Just been rear ended...
Discussion
Morning PH! Just been rear ended by a white van driver and looking for advice on getting this sorted out with minimum hassle and with the best chance of leaving me in the position I was in before the incident.
I was stopped behind a queue of traffic and the van behind me didn't see that I had stopped and crashed into the back of me at 20-30mph. I braked gradually to a stop, almost as you would when approaching a red traffic light. Thankfully I'd left a decent distance to the car in front so it was only the van and myself involved. We exchanged details and took photos. No witnesses stopped.
Van is company owned and insured - currently waiting for the details of the insurance from the company that owns the van. My car is worth about £2k and damage is to the rear bumper and tailgate. There is some deformation inside the boot and one of the rear lights is pushed in slightly but not smashed. Van dropped its coolant and my boot still closes and locks - testament to Skoda build quality! My neck is a bit sore at the moment but I'm not in agonising pain or anything.
Phoned 101 and they said I need to report it in person at a police station, so I will do that later today. I'm insured fully comp with Admiral. I will need a courtesy car as I use it for work.
As I see it the options are as follows:
1. Claim from my insurer, pay my excess and they pursue the other party.
2. Inform my insurer of the accident but claim from the other party's insurance company.
3. Instruct an accident management company to sort it out for me.
Not too sure on what the pros and cons are of each option so advice on this will be much appreciated.
Please don't let this turn this into a debate about whiplash claims, equivalent courtesy cars and insurance premium inflation due to accident management companies!
I was stopped behind a queue of traffic and the van behind me didn't see that I had stopped and crashed into the back of me at 20-30mph. I braked gradually to a stop, almost as you would when approaching a red traffic light. Thankfully I'd left a decent distance to the car in front so it was only the van and myself involved. We exchanged details and took photos. No witnesses stopped.
Van is company owned and insured - currently waiting for the details of the insurance from the company that owns the van. My car is worth about £2k and damage is to the rear bumper and tailgate. There is some deformation inside the boot and one of the rear lights is pushed in slightly but not smashed. Van dropped its coolant and my boot still closes and locks - testament to Skoda build quality! My neck is a bit sore at the moment but I'm not in agonising pain or anything.
Phoned 101 and they said I need to report it in person at a police station, so I will do that later today. I'm insured fully comp with Admiral. I will need a courtesy car as I use it for work.
As I see it the options are as follows:
1. Claim from my insurer, pay my excess and they pursue the other party.
2. Inform my insurer of the accident but claim from the other party's insurance company.
3. Instruct an accident management company to sort it out for me.
Not too sure on what the pros and cons are of each option so advice on this will be much appreciated.
Please don't let this turn this into a debate about whiplash claims, equivalent courtesy cars and insurance premium inflation due to accident management companies!
Durzel said:
Why weren't you given the details of the insurance at the time?
Company van - the driver didn't know who they were insured with which is fair enough I thought. I've got the details of the company and the driver's home address so I don't expect any problems getting their insurance details.Thanks guys. Just read this:
http://www.civinfo.com/forum/insurance/100879-help...
Doesn't fill me with confidence about Albany!
http://www.civinfo.com/forum/insurance/100879-help...
Doesn't fill me with confidence about Albany!
Have notified my insurance. I have legal cover on my policy too. They said I can claim through them without paying my excess and get given a courtesy car.
At the moment it sounds like the only difference if I go through an AMC is that the other party's insurer will have to pay out more because the AMC are involved.
I think my car will probably be uneconomical to repair (probably 4 figures to repair plus courtesy car costs...) so I expect to have a battle to get a fair value paid out for it. Car is 12 years old with 120k but has had over £1000 spent in the last year, bodywork near mint and only one owner before me.
I went to a reputable body repair garage yesterday who will be sending me a quote for the repairs. If the car gets repaired I would much rather use this garage than somewhere the insurance company would like me to use.
At the moment it sounds like the only difference if I go through an AMC is that the other party's insurer will have to pay out more because the AMC are involved.
I think my car will probably be uneconomical to repair (probably 4 figures to repair plus courtesy car costs...) so I expect to have a battle to get a fair value paid out for it. Car is 12 years old with 120k but has had over £1000 spent in the last year, bodywork near mint and only one owner before me.
I went to a reputable body repair garage yesterday who will be sending me a quote for the repairs. If the car gets repaired I would much rather use this garage than somewhere the insurance company would like me to use.
creampuff said:
TypeRTom said:
crashed into the back of me at 20-30mph. My car is worth about £2k and damage is to the rear bumper and tailgate.
The van may have been going at 20 or 30 beforehand but not at the time of impact. More like 10mph at the time of impact. 
MagneticMeerkat said:
Best approach, at the scene, is to be nice and to avoid the accusatory approach: "Are you all right? Yes? Good; that's the most important thing - everything else is just bits of metal. Shall we find somewhere to discuss this? Great; I'm sorry but I think that was your fault. You agree? Yes, I know it sucks but these things happen. I just need to get your details and guess that you wouldn't mind signing an account of what happened? Good, it's just for my insurance company"
Yeah that was pretty much my approach - although he's a tool for crashing into me shouting could only make the situation worse. I was just glad he actually stopped and gave details without fuss. His van dropped all its coolant so I don't imagine he'd have got very far up the road anyway!Anyway - latest on the situation is that <some AMC> have sorted a courtesy car for me. I had the quote from the bodyshop on Friday and it was ~£2400 so it seems highly likely that it will be deemed uneconomical to repair. The car is being inspected on Thursday.
Edited by TypeRTom on Tuesday 9th September 18:49
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