Who do I claim from?

[AyBee]

I was involved in a collision where I (car A) was in the inside lane; car B was in the middle lane and car C was in the outside lane. I saw car C swerve from the outside lane towards car B and car B swerved to avoid car C and ended up hitting me. Car C, who caused the accident, didn't stop, but car B was the one who actually hit me. Do I need to claim from car B (and then car B has to take the hit because they can't claim from C, although their only damage was from hitting me) or my own insurance because it was car C who caused the accident but didn't stop, so I can't claim from them?

[Tom_C76]

You claim from the car that hit you. You can chose whther to deal with it via an AMC yourself, but the easy way is to tell your insurers who will claim off the guy that hit you.

[Riley Blue]

Notify your insurer who will deal with it. That's what you pay them for.

[Mutley]

Tom_C76 said:

You claim from the car that hit you. You can chose whther to deal with it via an AMC yourself, but the easy way is to tell your insurers who will claim off the guy that hit you.

Incorrect, you claim off your own insurance that car B hit you. The insurance company then recovers from Car Bs insurance.

[AyBee]

Mutley said:

Tom_C76 said:

You claim from the car that hit you. You can chose whther to deal with it via an AMC yourself, but the easy way is to tell your insurers who will claim off the guy that hit you.

Incorrect, you claim off your own insurance that car B hit you. The insurance company then recovers from Car Bs insurance.

That's the same thing, isn't it? It's actually a hypothetical question, I'm just interested whether the fact that car B didn't actually cause the accident, it was caused by car C swerving, factors into where the claim lies. So in this scneario, assuming the details of car C are never found, car B's insurance takes the hit for all damage, is that correct?

[Mutley]

AyBee said:

Mutley said:

Tom_C76 said:

You claim from the car that hit you. You can chose whther to deal with it via an AMC yourself, but the easy way is to tell your insurers who will claim off the guy that hit you.

Incorrect, you claim off your own insurance that car B hit you. The insurance company then recovers from Car Bs insurance.

That's the same thing, isn't it? It's actually a hypothetical question, I'm just interested whether the fact that car B didn't actually cause the accident, it was caused by car C swerving, factors into where the claim lies. So in this scneario, assuming the details of car C are never found, car B's insurance takes the hit for all damage, is that correct?

No, you aren't contacting car B directly, you claim for the damage caused to you on your insurance policy.
Motor Insurance doesn't have a cause+effect type clause like your home insurance does. You can only claim for what happened to you - car C didn't hit you, B did.

[AyBee]

Mutley said:

No, you aren't contacting car B directly, you claim for the damage caused to you on your insurance policy.
Motor Insurance doesn't have a cause+effect type clause like your home insurance does. You can only claim for what happened to you - car C didn't hit you, B did.

Thanks Mutley!

[PurpleMoonlight]

If you claim from your own insurance you will have to pay the excess and your NCD will be reduced until your insurer obtains redress from B's insurer, when you will get your excess and NCD back!

If your insurance is due for renewal during this you premium will be higher but you should get some of that back when the NCD is reinstated.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mutley said:

No, you aren't contacting car B directly, you claim for the damage caused to you on your insurance policy.
Motor Insurance doesn't have a cause+effect type clause like your home insurance does. You can only claim for what happened to you - car C didn't hit you, B did.

You can either claim off your own insurance, and ask them to recover the money, or you can claim directly off the other party. If car C had stopped, then you or your insurers would claim from them. They were the negligent party. You or your insurers can try and claim against B in this case as C didn't stop, but you may not be successful, if B claims they weren't negligent and had no choice other than to hit you.

Just because someone's vehicle damages your vehicle, it doesn't mean they are liable. Only if they are negligent. Of course it may be that B over reacted, and there was negligence.

[AyBee]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Mutley said:

No, you aren't contacting car B directly, you claim for the damage caused to you on your insurance policy.
Motor Insurance doesn't have a cause+effect type clause like your home insurance does. You can only claim for what happened to you - car C didn't hit you, B did.

You can either claim off your own insurance, and ask them to recover the money, or you can claim directly off the other party. If car C had stopped, then you or your insurers would claim from them. They were the negligent party. You or your insurers can try and claim against B in this case as C didn't stop, but you may not be successful, if B claims they weren't negligent and had no choice other than to hit you.

Just because someone's vehicle damages your vehicle, it doesn't mean they are liable. Only if they are negligent. Of course it may be that B over reacted, and there was negligence.

But did B not make a choice when it decided to avoid hitting C and instead hit A?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

AyBee said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Mutley said:

No, you aren't contacting car B directly, you claim for the damage caused to you on your insurance policy.
Motor Insurance doesn't have a cause+effect type clause like your home insurance does. You can only claim for what happened to you - car C didn't hit you, B did.

You can either claim off your own insurance, and ask them to recover the money, or you can claim directly off the other party. If car C had stopped, then you or your insurers would claim from them. They were the negligent party. You or your insurers can try and claim against B in this case as C didn't stop, but you may not be successful, if B claims they weren't negligent and had no choice other than to hit you.

Just because someone's vehicle damages your vehicle, it doesn't mean they are liable. Only if they are negligent. Of course it may be that B over reacted, and there was negligence.

But did B not make a choice when it decided to avoid hitting C and instead hit A?

Yes, I worded that badly by saying no choice. Indeed he did have a choice, but it might have been the right choice, and that he avoided a far worse accident. Or perhaps not.

But the bottom line is that if he wasn't negligent, you can't claim from him. If he was, or partially was, you can, or partially can.