Another Rear Ended Insurance Q
Discussion
Hi all,
last night my car, parked on the road outside my house, was rear-ended. There is significant damage to the rear qtr:
the blue plastic at the bottom of the photo is part of the other car which has significant damage to the front nearside:
I think it is likely both cars will be written off.
I have details of the 3rd party, who has admitted the collision with my car, and details of a witness who saw the kia drive off, and intercepted him further up the road.
What's the best approach here? Should I inform my insurers and let them deal with it, or is it better to deal with the 3rd party's insurers directly?
If it is written off what's the likely timescale to receive the payment? I don't have another car and will need to find another fairly quickly.
Thanks.
last night my car, parked on the road outside my house, was rear-ended. There is significant damage to the rear qtr:
the blue plastic at the bottom of the photo is part of the other car which has significant damage to the front nearside:
I think it is likely both cars will be written off.
I have details of the 3rd party, who has admitted the collision with my car, and details of a witness who saw the kia drive off, and intercepted him further up the road.
What's the best approach here? Should I inform my insurers and let them deal with it, or is it better to deal with the 3rd party's insurers directly?
If it is written off what's the likely timescale to receive the payment? I don't have another car and will need to find another fairly quickly.
Thanks.
Edited by alfaspud on Sunday 30th October 11:21
alfaspud said:
What's the best approach here? Should I inform my insurers and let them deal with it, or is it better to deal with the 3rd party's insurers directly?
If it is written off what's the likely timescale to receive the payment? I don't have another car and will need to find another fairly quickly.
Inform your insurers, you pay them to deal with all the hassle.If it is written off what's the likely timescale to receive the payment? I don't have another car and will need to find another fairly quickly.
Timescale - length of a piece of string.
Ref a car meanwhile - that is what you pay for a courtesy car for/what your insurer will get the 3rd party to pay for.
I would use your own insurer, the other driver had apparantly tried to drive off at rhe scene so I wouldn't be 100% confident they will assist their insurer quickly either.
Your own insurer should be able to get you a courtesy car and I would expect to receive an offer of settlement in around a week to 10 days, assuming you accept the offer they pay out pretty quickly in my experience.
Your own insurer should be able to get you a courtesy car and I would expect to receive an offer of settlement in around a week to 10 days, assuming you accept the offer they pay out pretty quickly in my experience.
Start off with your own insurer - if the other driver isn't insured you get things sorted out.
If the other driver is actually insured you can expect a call from their insurer asking if they can handle the claim.
There is no doubt about who was at fault here and it is in the at-fault insuresr's interest to keep their costs down so they want to get the claim sorted as quickly as possible without involving accident management companies and credit hire cars (not the same as a courtesy car).
If their insurer contacts you, just go ahead with what the suggest.
If the other driver is actually insured you can expect a call from their insurer asking if they can handle the claim.
There is no doubt about who was at fault here and it is in the at-fault insuresr's interest to keep their costs down so they want to get the claim sorted as quickly as possible without involving accident management companies and credit hire cars (not the same as a courtesy car).
If their insurer contacts you, just go ahead with what the suggest.
ellingtj said:
Before taking that loan car please educate yourself on 'Credit Hire' and the personal risk you may be taking on.
That risk only applies if it's your own insurer that is providing the credit hire car and hopes to claim the costs back from the third party insurer. As alfaspud has said that the third party insurer is accepting liability there is no risk here - they are paying.Where the fault is obvious there is no risk whatsover about this.
douglasb said:
ellingtj said:
Before taking that loan car please educate yourself on 'Credit Hire' and the personal risk you may be taking on.
That risk only applies if it's your own insurer that is providing the credit hire car and hopes to claim the costs back from the third party insurer. As alfaspud has said that the third party insurer is accepting liability there is no risk here - they are paying.Where the fault is obvious there is no risk whatsover about this.
jondude said:
I think you still have to inform your insurers anyhow - which may be best in case you do not like how the other office deal with matters. If you do not tell your insurers and later go to them, they may throw a wobbly.
Thanks, you're quite right - the policy doc for my insurance states that they should be made aware even if I'm not claiming from them, and I called them this afternoon to do that. I'd have informed them anyway in case there was any issue with the 3rd party.Always go through insurance, inform your own insurers.
I was rear ended nearly four years ago, was sitting in traffic stationary and these
in a Skoda fiddling with his screen slammed right into me. He admitted liability and gave me his details and I decided as it was the week before Xmas I'd let him pay to fix it outside of insurance. He damaged the Bumper damaged and rear quarter and arch liner, got it buttoned up for £300.
I phoned the doctor next day I couldn't move, like literally couldn't walk and the pain was off the scale. Doctor tells me get down to A&E, several scans later I've got L5S1 damage and after dozens of scans, X-Ray, MRI, CT bone scans I'm told I need spinal fusion surgery. So I'm 100% fit before the accident and the day after I'm fking disabled in pain, then we have nerve damage etc. I got signed off work a few days later and four year later I'm still waiting for surgery. My life has been on hold, I've missed weddings, birthdays, important events.
I went to a solicitor a month later and he got the ball rolling on a claim, he sent me for scans, reports etc. Now this is where it gets ugly, the guy who admitted liability and who I'd done a good turn not shopping him to the police and not going through insurance goes and tells his insurance company that he slammed into me, but believes he didn't cause the spinal injury. So my solicitor has been showing them four massive folders of evidence to show otherwise including several reports by chief neuros and spinal surgeons and they are still playing hard ball.
So nearly four years later I'm still waiting for spinal surgery and I'm still waiting to go to court because my solicitor wants me to have the fusion surgery to see how I'll recover. In that time his insurer has offered nothing. It's a fking nightmare. Loss of earnings are easily £100k, can't walk at all within being in pain and can't walk further than a few metres without being exhausted. I played 5 a side 2-3 a week before the accident, now I can't even kick a ball.
So my advice again is go through insurance and don't do anyone any favours because it'll come back and bite you. I'm in no doubt if I'd reported him to the police and informed Both his and my insurer from the start I wouldn't be in the position I am now.
I was rear ended nearly four years ago, was sitting in traffic stationary and these
in a Skoda fiddling with his screen slammed right into me. He admitted liability and gave me his details and I decided as it was the week before Xmas I'd let him pay to fix it outside of insurance. He damaged the Bumper damaged and rear quarter and arch liner, got it buttoned up for £300.I phoned the doctor next day I couldn't move, like literally couldn't walk and the pain was off the scale. Doctor tells me get down to A&E, several scans later I've got L5S1 damage and after dozens of scans, X-Ray, MRI, CT bone scans I'm told I need spinal fusion surgery. So I'm 100% fit before the accident and the day after I'm f
king disabled in pain, then we have nerve damage etc. I got signed off work a few days later and four year later I'm still waiting for surgery. My life has been on hold, I've missed weddings, birthdays, important events.I went to a solicitor a month later and he got the ball rolling on a claim, he sent me for scans, reports etc. Now this is where it gets ugly, the guy who admitted liability and who I'd done a good turn not shopping him to the police and not going through insurance goes and tells his insurance company that he slammed into me, but believes he didn't cause the spinal injury. So my solicitor has been showing them four massive folders of evidence to show otherwise including several reports by chief neuros and spinal surgeons and they are still playing hard ball.
So nearly four years later I'm still waiting for spinal surgery and I'm still waiting to go to court because my solicitor wants me to have the fusion surgery to see how I'll recover. In that time his insurer has offered nothing. It's a f
king nightmare. Loss of earnings are easily £100k, can't walk at all within being in pain and can't walk further than a few metres without being exhausted. I played 5 a side 2-3 a week before the accident, now I can't even kick a ball.So my advice again is go through insurance and don't do anyone any favours because it'll come back and bite you. I'm in no doubt if I'd reported him to the police and informed Both his and my insurer from the start I wouldn't be in the position I am now.
Edited by sutoka on Tuesday 1st November 06:45
Edited by sutoka on Tuesday 1st November 06:47
You have done as advised above. Always go through insurance.
And for others, don't accept a settlement on an injury claim until you are really sure the injury is fully healed (I spent many many hours in A&E with my daughter for a number of years after she has accepted a settlement and her dislocation issue turned out to be worse than she first thought).
Also, the offer to you on writing off your car is just that - an offer. It is a negotiation, so do your research on what you would expect to pay to replace your car. Collect printouts off Autotrader etc and be polite but firm. Particularly if your car was a low milage example with lots of extras. They have to put you back in the poistion you were in before the accident.
And for others, don't accept a settlement on an injury claim until you are really sure the injury is fully healed (I spent many many hours in A&E with my daughter for a number of years after she has accepted a settlement and her dislocation issue turned out to be worse than she first thought).
Also, the offer to you on writing off your car is just that - an offer. It is a negotiation, so do your research on what you would expect to pay to replace your car. Collect printouts off Autotrader etc and be polite but firm. Particularly if your car was a low milage example with lots of extras. They have to put you back in the poistion you were in before the accident.
alfaspud said:
That's right - the 3rd party's claims management co made it clear to me that the hire car would not be under "Credit Hire", and the documentation confirms the car hire company are directly billing the 3rd party insurer - at a rate significantly less than the rates shown in the article.
Cool, that's all good. A friend of mine got caught out by the credit hire crap. Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff