Ongoing Insurance claim saga
Discussion
I wonder whether I can seek some advice from anyone who may know more about such things than I do.
At the end of July this year I was driving to work in lane 2 of a dual carriageway doing c.60 – 65 mph. The weather conditions were dry with excellent visibility. A car joined the dual carriageway from the left as I continued in lane 2. He joined lane 1 (without indication) and almost immediately started to move out into lane 2 (again no indication).
I had no time to react apart from slamming the brakes on and hoping for the best. Unfortunately it was too late and both cars came into contact. My NSF wing / door and his OSR quarter panel were damaged. The resultant impact also span my car across 2 carriageways finally coming to rest half on the verge facing oncoming traffic. This also damaged my OSR suspension.
After changing my pants we exchanged details. I remained remarkably calm to be honest and he was very quiet not saying too much but never actually admitted liability.
My car needed to be recovered so I informed my insurance, was given a courtesy vehicle and my car was repaired after about 4 weeks. To release the vehicle I had to pay an excess of £650. Ouch!!!
Within about 2 hours of the accident I returned to the scene to take photos and also wrote a 10 page ‘sequence of events’. I even annotated a google earth image and sent all this off to my insurers to support the claim.
Fast forward to today. I have just received a letter from solicitors representing the third party in connection to ‘losses sustained as a result of the accident’ and also stating that these ‘losses were caused as a result of my negligent driving’….. WTF!!!!
A call to my ins co this morning and they have advised me to ignore the letter and send them a copy which I have done.
So what do I do now?? Do I seek legal advice or just let the ins co thrash it out? I did think about going round his house with a big stick but that’s probably not a good idea.
Points to note.
1. There were no independent witnesses to the accident.
2. It is very clear to me that I did nothing wrong that morning and it would appear that he pulled out on me without looking.
3. I do not have legal protection.
4. My ins co have been pretty inept to date to be honest and I’ve had to chase them for updates etc
5. I have never been involved in any form of ins claim before so am totally lost as to the process and why things are taking so long.
6. The police did not attend the scene of the accident.
7. I attended the local A&E dept on the following Monday (happened on the Friday) after spending the weekend laid up with neck / shoulder pain. Diagnosis from the hospital was confirmed as a whiplash injury.
8. I have considerable uninsured losses that I’d like to recover. My excess for example!!
Cheers
Jim
At the end of July this year I was driving to work in lane 2 of a dual carriageway doing c.60 – 65 mph. The weather conditions were dry with excellent visibility. A car joined the dual carriageway from the left as I continued in lane 2. He joined lane 1 (without indication) and almost immediately started to move out into lane 2 (again no indication).
I had no time to react apart from slamming the brakes on and hoping for the best. Unfortunately it was too late and both cars came into contact. My NSF wing / door and his OSR quarter panel were damaged. The resultant impact also span my car across 2 carriageways finally coming to rest half on the verge facing oncoming traffic. This also damaged my OSR suspension.
After changing my pants we exchanged details. I remained remarkably calm to be honest and he was very quiet not saying too much but never actually admitted liability.
My car needed to be recovered so I informed my insurance, was given a courtesy vehicle and my car was repaired after about 4 weeks. To release the vehicle I had to pay an excess of £650. Ouch!!!
Within about 2 hours of the accident I returned to the scene to take photos and also wrote a 10 page ‘sequence of events’. I even annotated a google earth image and sent all this off to my insurers to support the claim.
Fast forward to today. I have just received a letter from solicitors representing the third party in connection to ‘losses sustained as a result of the accident’ and also stating that these ‘losses were caused as a result of my negligent driving’….. WTF!!!!
A call to my ins co this morning and they have advised me to ignore the letter and send them a copy which I have done.
So what do I do now?? Do I seek legal advice or just let the ins co thrash it out? I did think about going round his house with a big stick but that’s probably not a good idea.
Points to note.
1. There were no independent witnesses to the accident.
2. It is very clear to me that I did nothing wrong that morning and it would appear that he pulled out on me without looking.
3. I do not have legal protection.
4. My ins co have been pretty inept to date to be honest and I’ve had to chase them for updates etc
5. I have never been involved in any form of ins claim before so am totally lost as to the process and why things are taking so long.
6. The police did not attend the scene of the accident.
7. I attended the local A&E dept on the following Monday (happened on the Friday) after spending the weekend laid up with neck / shoulder pain. Diagnosis from the hospital was confirmed as a whiplash injury.
8. I have considerable uninsured losses that I’d like to recover. My excess for example!!
Cheers
Jim
MoonMonkey said:
Within about 2 hours of the accident I returned to the scene to take photos and also wrote a 10 page ‘sequence of events’. I even annotated a google earth image and sent all this off to my insurers to support the claim.
This is very much to your advantage. In January my wife was involved in a similar kind of accident (elderly myopic third party lane change into n/s front of our 350Z), albeit at lower speeds and on a roundabout.I attended the scene with my camera as it was close to home and took all sorts of pictures, and helped her write a statement of fact as soon as we got home, and located some google earth images. We engaged The Accident Exchange to deal with it, but it took about 4/5 letters to them each time with the full statement/pics attached before the 3rd party insurers capitulated and settled (two weeks ago).
Your insurers should deal with it, but keep at them. Be firm, and do not let them settle 50/50.
Chances are the 3rd party have not been so dilligent at documenting things and have concoted a differing view. In our case, thier statement was I was quite convinced some other accident they had caused!
Good luck!
I am sorry to say this but you are stuffed.
This is going to go 50/50.
Without witnesses you are up shit creek.
I was driving in the outside lane of a dual carriageway and I came off a roundabout . Legal speed.
I was driving in the outside lane because there were two cars ahead in the left lane.
As I drew alongside the rear of these cars he pulled out to overtake the car infront of him.
He hadn't previously signalled before I got to where I was.
He just swept out .
I braked and swerved and went into the cetral reservation armco causing heaps of damage to my car.
His reg was easy to remember as it was a private plate.
The police followed him up and located him however because I had swung away from him to avoid the collision he didn't have a mark on his car and just denied being there.
result.... I lost all my no claims and had months of trouble getting my car fixed.
I know in your case you had contact and he couldn't claim not to be involved.
However the net result is that without witnesses you will be screwed. you may at least get 50/50 which still screws your no claims so is no help either.
Its a fact of life unfortunately that in a lot of accidents the lack of witnesses means many pillocks get off when they shouldn't.
Any CCTV or traffic cameras covering that road?
This is going to go 50/50.
Without witnesses you are up shit creek.
I was driving in the outside lane of a dual carriageway and I came off a roundabout . Legal speed.
I was driving in the outside lane because there were two cars ahead in the left lane.
As I drew alongside the rear of these cars he pulled out to overtake the car infront of him.
He hadn't previously signalled before I got to where I was.
He just swept out .
I braked and swerved and went into the cetral reservation armco causing heaps of damage to my car.
His reg was easy to remember as it was a private plate.
The police followed him up and located him however because I had swung away from him to avoid the collision he didn't have a mark on his car and just denied being there.
result.... I lost all my no claims and had months of trouble getting my car fixed.
I know in your case you had contact and he couldn't claim not to be involved.
However the net result is that without witnesses you will be screwed. you may at least get 50/50 which still screws your no claims so is no help either.
Its a fact of life unfortunately that in a lot of accidents the lack of witnesses means many pillocks get off when they shouldn't.
Any CCTV or traffic cameras covering that road?
Edited by mark69sheer on Thursday 1st November 14:57
anonymous said:
[redacted]
another vote for europa consultants here!quick sorted everything out, got the job sorted, got me a hire car, got the other guys statment admitting liability, everything.
called me everyday to update, well worth it.
they can only help if its not your fualt though.
mark69sheer said:
I am sorry to say this but you are stuffed.
This is going to go 50/50.
Without witnesses you are up shit creek.
Absolute rubbish.This is going to go 50/50.
Without witnesses you are up shit creek.
There were no witnesses to my Wife's accident and the third party made all sorts of claims about her speeding (massive conclusion jumped to there: young woman in powerful car = must have been speeding), yet it was settled entirely in her favour.
mark69sheer said:
...However the net result is that without witnesses you will be screwed. you may at least get 50/50 which still screws your no claims so is no help either.
I would disagree with that from legal and personal experience. The insurance companies will first of all claim 100% against the other party as an 'opening gambit' just so when they send a standard letter between themselves 50/50 looks reasonable.In that situation they are both left with the scenario that over all of their claims the law of averages will mean that the costs will be evened out - so 50/50 to them is fine, and why spend the admin or legal costs looking into the case further, its just loss of profit to them!
You just need to stand your ground and literally hound them - and make it quite clear that you are not going to accept anything less than a 100% cliam in your favour and you are willing to go to court to prove it.
Court is of course the endgame in all of this which is almost always avoided. This is due to the fact that there is tons and tons of case law around most driving situations. What happens is each party raises the stakes towards court until one party - often the one who is less sure of their claim backs down and pays up.
From what the OP has said, the Highway Code is on his side and enough evidence of negligence for the case to be 100% in his favour. In the case I follwed up for my partner it took exactly a year to get teh excess back, basically because although the other party put up a seeming strong defence to start with, and his insurance company did their job in trying to expand it to 50/50 as soon as it was escalated, case law was quoted, and the fact that we were 100% willing to go to court they backed down.
My advice would be if you don't have the experience, to get someone like anniesdad to help, its a minefield, but one which can be got through.
Obviously the answer here is that you are in the lap of the gods.
As proven by other parties posts it is possible to win a case like this.
My experience therefore is not relevant.
My experience is limited I must admit because I have never been in collision with another car I only have experience of what happens without witnesses.
As proven by other parties posts it is possible to win a case like this.
My experience therefore is not relevant.
My experience is limited I must admit because I have never been in collision with another car I only have experience of what happens without witnesses.
Edited by mark69sheer on Thursday 1st November 15:25
mark69sheer said:
Obviously the answer here is that you are in the lap of the gods.
As proven by other parties posts it is possible to win a case like this.
My experience therefore is not relevant.
My experience is limited I must admit because I have never been in collision with another car I only have experience of what happens without witnesses.
Your experience is relevant certainly in your scenario - you did all you could.As proven by other parties posts it is possible to win a case like this.
My experience therefore is not relevant.
My experience is limited I must admit because I have never been in collision with another car I only have experience of what happens without witnesses.
Edited by mark69sheer on Thursday 1st November 15:25
The difference is in your case it is hypothetically possible for you to crash your car with no-one involved then pick a car at random to blame. If the police go round and the owner of the car pleads ignorance then you are stuck.
Your insurance company had no other choice, but to just take it on the chin as realistically with no evidence and the other party pleading ignorance to the police already, even if they went thought the cost of going to court their chance of winning is zero.
- Non regulated professional advice *
Right,
Providing :
You did not change lane, direction or speed
you weren't speeding (remember its the third parties (TP) word against yours, and guilty until proven innocent and all that)
It was on a straight piece of road
The TP came off a sliproad (which you've said is what happened)
THEN
You can expect to make a full recovery. Don't let the bastards go, under any circumstances. Don't accept a 50/50 - you were NOT in the wrong
My personal, unregulated advice is to get hold of a chap called Chris Lodge. He's one of the countries leading solicitors in these sorts of matters, and should see you high and dry.
I've worked with him on a number of occasions, recovering big claims for Lambos, Ferraris etc, and I couldnt recommend someone better in the market.
His number is: 01622 356000. He works for ASB aspire LLP. Tell him Jack referred you.
You were driving reasonably. Don't take no for an answer.
Take care
Jack
Just out of interest and to refresh my memory of speed limits, are you sure it was a dual carriageway or was it a 4 lane road?
From your description you spun across the two lanes coming towards you but you didn't mention plowing through armco/trees/shrubbery to get there.
IIRC NSL on 4-lanes is 60 but 70 on a DC, which could be important to your case.
From your description you spun across the two lanes coming towards you but you didn't mention plowing through armco/trees/shrubbery to get there.
IIRC NSL on 4-lanes is 60 but 70 on a DC, which could be important to your case.
@Bedford Rascal - thanks for the heads up. Will look into it.
@JackHolroyde - many thanks for the contact no. I think I need to take this further and not just rely on the ins co to sort this out in my favour!!
To answer your questions Jack:
Thanks agin fellas.
@JackHolroyde - many thanks for the contact no. I think I need to take this further and not just rely on the ins co to sort this out in my favour!!
To answer your questions Jack:
JackHolroyde said:
You did not change lane, direction or speed
No, I remained in lane 2 throughout. Apart from the foot or so my OS tyres went onto the grass of the central reservation trying to avoid the collision (I have a photo of my tyremarks too)JackHolroyde said:
you weren't speeding (remember its the third parties (TP) word against yours, and guilty until proven innocent and all that)
There is an approaching r/about (one of those big jobbies over motorways) a few hundred yards ahead so I was slowing down if anything. I can't be 100% sure of my speed at the time of impact but had the roof down (S2000) and I'd just put my side windows up as it gets a wee bit windy at about 60mph.JackHolroyde said:
It was on a straight piece of road
The TP came off a sliproad (which you've said is what happened)
The road follows a slight arc I suppose but plenty of visibility etc. The TP definately came off the slip road. He even admitted to me in conversation that he heads south bound on the motorway on his way to work. He would have to be in lane 2 at the R/about if going southbound so there was intent. I mentioned this in my report.The TP came off a sliproad (which you've said is what happened)
Thanks agin fellas.
walm said:
Sorry, ignore my post.
Obviously a DC.
No, it's a good point. There's a central reservation so I assumed it's classed as a DC. Here's a google earth piccie. I've left the decent one I sent to the ins co at work so quickly knocked this one up. Apologies for the amateurish nature but you get the idea.Obviously a DC.
http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=accidentl...
I didn't actually cross the central reservation just span across the 2 lanes in my direction of travel. Sorry if that wasn't clear
Edited by MoonMonkey on Thursday 1st November 17:06
Edited by MoonMonkey on Thursday 1st November 17:08
Just to further expand on my learned friend's troubles (How's the ST by the way J ? 
)
The road in question has a large roundabout (A1M J 60 with A689) approximately 200metres from the right side of that picture.
Cars exiting the Ferryhill turning (junction as shown) frequently shoot straight out and into the outside lane to turn right and head South on the A1M which is clearly what happened in this case
If this goes 50/50 it's a joke.
)The road in question has a large roundabout (A1M J 60 with A689) approximately 200metres from the right side of that picture.
Cars exiting the Ferryhill turning (junction as shown) frequently shoot straight out and into the outside lane to turn right and head South on the A1M which is clearly what happened in this case
If this goes 50/50 it's a joke.
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