Advice Please - Following Car Accident

angela110660

ALL OPINIONS AND ADVICE REALLY HELPFUL. LAST SEPTEMBER HAD AN ACCIDENT IN MY CLIO WITH A LORRY. HE COLLIDED WITH BACK END OF MY CAR BECAUSE HE CROSSED ROAD MARKINGS - PUSHED ME INTO BARRIER AND I ENDED UP SIDEWAYS IN CARRIAGE WAY. AT TIME HE SAID HE WAS IN A NEW LORRY - HE WAS A DELIVERY DRIVER - AND HE SAW ME ONE MINUTE AND THEN DIDN'T. HOWEVER, WE HAD NOT REACHED THE JUNCTION SO DON'T KNOW WHERE HE THOUGHT I WAS.
HIGHWAY PATROL TURNED UP - TOOK NOTES - OR SO I THOUGHT - THEY HAD NOTHING TO OFFER LATER!! AND WE WENT OFF AFTER SWAPPING DETAILS ETC.
SENT PHOTOS OF ROAD MARKINGS AND A FULL STORY OF INCIDENT TO MY INSURERS AND 3RD PARTY. MY INSURERS GOT ME TO PAY EXCESS AND FIXED MY CAR. NO MORE CONTACT.
END NOVEMBER - GOT A SOLICITORS LETTER ON BEHALF OF MY INSURER TO SAY THEY HAD THE CASE TO HANDLE NOW. HEARD NOTHING AGAIN UNTIL 2 WEEKS AGO - SOLICITOR HAS SAID I SHOULD GO 50/50. NO CONTACT WITH ME AT ALL IN ALL THOSE MONTHS. I RANG UP AND SAID WANT TO GO TO COURT AS NOT HAPPY. ANOTHER LETTER TODAY SAYING REALLY BEST IF I JUST GO 50/50. FLIPPING CHEEK SO HAVE RUNG AGAIN AND SAID COURT.
NO ONE HAS TOLD ME HOW MUCH I WOULD EVEN BE UP FOR AT 50/50 LET ALONE DISCUSSED IT WITH ME.
VERY ANNOYED AS YOU CAN PROBABLY TELL - SHOULD I STAND MY GROUND OR JUST CAVE IN? WHAT HAPPENS TO MY NO CLAIMS BONUS AND THE FACT IS I HAVE DRIVEN SINCE I WAS 18 AND NEVER EVER HAD A CLAIM BEFORE (47 NOW). MY RENEWAL IS END MAY - WHAT SHOULD I DO? PREMIUM SEEMS TO HAVE GONE UP THIS YEAR AS WELL.:mad:

Quentin

Your no claim bonus will be affected (as will your premium) because of this claim.

If there are no witnesses and you go to court it will just be your word against the third party.

There will be no more costs to you if it is 50/50 (apart from the ncb going down and the premium going up, as I said).

angela110660

Which is really gutting to me as you can see never ever having had a claim in all my driving years and this lorry driver was so apologetic at the time and then went back to the depot and everything has changed. Really fed up and with my insurers who have obviously just passed me over in all this.

brightonman123

day in court, and claim back excess, if not you at fault? may also be worth asking about getting any thung if there was an increase in your premiums..

angela110660

Def not my fault as I was just following a local filter lane round from my local supermarket back towards the village centre where I live. The lorry came roaring up on my outside lane towards the roundabout lights heading for the motorway junction.

shelly

At renewal shop around, your premiums won't neccessarily go up.

I had a fault claim in 06 and at renewal I shopped around and got it cheaper after the claim, than the premium we paid the year I had the accident.
The numbers were (for the car policy I had the claim on)
for yr Nov 05- Nov 06 premium was £447.44 (with ASDA)
I had a 100% fault claim in May 06.
Shopped around at renewal and for year Nov 06-Nov 07 we paid £430.99. (RAC)
Shopped around again at renewal and for year Nov 07-Nov 08 we have paid £427.33 (Admiral)


Its only a saving of a few ££ but at least its not going up.

Edit to add~ Sorry just remembered we pay to protect our NCB so didn't lose any of that.

harryhound

I know exactly how you feel BUT courts can get very expensive.
You want to prove you are a blame free driver, everyone else just sees this as an exercise in trying to minimise their costs (and perhaps keep their job in the case of the lorry driver).
Did the lorry get off more or less damage free?

Without an independent witness, your solicitor is probably giving you good advice.

How much money are we talking about?

Here is a true story about going to court:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=5536749&highlight=Eddie#post5536749

V_tricky

If you & your solicitors feel that you would make a convincing witness in Court, and why not say to them that whilst you can understand what they're saying, you feel like you have reasonable prospects.

If your insurers do instruct the solicitors to issue proceedings against the third party, it will not cost YOU any more (all you would lose is the percentage of your excess which you've already paid), whether you are successful or not, and the insurer may well be prepared to pay to let you have your day in court (bearing in mind that small claims costs are relatively small, and they will have costs agreements with their own solicitors) on customer service grounds, so that you might consider renewing with them again next year.

Who's to say what might happen in Court? I've seen cases that I would never in a million years think would be successful win, and other cases where I'm totally confident in lose.

How likely is it that this other driver would even attend? Is he still working for the same company? (if not, why would he care about the outcome?) Is he prepared to perjure himself in court? Can the insurers actually find him?

If not - it is likely you would get judgment in default (ie win).

If it was me, I'd be happy to take it as far as court as it sounds like the worst you could do would be to get 50/50 anyway - but I don't think your insurers are trying to shaft you here. Having no witness evidence does put you at a major disadvantage, however If you would make a good witness, or If for whatever reason the other driver wouldn't attend, then it's worth a try, IMHO.

firesidemaid

i had my first ever accident in 20 years 18 months ago - on this occasion i had to admit it was my fault.

it made absolutely no difference to my premiums - i had 4 years no claims (which went down to 3 after the accident). i know my car cost 2.5k to fix plus i had a courtesy car for 6 weeks and there would have been a claim for the other car.

like another poster said as long as you shop around in the mse way you will find your premiums probably do down. try and just put it behind you.

Lorne

Hi there,

Do you have legal services as part of your car insurance policy? Check your cover to see if it is mentioned. If so, I would contact them immediately with the details of the solicitor and they'll deal with all of this for you - similar thing happened to me, lawyers started contacting me but fortunately I had legal services and they dealt with everything - I hope you are covered.

angela110660

Thanks to all for advice and opinions. Yes I have legal cover for my insurance and my insurers solicitors are now sending a letter to the 3rd party to see if they have anything to say/offer and to tell them that we will go to court if not. Solictor guy told me that all the paperwork I have submitted including photos of the road markings etc was very comprehensive and I was obviously very determined. You bet I am!! Having received my renewal and finding out that they have knocked 2 years off my no claims - hence the price hike.