on personal possessions? 

Your insurers will take legal action on your behalf, if it's necessary and deemed reasonable prospects of success. You wouldn't do it personally. 


When dealing with companies in the automotive space (hire car companies, haulage firms, bus companies) its not a question of if they have accidents in a given year but a question of how many of them they have. They unfortunately deal with this type of stuff day in and day out, I know several that do all their claims 100% in house even though their insurer will ultimately be the ones that pays out. 

They often won't admit liability readily because if the losses are a few thousands overall its all ok and its a drop in the ocean of what their total claims for a year will be. However retracting an admission of liability is very difficult (excluding what happens at the scene) and whilst they gladly payout say £20k for the accident if it later turns out that actually someone was badly injured and they receive a claim for £10m that admission of liability would still stand. 

There are such things as faultless accidents, where everyone has acted reasonably and with due care but vehicles collided anyway. A medical emergency is potentially one such case, its often difficult to argue, requires a deep dive into the medical history of the driver and expert witness testimony that the illness was totally unpredictable but have had a couple of such cases in my claims days. For £20k they may decide its not worth the effort, for £10m they probably think it is, hence dont accept liability but payout on without prejudice basis isnt uncommon.