I was recently (Friday) hit from the rear in my 1982 Citroen Dyane. I was sat in a traffic jam, driver behind was tending to her child in the rear seat and hit the o/s/r corner of my car. Upshot of this is that the car is probably an insurance write-off.
I have notified my insurance company, and have subsequently been contacted by angel assistance. There is talk of my agreed value classic car insurance policy - but I am getting confused, since I can't see why my insurance should be involved.
Unfortunately, I don't have the insurance details of the other driver, since it was a company car, and they didnt have the details. I have all the other details of the driver though - and it checks out through royal mail website.
Can anyone offer some advice - should I be getting angel assistance to chase the other insurance company for repairs? Do I have a choice whose insurance this is dealt with? I have two claims in the past 12 months (one attempted theft, one collision - it's not been a good driving year :( ) I dont want another on my record (esp, if my insurance pays out!)
Thanks in advance
|
I think you need to go through your insurance, and if the car is a write off you get the agreed value. Now if the accident is 100% the other persons fault which it clearly is, you get the agreed value and your insurer reclaims the money from the third party.
As this is a no blame accident it should not affect anything. I expect you could claim direct from the third party but if your car is on a classic agreed value policy you will be struggling to get them to pay up the full value without involvement from your insurer or your assistance company.
|
>>As this is a no blame accident it should not affect anything.
A commonly held misconception. Firstly it is no *claim* discount, not no "blame".
>>if the accident is 100% the other persons fault which it clearly is...
You'd think. The other driver goes to her insurance company and says "this lunatic in a Citroen pulled out of a side road in front of me and there was no way I could avoid him". Now who is at fault and who is going to lose money ? Never take anything for granted with motor insurance.
On the other points....
It is pretty much your choice whether you go through your own insurer or the third party insurer.
The normal issue with going through the TP is that it may take you some time to find out that they won't pay up, by which time it is too late to push the claim to your own insurer. *IF* the other driver takes responsibility, and *IF* their insurer says that they will deal with it, then [IMHO only] that would be the best way to go. If you have any doubts in that area, then go with your own insurer. But then you need to make VERY sure that you or they reclaim your excess and other uninsured losses since if that is not done you will probably have this one marked down against you by your insurer.
If you claim through the other insurer, then the value is not likely to be an issue. Technically even your own insurer doesn't guarantee that value, but in practice it is most unlikely that they would differ. A valuation from whatever owners club in your back pocket would be a good idea.
Your next insurance premium is likely to hurt, I'm afraid. I would expect a Classic Car policy to be loaded, even if it is offered. And any claims free driving credits have obviously gone right out of the window.
|
Thanks for the replies.
The other driver got out and apologised continuously, but I read somewhere else on here that that is not always accepted as a acceptance of responsibility.
So, on the face of it, I need to just let the assistance company deal with it - I dont know the other persons insurance details becuase it was a company car. However, I have the rest of their details.
Fingers crossed - but I'll look on the bad side and maybe I'll be surprised when something decent happens.
|
"The other driver got out and apologised continuously, but I read somewhere else on here that that is not always accepted as a acceptance of responsibility"
The facts, as at the time of the accident, rarely survive the passage of time unless you have signed statements or witnesses.
|
Being rear-ended in a traffic jam is obviously the other person's fault - drive at a speed that allows you to stop in the distance you can see to be clear - I learned that in CAR101. Unless they claim the accident happened somewhere else, I can't see how they can get out of this one.
However, it does highlight the importance of carrying a camera of some sort in the car - even a disposable one. If you rear-ended someone you'd want to record the *one* person in the other car and not the 15 who are now claiming whiplash-related injuries.
----
Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
|
Sorry to resurrect this message. This is still ongoing. Car is now in the process of being repaired and I am trying to recover my excess from the third party. However, they are claiming to have no recollection of the accident! No damage to their car, just mine. Since it has taken so long to get to this point, I doubt I'll ever see my excess. Not sure how I would have got a piece of paper with the third parties name address and registration number in their writing without them hitting me.
I have one reluctant witness, who I doubt will remember it either. Just leaves me with an extra claim an extra #200 on top of my insurance renewal this year.
Wish I'd had a camera now (luckily have just changed my mobile phone for a camera one!).
|
I thought you had decided to let the legal assistance company chase it for you. What happened to that ?
As it is a company car, write to the company. Not that they will do anything insofar as paying you is concerned, but that sort of embarassment goes down very badly in the office and they are likely to "jog the memory" of the driver concerned and help him/her to see the advantages of dealing with it promptly.
|
yes, the legal assistance just received a nudge when I called to ask them what was happening. They are now sending a form out for some reason or other. I guess it is for me to agree to go to court (oh yes...).
Thanks, I may have to resort to that!
|
I had a similar bump a few years back - not a classic car but a 2 week old one.
3rd party admitted liability at the scene but then changed their mind later on in the day - no damage to their car - they were not involved!!
21 mths later - on the eve of the court hearing (I had paid £15 for legal assistance and was well advised by the lawyer to sue) the driver took cold feet over appearing in a court of law, changed their recollection of events and admitted liability.
Even if you do not have legal cover a £30 letter from your local lawyer threatening court action (even if it is only the small claims court) might be enough to put the "frighteners on the driver"
|
|
|
About 25 years ago a 'friend' of mine had his particularly nice sports car dented by an idiot in an old Viva who reveresed into him (back window covered in frost).
The other driver initially agreed it was his fault, agreed to sort everything out, etc etc. When it came to it, the other driver claimed accident had not happened (even though there was a big dent in the back of his car) etc etc. My friend tried to reason with the other chap, but he wasn't having any of it.
At this point my friend got very annoyed. So, in the early hours of the morning, he went round to the other driver's house with a few 'big' mates who worked in a garage with him. They systematically smashed all the glass (inc lamp lenses) on this chap's car and then legged it in different directions. Made my friend feel a lot better....
|
I'm not annoyed as such with the accident - just the decency of people these days. I hit someones car in a car park, i left a note with my details and everything was sorted out. One of my cars still has a dent in the front wing where someone did the same to me, but didn't leave their details.
I will pursue this - I have legal cover so it won't cost anything to me (and when I renewed I made sure that legal cover was included). Maybe the person is being honest - could have been a ringed car etc. But I guess time will tell.
The idea of taking vengance doesn't appeal, and I wouldn't/couldn't go through with it, I'd never get any sleep! I worried about this for long enough, and it wasn't my fault! However, I can see how it might make one feel better!
|
|
|
|
|
Luck of the draw as to who hits you. My daughter had same situation two years ago down to also driving an elderly Citroen uneconomic to repair but perfectly drivable (it passed the MoT next day!). In her case, the other female driver owned up and the companies (Tesco and Zurich) sorted it all out with no effect on daughter's no claim bonus, allowing her to move up to a Peugeot GTI without problem. You probably already know that you can buy the written-off car from whichever insurance company wiould otherwise take possession. Her settlement offer took account of this and we broke it for spares for another Citroen.
|
|
The idea of suggested earlier of "an idiot pulling out in front of you, you hitting the back of them and that being any kind of excuse" failed miserably for me. Preciely that happened, I went into the back of them, CPS did me for due care, four points and £350 thank you.
|
My wife had an idiot in a BMW go into the front wing of her Minor while she was stationary at a roundabout. He offered to pay etc etc, but seemed too keen to do so. So we put it through our classic insurance. They coughed up for repairs at a Minor specialist, the legal cover insurance chased and got the excess back and the next year's premium was the same £77. Apparently they had some trouble with the other guy but I never did get the whole story. I was happy to let the insurance company do what they are paid for.
Take a bow - Footman James.
|
|
|
|
