First timer - been crashed in to...
Discussion
Hi all - hoping that your collective knowledge can help me out in a time of need!
I was returning back home from a visit to Shell recently, 19:30 approx at night, it was light but the weather was showery.
Approaching a 4 way junction with lights at each point (mine were on red) I was slowing down and doing approx 10-15 mph as I was 25-35 metres from the light and I tend to engine brake and slowly come to a stop up to traffic lights as opposed to driving and then braking hard.
It is at this point I notice an old grey/beige fiesta come round the corner coming from my right hand side at the junction in front of me(her lights were on green) and turning left to end up on the road I am crawling towards the lights on. Now this road is not narrow - 3 cars could fit side by side quite easily.
She is travelling around 20-30 mph and she is a good 5 seconds away from my car when I hold my horn down as over half of her car is in my lane (face looking down at lap, face lit up...) I am centimetres from the curb and a rather large tree as I had edged away as much as possible, until the point when she finally bothers looking up from her lap - the moment of impact. She still didn't react however, she didnt turn away from my car until she had hit the rear wheelarch all the way from the front bumper.
She then proceeded to carry on driving - which made me instantly do a 3 point turn to catch her, not wanting to be left with the bill for damage and no details of a possibly uninsured driver. She did actually stop when she saw me turn round - I don't know if she was going to stop if I hadnt turned round but she certainly didnt slow down at all till then.
She was apologetic but being very vague at the scene when I stated things like you do know you were in the wrong lane, why were you looking down at your lap etc. She said she was sorry but then said 'oh I don't know whos fault it was, you must have been pretty close to my lane too...' and would say no more before consulting with someone on her phone.
Its currently being dealt with by the insurance companies as the incident occured on friday, my insurance co. informed me theyd try and get in touch with her over the weekend and if no response from her by monday then they would take it up with her insurance company directly.
Now I have two things im wondering about really which I was hoping you guys could help with.
There is a traffic surveillance type camera directly above the traffic light - and no matter how grainy this footage is, it would definitely show her at complete fault (and driving without due care and attention...) if I could get hold of the footage. What is the procedure for trying to acquire this? or even just ask for the insurance companies to have permission to see it or something.
Second question, my car is a Mazda 6 MPS (a rather long car compared to an old Fiesta) and having not been in an accident before in my driving career I am wondering how this works nowadays - will the insurance roll over and say 50:50 once she denies it was her fault? As I am assuming she will do. I ask this as it is very blatant if they come to inspect the cars (or even just look at pictures) what has actually happened and who is at fault. She was in a lighter car travelling much faster than me as I had almost come to a stop. Her car lost the wing mirror and has just one single large dent - her drivers wheel arch and front wing. My car has damage starting from the front bumper, front wing and front alloy, multiple dents along both the drivers side doors, drivers side doors also now both out of allignment - the front lets water in as this is where most of the impact was. The rear wheel arch is also dented and paint has been taken off down to the metal from the front wing through to the rear, my sideskirt was ripped off, wing mirror taken off and lots of other plastic trim on the doors has become loose. The sill of the car is actually also dented which I didn't immediately notice until I was investigating how much the drivers door had dropped.
Anyway sorry for rambling on I have a tendency to do that - TLDR - short version:
1) Will I be able to access CCTV (I presume council) footage if it would aid massively in proving fault in a crash,
2) Will insurance companies in this day and age just flop over and go for 50:50 as opposed to looking at the physical evidence if no one accepts liability?
I can post pics if it helps (although since she wasn't stopping and i'd turned round, the pictures aren't of the crash positions - just damage of the two cars) but thanks in advance for any help.
I am really hoping to not get shafted with a 50:50 result here and am really kicking myself that there is no witnesses. It dreams me to think that if I wasn't there she would have continued to swerve / drift onto the pavement in a built up residential area - could have been anyone on the pavement she may ended up hitting.
I may be a bit naive regarding how insurance works nowadays, but i'm hoping that the insurance company will at least inspect the damage and stories properly and realise that there is only one way this could have happened.
Thanks in advance for any help - sorry for rambling on!
Cheers guys.
I was returning back home from a visit to Shell recently, 19:30 approx at night, it was light but the weather was showery.
Approaching a 4 way junction with lights at each point (mine were on red) I was slowing down and doing approx 10-15 mph as I was 25-35 metres from the light and I tend to engine brake and slowly come to a stop up to traffic lights as opposed to driving and then braking hard.
It is at this point I notice an old grey/beige fiesta come round the corner coming from my right hand side at the junction in front of me(her lights were on green) and turning left to end up on the road I am crawling towards the lights on. Now this road is not narrow - 3 cars could fit side by side quite easily.
She is travelling around 20-30 mph and she is a good 5 seconds away from my car when I hold my horn down as over half of her car is in my lane (face looking down at lap, face lit up...) I am centimetres from the curb and a rather large tree as I had edged away as much as possible, until the point when she finally bothers looking up from her lap - the moment of impact. She still didn't react however, she didnt turn away from my car until she had hit the rear wheelarch all the way from the front bumper.
She then proceeded to carry on driving - which made me instantly do a 3 point turn to catch her, not wanting to be left with the bill for damage and no details of a possibly uninsured driver. She did actually stop when she saw me turn round - I don't know if she was going to stop if I hadnt turned round but she certainly didnt slow down at all till then.
She was apologetic but being very vague at the scene when I stated things like you do know you were in the wrong lane, why were you looking down at your lap etc. She said she was sorry but then said 'oh I don't know whos fault it was, you must have been pretty close to my lane too...' and would say no more before consulting with someone on her phone.
Its currently being dealt with by the insurance companies as the incident occured on friday, my insurance co. informed me theyd try and get in touch with her over the weekend and if no response from her by monday then they would take it up with her insurance company directly.
Now I have two things im wondering about really which I was hoping you guys could help with.
There is a traffic surveillance type camera directly above the traffic light - and no matter how grainy this footage is, it would definitely show her at complete fault (and driving without due care and attention...) if I could get hold of the footage. What is the procedure for trying to acquire this? or even just ask for the insurance companies to have permission to see it or something.
Second question, my car is a Mazda 6 MPS (a rather long car compared to an old Fiesta) and having not been in an accident before in my driving career I am wondering how this works nowadays - will the insurance roll over and say 50:50 once she denies it was her fault? As I am assuming she will do. I ask this as it is very blatant if they come to inspect the cars (or even just look at pictures) what has actually happened and who is at fault. She was in a lighter car travelling much faster than me as I had almost come to a stop. Her car lost the wing mirror and has just one single large dent - her drivers wheel arch and front wing. My car has damage starting from the front bumper, front wing and front alloy, multiple dents along both the drivers side doors, drivers side doors also now both out of allignment - the front lets water in as this is where most of the impact was. The rear wheel arch is also dented and paint has been taken off down to the metal from the front wing through to the rear, my sideskirt was ripped off, wing mirror taken off and lots of other plastic trim on the doors has become loose. The sill of the car is actually also dented which I didn't immediately notice until I was investigating how much the drivers door had dropped.
Anyway sorry for rambling on I have a tendency to do that - TLDR - short version:
1) Will I be able to access CCTV (I presume council) footage if it would aid massively in proving fault in a crash,
2) Will insurance companies in this day and age just flop over and go for 50:50 as opposed to looking at the physical evidence if no one accepts liability?
I can post pics if it helps (although since she wasn't stopping and i'd turned round, the pictures aren't of the crash positions - just damage of the two cars) but thanks in advance for any help.
I am really hoping to not get shafted with a 50:50 result here and am really kicking myself that there is no witnesses. It dreams me to think that if I wasn't there she would have continued to swerve / drift onto the pavement in a built up residential area - could have been anyone on the pavement she may ended up hitting.
I may be a bit naive regarding how insurance works nowadays, but i'm hoping that the insurance company will at least inspect the damage and stories properly and realise that there is only one way this could have happened.
Thanks in advance for any help - sorry for rambling on!
Cheers guys.
solidlad84 said:
Now I have two things im wondering about really which I was hoping you guys could help with.
There is a traffic surveillance type camera directly above the traffic light - and no matter how grainy this footage is, it would definitely show her at complete fault (and driving without due care and attention...) if I could get hold of the footage. What is the procedure for trying to acquire this? or even just ask for the insurance companies to have permission to see it or something.
There are people who work insurance who can help with your second question; but ultimately I think avoiding 50:50 will come down to whether you can prove it was her fault.There is a traffic surveillance type camera directly above the traffic light - and no matter how grainy this footage is, it would definitely show her at complete fault (and driving without due care and attention...) if I could get hold of the footage. What is the procedure for trying to acquire this? or even just ask for the insurance companies to have permission to see it or something.
In regards to your first question, it sounds like you're referring to the sensors that some traffic lights have to determine if traffic is waiting for a green light. I doubt that they record any images.
May as well pop some pics up on second thoughts - regardless of my description, will it not be blatantly obvious from these pics that the crash can have only happened one way?! I am hoping common sense will prevail but with my luck lately i'm not so sure.
Here is how my drivers door now looks when its fully shut:
And the whole side of my car (although I had to remove the sideskirt - was held on by one screw):
The sill on my car is also quite dented:
And this may just be because I was there.. but I see this as the nail in the coffin as far as picture evicence goes. When she hit me one of the first things to happen was her mirror fell off (fell downwards - not go flying into the air or over my car at all - it went between our two cars and then straight down to the ground) and look how far over the white line it landed:
So even if it fell a foot either direction of the impact to allow for margin for error - how can it have ended up where it did if I crashed into her or was in her lane? it didn't fly up in the air on impact, it went between our two cars - between her front wing and my front wing as I heard it ping off my panel until it hit the floor.
Hoping someone can reassure me that it's pretty obvious what happened from the pics - Never been involved in a crash before in my life and I have a sneaking suspicion she will at least deny liability so I lose out just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also that she may 'invent' passengers in her car who have suddenly developed sore necks.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Here is how my drivers door now looks when its fully shut:
And the whole side of my car (although I had to remove the sideskirt - was held on by one screw):
The sill on my car is also quite dented:
And this may just be because I was there.. but I see this as the nail in the coffin as far as picture evicence goes. When she hit me one of the first things to happen was her mirror fell off (fell downwards - not go flying into the air or over my car at all - it went between our two cars and then straight down to the ground) and look how far over the white line it landed:
So even if it fell a foot either direction of the impact to allow for margin for error - how can it have ended up where it did if I crashed into her or was in her lane? it didn't fly up in the air on impact, it went between our two cars - between her front wing and my front wing as I heard it ping off my panel until it hit the floor.
Hoping someone can reassure me that it's pretty obvious what happened from the pics - Never been involved in a crash before in my life and I have a sneaking suspicion she will at least deny liability so I lose out just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also that she may 'invent' passengers in her car who have suddenly developed sore necks.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Edited by solidlad84 on Monday 3rd August 19:07
esxste said:
There are people who work insurance who can help with your second question; but ultimately I think avoiding 50:50 will come down to whether you can prove it was her fault.
In regards to your first question, it sounds like you're referring to the sensors that some traffic lights have to determine if traffic is waiting for a green light. I doubt that they record any images.
But will they do that without me pressuring them or will they roll over when she says 'wasn't me' and it end up going 50:50? They don't even have any pictures yet - they havn't requested any. I'm not sure if i'm hurting my chances of a good result by not being more proactive now but I am not sure what else I should do. Diagrams etc won't exactly help. Straight road.. she swerved/veered into me. It's a shame I was there as she would have hit the large oak tree behind me otherwise. I suspect she wouldn't be blaming the tree then!In regards to your first question, it sounds like you're referring to the sensors that some traffic lights have to determine if traffic is waiting for a green light. I doubt that they record any images.
I didn't think about that in the heat of the moment to be honest mate, damn. Here is what they look like and there is 2 per traffic light:
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/...
Perhaps one of the experts could confirm: if you were convinced she wasn't going to stop until you turned around would it be worth a call to the non-emergency number (even at this late stage) as she attempted to leave the scene of an accident?
She may deny it but it could help you in your quest to get access to CCTV
She may deny it but it could help you in your quest to get access to CCTV
Those look like traffic sensors to me, not CCTV cameras. They won't help you.
As I said, others more familiar with how insurance claims go will be able to advise more fully. My understanding is though that you need pretty concrete proof that she is not accurately representing the events.
As I said, others more familiar with how insurance claims go will be able to advise more fully. My understanding is though that you need pretty concrete proof that she is not accurately representing the events.
esxste said:
Those look like traffic sensors to me, not CCTV cameras. They won't help you.
As I said, others more familiar with how insurance claims go will be able to advise more fully. My understanding is though that you need pretty concrete proof that she is not accurately representing the events.
Ah, just my luck.As I said, others more familiar with how insurance claims go will be able to advise more fully. My understanding is though that you need pretty concrete proof that she is not accurately representing the events.
Well i'm no an insurance expert - but if I hit her car, how does she have approx. 1 foot of damage where as I have 6 foot?! that is not physically possible if my car was anything but pointing dead straight or even towards the curb on my side - definitely not pointing to her lane, or she would have damage down the whole side of her car not just one major impact point.
I hate to say it but I suspect you'll be looking at 50/50 if you're lucky - she'll change her story to you hitting her while speeding, then it will be your word against hers.
Without some kind of proof like CCTV, dashcam or independent witness, she'll just lie to cover her back (even though it won't make any difference, idiots like her see admitting liability as 'losing' somehow).
I've been on the receiving end of this when a knob changed lane into me - although he was very apologetic at the time, he told his insurer I was "dangerously tailgaiting then tried to overtake on a single lane and misjudged it" - lucky for me (and unlucky for the halfwit), I have dashcam footage showing I was neither tailgating or dangerously overtaking - I was in a separate lane and they clearly moved into me with no indication. And I'm still waiting for the £500 repair bill to be sorted by my insurer 4 months later!
If I were you, I'd get some printed out sheets laminated asking for witnesses to come forward - stick it on the traffic light, asking if anyone saw her driving into you, you never know you might get lucky.
Without some kind of proof like CCTV, dashcam or independent witness, she'll just lie to cover her back (even though it won't make any difference, idiots like her see admitting liability as 'losing' somehow).
I've been on the receiving end of this when a knob changed lane into me - although he was very apologetic at the time, he told his insurer I was "dangerously tailgaiting then tried to overtake on a single lane and misjudged it" - lucky for me (and unlucky for the halfwit), I have dashcam footage showing I was neither tailgating or dangerously overtaking - I was in a separate lane and they clearly moved into me with no indication. And I'm still waiting for the £500 repair bill to be sorted by my insurer 4 months later!
If I were you, I'd get some printed out sheets laminated asking for witnesses to come forward - stick it on the traffic light, asking if anyone saw her driving into you, you never know you might get lucky.
Hackney said:
Perhaps one of the experts could confirm: if you were convinced she wasn't going to stop until you turned around would it be worth a call to the non-emergency number (even at this late stage) as she attempted to leave the scene of an accident?
She may deny it but it could help you in your quest to get access to CCTV
I would suggest there is next to no chance the police would get involved here. After all, she did stop. There would be absolutely no way of proving otherwise. With no injury, they will leave it to the insurance co's.She may deny it but it could help you in your quest to get access to CCTV
Mk3Spitfire said:
I would suggest there is next to no chance the police would get involved here. After all, she did stop. There would be absolutely no way of proving otherwise. With no injury, they will leave it to the insurance co's.
Yeah this is what I thought - she could simply say she was stopping further up the road, if she did even admit not immediately stopping.I just hope from the pictures it is obvious who was heading in a straight line and who was turning at an almost 45 degree angle into me. But I guess it is easier/more cost efficient for insurance companies to just roll over and go 50:50 a lot of the time rather than fight these types of claims.
Really wishing I had a dashcam now - it is like something out of those 'Cops' programs where a child is driving a car, or where an OAP confuses the accelerator for the brake pedal, no reaction at all after 3-4 seconds of my horn being held down, just ploughed straight into me.
A bit unrelated, but I need my car (or a similarly sized one) for my job and this is now going to cause me real issues. My car drives still, however the impact on the front wheel has knocked something out as the steering no longer feels normal which makes me a bit reluctant to commute in it, and the door no longer seals which obviously is a bit problematic when you live in the UK and your car is loaded up with expensive IT equipment. Luckily ive got this week off work, but i'm hoping something has progressed by next monday.
Deep down I am hoping the car is wrote off simply so I can try and replace it and move on ASAP. I'm no expert but with damage to 4 panels, the electric mirror, side skirt, alloy and the sill etc and the value only being £4000-4500 I imagine it eventually will be.
Edited by solidlad84 on Monday 27th July 13:40
cherie171 said:
Surely if she was looking at her phone at the time of the accident, it's an offence, and the police should be involved? They should be able to check records to find out if she was sending texts or on the internet at the time of impact.
I mentioned this to the insurance company on Friday - they led me to believe that if no police attended at the time, then whats done is done in regards to her looking down at her lap/being on the phone. She also may have not been sending a text or something, just reading something which wouldn't leave any kind of log to trace. Either way it boils my blood when someone who is clearly completely negligent (and knows it) decides its not their fault, simply because it will cost themselves money. I immediately said to her 'what were you looking at on your lap, your phone?' to which she replies, 'me? no I never use my phone while driving..' well I highly doubt she was looking at the road when all I could see was the hair (lit up nice and bright.. hmmm must have been the sunlight) on the top of her head and no eyes.
Very lucky I wasn't on a motorbike or I imagine the consequences would not be a lot more severe, she would have drove over someone before noticing, judging by her reaction after she'd made contact with my car.
I was hit on the way to A500 a few years ago, cruising along in the inside lane waiting to take the exit when someone pulled in from the middle lane to the inside lane.
Cue him smashing into me then driving off, chased him (with bumper parts flying off, good ol' 330) beeping / flashing until he pulled over - he has realised he hit me as his first words were 'I didn't see you!'.
Anyway, he denied it was his responsibility, I explained to my insurance, Admiral, exactly what happened, road position etc etc and to their credit they fought and it was 100% their liability.
Just be 100% clear in your facts, exactly what happened, where you were, her position etc. I repeatedly made the point that I was not, at that time, doing anything other than driving in my lane and hence how can I be at fault!
Good luck, I was fortunate in that it was resolved in my favour within 72hours.
Cue him smashing into me then driving off, chased him (with bumper parts flying off, good ol' 330) beeping / flashing until he pulled over - he has realised he hit me as his first words were 'I didn't see you!'.
Anyway, he denied it was his responsibility, I explained to my insurance, Admiral, exactly what happened, road position etc etc and to their credit they fought and it was 100% their liability.
Just be 100% clear in your facts, exactly what happened, where you were, her position etc. I repeatedly made the point that I was not, at that time, doing anything other than driving in my lane and hence how can I be at fault!
Good luck, I was fortunate in that it was resolved in my favour within 72hours.
cherie171 said:
Surely if she was looking at her phone at the time of the accident, it's an offence, and the police should be involved? They should be able to check records to find out if she was sending texts or on the internet at the time of impact.
I mentioned this to the insurance company on Friday - they led me to believe that if no police attended at the time, then whats done is done in regards to her looking down at her lap/being on the phone. She also may have not been sending a text or something, just reading something which wouldn't leave any kind of log to trace. Either way it boils my blood when someone who is clearly completely negligent (and knows it) decides its not their fault, simply because it will cost themselves money. I immediately said to her 'what were you looking at on your lap, your phone?' to which she replies, 'me? no I never use my phone while driving..' well I highly doubt she was looking at the road when all I could see was the hair (lit up nice and bright.. hmmm must have been the sunlight) on the top of her head and no eyes.
Very lucky I wasn't on a motorbike or I imagine the consequences would not be a lot more severe, she would have drove over someone before noticing, judging by her reaction after she'd made contact with my car.
Well no surprise here, she claims i've swerved into her (whilst coasting up to a set of lights on a straight road - and her driving round a sharp bend looking at her phone.. yeah very feasible 
) and my insurance company have basically said it's now just 50:50 since there is no evidence other than the damage photos and word of mouth.
I didn't expect any less, but I thought they'd at least investigate a bit from the damage photos.. I've no idea how they think I could have turned into her and caused a single point of impact and one dent, whilst I cause a 6 foot scrape on my own car but hey ho.
Now for some much needed advice!
Personally I think the car will be wrote off (unless they find a bodyshop who do full resprays for £500), 4 panels need repairing and the sill is bent along with all the cosmetics and mirror, on a car probably valued by a garage at £3-4k. (WBAC offer around £2000 if that helps).
Don't get me started on how it would cost me £5-6k+ to buy another 6 MPS on a 57 plate with low mileage! but thats a story for another day.
The insurance company have now tried to organise for my car to go in for repairs but I am wondering do they not inspect it first to see if it is a total loss or does that happen at the garage?
I don't want a shoddy job done, as the car was unmarked beforehand apart from one small scuff on the rear bumper. Just want it to be as it was originally, if it is even repaired. The lady from the insurance company gave me a choice of 5 of 'their' approved garages local to me, to which I said i'll think about and decide by tomorrow.
Am I not allowed to select my own garage for the repairs? As she did not mention that whilst on the phone. I would prefer to use a bodyshop/garage that I personally trust and not one of a selection of a few that I assume have been chosen for cheapness.
It really wouldn't surprise me now if I discover that she had a car full of passengers who all have stiff necks. I just want to pay my excess, lose my NCB and get this all over with now, either having my car back to normal or being able to buy a replacement. The stress of not knowing what is happening is as bad as the fact i'll be £500 out of pocket and have increased premiums for nipping to Shell at the wrong time. I guess thats life.
Anyway rant over, thanks a lot in advance for any advice guys.
) and my insurance company have basically said it's now just 50:50 since there is no evidence other than the damage photos and word of mouth.I didn't expect any less, but I thought they'd at least investigate a bit from the damage photos.. I've no idea how they think I could have turned into her and caused a single point of impact and one dent, whilst I cause a 6 foot scrape on my own car but hey ho.
Now for some much needed advice!
Personally I think the car will be wrote off (unless they find a bodyshop who do full resprays for £500), 4 panels need repairing and the sill is bent along with all the cosmetics and mirror, on a car probably valued by a garage at £3-4k. (WBAC offer around £2000 if that helps).
Don't get me started on how it would cost me £5-6k+ to buy another 6 MPS on a 57 plate with low mileage! but thats a story for another day.
The insurance company have now tried to organise for my car to go in for repairs but I am wondering do they not inspect it first to see if it is a total loss or does that happen at the garage?
I don't want a shoddy job done, as the car was unmarked beforehand apart from one small scuff on the rear bumper. Just want it to be as it was originally, if it is even repaired. The lady from the insurance company gave me a choice of 5 of 'their' approved garages local to me, to which I said i'll think about and decide by tomorrow.
Am I not allowed to select my own garage for the repairs? As she did not mention that whilst on the phone. I would prefer to use a bodyshop/garage that I personally trust and not one of a selection of a few that I assume have been chosen for cheapness.
It really wouldn't surprise me now if I discover that she had a car full of passengers who all have stiff necks. I just want to pay my excess, lose my NCB and get this all over with now, either having my car back to normal or being able to buy a replacement. The stress of not knowing what is happening is as bad as the fact i'll be £500 out of pocket and have increased premiums for nipping to Shell at the wrong time. I guess thats life.
Anyway rant over, thanks a lot in advance for any advice guys.
This quite perfect as a story
1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
LoonR1 said:
This quite perfect as a story
1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
Minor point of order on 8 sir.1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
my family have a very good relationship with a body shop due to our hereditary weakness for classic cars, and 3 or 4 accidents between about 12 close family members over 30 odd years. Fortunately they are approved by most, if not all, insurers.
LoonR1 said:
This quite perfect as a story
1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
1) Quite obvious from the pics what has happened, doesn't take an insurance expert (like yourself!) to work it out.1. A dispute over liability
2. Use of a phone (irrleelvant to the insuramce matter, other than liability, but no way to prove it)
3. An unmarked pristine 8 year old, run of the mill car that thenOP values as the best in the country and nothing else like it exists
4. He's used WBAC for a valuation as if that matters in any way
5. It's a write off
6. The other driver is a young girl
7. The OP didn't read his policy docs and is kicking off about the existence of Approved Repairers
8. He wants to use a repairer that he trusts. How many of us have such close relationships with bodyshops? How crap a driver do you have to be to build such a relationship?
It's all just fantastically perfect. It may well have happened, but I'm not getting involved other than to point all these perfect points out. It's pretty well a combination of every whingy insurance thread that's ever existed.
2) This is a forum not a court of law - why would I not mention the phone while writing in anger at the time? especially as it was part of what caused the crash to occur.
3) The side that was crashed in to was unmarked, yes.. As I suspect most 8 year old PHers cars would tend to be. I am ignoring scratches the size of eye lashes FYI, since we are now under oath. You are making things up to make some strange, unneccessary point now. Where did I say the car was 'pristine'? I am not valueing it as the best in the country - far from it (Hence the 3-4k estimation) I am going by how much it'd cost to get an exact replacement for the car looking at what is for sale, which is what I imagine happens if the car is wrote off.
4) No, I have listed what the car is 'worth' to a garage who I assume would value it, what it would cost me to buy a new replacement one (try find a 57 plate with <60k miles for under £5k and come back if you're such an expert?), and then as an indicator for anyone 'in the know' (who doesn't happen to seem to enjoy argueing for the sake of argueing day after day on the internet...) what WBAC offer. As without going into specifics this is a better indicator than nothing at all.
5) It may well be a write off.
6) She is. Again, part of the story, and sorry again for not realising I was in a court of law and should have been continously referring to her as 'the third party'.
7) Kicking off? I was ASKING for advice. I don't want my car to be repaired poorly - who would? my question was regarding if it HAS to be repaired at one of their 'authorised' garages or not. Something i'm assuming you could have helped answer, or said it will depend on your insurance T&Cs etc.
8) I have owned many E46s that tend to corrode from the front wings out and since I like my cars to be unmarked yes I have had repair/preventative work done on numerous cars over the years, as well of experiences of friends and family who are also petrolheads, (yes, this is pistonheads you know). So yes, I have established a couple of good and and a couple of poor garages/bodyshops fairly local to me. I have never crashed/been crashed in to (as stated in the OP..) before in my life.
So to you it may be 'fantastically perfect' and a combination of every whingy insurance thread combined (which you choose to read every day) and I sincerely apologise for you having to take the time out of your day to read it, but to me it is my car and my first time ever with having to go through this procedure, so I came on here posting exactly what has happened, (admittedly albeit whilst venting) hoping someone will be able to assist with a couple of simple questions.
I now understand why people over the years have began to stop posting in here. Used to be full of advice and now it is simply a trial with people accusing someone who has no reason to lie, of lying, and just general unnecessary spitefulness.
So thanks for your post and wasting your time.
For anyone that wants to, or can actually offer any advice, my two questions were regarding the garage at which it gets repaired (if it can be any, or if it has to be one designated by the insurance) and also do they assess the damage at the garage should an assessment be done before? my past and only experience of an insurer sending out an assessor was back when someone reversed into my older brothers MR2 back in 2006. So appreciate any advice on that one.
Thanks all.
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