on the 23 rd jan i was involved in an accident on the M1 just before the donnington turn off north bound, what happened a german registered artic (left hand drive) did a PIT manouvre on me and then t boned me for about 50 yards down the middle lane ( scared me and the old women half to death) we exchanged details blah blah blah, yesterday i got a quote from a vauxhall dealer for repairs and the chap at vauxhall said i would be lucky if i hear from them again or at least have to wait ages to get it sorted , has any one in the back room had any similar experiences ? thankyou
{edit to correct typo in header}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/02/2008 at 23:53
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Did you get all the details of the lorry, Insurer etc?
Many "Foreign Ins Co have a claims manager type company" that can handle claims against them and you then deal with them in English!
Report the matter to your Ins Co and stay on their trail - note all calls, letters etc date/time etc etc and resume of what was said/discussed, agreed etc.
Do you have Legal Protection Insurance? This again can aid your case, again note all calls, letters dates & times.
Saying it will be long and protracted is probably right - many months.
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unfortunately the driver of the lorry didnt speak a word of english, the traffic cop was getting really cheesed off with him as he tried to tell him to reverse the lorry so that i could extract my car to the hard shoulder, ive got all the insurance details , and fortunately an eye witness stopped ( a guy driving the wide load ) and gave me his name and address and is willing to testify the lorry drivers fault, i think there is going to be a delay cause the driver could be tramping round europe plus there is the language barrier too ....fingers crossed its settled soon though
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Would it be feasible to simply impound any foreign lorry that's involved in an accident in the UK until firm insurance, owner, and driver details have been sorted. Even if it's impractical, surely equipping police forces with a basic set of cards printed up in foreign languages that say "Write down your insurance details", and "Move your vehicle to the side of the road", and "'ello, 'ello, 'ello, what have we here, then?"
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If the Police were involved and they were not satisfied about insurance the driver would have been taken to a police station for further investigation.
Also, any regular driver travelling around Europe will be carrying an accident statement report that is in 3 or possibly more languages (usually English French German and Spanish, but I have seen them with other Eastern European languiages too). Why are these not distributed by english insurance companies for use in the event of an accident with a foreign driver? Far more useful than scraps of paper to take details on!
Ever thought what would happen if you were driving abroad and were involved in an accident? It happens over there too you know!
Also, if you are insured fully comp then you are entitled to have your vehicle repaired and the ensuing argument actioned by the insurance company. There should then be no real delay at all?
Edited by yorkiebar on 02/02/2008 at 19:38
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Zookeeper, do please keep us posted in the future as to the way this claim progresses.
I see accidents involving foreign trucks almost every day, and even though i avoid them like the plague, will probably get zapped by one of them in my own car at some point, and i've always wondered what the claim situation would be, cynical me says not good, as the powers that be are not interested.
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unfortunately the driver of the lorry didnt speak a word of english
Can it be intentional?
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I was a witness to a similar accident about 2 1/2 years ago, I was in an artic and stopped to help - I gave my details to both parties involved (french artic and UK car), got a statement form sent from both sets of insurers, the french one did not have an english translation on it so I just photocopied the UK one and sent that with a covering letter!!!!
Never heard any more about it, but it does seem like they do exchange information, so would not worry too much.
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We had a similar accident in 2003 - a turkish registered lorry hit my car (although the accident was much less serious than your experience sounds!)
Similarly in our case we got full details of the driver, his employer, his insurer etc (despite the language barriers).
We then turned this over to our insurers, as well as our solicitors (provided under the legal protection). Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more...
What eventually happened (which is the correct procedure in these cases) is that:
- our insurer repaired our car under our comprehensive policy;
- we paid our excess and lost our NCB;
- the insurer then claimed against the motor insurers' bureau (MIB) - who effectively act as the third party's insurer in such claims;
- our excess was refunded and our NCB reinstated;
- the MIB then claims against their foreign equivalent, who in turn claims from the third party's insurer.
However:
- the insurer and solicitors had no clue about this procedure. They tried at various stages to fob us off by telling us things like "we couldn't trace him" (we gave you his registration, his name and address, the haulier's name, address, phone number, fax number and website address!) "he was uninsured" (well, we've also given you his insurers' details!) "you can't claim against foreign motorists" ,etc;
- in the end, I basically did the claim handling myself - researching the procedure and hassling every week to get it done;
- it took us around 18 months to get the excess refunded and the NCB reinstated.
I hope your insurer is more clued up and a little speedier! If not, I would be happy to offer further advice on my experiences!
Good luck,
A303
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There are a number of factors you must take note of when having an accident with an artic, this concerns all artics not just foreign registered ones.
1. Take a note of the registration of the front of the lorry (tractor)
2. Take a note of the registration of the rear of the lorry (trailer) NOT ALWAYS THE SAME
(the reason is that a separate policy may cover the trailer to the tractor)
3. Make sure you get a green card where one would have been issued (trust me personal experience)
If you have the insurance details of the vehicle (any foreign vehicle not just a truck) you can speed things up yourself by looking at www.mib.org.uk/GreenCard/en/UKReps/default.htm where you can enter the country and the insurance company of the TP and you will find the local rep in the UK who handles the claims.
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hi, room ... i had some damage done to my car 3 months ago when a lorry side swiped me on the M1 luckily me and swmbo came out of it without a scratch .. unfortunately the car didnt, the driver was from Europe as was the lorry Germany in fact .... i sent details to their insurance company , ie photos of damage , quote for repairs , name and address of independent witness ..... i contacted my insurers (they don't want to know) esure if your interested... how long does one wait for these snip to answer , that's if they will , is there a government body i can get in touch with who may help me with my plight? thanks ...zoo
you know why that was snipped
Edited by Pugugly on 23/04/2008 at 08:38
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Insurance is regulated by the Financial services Authority, the FSA. Have a look at their website. Esure is registered. There's an insurance ombudsman to resolve disputes. More rapid might be to tell them you'll write to the financial pages of the Mail on Sunday if they don't help you out.
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Insurance is regulated by the Financial services Authority the FSA. Have a look at their website. Esure is registered. >>
Aye - but it's owned by the Halifax so all cases of intransigence should be totally expected!!
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If it was a certain well known German haulage firm, they might have other things on their minds at the moment. See:
tinyurl.com/685ujs
BIG
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Were you comprehensive or 3rd party only?
In the later case, your insurer won't help you. If comprehensive, they must sort your issue.
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The jag was hit three weeks after I bought it by a Polish lorry, insured in German, polish driver who spoke no english & a little german.
I had to call out plod to get his details, a very helpful traffic officer came out from surrey, moved us somewhere safe then got out his translation folder & a form in triplicate. I filled out the left hand, lorry filled out right hand side & Police do the middle, then we each get a copy.
I had the car repaired by my local paint guy, £535 which I paid. I sent receipt for the work, the form & pics to my legal protection people & exactly a year to the day got a pay out in full from the other party.
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About three years ago my father had his car damaged by a German car driver whilst on holiday up in Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland. It was minor, but expensive (a score along both nearside doors!). The German driver was apologetic and gave all his details.
My father had his car repaired on his own insurance, who promised to 'chase' the German company. My fathers insurer (one of the UK's biggest and best known) then lost interest in his case and deducted a couple of years of NCB. They said it that the German company would not pay up.
My father then sent a copy of the repair invoice together with all the details of the incident and the driver's name etc. to the insurance company in Germany. He wasn't very hopeful of success, it was a last ditch effort. Imagine his amazement when about a month later he got out of the blue a Euro cheque for the repairs and a polite covering letter (in English) !!. This was sent on to the English insurance co who reinstated NCB etc.
I suspect in most cases the UK company just can't be bothered chasing a claim and would rather knock back the NCB.
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I was watching one of those "police camera" progs a few days agfo and when they came across a foreign, non English speaker, they phoned up a number and got someone to speak to the guys and then translate to them... don't they still do that?
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im only tpft so at the minute im doing my own claim without any legal cover unfortunately ... a warning to be had there i suppose , another worry is i have to get the car ready for an MOT in may so i will have to repair the damage as best as i can and hope it passes
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oh! can i add... what really annoys me is the fact me and the misses were so close to being killed and this moron lorry driver will probably get away with it
{slight edit so as not to tar all foreign lorry drivers with the same brush - DD}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 23/04/2008 at 11:18
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