|
Someone ran into my car yesterday at 60-70mph, the insurance company has made me a compensation offer of £1,000 this morning based on a few questions from them to me i.e. how I feel and if I am in pain and at work. having never been in this situation before I would appreciate some advice
|
|
You were in a stationary car and hit by someone doing 60mph?
|
|
On dual carriageway traffic in front slowed to a standstill driver behind me didn't, luckily I had my foot on brake and was far enough back from car in front not to hit it.
|
And it's your insurer that has made this offer? And the accident was yesterday? I would imagine that there would be substantial damage to your car which would require an assessor to come and inspect it.
|
|
What is the £1000 for? Te repair the damage, or make you feel better? What make and model is your car? (and therefore what is its approximate value) Is the car damaged or driveable? Were the police involved?
|
|
Money is supposed to make feel better, it is a Renault Scenic 06 plate police were involved other guy admitted liability so no problems there, looking at car it is the exhaust and bumbers but until fully assessed won't know if any chassis damage
|
looking at car it is the exhaust and bumbers but until fully assessed won't know if any chassis damage
trust me friend, hit at ''60'70 mph'' there will be just more than chassis damage, fact.
|
|
|
|
This will be the 3rd party's insurer offering a 'full and final' settlement before it goes through a lawyer - even a basic whiplash claim will cost and insurer £2k or more in compen$ation and co$t$ for the $olicitor$ involved.
If you feel ok after 2 or 3 days take the offer.
This is one of the reasons that car insurance is so expensive nowadays. I'm still not sure why having a sore neck for 2 weeks is worth £1000 in compensation... Amazing how countries that don't compensate for personal injuries from RTAs don't even have 'whiplash' as a medical diagnosis...
Repair costs will be on top of this 'compensation.'
|
|
|
|
Yesthe insurer has made the offer and the accident was yesterday, the car has not been collected yet for assessing as it was driveable off the dual carriageway
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If it covers your costs, and any physical damage to you and your car, then that's OK. If it doesn't, it's not.
|
This is NOT your insurance company, these are ambulance chasers. DO NOT SIGN OR AGREE ANYTHING.
|
HI
when i read the op, i thought that the poster was jesting.
the bottom line is this - no legal insurance company will offer anyone a penny judging by what you have posted.
|
AE+paul2007:
It is likely to be the 3rd party's insurer - they will be getting straight in to avoid the 'ambulance chasers' (read: credit-hire companies) and try to avoid the cost of going through the legal route for personal injury.
If you're not really injured I'd (personally) take the cash. If you are having significant pain/distress go and see your doctor to ensure you haven't been more injured than at first thought. A 60mph crash dumps a lot of energy into the fragile human body...
Paul2007's suggestion "no legal insurance company will offer anyone a penny judging by what you have posted" is just not true. For the reason mentioned above.
The bottom line is this offer is in the best interest of the 3rd Party's insurer, not the OP, so I'd still tend to go through my own insurer especially if the OP has paid up for 'legal cover' with their insurance.
|
|
Coincidentally both myself and the other party use the same insurer
|
|
|
|
This is someone trolling surely?
Hit from behind at 60-70? Not surviveable.
An offer the next day? I can't say that's not true, but sounds remarkable. You have years to make an injury claim, and I can't imagine any court being happy with an insurance company who rushed someone into a settlement the next day.
|
|
Sorry you find my post unbelievable but I can assure you I am not given to making things up and am accurate in my account of events
|
|
Just tell your insurance company what has happened and they will take it from there. No further action required from you, don't agree anything other than on the advice of your insurer.
|
|
|
|
|
No joke they have offered money or for me to get my own solicitor or for them to put me in touch with their legal team. I have legal cover on my policy and it is definitely the insurace company speaking to me
|
|
Both cars may have been travelling at some speed when the impact occurred. The OP's estimate of 60/70 mph does not specify which car was travelling at this speed. But it is perfectly clear from the account of the damage that the speed differential between the two cars cannot have been 60mph, or anything like it.
|
|
OP has made it clear that she was stationary, Lud.
|
re te OPs crash I agree the final crashing speed is very unlikely to have been 60mph. 60mph into a stationary car = wipeout, not "possible chassis damage".
The OP may well have felt it was 60mph of course - having been rear-ended at perhaps 15-20mph in my old Maxi 20 yrs ago (no head restraints but no whiplash either...) it is certainly an impressive experience.
|
|
|
Fact!!!
It amazes me how some people just join a thread, even without bothering to read the initial post.
The poster's 'shes' cars rear would have blown apart at that speed.
|
|
Sorry you seem to think I am not being truthful in my account, as I have said I am going by what the other driver told the police, I do not know the full extent of damage to my car and would not make a guess as i am not a mechanic and only have basic knowledge, I do know that when I bought the car one of the selling points was its reputation for withstanding impacts with as little damage as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not my estimate of speed what the other driver told the police
|
|
I expect that they said they were doing 60 or 70 at the moment they noticed the stationary traffic in front and hit the brakes. They will have hit you at a far lower speed than 60 for you to be posting on here today, I imagine.
|
I agree with Alanovich....I have some experience of the aftermath of accidents......at 60, with your brakes on, he would have been in the front with you.
Ted
|
|
|
|
|
I think too many people are commenting who haven't been involved in a claim in the past 2-3 years.
Mrs lygonos was hit from behind at a roundabout and within 4 hours the 3rd party's insurers had phoned to ask about the crash. I politely advised they would hear from out own insurers in due course.
In the end I actually went with a credit hire company (yes, I know!) as there was no personal injury involved.
I paid £10 discretionary insurance to cover any cost in case the company failed to recover it's costs from the 3rd party's insurance.
Result: CRV was fixed immaculately by the Honda dealership of my choice, and we had a brand new RAV4 auto for 3 weeks while it was being assessed/fixed.
Worked well for us, but caveat emptor and all that.
|
So, peeps, any more useful advice for this poster which doesn't imply the poster is a troll?
If all people can do is cast doubt over what other people say it would be better if they just moved on to the next thread instead. It's getting to feel like a courtroom in here sometimes, with people questioning every little detail, and tripping other people up.
smokie, Moderator
|
Well, isn't that the truth.
Pat
|
Ignore the offer - it's for you to decide the best course of action when you have time to realise what happened to you - this can take days if not weeks.
My sister was hit from behind whilst stationary and this was estimated by police at 50-70 mph - suspected driver had fallen asleep as no evidence of braking prior to impact. She survived, but the car was a bit of a mess. She hit the car in front which was pushed out of the way and then she carried on to hit the next car.
She received a lot more than £1,000 and this is 20 years ago.
|
|
|
I wouldn't have believed insurance companies make compo offers within hours, so I've learned something today, thanks to the OP and Lygonos.
From my limited experience of collisions, there's always an element of shock, if not injury.
I don't think I would be in a fit state to make a sensible decision so soon after a smash.
Edited by ifithelps on 20/01/2010 at 17:16
|
Whoever contacted the OP, this must be in connection with potential whiplash/injury claims.
I doubt it was one of the insurance companies involved - lawyers/compensation firms are known to masquarade as "operating on behalf of the 3rd party insurance" when it is a lie. They got wind of it and want to get in first.
Whiplash and some other injuries cannot be assessed until at least a week after such an accident. Indeed whiplash usually takes 48 hours to become apparent. It also needs to be assessed by a doctor.
The OP should decline any approach from 3rd parties and speak only to her own insurance company. Obviously it will be handled in conjuction with her vehicle accident/claim and will require an assesor to investigate - several days at least.
|
Some insurance companies have teams who pre-empt potential claims against them.
I did some research into this after the gaffer had her prang, and found plenty of interweb discussion about this very point - generally the cheapest quoting companies on comparison sites do this.
They get the details from the non-fault party and make an offer (lower than would be awarded via the legal process but settled in days rather than months) to try to prevent a legal claim later.
If you really want to keep suggesting it's ambulance chasers have a search for "third party capture"
www.lindermyers.co.uk/article.asp?id=769
"Insurers are sometimes contacting Claimants within hours of an accident before the injured party has time to engage any lawyers. It has been said that insurers often say things to the public in their attempt to capture third parties which are not true. Insurers would say that this ultimately saves money in that they won?t then have to pay legal fees. Insurers may play on individuals reluctance to see lawyers and incur costs and individuals may welcome an offer of a couple of thousand pounds at a very early stage. Our experience however is that with even the minor impacts and modest injuries at the outset some unfortunate people do go on to have long term problems and as such may have left themselves woefully under compensated."
Plenty more out there if you do a little grubbing.
Edited by Lygonos on 20/01/2010 at 20:35
|
If the OP follows the advice I offered at 14.13 she won't get into a fix and can take professional advice in her own good time when the nature/scale of damage to her car and any injury is properly known.
|
|
|
|
Thanks for that and thanks to everyone who has given me sensible advice I am now clearer on the course of action I need to take.
|
As your policy includes legal advice I'd ask them for their opinion first.
If they say take it contact the insurers and demand £2,000; they'll almost certainly up their offer to £1,500.
|
|
Thanks, this is what I intend to do just a bit concerned that both parties are same insurance company my thoughts are that there is a conflict of interests or am I just being cynical??
|
A few years back one of my customers was hit by a drunk driver (who was being followed by the BiB).
3/4 days in hospital he came out to an offer of £500 for the banger Escort and £500 for injuries, expenses....... He was off sick for 3 weeks in in total. The employer limit on sickness benefit was 4 weeks pay maximum.
He was so strapped for cash he took it immediately instead of taking/arguing over the value of the car and then settling his injuries at a later date. Effectively the Ins Co threatened to starve him into taking their offer, hold back settling car value till injury ££s agreed.
Cheque was there in under 1 week but he should have consulted his lawyer. However he could not afford the delays - even if only a few weeks!
|
|
OG - way off beam. In no way even begin to negotiate any compensation at this stage.
To repeat what was said above
"Our experience however is that with even the minor impacts and modest injuries at the outset some unfortunate people do go on to have long term problems and as such may have left themselves woefully under compensated."
Accept an offer now and the OP is stuffed should things get worse.
My sister didn't do anything about personal injury compo until some months afterwards when she was happy that she was OK.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
